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The State of Burma was created in 1943 under Japanese occupation
Japanese occupation of Burma

The Japanese occupation of Burma refers to the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was a part of the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma National Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who were the founders of the modern Armed Forces ....
.

The predecessor to the state was a provisional civil administration under Dr. Ba Maw
Ba Maw

Dr. Ba Maw was a Burma political leader....
, which was subordinate to the Japanese military administration
Military government

Military government can refer to conditions under either*Military occupation, or*Military dictatorship...
. In order to give the Burmese a real stake in the war, the Japanese government decided that Burma and the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
 would become fully independent as part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Showa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan which represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"....
, contrary to the original plan that independence only be granted after the war.






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The State of Burma was created in 1943 under Japanese occupation
Japanese occupation of Burma

The Japanese occupation of Burma refers to the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was a part of the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma National Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who were the founders of the modern Armed Forces ....
.

The predecessor to the state was a provisional civil administration under Dr. Ba Maw
Ba Maw

Dr. Ba Maw was a Burma political leader....
, which was subordinate to the Japanese military administration
Military government

Military government can refer to conditions under either*Military occupation, or*Military dictatorship...
. In order to give the Burmese a real stake in the war, the Japanese government decided that Burma and the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
 would become fully independent as part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Showa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan which represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"....
, contrary to the original plan that independence only be granted after the war. Hideki Tojo
Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944....
 promised that independence for Burma would be granted within a year from 28 January 1943, with the condition that Burma declare war on the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
.

A Burma Independence Preperatory Committee was formed 8 May 1943 with a wide variety of respected members. It was chaired by Ba Maw.

One year later, on 1 August 1943, Burma was proclaimed independent and the Japanese military government
Military government

Military government can refer to conditions under either*Military occupation, or*Military dictatorship...
 for Burma was dissolved. At this point the State of Burma was born. The new state quickly declared war on United Kingdom and the United States, and concluded a Treaty of Alliance with Japan, and would co-operate in the in the Japanese war effort.

Ba Maw was made "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state....
) of Burma under the new constitution, with wide powers.

The cabinent inaugurated on 1 August included these:
Dr. Ba Maw, Prime Minister (in addition to his post as head of state)
Thakin Mya, Deputy Prime Minister
U Ba Win
U Ba Win

U Ba Win was a Burma politician. He was the eldest brother of Aung San and was assassinated, together with Aung San during an Executive Council meeting on July 19, 1947....
, Minister of Home Affairs
Thakin Nu, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dr. Thein Maung, Minister of Finance (later replaced by U Set after he was appointed to be Burman ambassador to Japan)
General Aung San
Aung San

General Bogyoke Aung San ; February 13, 1915 ? July 19, 1947) was a Bamar revolutionary, Nationalism, freedom fighter and founder of the military of Myanmar, the Tatmadaw....
, Minister of Defence
U Thein Maung, Minister of Justice
U Hla Min, Minister of Education and Health
Thakin Than Tun
Thakin Than Tun

Thakin Than Tun born in Kanyutkwin, Myanmar, was a Burma politician and leader of the Communist Party of Burma from 1945 until his death at age 57....
, Minister of Agriculture (later became Minister of Transport)
U Mya, Minister of Commerce and Industry
Thakin Lay Maung, Minister of Communications and Irrigation
Bandoola U Sein, Minister of Welfare and Publicity
U Tun Aung, Minister of Co-Operation with Japan
Thakin Lun Baw, Public Works Recovery Minister

On 25 September 1943, as promised, Japan ceded
Cession

Most broadly, cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land borders transferred by treaty....
 all of the Shan states to Burma except for Kengtung and Mongpan, which had already been given to Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
.

Though now nominally independent, the power of the State of Burma to exercise its sovereignty was largely circumscribed by wartime agreements with Japan, whose military was able to remain in the country because of such agreements, though Japan no longer had official control over Burma.

During 1943 and 1944, the Burma National Army
Burma National Army

The Burma National Army served as the armed forces of the Burma government created by the Japanese during World War II and fought in the Burma Campaign....
 made contacts with other political groups inside Burma such as the Communist Party of Burma
Communist Party of Burma

The Communist Party of Burma is the oldest existing political party in Burma . The party is unrecognised by the Burmese authorities, rendering it illegal; so it operates in a clandestine manner, often associating with insurgent armies along the border of China....
 which had been operating underground. Eventually, a popular front organization called the Anti-Fascist Organisation
Anti-Fascist Organisation

The Anti-Fascist Organisation was a Burma resistance movement against the Japanese Occupation during the Second World War. It was the forerunner of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League so renamed at the end of the war on 19 August 1945 after the defeat of Japan and the return of the Great Britain colonial administration....
 (AFO) was formed with Thakin Soe as leader. Through the communists and a Japanese-sponsored force known as the Arakan Defence Army, the Burmese were eventually able to make contact with the British Force 136
Force 136

Force 136 was the general cover name for a branch of the United Kingdom World War II organization, the Special Operations Executive . Force 136 operated in the regions of the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II which were occupied by Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1945....
 in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. The initial contacts were always indirect. Force 136 was also able to make contacts with members of the BNA's Karen unit in Rangoon.

In December 1944, the AFO contacted the Allies, indicating their readiness to launch a national uprising which would include the BNA. The situation was not immediately considered favourable for a BNA revolt by the British and there were internal disputes about supporting the BNA among the British. The first BNA uprising occurred early in 1945 in central Burma. In late March 1945, the remainder of the BNA paraded in Rangoon and marched out ostensibly to take part in the battles then raging in Central Burma. Instead, on 27 March they openly declared war on the Japanese. The Burma government fell in early 1945, and Ba Maw fled via Thailand to Japan, where he was captured later that year and was held in Sugamo prison
Sugamo Prison

Sugamo Prison was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima, Tokyo 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan...
, in Tokyo
Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
 until 1946.

See Also

Japanese occupation of Burma
Japanese occupation of Burma

The Japanese occupation of Burma refers to the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was a part of the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma National Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who were the founders of the modern Armed Forces ....