Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767)

The Burmese–Siamese War of 1765 to 1767, known in Thailand as the war of the second fall of Ayutthaya, was an invasion of Siam by Burma under the Konbaung dynasty. After a siege of about fourteen months, Burmese forces stormed and destroyed the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya on 7 April 1767, bringing an end to a kingdom that had lasted for more than four centuries. Siam recovered within a few years under new leadership, but the old capital was never rebuilt.

In the 1750s the new Konbaung dynasty reunited Upper and Lower Burma after the fall of the Toungoo dynasty. Its founder, Alaungpaya, invaded Siam in 1759 to 1760 and reached Ayutthaya, but the rainy season and his own sudden illness forced a retreat, and he died on the way home. His son, who had served as a commander on that campaign, became king as Hsinbyushin in 1763 and set out to finish his father's work. He learned from the earlier failure, above all that a besieging army must stay through the wet season rather than withdraw.

Burmese armies first secured the northern approaches. Lanna, around Chiang Mai, was conquered in 1762 to 1763, and in 1765 the general Ne Myo Thihapate subdued the Lao kingdoms of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. A second army under Maha Nawrahta, based at Tavoy in the south, took the Tenasserim coast and western Siamese towns. In 1765 the two columns, of perhaps 20,000 men each, advanced on Ayutthaya from the north and the west, recruiting men from the conquered provinces as they went. The Siamese court of King Ekkathat chose to gather its forces in the capital, leaving the provinces largely undefended. Its defences had decayed after a long period of peace, and manpower was chronically short. A British merchant, William Powney, helped the Siamese at the Battle of Nonthaburi in December 1765, but the Burmese won.

By early 1766 both Burmese armies had reached the outskirts of Ayutthaya, and attempts to dislodge them failed. Elsewhere the villagers of Bang Rachan held out for several months, a stand later celebrated in Thai national memory. The Siamese relied on the city's walls and on the floods of the rainy season, expecting the enemy to leave, but the Burmese stayed. By late 1766 the city was running out of food, and many inhabitants gave themselves up. In January 1767 a Siamese commander of Chinese descent, Phraya Tak, broke out with his followers to the east. At the same time, war with Qing China had broken out on Burma's north-eastern frontier, so Hsinbyushin ordered his generals to finish the siege quickly. They ringed the city with forts. Maha Nawrahta died of illness in March, leaving Ne Myo Thihapate in sole command.

The Burmese dug tunnels beneath the walls and lit fires under their foundations. On 7 April 1767 a section of the north-eastern wall collapsed, and the attackers stormed the city. Large-scale killing and looting followed, and palaces, temples and houses were burned. Accounts differ on the death of King Ekkathat: Burmese chronicles say he was shot near a city gate, while Thai chronicles say he fled and died of starvation days later. Some 30,000 captives, including members of the royal family, nobles and craftsmen, were taken to Burma, together with treasure, scriptures and works of art.

Burma soon pulled most of its troops out to fight the Chinese, leaving only a small force behind. Siam broke up into rival regional regimes, but Phraya Tak gathered an army in the east, retook the Ayutthaya area in late 1767 and was crowned as King Taksin, ruling from Thonburi further down the river. Burma kept Tenasserim permanently, but Siam later gained control of Lanna. Ayutthaya was left in ruins, and many of its bricks were later carried off to build Bangkok, the capital of the Rattanakosin Kingdom founded after Taksin's fall in 1782.

Our 1715 map shows the Ayutthaya Kingdom before the war, and the 1783 map shows the reunited kingdom of Siam, today's Thailand, beside its western neighbour, now Myanmar.