The Burmese Declaration of Independence ( my, လွတ်လပ်ရေးကြေညာစာတမ်း) was officially promulgated on 4 January 1948, as a result of the

Burma Independence Act 1947 The Burma Independence Act 1947 (1947, 11 Geo. VI, Ch. 3) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that conferred independence on Burma, today called Myanmar. The Act received the royal assent on 10 December 1947. The Union of Burma ...

, which brought to an end

British rule in Burma ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma , common_name = Burma , era = Colonial era , event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War , year_start = 1824 , date_start = ...

(now known as Myanmar). The date is now celebrated as

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

, a national gazetted holiday. The declaration was jointly penned by Zawgyi,

Min Thu Wun Thiri Pyanchi Min Thu Wun ( my, မင်းသုဝဏ်; 10 February 1909 – 15 August 2004) was a Burmese poet, writer and scholar who helped launch a new age literary movement called Khit-San (Testing the Times) in Burma. He is the fath ...

Ohn Pe Pakokku U Ohn Pe ( my, ပခုက္ကူ ဦးအုန်းဖေ; c. 1917 – 13 April 2008) was a Burmese businessman and writer who founded the prestigious Pakokku U Ohn Pe literary award. Early years U Ohn Pe was born around 1917 in S ...

and Win Sein, and translated into English by

Maung Maung Maung Maung ( my, မောင်မောင် ; 11 January 1925 – 2 July 1994) was the seventh president of Burma, and a well-known writer. Early life and career Maung Maung was born on 11 January 1925 in Mandalay, Upper Burma, British B ...

U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

, Khin Maung, and Khin Zaw.

History

Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign (December 1941 to mid-1942) ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was launched from Malaya in December 1941. This led to the defeat of British and Indian forces and to Japanese rule, but during 1942 the new rulers made promises to grant Burma independence after the war, believing that this would give the Burmese a stake in an

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

victory, create resistance to future re-colonization by the western powers, and lead to greater military and economic support from Burma for the Japanese war effort. On 8 May 1943, a Burma Independence Preparatory Committee was formed under the chairmanship of Ba Maw, and on 1 August 1943 a nominally independent

State of Burma The State of Burma (; ja, ビルマ国, ''Biruma-koku'') was a List of World War II puppet states#Japan, Japanese puppet state created by Japan in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stage ...

was proclaimed, with Ba Maw as "Naingandaw Adipadi" (

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

) as well as prime minister. As a result of the Burma campaign of 1944 to 1945, fought against the Japanese and the new State of Burma by the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

, the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Burma returned to British control, but it resisted this. The new Labour government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

resolved to grant Burma independence, and this resulted in the

, which conferred independence on Burma. The Burma Independence Act 1947 (1947, 11 Geo. VI, Ch. 3) The Act received the

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 10 December 1947, and the Union of Burma came into being on 4 January 1948 as a new independent republic, outside the British Empire.

References

{{Reflist Declarations of independence History of Myanmar (1948–present)

History

See also

References