A Marlet’s tale: from a White Horse to a Peacock.

[La Rouge Beret]

Prologue: Jack is as good as his master

At some point on his return to France Admiral de Suffren completed his report on his squadron’s involvement in the Carnation war. His prose contained the usual superfluous phrases, yet it also made an insightful recommendation that would alter the fortunes of a declining kingdom (1). The Minister of the Navy Cesar De Choiseul slowly digested the recommendation and after consulting a globe made his representations to the King Louis XV.


Admiral de Suffren

In June 1764 a French delegation travelled to the city of Mrak U to negotiate with King Sanda Parama. After tempestuous negotiations the King allowed the French to establish a trading port on the estuary island of Sittwe; with further provisions for the construction of a fort and naval shipyard at a later date. In exchange a military mission under the command of Francis de Gaston would be established in the capital to train their army, with an arsenal to provide muskets and artillery(2).

For the French this agreement meant that they had an excellent trading base with access to the interior and a secure port from which to attack British trade. For Mrak U with a rapacious neighbor to the north in the Kingdom of Ava, the martial prowess of their soldiers was critical to their continued existence as an independent state.

Author’s notes

1) His recommendation was to establish a shipyard at Rangoon, I have modified this to Sittwe as it is closer to the French colonies in India.

2) The military mission will be staffed with repatriated soldiers from New France.

 

[RyuDrago]

So, towards a French Burma? I'm very curious to see what happen next... i smell a renewed effort of France in India, probably during the American Revolution... And this time a victory could be possible, with other inexpected consequences...

 

[La Rouge Beret]

So, towards a French Burma? I'm very curious to see what happen next... i smell a renewed effort of France in India, probably during the American Revolution... And this time a victory could be possible, with other inexpected consequences...

You will not see a French Burma, but there will be a more resilient French presence on the sub continent and south east asia generally. The state I am referring to is Mrak U, which is the modern province of Arakan in Myanmar.

 

[RyuDrago]

You will not see a French Burma, but there will be a more resilient French presence on the sub continent and south east asia generally. The state I am referring to is Mrak U, which is the modern province of Arakan in Myanmar.

However, it's interesting to see an immediate French reaction in that area after the defeat in the 7YW...

 

[La Rouge Beret]

The War of 1814

When he gazed through his telescope at the port of Rangoon, the sight of the bustling shipyards allegedly provided Shwe Thaik with the inspiration for the war of 1814. Who was Shwe Taik? Shwe Taik was a merchant or privateer - depending upon who was asked and the owner of a shipping company that traded with French India.


His small merchant fleet had been destroyed or captured at the start of the Napoleonic wars, following the establishment of a close blockade on French India by the Royal Navy. After the capitulation of French India to the British forces, the Governor of India issued a decree banning all trading houses that had assisted the French. Because of his ties to France his firm had been banned from the subcontinent, although his remaining ships continued to trade covertly.


Rangoon was an important trading port between the Burmese and the British East India Company. The supply of saltpeter and other precious metals from Rangoon contributed to maintaining British rule in India. Their shipyards refitted ships at a lower cost than their rivals on the subcontinent, allowing the British East India Company to extend their reach throughout the Pacific.


Jean Francois Allard (1) was focused on the strategic dilemma facing Mrak U, how could his Kingdom secure their borders against a larger, aggressive state? It had been whispered by the Arakanese merchants that traded with the Burmese, that when the present Burmese King died his heir would concentrate the Burmese army to annihilate his Kingdom. An outcome that all independent observers agreed was a foregone conclusion. Consequently the Arakanese military was compelled to commence war when the strategic situation favoured them.


General Jean Francois Allard



It was during his daily horse ride that Gen Allard arrived at his solution. After returning his horse to the stable, he obtained a map of Arakan and Lower Burma. He then proceeded to place his compass on the map and extend the point to the relevant areas. The travelling time from Ava to Rangoon was between fifteen and twenty days, compared to thirty to reach the Arakanese border. If the Arakanese forces occupied the ridgeline next to the town of Minde, the Burmese would be compelled to send their army.


If Rangoon was attacked and the fort captured by the Arakanese two weeks after their invasion, then the Crown Prince would divide his force to deal with both threats – allowing near parity to be achieved on the battlefield. Strategic necessity meant that to achieve parity at Minde, required the Rangoon force to be smaller. Success required aggression, local knowledge and independent thought, traits found in Shwe Taik and General Chin Payan.
In the first week of the month of Nattaw (2) , the Arakanese army of 25,000 invaded the Kingdom of Ava and sacked the town of Minde. It then proceeded to destroy the rice fields, and devastate the surrounding cities. King Bodawapaya flew into a rage when he was informed, and immediately dispatched the entire Burmese army of 40,000 men under the command of Crown Prince Tharrawaddy to destroy the Arakanese force.


At the end of the second week four trading ship flying Siamese jacks dropped anchor in Rangoon harbor in the late afternoon, awaiting their opportunity to trade the following day. At 3 am two of the four schooners departed from the flotilla towards the Burmese fort. Once alongside, the raiding party utilized grappling hooks to scale the side of the fort. After subduing the garrison, a red rocket arced over the harbour indicating their success. The remaining parties then proceeded beneath the now impotent guns of the fort to commence firing the shipyards and the city. At daybreak the Arakanese flag cracked above the charred remnants of the city.


With the majority of the shipping destroyed by the Arakanese army, Prince Tharrawaddy’s army moved through the thick jungle on foot. With such an arduous environment his force began to suffer the effects of illness. It was an inauspsicious time to find out that the Arakanese had occupied Rangoon, and could threaten the capital of Ava. He was faced with the strategic dilemma conceived by Jean Francois Allard, should he concentrate on Minde and ignore the threat of an attack upon the capital Ava? He dispatched 10,000 soldiers to occupy a blocking position at Meady to prevent an attack on the capital and continued with his remaining army.

Authors Notes:
1) The commander of the Arakan military was a French vagabond. His original motivation to travel to the Far East was to establish a trading firm, yet once there the allure and the rewards of a military career prompted a career change.

2) Nattaw - November

 

[La Rouge Beret]

A Double threat


The Burmese army led by Prince Tharrawady

The ‘Battle of Minde' was fought on a plain beneath the small ridgeline to the west of Minde on the 22nd of November 1814. With his artillery situated on the hill in a commanding position, Jean Allard deployed his infantry in a skirmish line at the base of the ridgeline. Halfway up the ridge the ‘heavy infantry’ manned wooden palisades. This deployment was in full view of Prince Tharrawaddy’s army, yet it represented only two thirds of his army. The remaining third consisted of predominantly light cavalry waited to the south, obscured by the vegetation.

Prince Tharrawady launched his attack with the sophistication of a mad bull. His initial attack was launched, whilst their artillery was unlimbering, uphill into cannonade and musket fire. Reconstituting his army after the failed first attack, he then launched another frontal assault up the ridgeline into the prepared Arakanese positions. Although Shan soldiers reached and breached the palisades at several points, they were ultimately repulsed with the remaining Burmese forces. At this point Prince Tharrawady accepted the advice from his cavalry commander Ma Bundula to reconnoiter the enemy position to determine if a flanking assault was possible.

Having paused for lunch he used his skirmishers to maintain pressure on the enemy position as he consulted with his remaining officers for the afternoon attack. The mood in the command group was confident, as the Arakanese forces had also suffered heavy losses during the previous two attacks. Another attack would surely break their lines and they would rout the Arakanese army. Confident that the enemy would remain content to wait behind their palisades for the following attack, the command group was lightly protected. It is uncertain what caused the misidentification of the Arakanese cavalry as Burmese cavalry as they travelled towards the Burmese lines, but that fault led to the destruction of the army.

The initial cavalry charge hit the weakened Burmese forces on their southern flank and penetrated through the outer screen to reach the command group. With the death of every senior officer, except for Ma Bundula, the Burmese army disintegrated under the attack from cavalry and the Arakanese skirmishers. At the end of the day the Burmese forces had suffered 20,000 casualties with 4,000 taken prisoner. The sole glimmer of hope from the Battle of Three Passes was the fighting withdrawal conducted by General Bundula and his stout defence that prevented the complete annihilation of the Burmese army. Despite the valiant efforts of General Bundula and the astute suggestions of Major Burney (1), the Arakanese army occupied Magwe bisecting the country and dividing the Burmese forces.

Rama II, the King of Siam recognized this opportunity to expand his Kingdom at the expense of their historical enemy. The Siamese army occupied the province of Tenasserim. For the Mon people the destruction of the Hanwathy kingdom by the Burmese was a visceral memory. To assist in the acceptance of Siamese rule by the Mon, King Rama proclaimed that Hanwathy Kingdom would be restored as a Siamese protectorate. Consequently the Siamese army was feted by the Mon people as they passed by each village.

The defeated army trudged through the jungle, and made camp outside of the capital Ava. Following the annexation of Tenasserim the Siamese and Arakanese commanders agreed to coordinate their actions. The Siamese general moved his army north to Rangoon, where he linked up with the Arakanese force commanded by General Payan. Embarking upon the remaining ships they travelled up the Irrawady and engaged the encircled Burmese army at Meady. With the destruction of his army and the road to his capital open King Bagyidaw sued for peace on the 2nd of December 1814.

The war of 1814 was the first defeat the Burmese army had suffered in 70 years and nearly ended the Kobaung dynasty. The provisions of the peace were particularly harsh: recognition of the Hanwathy Kingdom, a prohibition on restoring or improving coastal fortifications, reparations of 5,000,000 rupees to the Kingdom of Mrak U and 3,000,000 rupees to Siam. Both occupying armies remained at their ceasefire positions, until the reparations had been paid.

For the Kingdom of Ava the inability of their armies to defeat their historical foes forced the Hluttaw (2) to evaluate their military and government structures. At the end of 1814 a small delegation upon the invitation of the British resident Major Burney departed Rangoon for Europe. For the Mrak U Kingdom the mythology surrounding their victory ignored the staffwork that allowed it to occur, and a belief developed that a single Arakan soldier was worth more two Burmese. The Siamese believed that this defeat was proof of their superiority over the Burmese and the Hanwathy protectorate secured their northern borders.

Authors Notes
1)Major Burney – British resident to the Court of Ava
2) Hluttaw - Privy Council