1. This History Thread is about Mandalay, a city in central Burma (Myanmar) on Irrawaddy River. Mandalay has been royal capitol, battleground, fire disaster, resistance center & more during its eventful history. In news now for revolutionary forces. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar 🌿
2. Migrations along river plains brought early settlers to an area which would much later become Mandalay. Archeological evidence indicates iron-working villages & trade circa 500 BCE. Pyu & then Burmese (Burman, Bamar) people lived there.
3. Mandalay was founded 1857 by King Mindon of Konbaung dynasty, who had its palace buildings relocated from former capital Amarapura. A wall & moat enclosed the palace compound & the new city spread out in a grid on the plain below Mandalay Hill.
4. King Mindon’s reign ended chaotically, with 1866 attempted palace coup & a violent succession crisis. Mass execution of other potential heirs to the throne led to King Thibaw & Queen Supayalat becoming Mandalay’s last Konbaung dynasty rulers when King Mindon died in 1878.
5. In 3 Anglo-Burmese Wars, Britain conquered lands they would define as Burma. Final 3rd A-B War in 1885 was conquest of Upper Burma, then largely under King Thibaw’s rule. British troops invaded Mandalay via Irrawaddy River, looted the palace, captured/exiled the King & Queen.
6. Under British colonial rule, Mandalay was still an important city & major trading center for goods like timber, rice & minerals. But British developed Rangoon (Yangon) in the south, with a seaport, as their administrative center & multicultural metropolis.
7. Rudyard Kipling’s geographically fanciful poem about a British colonial soldier’s nostalgia for Burma, “Mandalay” (1890) was internationally popular & set to music (see Andrew Selth book 2016.) Hollywood movies would use the name “Mandalay” to evoke an exotic dangerous place.
8. WW2 1942 as Japan invaded Burma, Japanese air raids on Mandalay included incendiary bombs, much of the city burned. Allied campaign 1945 to retake Mandalay: British Gen. Slim’s IV Corps Gurkhas took “Pagoda Hill” & Allied airstrikes demolished Mandalay Palace (used as a fort.)
9. After Burma's 1948 Independence from Britain, Mandalay & surrounding townships became Mandalay Division (since 2010, Region.) Recovering from WW2, Mandalay was again a trading center & became known for Mandalay University + other institutions of technical & cultural education.
10. As Communist & ethnic forces rose up in Burma, Karens & Kachins, under Kachin commander Naw Seng, seized Mandalay in March ’49. Mandalay was back in govt. control by April & the city would not be a conflict zone again during Burma/Myanmar’s following decades of warfare.
11. Leftist couple Ludu U Hla & Ludu Daw Amar published newspaper (1945-67), literature in Mandalay. They & family members defied arrest, harassment during Gen. Ne Win’s post-1962 dictatorship & later juntas. They helped make Mandalay dissident center under difficult conditions.
12. Ne Win would glorify rural Burma (while making life harder there) & neglect cities, which he suspected held bad, foreign influences. But Mandalay was symbolic of precolonial Burma. 1964 Ne Win got Britain to return looted Mandalay Palace treasures. irrawaddy.com/specials/on-th…
13. Under Burma’s military rule, illicit petrol storage was common. In 1981 this caused a catastrophic fire that burned over 6,000 homes + other buildings in Mandalay. The city’s densely packed buildings (many made of wood/bamboo) were again devastated by fire in 1984.
14. Burma regime’s 1987 demonetization provoked marches, riots in Mandalay. During 1988 student-led protests, tens of thousands demonstrated in Mandalay & strike committee formed. 100k marched there 8/8/88. Hundreds killed in Mandalay as regime suppressed ‘88 democracy uprising.
15. Many Mandalay residents in 1990s were subjected to Myanmar junta’s relocation to peripheral “new towns” & damage to homes for road widening. Regime’s 1996 “Visit Myanmar Year” involved extensive urban forced labor in Mandalay, including on moat of palace/fort & roads.
16. In 1990s-2010s Mandalay became economic “boom town.” Some ethnic organizations in ceasefires invested (or laundered) money there, commodities were brokered & shipped. Huge influx of China immigrant business people & speculators caused resentment. voanews.com/a/chinese-infl…
17. Mandalay has long been a significant center for Buddhist study with many monasteries. During 2007 “Saffron Revolution” as monks throughout Myanmar marched opposing military regime, Mandalay monks led mass protests. irrawaddy.com/news/burma/11-…
18. In 2010s Mandalay civil society groups were able to operate for purposes incl. flood relief, healthcare, education, environment, gender issues, interfaith cooperation. Mandalay’s arts tended traditional & tourism-dependent but more modern art appeared. frontiermyanmar.net/en/the-mandala…
19. Mandalay reacted to Feb. 2021 Myanmar coup w. sustained protests, incl. students, medical workers, labor, women, monks, LGBTQ. Coup regime attacked them w. violence, shootings, arrests. 19 yr old “Angel” Kyal Sin was killed March 3, 2021 in Mandalay. www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ne…
20. Mandalay’s Royal Palace compound, which became a military fortress in British colonial times & under Burma/Myanmar dictatorship, has been a notorious torture, interrogation & detention center for opponents of the current coup regime. myanmar-now.org/en/news/the-mi…
21. Mandalay’s Civil Disobedience Movement strikers, Buddhist monks & others have continued to defy the coup regime with brave & creative actions. Prominent Mandalay protest leader @TayzarSan evaded arrest. voanews.com/a/east-asia-pa…
22. By May 2021, People’s Defense Force groups were in action in/around Mandalay vs coup regime. But urban guerrilla actions were difficult & dangerous in Mandalay; occurred sporadically. Mandalay PDF also operated in other Mandalay Region townships. myanmar-now.org/en/news/mandal…
23. As armed revolution has continued to take territory from Myanmar coup regime in 2024, ethnic armies & Mandalay PDF made gains mid-year in Mandalay Region, taking bases & targeting road control. Mandalay PDF has become an impressive fighting force. irrawaddy.com/news/war-again…
24. Mandalay PDF & allies approach closer to Mandalay city, possibility of urban warfare. Mandalay residents need coordinated evacuation plans, bombardment survival education (Myanmar coup regime constantly bombs civilian areas.) Mandalay fire risk needs preventative planning.
25/25. Links to my previous Burma History Threads & Project Maje reports can be found at: projectmaje.org
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