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Royal Burmese Armed Forces

Royal Armed Forces
မြန်မာ့ဘုရင့်တပ်မတော်
Tatmadaw
Flag of the Alaungpaya Dynasty of Myanmar.svg
Flag of Kingdom of Burma
Active 849–1885
Country Flag of the Alaungpaya Dynasty of Myanmar.svg Kingdom of Burma
Branch Palace Guards
Capital Defense Corps
Artillery Corps
Elephantry Corps
Cavalry Corps
Infantry Regiments
Navy
Type Army, Navy
Role Military force
Size 70,000 men at its height
Engagements Mongol invasions
Forty Years' War
Toungoo-Hanthawaddy War
Burmese–Siamese wars
Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War
Sino-Burmese War (1765–1769)
Anglo-Burmese wars
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Kyansittha, Minye Kyawswa, Bayinnaung, Alaungpaya, Maha Nawrahta, Maha Thiha Thura, Maha Bandula

The Royal Armed Forces (Burmese: တပ်မတော် [taʔmədɔ̀]) were the armed forces of the Burmese monarchy from the 9th to 19th centuries. It refers to the military forces of the Pagan Dynasty, the Ava Kingdom, the Toungoo Dynasty and the Konbaung Dynasty in chronological order. The army was one of the major armed forces of Southeast Asia until it was defeated by the British over a six-decade span in the 19th century.

The army was organised into a small standing army of a few thousand, which defended the capital and the palace, and a much larger conscript-based wartime army. Conscription was based on the ahmudan system, which required local chiefs to supply their predetermined quota of men from their jurisdiction on the basis of population in times of war. The wartime army also consisted of elephantry, cavalry, artillery and naval units.

Firearms, first introduced from China in the late 14th century, became integrated into strategy only gradually over many centuries. The first special musket and artillery units, equipped with Portuguese matchlocks and cannon, were formed in the 16th century. Outside the special firearm units, there was no formal training program for the regular conscripts, who were expected to have a basic knowledge of self-defense, and how to operate the musket on their own. As the technological gap between European powers widened in the 18th century, the army was dependent on Europeans' willingness to sell more sophisticated weaponry.


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Wikipedia

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