Burma's last dynasty built an empire then lost it to Britain
The Konbaung or Third Burmese Empire ruled from 1752 to 1885 as Burma's final dynasty, second-largest in Burmese history, continuing Toungoo administrative reforms that seeded the modern state—even as those reforms proved insufficient against British pressure.
The founder was a village headman, later called Alaungpaya, who rose in 1752 against the Restored Hanthawaddy kingdom that had just brought down the Taungoo line. Within seven years he had reunited Burma and Manipur and pushed out the French and British, who had been arming his rivals. His son Hsinbyushin, after a brief reign by elder brother Naungdawgyi, took the Siamese capital Ayutthaya in 1767 after seven years of war, and by 1770 Burmese armies had also subdued Luang Phrabang and Vientiane and turned back four Qing Chinese invasions.
Victory over China did not breed arrogance at court. In 1770 Hsinbyushin sought peace to keep cross-border trade flowing, and the Qing reopened their markets to Burma in 1788. In 1823 King Bagyidaw sent envoys to Saigon, led by George Gibson, the son of an English mercenary, hoping Vietnam's emperor Minh Mạng would help him against Siam. Westward, Bodawpaya annexed Arakan in 1784, Manipur in 1814 and Assam in 1817, leaving a long, vague frontier with British India.
That frontier proved fatal. Britain cut diplomatic ties in 1811, and the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824 to 1826 cost Burma Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim plus an indemnity of one million pounds. Palace violence followed: Tharrawaddy deposed his brother Bagyidaw in 1837, and King Pagan, crowned in 1846, is said to have executed as many as 6,000 prominent subjects before a second war broke out in 1852.
The reforming King Mindon and his brother, Crown Prince Kanaung, built state factories for modern weapons and goods, though they cost more than they achieved. In 1857 the crown introduced cash taxes and salaries backed by the first standardised silver coinage, and in 1872 Mindon hosted the Fifth Great Buddhist Synod at Mandalay. He even ceded the Karenni States in 1875 to stave off annexation, but the monarchy fell to Britain a decade later.
Source: Konbaung dynasty
