State of Burma
State of Burma | |||||||||
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| 1943–1945 | |||||||||
| Motto: တသွေး၊ တသံ၊ တမိန့် t sway, t san, t min "One Blood, One Voice, One Order" | |||||||||
| Anthem: " Totalitarian dictatorship | |||||||||
| Head of State & Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1943–1945 | Ba Maw | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II | ||||||||
• Independence | 1 August 1943 | ||||||||
• Government evacuation | 19 August 1945 | ||||||||
| Currency | Rupee | ||||||||
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| History of Myanmar |
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 Myanmar portal |
The State of Burma (Burmese: ဗမာနိုင်ငံတော်; MLCTS: ba.ma nuingngamtau; Japanese: ビルマ国, Biruma-koku) was a Japanese puppet state created by Japan in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II.
Background
During the early stages of
The
National symbols
The State of Burma adopted the nationalist symbols as the State's symbols to persuade nationalists.
- The first version of Burmese Tricolouras the State's flag.
- The Dobama Anthem (de facto anthem of anti-British) as the State's anthem.
- Burmese as the State's official language.[1]
Administrative Divisions
The State of Burma was divided into four Divisions (တိုင်း);
- (1) Northern Division (မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း)
- (2) Western Division (အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း)
- (3) Southern Division (တောင်ပိုင်းတိုင်း)
- (4) Kambawza Division (ကမ္ဘောဇတိုင်း)
The Kambawza Division, made up of Shan States and Karenni States, was put under the direct administration of the head of state.
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
As the war situation gradually turned against the Japanese, the Japanese government decided that Burma and the
A Burma Independence Preparatory Committee chaired by Ba Maw was formed 8 May 1943 with a wide variety of respected members. On 1 August 1943, Burma was proclaimed the independent State of Burma and the Japanese military government for Burma was officially dissolved. The new state quickly declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States and concluded a Treaty of Alliance with Japan.
Ba Maw became "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state) of Burma under the new constitution, with wide powers.
Government of the State of Burma
The first cabinet of the State of Burma consisted of:
- Ba Maw, Prime Minister (in addition to his post as head of state)
- General Aung San, Deputy Prime Minister
- Ba Win, Minister of Home Affairs
- Thakin Nu, Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Dr. Thein Maung, Minister of Finance (later replaced by U Set after he was appointed to be Burman ambassador to Japan)
- General Aung San, Minister of Defence
- Thein Maung, Minister of Justice
- Hla Min, Minister of Education and Health
- Thakin Than Tun, Minister of Agriculture (later became Minister of Transport)
- U Mya, Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Thakin Lay Maung, Minister of Communications and Irrigation
- Bandula U Sein, Minister of Welfare and Publicity
- Tun Aung, Minister of Co-Operation with Japan
- Thakin Lun Baw, Public Works Recovery Minister
On 25 September 1943, as promised, Japan
Though now nominally independent, the power of the State of Burma to exercise its sovereignty was largely circumscribed by wartime agreements with Japan. The Imperial Japanese Army maintained a large presence and continued to act arbitrarily, despite Japan no longer having official control over Burma.
During 1943 and 1944, the
In December 1944, the AFO contacted the Allies, indicating their readiness to defect to the Allied cause by launching a national uprising which would include the forces of BNA. However, this was opposed by the British, who considering the timing to be unfavorable, and who had considerable reservations about supporting the BNA. The first BNA-led uprising against the Japanese occurred early in 1945 in central Burma.
On 27 March 1945, the remainder of the BNA paraded in Rangoon and marched out ostensibly to assist the Japanese army in the battles then raging in Central Burma against invading Allied forces. Instead, the BNA openly declared war on the Japanese. Aung San and others subsequently began negotiations with Lord Mountbatten and officially joined the Allies as the Patriotic Burmese Forces. Without the support of the BNA, the government of the State of Burma quickly collapsed, and Ba Maw fled via Thailand to Japan, where he was captured later that year and was held in Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, until 1946.
See also
References
- Allen, Louis (1986). Burma: the Longest War 1941-45. J.M. Dent and Sons. ISBN 0-460-02474-4.
- Lebra, Joyce C. (1975). Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in World War II: Selected Readings and Documents. Oxford University Press.
- Smith, Ralph (1975). Changing Visions of East Asia, 1943-93: Transformations and Continuities. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-38140-1.
- Kady, J (1958). "History of Modern Burma"
