"Burma" and "Myanmar" are both English-spelling approximations of two of the nation's names.
The first writing from Myanmar is from the Pyu city-states, in the 1st millennium CE. Around 900 - 1000 CE, they were overrun by Burman raiders from what is now Yunnan in southern China, raiders who eventually settled down there, raiders whose language became the dominant language, Burmese.
Myanmar had some ups and downs of kingdoms and empires that I will skip over, but after some 60 years of the Anglo-Burmese wars, Britain completed its conquest of Myanmar in 1885. In 1948, Myanmar became independent again, under what was at least a nominal democracy.
But, from
Myanmar
When the non-Burman ethnic groups pushed for autonomy or federalism, alongside having a weak civilian government at the centre, the military leadership staged a coup d’état in 1962. Though incorporated in the 1947 Constitution, successive military governments construed the use of the term ‘federalism’ as being anti-national, anti-unity and pro-disintegration.[76]
Then the first coup.
On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government had been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalised or brought under government control under the Burmese Way to Socialism,[77] which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning.
A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974. Until 1988, the country was ruled as a one-party system, with the general and other military officers resigning and ruling through the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).[78]
But its economic performance was very poor, and the military rulers harshly suppressed protests of their rule.
In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests.
Though Myanmar had free multiparty elections in 1990, and though Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), got 80% of the seats, the military rulers were unwilling to concede power.
"In August 2007, an increase in the price of fuel led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government.[84]"
But in 2008, Myanmar had a referendum on creating a new constitution.
"The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory in the 2010 elections, stating that it had been favoured by 80 per cent of the votes; however, the claim was disputed by numerous pro-democracy opposition groups who asserted that the military regime had engaged in rampant fraud."
General elections were held on 8 November 2015. These were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since the 1990 general election (which was annulled[114]).The results gave the NLD an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament, enough to ensure that its candidate would become president, while NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidency.[114][115]
The new parliament convened on 1 February 2016,[116] and on 15 March 2016, Htin Kyaw was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962.[117] On 6 April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the newly created role of state counsellor, a role akin to a prime minister.
Nevertheless, the military was guaranteed some 25% of the legislature seats.
The NLD won big in 2020, but the military refused to accept that outcome, and on the day before the swearing in of the recently-elected legislators, the military did a coup.
