TheAva–Hanthawaddy War (1430–1431) (Burmese:အင်းဝ–ဟံသာဝတီ စစ် (၁၄၃၀–၁၄၃၁)) was the fifth major conflict of theForty Years' War, fought betweenAva andHanthawaddy Pegu in present-dayMyanmar. Hanthawaddy and its allyToungoo tried to seize Ava's main southern province ofProme. Ava and Hanthawaddy reached a separate agreement without Toungoo in which Ava allowed Pegu to retain control of Paungde and Tharrawaddy in exchange for Pegu's withdrawal of support for Toungoo.

Ava and Hanthawaddy Pegu fought theirprevious war between 1422 and 1423. The war, fourth conflict since 1385, concluded with an alliance between KingThihathu of Ava, and Crown PrinceBinnya Ran of Hanthawaddy. Ran renounced his claim on Tharrawaddy while Thihathu withdrew his forces from the Irrawaddy delta. To cement the alliance, Thihathu entered a marriage of state with PrincessShin Sawbu, Ran's younger sister.

After the war, Ran emerged as the strongest ruler in the fragmented southern kingdom. He seized the Hanthawaddy throne after his rival, older half-brother KingBinnya Dhammaraza was assassinated in late 1424. Ran secured unity by granting his younger half-brother, PrinceBinnya Kyan, considerable autonomy at Martaban in exchange for Kyan sharing the region's lucrative commercial revenue with the crown. The arrangement worked; Pegu was again led by a strong leader.^[1][2]

Meanwhile, Ava spiraled down towards political instability. King Thihathu did little governing, preferring to spend time with Queen Shin Sawbu and concubines.^[3][4] In 1425, his previous favorite QueenShin Bo-Me engineered the assassinations of Thihathu, and his successor, eight-year-oldMin Hla, within a three-month period. Bo-Me then placed her lover PrinceMin Nyo of Kale on the throne, making herself the chief consort.^[5][6]

Unlike in Pegu, no unifying figure emerged in Ava. Many vassals considered Nyo's accession illegitimate. In May 1426, one of the vassals, GovernorThado of Mohnyin, drove out Nyo and Bo-Me after a three-month civil war. However, major vassals still considered Thado yet another usurper, and refused to submit.^[7][8] Another round of civil war broke out in late 1426 when PrinceMinye Kyawhtin, who was second in line to the throne, raised a rebellion. This spawned a string of rebellions across the kingdom.

In Ava's south, GovernorThinkhaya of Toungoo, the strategic southwestern province by the Hanthawaddy border, emerged as the main opponent to Thado. Though he was heavily courted by Thado with the promise of autonomy, Thinkhaya formally declared independence in late 1426, right after Prince Minye Kyawhtin's rebellion. Thinkhaya went to form alliances with other southern vassals,Thihapate III of Taungdwin and his younger brotherAnawrahta of Paungde, and most importantly, King Binnya Ran of Hanthawaddy.^[9]

At Pegu, Ran eagerly exploited the chaos in Ava. He quickly agreed to an alliance with Thinkhaya by marrying Thinkhaya's daughter, Saw Min Aung, in a marriage of state. He also accepted Anawrahta's vassalage by marrying Anawrahta's daughter. The king subsequently occupied Tharrawaddy, the region between Paungde and the Hanthawaddy border, in 1427. Not only had he not fulfilled his long-held goal of controlling Tharrawaddy, but Ran also controlled up to Paungde, only about 65 km south ofProme (Pyay), Ava's main southern city and fortress. He added Tharrawaddy to Anawrahta's portfolio.

Thinkhaya continued his expansionist drive. In 1428–1429, his forces, aided by Taungdwin's forces, seized the five irrigated districts ofYamethin region to Toungoo's immediate north. Subsequently, theShan state ofYatsauk, another former Ava vassal, joined the alliance to defend the region.^[10][11] Buoyed by success, Toungoo forces later raidedPin,Natmauk andThagara, regions that surrounded the Ava capital region, bringing back much needed conscripts.^[9]

Thado did not respond to any of the transgressions as he was busy fighting Minye Kyawhtin's rebellion. By early 1428, Minye Kyawhtin, supported by the Shan state ofOnbaung Hsipaw, was encamped inPinle, just 70 km from Ava.

Thinkhaya wanted to take over Prome as his next target. He proposed a joint-attack on the city alongside Hanthawaddy.

After Shin Sawbu fled Ava, and returned to Pegu in 1429,^[12] Ran planned to push farther north.

The war is covered primarily in the mainroyal chronicles. The chronicleMaha Yazawin (1724) is the first to cover the war from Ava's perspective.^{[note 2]} The chronicle places the war in 1436–1437, and states that the ruler of Toungoo who fought in the war wasSaw Lu Thinkhaya. TheYazawin Thit chronicle (1798) keeps the 1436–1437 duration but changes the ruler of Toungoo toSaw Oo II, noting that Thinkhaya had already died in 1435/36. This is problematic because the regional chronicle of Toungoo, theToungoo Yazawin (c. 1480s), states the war took place sometime after 1428/29 during the reign of Thinkhaya. TheHmannan Yazawin (1832) states that the war took place in 1430–1431, and the ruler of Toungoo was Thinkhaya.

TheSlapat Rajawan chronicle (1766), in the 1873 version edited byArthur Purves Phayre, provides a cursory coverage of the war.^{[note 3]}

• Athwa, Sayadaw (1906) [1766]."Slapat des Ragawan der Königsgeschichte".Die äthiopischen Handschriften der K.K. Hofbibliothek zu Wien (in German).151. Translated byP.W. Schmidt. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
• Aung-Thwin, Michael A. (2017).Myanmar in the Fifteenth Century. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.ISBN 978-0-8248-6783-6.
• Fernquest, Jon (Spring 2006)."Rajadhirat's Mask of Command: Military Leadership in Burma (c. 1384–1421)"(PDF).SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research.4 (1).Archived(PDF) from the original on 2020-03-22. Retrieved2024-01-04.
• Fernquest, Jon (Autumn 2006)."Crucible of War: Burma and the Ming in the Tai Frontier Zone (1382–1454)"(PDF).SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research.4 (2).Archived(PDF) from the original on 2017-08-10. Retrieved2024-01-04.
• Harvey, G. E. (1925).History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Hlaing, Mi Mi (2018)."States of Hostilities in the First Ava Period".Mandalay University Research Journal.9 (1).University of Mandalay.
• Htin Aung, Maung (1967).A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press.
• Kala, U (2006) [1724].Maha Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Maha Sithu (2012) [1798]. Myint Swe; Kyaw Win; Thein Hlaing (eds.).Yazawin Thit (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2nd printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Pan Hla, Nai (2005) [1968].Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing ed.). Yangon: Armanthit Sarpay.
• Phayre, Major Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1873). "The History of Pegu".Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.42. Oxford University.
• Phayre, Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. (1967) [1883].History of Burma. London: Susil Gupta.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (2003) [1832].Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3. Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.
• Scott, James George; Hardiman, John Percy (1899).Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. Vol. 1. Rangoon: Government Printing, Burma.
• Sein Lwin Lay, Kahtika U (2006) [1968].Mintaya Shwe Hti and Bayinnaung: Ketumadi Taungoo Yazawin (in Burmese) (2nd printing ed.). Yangon: Yan Aung Sarpay.

Category:Wars involving MyanmarCategory:1430s conflictsCategory:1430s in Asia

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