Armed conflict in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1989
Communist insurgency in Burma
Part of the Cold War and the internal conflict in Burma
A delegation from the Communist Party of Burma returning by foot to their bases in the countryside after the failed 1963 peace talks.
Date
2 April 1948 – 16 April 1989 (41 years and 2 weeks)
Location
Burma (Myanmar)
Result
Burmese government victory
Belligerents
Union of Burma (1948–1962)
Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (1962–1988)
Union of Burma (1988–1989)
Kuomintang (1950–1961)[1]
Supported by:
India
Republic of China (1950–1980s)[a]
Thailand[2][3]
United Kingdom
United States
Communist Party of Burma (1948–1989)
Communist Party (Burma) (1948–1978)
Shan State Communist Party (1956–1958)[4]
Communist Party of Arakan (1962–1986)
Supported by:
People's Republic of China (1960s–1970s)[5][6]
Commanders and leaders
Sao Shwe Thaik (1948–1952)
U Nu (1948–1962)
Ba U (1952–1957)
Win Maung (1957–1962)
Ne Win (1962–1981)
San Yu (1981–1988)
Li Mi (1950–1953)
Thein Pe Myint (1948–1952)
Thakin Than Tun † (1952–1968)
Thakin Soe (POW)
Bo Hla Min (SSCP)
Kyaw Zan Rhee (CPA)
Units involved
Burmese Army
Republic of China Army (in Burma)
People's Liberation Army (1948–1950)
Revolutionary Burma Army (1948–1950)
People's Army (1950–1989)
Strength
43,000 (1951)[6]
15,000 (1949)[7]
6,000 (1951)[6]
500 (1961)[8]
SSCP: 251 (1958)[4]
Casualties and losses
1,352 killed (government estimate in 1952)
Unknown
3,424 killed in total (government estimate in 1952)
v
t
e
Myanmar conflict
Armed conflicts
Communist (1948–1988)
China–Myanmar border (1960–1961)
Kachin
Karen
Karen–Mon
Kokang
2009
2015
Rohingya
1978
1991–1992
2016–present
Shan
post-2021 coup
2023
Bombings and attacks
1947
1983
1999
2003
2005
2010
2013
2018
Coup d'états
1962
1988
2021
Protests
1962
1974
1988
2007–2008
2021–present
Anti-Muslim violence
2012
2013
2015
2016–present
Related topics
ceasefires
combatants
ethnic armed organisations
Myanmar portal
The communist insurgency in Burma (present-day Myanmar) was waged primarily by the Communist Party of Burma (abbr. CPB; colloquially the "white flags") and the Communist Party (Burma) ("red flags") from 1948 to 1989. The conflict ended when the CPB, severely weakened by an internal mutiny, disbanded its armed wing.
^ abRichard Michael Gibson (2011). The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 85–90. ISBN 978-0-470-83018-5.
^Lintner, Bertil. "Recent Developments on Thai-Myanmar Border. IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin". p. 72.
^Alfred W. McCoy, with Cathleen B. Read and Leonard P. Adams II (2003). "The Shan Rebellion: The Road to Chaos", from The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade (2003 ed.). Lawrence Hill Books. ISBN 1-55652-483-8. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
^ abFleischmann, Klaus. Die Kommunistische Partei Birmas – Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde, 1989. p. 405.
^Meehan, Patrick (2011). "Drugs, insurgency and state-building in Burma: Why the drugs trade is central to Burma's changing political order". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 42 (3): 385. doi:10.1017/S0022463411000336. ISSN 0022-4634. JSTOR 23020336. S2CID 56423767. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2020. From the mid-1960s until Mao's death, China's extensive support for the CPB heralded a more extensive militarisation of the state's opponents.
^ abcRichard Michael Gibson (2011). The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle. John Wiley and Sons. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-470-83018-5.
^Lintner 1990, p. 14.
^Schmid, Alex Peter, A.J. Jongman, and Michael Stohl. Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, and Literature. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2005. p. 514
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