Бірма патшасы Хсинбьюшин: Қытай мен Сиамға қарсы күрескер

Third Emperor of the Kongaung Dynasty of Burma from 1763 to 1776

Hsinbyushin (, , ; พระเจ้ามังระ; 12 September 1736 – 10 June 1776) was king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1763 to 1776. The second son of the dynasty founder Alaungpaya is best known for his wars with Qing China and Siam, and is considered the most militaristic king of the dynasty. His successful defense against four Qing invasions preserved Burmese independence. His 1765 invasion of Ayutthaya brought an end to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The near simultaneous victories over Qing and Siam has been referred to as testimony "to a truly astonishing elan unmatched since Bayinnaung." Ywa grew up during the period in which the authority of King Mahadhammaraza Dipadi of the Toungoo dynasty had largely dissipated across the kingdom. The Manipuris had been raiding increasingly deeper parts of Upper Burma between the Chindwin and Irrawaddy rivers since the mid 1720s. Ywa's home region was directly on the path of the raids, and took the brunt of the raids. With the Burmese court unable to deal with the small kingdom of Manipur, the Burmese watched helplessly as the raiders torched villages, ransacked pagodas, and taking away captives. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Burma broke away, and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. The central authority of the king had effectively disappeared, and a profound sense of helplessness pervaded and deepened. The Hanthawaddy armies finally toppled the Toungoo dynasty on 23 March 1752 when they captured Ava.

On 29 February 1752, three weeks before the fall of Ava, Aung Zeya founded the Konbaung dynasty to resist the upcoming Hanthawaddy rule, styling himself King Alaungpaya. The Konbaung resistance was just one of many resistance forces that had sprung up across Upper Burma (mostly by panicked ethnic Burmans but also by ethnic Shans). Many young men from 46 villages in the Mu valley, who longed to redress the humiliations of the previous decades, answered Alaungpaya's call. The 15 year old Ywa enthusiastically joined his father's call. (He would later prove to be the most militaristic of all Konbaung kings). Ywa, now styled as Thado Minsaw, quickly proved a capable military commander—certainly, the most capable of Alaungpaya's sons, and became a top commander in his own right. By December 1753, the Konbaung forces had driven back Hanthawaddy invasion forces back to Ava, the fallen capital. The 17 year old prince was given the overall command to recapture Ava. The prince's assault on 3 January 1754 succeeded, forcing Hanthawaddy troops to withdraw in disarray. Pleased, Alaungpaya made his second son the governor of Ava, (which had been totally sacked by the retreating Hanthawaddy forces). Just three months later, the Hanthawaddy invasion forces were back, this time in their full might. Konbaung forces led by Hsinbyushin and his elder brother Naungdawgyi were badly defeated at present day Myingyan District. Hsinbyushin fell back to Ava, and had to defend the city against a siege by the invaders. Hsinbyushin's defenses held. Other Hanthawaddy armies also advanced up to Mu valley, the Konbaung homeland, but were driven back. In April 1754, Hsinbyushin also broke the siege of Ava, and pursued the retreating Hanthawaddy armies down to Minbu. Alaungpaya granted Hsinbyushin the town of Myedu in fief, for the latter's successful defense of Ava. He would be known as the Prince of Myedu from then on. Indeed, throughout the rest of the 1750s, Hsinbyushin was a key top commander in Alaungpaya's campaigns which by 1759 had reunited all of Burma (and Manipur), and driven out the French and the British who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. Hsinbyshin was second in command of the Burmese forces in Alaungpaya's invasion of Siam (1759–1760), which overran the Siamese defenses and reached the gates of Ayutthaya in April 1760. But the Burmese forces had to retreat hastily as Alaungpaya suddenly fell ill from scrofula. Hsinbyushin retreated back alongside his father's litter, and was by his father's bedside when the king died near a small village in Martaban (Mottama).

Alaungpaya was succeeded by his eldest son Naungdawgyi. Alaungpaya had pronounced that all of his six sons by his first wife would become king in the order of seniority. At Alaungpaya's deathbed, Hsinbyushin had promised his father to uphold his wish. But right after his father's death, Hsinbyushin made a blatant attempt to take over the throne, asking the top military command to support him. But he failed to receive sufficient support. Naungdawgyi forgave his brother at the queen mother's intercession because he needed to deal with an insurrection by Gen. Minkhaung Nawrahta, a highly decorated commander with whom Naungdawgyi had a long difficult relationship, and one who led the rearguard action in Siam, as well as a rebellion by his uncle, Thado Theinkhathu, the viceroy of Toungoo. Hsinbyushin, now officially the heir apparent per Alaungpaya's wish, watched his brother the king try to put down the rebellions, and offered no help. Naungdawgyi was able to put down the rebellions by January 1762, and even recaptured Lan Na in January 1763. By then Naungdawgyi's authority was unrivaled, and Hsinbyushin was prepared to stay as the heir apparent for the long haul. Then in November 1763, Naungdawgyi, only 29, suddenly died. The ambitious Hsinbyushin, now 27 years old, ascended to the throne.

On 28 November 1763, Hsinbyushin ascended to the throne. His full royal style at the coronation ceremony on 16 May 1764 was Thiri Thuriya Dhamma Razadhipati Hsinbyushin. He later assumed the new reign name of Thiri Thuriya Dhamma Mahadhammaraza Razadhipati (; ) on 3 January 1768.

The first order of business was to rebuild the ruined city of Ava, which he wished to make his capital. By the royal order issued on 27 November 1764, the relocation of the kingdom's capital to Ava from Sagaing was announced. The gates of restored Ava were named after the conquered states: on the east side, Chiang Mai, Martaban, Mogaung; on the south, Kaingma, Hanthawaddy, Myede, Onbaung (Thibaw); on the west, Gandalarit, Sandapuri (Viengchang), Kenghung; on the north, Tenasserim and Yodaya (Siam). He officially moved to Ava in April 1765, after his return from the Manipuri campaign.

In 1765, Hsinbyushin commissioned the translation of the Vyakarana, the Sanskrit works on grammar, medicine, astrology, erotic lore, etc. The Maungdaung Sayadaw translated with the help of nine Brahmin scholars Hsinbyushin had invited to his court from Varanasi, India. In 1771, an official at his court compiled a new law book called Manusara Shwe Min Dhammathat, based on older law books, in Burmese and Pali. In 1774, he raised the Shwedagon Pagoda to its present height, gilding it with his own weight in gold and erecting a golden spire studded with gems to replace the one thrown down during the 1769 earthquake. Though mostly known for his wars, Hsinbyushin was deeply interested in poetry. One of his minor queens, Ma Htwe, was a noted poet. Letwe Thondara, a secretary to the Hluttaw council, whom Hsinbyushin had exiled to Meza Hill (in present day Katha District), earned his recall two months later by writing the well known Meza Taung Che poem, bewailing his grief and loneliness.

As a first step toward a war with the Siamese, Hsinbyushin decided to secure the northern and eastern flanks of Siam. In January 1765, a 20,000 strong Burmese army led by Ne Myo Thihapate based in Chiang Mai invaded the Laotian states. The Kingdom of Vientiane agreed to become Burmese vassal without a fight. Luang Prabang resisted but Thihapate's forces easily captured the city in March 1765, giving the Burmese complete control of Siam's entire northern border.

The Ayutthaya Kingdom was one of Southeast Asia's most wealthiest and most cosmopolitan polities in the 18th century. Siamese and Burmese interests in the Tenasserim have clashed on and off since the 16th century. For the past 150 years, Burma controlled the Northern Tenasserim ports of Mawlamyine and Tavoy while Siam controlled the Southern Tenasserim ports of Mergui and Tenasserim. Since the Mon revolt of Lower Burma in the 1740s, Ayutthaya had been supporting the Mon rebels in fighting against Upper Burma and the Konbaung dynasts, even after the Konbaung conquest of Lower Burma in 1757. After a number of military incursions into Siam, Konbaung elites noticed that Ayutthaya's armies had not responded quickly to its own military movements on the border with Siam. The invasion of Ayutthaya was, in the words of Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit, a "joint stock expedition", designed for the reward of riches of capturing the wealthiest port in Southeast Asia due to the seeming lack of a significant Siamese Army to be able to stop a significant invasion force. A large number of Siamese soldiers also joined the Burmese armies within Siam, in a time where loyalties were to tied to monarchs rather than to ethnicities. The Burmese then began what turned out to be a grueling 14 month siege. Burmese chronicles note that the inhabitants of Ayutthaya fought fiercely and bravely against the Burmese invaders. In January 1767, the city suffered a catastrophic fire, which burned 10,000 houses. In January 1767, the city suffered a catastrophic fire, which burned 10,000 houses. The Burmese armies finally breached the city's defenses on 7 April 1767, and subsequently sacked and burned the entire city. Gold, cannons, treatises on science and religion, people, royals, musicians, and artisans were all hauled back to Ava. But the Burmese were caught flat footed in November 1767, when a 50,000 strong force led by the elite Manchu Bannermen invaded again. The main Chinese army defeated the main Burmese army in December 1767 at the Battle of Goteik Gorge, prompting Hsinbyushin to finally recall his remaining garrison forces from Siam. The main Chinese army overran Burmese defenses and reached Singu, 30 miles north of Ava around late January 1768. Hsinbyushin to his credit never lost composure, and personally organized the defenses. Bolstered by the reinforcements returning from Siam, the Burmese forces defeated the main Chinese army in March 1768 at the Battle of Maymyo. After the third invasions, both sides sent peace feelers but the Qianlong emperor ultimately made it clear that no compromise with the Burmese could be made. Ava now fully expected another major invasion. A Thai Chinese nobleman, Phraya Tak, was in the process of reunifying Siam. Likewise, Manipur revolted yet again in mid 1768. But there was little they could do. The survival of their kingdom was now at stake. When the next Chinese invasion came in October 1769, the Burmese were well prepared. They succeeded in containing the 60,000 strong invasion force at the border, and by early December had all the Chinese forces encircled inside the Kaungton Shwenyaungbin corridor in northern Burma. The Chinese command asked for terms. The Burmese command, led by Gen. Maha Thiha Thura, were concerned that another defeat would merely stiffen the resolve of the Chinese government. Without Hsinbyushin's knowledge, they agreed to a truce, and allowed the Chinese to withdraw without their arms. The uneasy truce was not recognized by either side. Qianlong did not accept the agreement. Hsinbyushin was furious that his generals had acted without his knowledge, and tore up his copy of the treaty.

Knowing that the king was angry, the Burmese armies were afraid to return to the capital. In January 1770, they marched to Manipur where a rebellion had begun, taking advantage of Burmese troubles with the Chinese. After a three days' battle near Langthabal, the Manipuris were defeated, and their raja fled to Assam. The Burmese raised their nominee to the throne, and returned. The king's anger had subsided; after all, they had won victories and preserved his throne. He exiled Maha Thiha Thura and generals for a month.

Following their last invasion, the Chinese kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter border trade for two decades. The rest of the populace could not leave, and took the brunt of the army's repression.

If Hsinbyushin was beginning to lose control of his commanders in the field, it only got worse in 1774. The king suffered from what turned out to be a debilitating long illness that would ultimately claim his life two years later. The illness is believed to be scrofula. (According to historian Helen James, his brother Naungdawgyi and possibly his father Alaungpaya died from the same disease.) The palace was full of rumors and intrigues about the succession. The army commanders, who were already acting like warlords even before the king's illness, were sure that the king would die soon, and now routinely ignored the king's orders to tone down their behavior, unimaginable only a few years back. So paranoid was he that in December 1774, he ordered the execution of the last Hanthawaddy king, Binnya Dala, who had been in captivity since May 1757 because the Mon rebels had tried to free the former king to put him on the throne. This was despite the fact that Hsinbyushin's father Alaungpaya had pardoned the former king's life.

The same arrogant repressive behavior by the local Burmese government caused a rebellion in Lan Na. The new Burmese governor at Chiang Mai, Thado Mindin, was disrespectful to local chiefs (saophas) and the people, and became extremely unpopular. The governor's harsh rule repulsed even Gen. Ne Myo Thihapate who was stationed there in 1773. The general was disgusted with the governor's behavior, and actually provided shelter to one of the chiefs, Kawila, being hunted down by the governor. After Thihapate's army was recalled, Kawila and other chiefs fled to the Siamese territory and raised a rebellion. Kawila and Siamese forces attacked Chiang Mai, and captured the city on 15 January 1775, ending the 200 year Burmese rule of Chiang Mai.

Following the fall of Chiang Mai, Hshinbyushin was forced to respond. The king on his deathbed ordered a fresh invasion of Siam, appointing Maha Thiha Thura as head of the Siamese campaign. He still trusted the old general of the Chinese war fame because his eldest son and heir apparent Singu was married to the general's daughter. But the general faced a considerable difficulty in raising an army, especially in Lower Burma, which had just come off a major rebellion, and had to deal with the rampant insubordination in the Burmese high command. Adding to the turmoil, Manipur also revolted in 1775. The former king of Manipur who was driven out in 1770 by the Burmese, returned and overthrew the Burmese puppet ruler. Hsinbyushin, instead of focusing on the Siamese war, now diverted a portion of the army for a Manipuri expedition. The Siamese invasion was held off until after the rainy season of 1775. A combined force of 35000 was raised for the Siamese theater. In November, Maha Thiha Thura's main army invaded by the southern route from Martaban, and Ne Myo Thihapate's army from Chiang Saen in northern Lan Na, (which was still under Burmese control). From the start, the invasion was fraught with multiple issues. First, the invasion force of 35000 was too small to be effective whereas the 1765 invasion force consisted of at least 50,000 troops. More importantly, the Burmese command was in disarray. With the king on his deathbed, insubordination became increasingly rampant. Indeed, the second in command of the southern army, Zeya Kyaw, disagreed with Maha Thiha Thura on the invasion route, withdrew with his troops, leaving Maha Thiha Thura with a portion of the troops. (This kind of insubordination would have been unimaginable only a couple years back when the king was in full control. Amazingly, Zeya Kyaw was never punished after the war.) The remaining Burmese armies fought their way into Siam, facing fierce Siamese resistance along the way. Thihapate's army managed to capture Chiang Mai and Maha Thiha Thura's army fought its way down to Phitsanulok and Sukhothai provinces in central Siam, destroying the two cities similar to Ayutthaya in 1767. But the invasion force was unable to continue down the Chao Phraya Plain due to a food shortage. Then, Hsinbyushin died on 10 June 1776 at age 39. Maha Thiha Thura decided to call off the invasion, and rushed back to Ava to ensure that his son in law Singu could ascend to the throne without incident. Ne Myo Thihapate also withdrew from Chiang Mai back to safer Chiang Saen. Had Hsinbyushin lived longer, it's possible that Maha Thiha Thura's army could have successfully marched down through central Siam and destroyed the new Siamese capital at Thonburi.

At Manipur, the Burmese expedition force again managed to drive out the pesky Manipuri raja, who again fled into neighboring Cachar and Jaintia. This time, Hsinbyushin ordered the army to chase into these tiny kingdoms to capture the raja. Hsinbyushin died soon after. Even after the king's death, the Burmese continued to operate in Cachar and Jaintia. The raja of Cachar finally submitted but the Burmese still could not catch the Manipuri raja. The nominal suzerainty of Cachar and Jaintia came at a heavy price: the Burmese army had suffered heavy casualties.

Hsinbyushin was only 39 when he died. He left 20 queens and 41 children. Singu's right to succession was in direct conflict with Alaungpaya's edict that all of his sons become king in the order of seniority. Despite the fact that four of his brothers were still alive, Hsinbyushin had ignored his father's will, and made his eldest son Singu the heir apparent. With Maha Thiha Thura's backing, Singu ascended the throne without incident. The new king killed off potential rivals to the throne as soon as he came to power. Yet Hsinbyushin's penchant for unmitigated warfare everywhere had a heavy cost to the kingdom. His reckless decision to wage simultaneous wars with Siam and China nearly cost the kingdom its independence, allowing Chinese armies to advance within 30 miles of Ava. He did learn from the mistake. With the Chinese keeping a heavy Chinese military lineup in the China Burma border for about one decade to wage another war. Moreover, although his armies achieved many battlefield victories, the victories were short lived. The Burmese had little administrative control over the newly acquired territories. Likewise, his repeated wars in Manipur, Cachar and Jaintia produced only temporary "barren victories".

Hsinbyushin is one of the most famous kings in Burmese history, known for his victories over the Chinese and the Siamese. Historian Victor Lieberman writes: "These near simultaneous victories over Siam (1767) and China (1765–1769) testified to a truly astonishing elan unmatched since Bayinnaung." Historian Harvey writes that Alaungpaya's "tradition was not only maintained, it was eclipsed." The long term legacy of the wars Hsinbyushin pursued comes in terms of a new militaristic Burmese aristocracy, the cultural and economic capital from sacking of Ayutthaya, the military resurgence of Siam, the territorial changes vis a vis China and Siam/Thailand, and modern Burmese Thai relations.

A medium term consequence of Hsinbyushin and his father's campaigns was the repeopling of Burma following the internal crisis of the 1740s and 1750s. His and his father's campaigns of endless warfare would also create a military aristocracy that would turn Burma into a great military kingdom, whose feats included the defense of Burma against the Qing Empire, the sacking of Ayutthaya. The Konbaung dynasty would go on to continue its militarism by marching an army through the snowy Himalaya passes to conquer the Brahmaputra Valley and waging a near successful offensive campaign in British Bengal that caused a panic within Calcutta, the capital of British Bengal= Despite the Burmese loss in that war, the First Anglo Burmese War became the British East India Company's most costly war and led to the company's dissolution. The military campaigns of the Konbaung rulers would also bring in a plethora of new military units into the Konbaung army, including the incorporation of Manipuri cavalry in the 1820s. resulted in the depopulation of large areas of Siam, whereupon some Siamese provinces would remain deserted up to the 1870s. The descendants of Ayutthaya captives taken to Burma in 1767 are sometimes called the Yodaya people. On the other hand, his seizing of Ayutthaya artisans from the Siamese capital also resulted in the spread of the Siamese arts and culture into Burma, which would significantly influence Burmese culture. According to Baker and Phongpaichit, the Ayutthaya elite taken to Burma settled in well without conflict. The initial goal of the Ayutthaya conquest was to end Siamese support of Mon rebels in the Tenasserim coast and Lower Burma. Yet, the new Siamese elites continued to assist Mon rebels and by sending armies to the Tenasserim region for decades, up to the First Anglo Burmese War, bringing many Mon refugees, both willingly and forcibly, to settle at the new Siamese capital at Bangkok.

The Burmese success in the Sino Burmese War laid the foundation for the present day border between China, and Burma. A huge swath of territory from present day Kachin State to northern and eastern Shan State remains part of Myanmar. The Burmese acquired Tenasserim as a result of the 1765 war, which Siam was unable to regain in later conflicts. Tenasserim had been divided between both Siam and Burma for about 150 years prior to Hsinbyushin's campaigns. The entirety of Tenasserim would remain in Burmese control until 1826, when it was acquired by Britain following the First Anglo Burmese War before being cede it back 120 years later to an independent Burma.

The enduring enmity felt by Thais towards the Burmese began largely from Hsinbyushin's reign, in the light of the utter and senseless wanton destruction of the Siamese capital Ayutthaya in 1767. A Siamese chronicler wrote: "The king of Hanthawaddy (Bayinnaung) waged war like a monarch but the king of Ava (Hsinbyushin) like a robber." The Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya in 1767 was a conflict between kings, not of ethnicities. A number of Siamese joined the Burmese attack on Ayutthaya in 1767. To this day, anti Burmese feelings persist in the Thai world view. This enmity, at least among the Thai political leadership, manifested in the Thai "buffer zone" policy, which has provided shelter to, and at various times, actively encouraged and "sponsored" the several ethnic resistance groups along the border. The long running ethnic rebellions by the Shan, the Mon, the Karen against the Burmese government would likely not be possible without the Thai government's active or passive support.