Explain the following statement with reasons: There were three wars fought between the British and Myanmar.

Answer: Because the British wanted to expand their empire and trade eastward, and border disputes arose with the Burmese kings.

• First war (1824–26): Burmese expansion into Assam and Manipur clashed with British territory in Bengal. Burma was defeated and by the Treaty of Yandabo gave up Assam, Arakan and Tenasserim.
• Second war (1852): Over disputes with British traders at Rangoon, Lord Dalhousie attacked and annexed lower Burma (Pegu).
• Third war (1885): King Thibaw was coming close to the French and imposed a fine on a British timber company; the British attacked, deposed Thibaw and annexed the whole of Burma (1886).
• Burma's rich teak forests, oil, rice and its position on the route to China made the British determined to control it.