ABSTRACT

In the history of mainland Southeast Asia, the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were notable for a series of wars between Myanmar and Ayuthaya. The second half of the eighteenth century was a period of great social and political convulsions for Vietnam. Alaungpaya's wars in Lower Myanmar had resulted in depopulation of the province, with thousands of Mons fleeing into Ayuthaya. Tabinshweti recognized that Mon cooperation was essential to the well-being of a reunified Myanmar. Tabinshweti demanded that the king of Ayuthaya surrender some of the white elephants from the latter's stable. Tabinshweti's dreams of expansion went beyond the Burmese borders eastward into Ayuthay, and in this again he needed Mon assistance because the best invasion route lay from the Mon country across the Three Pagodas Pass into Ayuthaya. At least in the sixteenth century, the official Burmese justification for the attack on Ayuthaya was its refusal to part with some white elephants.