Toungoo-Hanthawaddy War

The Toungoo-Hanthawaddy War was fought from 1534 to 1541 between the rising Toungoo kingdom of Burma and the larger, wealthier Hanthawaddy kingdom based at Pegu, which was allied with the Prome kingdom and the Confederation of Shan States. Early Toungoo raids against Pegu's defenses from 1534 to 1537 failed to make headway, but the Toungoo leadership, including the future king Bayinnaung, then turned to intrigue, sowing enough discord within the Hanthawaddy court that King Takayutpi was induced to execute his own most capable ministers, allowing Toungoo forces to seize Pegu without a major battle in 1538 to 1539 and rout the retreating Hanthawaddy army at Naungyo. The war's final phase was a grueling seven-month siege of the port city of Martaban in 1540 to 1541, which Toungoo forces, reinforced by Portuguese mercenaries, eventually breached. Toungoo's total victory brought Hanthawaddy's coastal wealth, maritime trade access and foreign firearms under its control, resources that fueled the kingdom's subsequent expansion into the dominant power of mainland Southeast Asia.