Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1385–1391)
The Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1385–1391) (Burmese: အင်းဝ–ဟံသာဝတီ စစ် (၁၃၈၅–၁၃၉၁)) 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.
| Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1385–1391) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Forty Years' War | |||||||||
Key locations of the war Ava territory in blue; Hanthawaddy territory in red; Arakan territory in green | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Ava Myaungmya | Hanthawaddy Pegu | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Swa Saw Ke Tarabya Min Swe Thilawa Theinkhathu Min Letwe † Laukpya Ma Pyit-Nwe Lauk Shein Saw E Binnya † |
Razadarit Byat Za Dein Mani-Yut Nyi Kan-Kaung Smin Than-Kye Maha Thamun Smin Ye-Thin-Yan Lagun Ein Nandameit † Yaza Manu † | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
1385–1386
1386–1387
1389–1390
1390–1391
|
1385–1386
1386–1387
1389–1390
1390–1391
| ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Total unknown | Total unknown | ||||||||
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).