The Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1385–1391) () was a military conflict between Ava and Hanthawaddy Pegu, both kingdoms located in present-day Myanmar, that lasted from 1385 to 1391. It was the first of the four decades-long wars between the two kingdoms. Hanthawaddy's victory over a far larger Ava in this war preserved the nascent kingdom's independence.
The war's immediate origins trace to Hanthawaddy's deep political turmoil following King Razadarit's contentious rise to power in 1384. The 16-year-old king, who had seized the throne after having raised a rebellion against his ailing father King Binnya U, faced several rebellions by his father's vassals. The crisis escalated in 1385 when Viceroy Laukpya of the Province of Myaungmya persuaded King Swa Saw Ke of Ava to put him on the Hanthawaddy throne. Swa underestimated Razadarit, and sent down two small armies led by his two young sons, Crown Prince Tarabya and Prince Min Swe. When his bickering sons came back empty-handed after a badly coordinated campaign five months later, Swa himself invaded with much larger land and riverine forces. Ava forces penetrated as far south as Dagon and Dala but they could not overcome formidable Hanthawaddy fortifications, and had to withdraw by mid 1387.
The two failed campaigns ushered a new entrant into the fray. Ava's longtime enemy Maw (Mong Mao) began raiding its northernmost districts, forcing Swa to suspend his southern operations until a truce with Maw was reached in 1389/90. Razadarit took full advantage and captured two provinces he did not yet control—Martaban and Myaungmya—as well as two border towns inside Ava territory by early 1390. In response, Swa launched another major invasion that year but his forces could not even get past the border. Faced with another embarrassing defeat, Swa grudgingly accepted Razadarit's peace offer, in which Ava agreed to recognize Pegu in exchange for Pegu returning the border towns. Tensions remained high until Swa withdrew his last regiments from the Tharrawaddy front later in 1391.
In the following decade, Hanthawaddy-Pegu under Razadarit's leadership became more unified, and grew to be a major regional power. On the other hand, Ava remained preoccupied with the Maw threat throughout the 1390s. When Ava entered into a succession crisis in 1400, Razadarit felt powerful enough that he invaded his larger and more populous northern neighbor, starting the Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1401–1403).
Background
The origins of the war trace back to the two kingdoms' lukewarm relationship since the early 1370s as well as Ava's long-running problems with its northern neighbor, Shan-speaking Maw (Mong Mao).
Emergence of Ava and Hanthawaddy Pegu Both kingdoms emerged in the 1360s. The central-dry zone-based Ava was founded in 1365 as a remnant of the Pinya and Sagaing kingdoms, after Maw raids left the two kingdoms in tatters.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 393–396Aung-Thwin 2017: 53–55 When Ava's founder Thado Minbya died in 1367, his successor Swa Saw Ke inherited a largely embryonic polity that controlled few peripheral regions.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 400–402Aung-Thwin 2017: 59–61 On the southern coast, the polity based out of Pegu (Bago) came into being as a remnant of the Martaban Kingdom in 1369/70 when King Binnya U was forced to retreat to the hitherto provincial capital by his cousins Byattaba and Laukpya, who had waged a rebellion since 1364.Pan Hla 2005: 48Pan Hla 2005: 53–55
Early relations It was during these turbulent times that the first peace treaty between the two rump kingdoms was signed in 1370/71. The initial proposal came from U, who wanted to keep his northern border quiet. Swa, who wanted U's assurance that Pegu would not help the former southern vassals of Pinya, accepted.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 408Pan Hla 2005: 59–60Harvey 1925: 81–82
The treaty allowed both kings to focus on their domestic struggles. Though U regained Donwun from Byattaba in 1371,Pan Hla 2005: 60–61 the king was soon forced to make peace when his cousins sought an intervention by the kingdom of Lan Na (in present-day northern Thailand). The king agreed to recognize them as the autonomous viceroys of Martaban and Myaungmya provinces, respectively; in return, the brothers agreed to nominally recognize U as their sovereign.Aung-Thwin 2017: 247As the Razadarit Ayedawbon recounts in (Pan Hla 2005: 63), U also agreed to "gift" his nominal vassals 10 viss (16.33 kg) of gold and ten elephants.
Swa was far more successful in expanding his authority. He promptly went to war with Maw, and by 1373 had seized Kale (Kalay) and Myedu from Maw.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 408–409Harvey 1925: 85–86(Than Tun 1959: 131): An Ava inscription dated 7 February 1375 triumphantly commemorates Swa's victory over the "heretic Shans". Later in 1373 (or early 1374), he placed his nominee on the vacant throne of Arakan.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 413 He then plotted to replace Governor Pyanchi I of Toungoo, who he felt was too close to Pegu.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 413Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 23
Deterioration of relations The relations between the kingdoms suddenly cooled in 1375 when Pyanchi I revolted. According to the main royal chronicles, Pegu sent a sizable military force to Toungoo (Taungoo) to aid the rebellion. Ava had to send three separate expeditions to regain Toungoo in 1375–1376.Than Tun 1959: 129Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 335 However, the Razadarit Ayedawbon, the chronicle that covers the early Hanthawaddy period from the Hanthawaddy perspective, makes no mention of Pegu's support of Toungoo in any way during this period; instead, it portrays U as an ailing king whose effective authority amounted to a single province, not one capable of interfering in others' affairs.See (Pan Hla 2005 59–63) for the Razadarit Ayedawbon's narrative of Binnya U's reign, post-1370/71, which makes no mention of any support for Toungoo or any conflicts with Ava. In any case, it was only in 1383 when Pegu was amidst a serious rebellion that Ava was able to install its preferred governor at the border state.Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 164Sein Lwin Lay 2006: 24 The Ava regime watched on as Pegu's political instabilities worsened after Binnya U's death in 1384. Their subsequent decision to interfere in the southern kingdom's affairs would lead to war.Htin Aung 1967: 88
Prelude to the war
Instabilities in Pegu Pegu's succession crisis began in May 1383 when Prince Binnya Nwe raised a rebellion against his ailing father (and his aunt and adoptive mother Princess Maha Dewi). The young prince went on to seize the throne, after U's death in January 1384.Pan Hla 2005: 92–94, 161 However, the 16-year-old new king, now known by his regnal title Razadarit, could not get any of the key vassals outside his home province to acknowledge him. Governor Smin Sam Lek of Donwun, a Binnya U loyalist, deemed Razadarit a mere usurper while viceroys Byattaba of Martaban and Laukpya of Myaungmya, who had indirectly supported the prince's rebellion, refused to submit now that the rebellion had succeeded.Pan Hla 2005: 145, 147–148Fernquest Spring 2006: 7
Laukpya's request
Laukpya in particular wanted to take over Pegu. Since he could not take on the most populous province on his own, he considered seeking Ava's help, just as the brothers sought Lan Na's help in the 1370s. However, Byattaba, whose territory bordered the Tai states to the east, demurred. Laukpya ultimately decided to act on his own, and sent an embassy to Ava in 1385, offering to hold Pegu as a vassal state.Harvey 1925: 82Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 195–196Pan Hla 2005: 164–165
His proposal greatly resonated with the Ava court, which was dealing with a developing situation in Arakan: Saw Me, the latest Ava-nominated king, had been driven out. Ultimately, the Ava court, led by Chief Minister Min Yaza, assessed Pegu as an easier mission.Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 414–415 Swa, who wanted to restore the erstwhile Pagan Empire, accepted Laukpya's proposal, touching off what would become "the forty years' war between Ava and Pegu."
First invasion (1385–1386)
Ava battle plan
King Swa and his court saw little difficulty in taking over Pegu. Their battle plan reflected that belief: Swa assigned his two young sons with no prior military experience—Crown Prince Tarabya, who was about to turn 17, and Prince Min Swe of Pyinzi, who had recently turned 12The main chronicles report Prince Tarabya's age as either about to turn 17 or already 17, and Prince Min Swe's as 13. Furthermore, the chronicles Maha Yazwin and Hmannan Yazawin say the invasion began in 1386 but the Yazawin Thit chronicle says it began in 1385. (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 196): At the start of the invasion in 1385, Tarabya was about to enter his 18th year (i.e. turn 17), and Prince Min Swe was in his 14th year (i.e. aged 13). However, the chronicle's age for Prince Min Swe is an error. It has simply copied (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 291)'s age of 14th year (aged 13) in 1386, without adjusting the age for 1385. Per the inscriptional evidence (Maha Yazawin Vol. 2 2006: 55, footnote), the prince was born on Tuesday, 12th waning of Thadingyut 735 ME (13 September 1373), meaning he was 12 before the start of the invasion. (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 417–418), which accepts the Maha Yazawin's 1386 date, reports Tarabya's age as already in his 18th year (17), and Min Swe's as 14th year (13).—to lead two relatively small armies. The king did appoint two of his best generals, including Thilawa of Yamethin and Theinkhathu of Sagu,Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 435 to advise the princes. The plan called for a three-pronged attack. The first army led by the crown prince (9 regiments, 7,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, 20 war elephants) was to invade the Sittaung River valley from Toungoo. Prince Swe's second army (9 regiments, 6,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, 20 elephants) was to invade from Tharrawaddy along the Hlaing river, and join up with Laukpya's Myaungmya flotilla invading from the delta around Dagon (modern downtown Yangon) in a pincer movement towards Pegu.Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 291Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 196Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 417–418
Pegu battle plan
Pegu's battle plan was shaped by its sheer lack of manpower. A desperate Razadarit sent a last-minute mission to Donwun in search of levies but Sam Lek ignored the request.Pan Hla 2005: 165 In the end, the Pegu command had no choice but to defend from a few key fortified towns en route to the capital. On the northeastern front along the Sittaung river, Hanthawaddy's main defenses began only at Fort Pankyaw (modern Waw),(Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 291, footnote 1): Near the town of Sittaung. about northeast of Pegu. On the northwestern and western fronts, a series of smaller forts at Hlaing (modern Taikkyi), Hmawbi, and Dagon defended the route towards Pegu.
Invasion
Grinding advance