ABSTRACT
Toungoo, a hill stockade in the valley of the Sittang River near Prome, had attracted Burman chiefs ever since the fall of Pagan. At least in the sixteenth century, the official Burmese justification for the attack on Ayuthaya was its refusal to part with some white elephants. In the history of mainland Southeast Asia, the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries were notable for a series of wars between Myanmar and Ayuthaya. The person who quickly ended the state of potential civil war was General Chakri, a confidant of Phya Taksin. The Chakri dynasty he established still reigns in Bangkok, which he made the capital. In a sense, Vietnam was unified under the three brothers, though Vietnamese historians prefer to regard the Tayson revolt as a catalyst to the real unification brought about by Emperor Gia Long in 1802. Gia Long was as remarkable a leader in peace as he was in war.
