In the 17th century, the Burmese had fended off the Dutch, the Portugese, the Armenians, and the other European who had arrived at Burma's shores "in the first waves of European exploration" In the next century they had successfully withstood a long Chinese invasion from 1765 to 1769, and annexed parts of Manipur, Assam, Chittagong, Laos, and Siam, and had ravaged Ayuthia, Siam's capital. As such, the authorities of court of Ava In the early 1800s took great pride in their success on the battlefield and viewed themselves as a powerful, and perhaps even invincible, nation, and was actively expanding its territory. Around the same time, the English East India Company had dominated India, and with the country as a foothold, the English were
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The English strategy was an invasion of Burma with three fronts: the Assam-Manipur front, the Arakan front, and the Rangoon front. The Rangoon front was the most important ; the English hoped that the Burmese king would make a peace offer as soon as the port town of Rangoon was captured, and otherwise planned to march along the Irrawaddy River straight to the capital until the Burmese sued for peace. The aims of the other two fronts was no more than to drive away the Burmese from the respective areas. While the Burmese did have to retreat from Assam and Manipur and finally lost Cachar to the English, the Burmese forces at the Arakan front led by Maha Bandula were victorious. They prevailed over the English forces in Arakan and continued their advance to capture Chittagong. However, Bandula did not want to push too far as his insight into English strategy told him he would be needed in Rangoon, and indeed the armies of both the Arakan and Assam-Manipur front were ordered back to Rangoon, where the situation was dire. In a feat of amazing logistical skill, Bandula and his deputy Uzana mobilized their forces over the Arakan Hills to Rangoon in the rainy season. However, had Bandula been able to continue his advance to Chittagong, he would have been able to threaten a large part of the Bengal area, which would have allowed Burma more favourable terms in the post-war peace
The English strategy was an invasion of Burma with three fronts: the Assam-Manipur front, the Arakan front, and the Rangoon front. The Rangoon front was the most important ; the English hoped that the Burmese king would make a peace offer as soon as the port town of Rangoon was captured, and otherwise planned to march along the Irrawaddy River straight to the capital until the Burmese sued for peace. The aims of the other two fronts was no more than to drive away the Burmese from the respective areas. While the Burmese did have to retreat from Assam and Manipur and finally lost Cachar to the English, the Burmese forces at the Arakan front led by Maha Bandula were victorious. They prevailed over the English forces in Arakan and continued their advance to capture Chittagong. However, Bandula did not want to push too far as his insight into English strategy told him he would be needed in Rangoon, and indeed the armies of both the Arakan and Assam-Manipur front were ordered back to Rangoon, where the situation was dire. In a feat of amazing logistical skill, Bandula and his deputy Uzana mobilized their forces over the Arakan Hills to Rangoon in the rainy season. However, had Bandula been able to continue his advance to Chittagong, he would have been able to threaten a large part of the Bengal area, which would have allowed Burma more favourable terms in the post-war peace