ABSTRACT
The Burma army on the eve of World War II was more an embodiment of British colonial attitudes than of Burmese reality. The Japanese helped reorganize the forces into the Burma Defense Army and later in July 1942 into the Burma National Army, the military arm of the Japanese-sponsored pseudo independent state. The military attracted volunteers from all classes. No firm cleavages developed among the emerging elites of the late colonial period. Students, politicians, and the military were all associated in the struggle toward the common goal–independence–although splits were to develop later. The position of the military in Burmese society was more important than the number of troops. The close interaction between the military and nationalist activities of World War II moved the military into one of the four prime areas of social mobility in Burmese society, along with politics, the monkhood, and education. The military was clearly concerned.
