Tatmadaw in the context of Independence Day (Myanmar)

Naypyidaw (/ˈneɪpjɪˌdɔː/), officially romanised as Nay Pyi Taw (NPT), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities in that it is an entirely planned city outside of any state or region. The city, previously known only as Pyinmana District, officially replaced Yangon as the administrative capital of Myanmar on 6 November 2005; its official name was revealed to the public on Armed Forces Day, 27 March 2006.

As the seat of the government of Myanmar, Naypyidaw is the site of the Assembly of the Union, the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, the official residences of the Cabinet and the headquarters of government ministries and military. Naypyidaw is notable for its unusual combination of large size and very low population density. The city hosted the 24th and 25th ASEAN Summit, the 3rd BIMSTEC Summit, the Ninth East Asia Summit, the 2013 Southeast Asian Games and the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship.

The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who were the founders of the modern Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). The Burmese hoped to gain support of the Japanese in expelling the British, so that Burma could become independent.

In 1942, Japan invaded Burma and, on 1 August 1943, nominally declared the colony independent as the State of Burma. A pro-Japanese government led by Ba Maw was installed. However, many Burmese began to believe the Japanese had no intention of giving them real independence.

The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ) is the supreme law of Myanmar. Myanmar's first constitution adopted by constituent assembly was enacted for the Union of Burma in 1947. After the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, a second constitution was enacted in 1974. The country has been ruled by military juntas for most of its history.

The 2008 Constitution, the country's third constitution, was published in September 2008 after a referendum, and came into force on 31 January 2011. Under this current constitution, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) retain significant control of the government, even before their coup of 2021. Under the constitution, 25% of seats in the Parliament of Myanmar were reserved for serving military officers. The ministries of home, border affairs and defense were headed by serving military officers. The military also appointed one of the country's two vice presidents. Hence, the country's civilian leaders have little influence over the security establishment.

Burma was under the military dictatorship of Ne Win from 1962 to 1988. Ne Win and his allies in the Tatmadaw – the country's armed forces – overthrew the government of Prime Minister U Nu in a coup d'état on 2 March 1962. A day later, the coup leaders established the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma as the country's governing body. In April 1962, the Revolutionary Council introduced the Burmese Way to Socialism and declared it Burma's state ideology. The Revolutionary Council then founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) as the country's vanguard party on 4 July 1962. In 1974, Ne Win introduced a new constitution and replaced the Revolutionary Council with the Pyithu Hluttaw, which consisted solely of BSPP members. The country's official name was also changed from the Union of Burma to the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma.

Ne Win's governance of Burma was characterised by totalitarianism, isolationism, superstition, xenophobia, and a rejection of Cold War politics. Ne Win ruled Burma as a dictator, serving as both Chairman of the Revolutionary Council (later President of Burma) and Prime Minister of Burma, the country's head of state and the head of government, respectively. The nationalisation of major industries and rejection of foreign investment led to catastrophic declines in economic growth and living standards.

The Bangladesh–Myanmar border is the international border between the countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly Burma). The border stretches 271.0 kilometres (168.4 miles), from the tripoint with India in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. About 210 km (130 mi) of the border is fenced, with the government of Myanmar announcing in 2017 that it was planning to fence off the rest of the border.

On 9 December 2024, Arakan Army captured all of the Burmese military outposts and seized control of Myanmar's border with Bangladesh after an intense battle in Maungdaw.

The 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms were a series of political, economic and administrative reforms in Myanmar undertaken by the military-backed government. These reforms include the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and subsequent dialogues with her, establishment of the National Human Rights Commission, general amnesties of more than 200 political prisoners, institution of new labour laws that allow labour unions and strikes, relaxation of press censorship, and regulations of currency practices. As a consequence of the reforms, ASEAN approved Myanmar's bid for the chairmanship in 2014. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar on 1 December 2011, to encourage further progress; it was the first visit by a Secretary of State in more than fifty years. United States President Barack Obama visited one year later, becoming the first US president to visit the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, participated in by-elections held on 1 April 2012 after the government abolished laws that led to the NLD's boycott of the 2010 general election. She led the NLD in winning the by-elections in a landslide, winning 41 out of 44 of the contested seats, with Aung San Suu Kyi herself winning a seat representing Kawhmu Constituency in the lower house of the Myanmar Parliament. However, uncertainties existed as some other political prisoners have not been released and clashes between Myanmar troops and local insurgent groups continued. In 2021, the reforms were rolled back in the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and outbreak of civil war.

Aung San (Burmese: အောင်ဆန်း, MLCTS: aung hcan:, pronounced [àʊɰ̃ sʰáɰ̃]; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goal was realized. Aung San is considered to be the founder of modern-day Myanmar and the Tatmadaw (the country's armed forces), and is commonly referred to by the titles "Father of the Nation", "Father of Independence", and "Father of the Tatmadaw".

Devoted to ending British Colonial rule in Burma, Aung San founded or was closely associated with many Burmese political groups and movements and explored various schools of political thought throughout his life. He was a life-long anti-imperialist and studied socialism as a student. In his first year of university he was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students' Union and served as the editor of its newspaper. He joined the Thakin Society in 1938 and served as its general secretary. He also helped establish the Communist Party of Burma in 1939 but quit shortly afterwards due to vehement disagreements with the rest of the party leadership. He subsequently co-founded the People's Revolutionary Party (later the Burma Socialist Party) with the primary goal of Burmese independence from the British.

Armed Forces Day (Burmese: တပ်မတော်နေ့), also known as Revolution Day (Burmese: တော်လှန်ရေးနေ့), is the professional holiday of the Tatmadaw (lit. 'Armed Forces'), celebrated annually on 27 March. It commemorates the start of Burmese Army's resistance to Japanese occupation in 1945. It was initially named as the Revolution Day and celebrated in each of the individual military units from 1946 to 1953, and the reenactment of the march of the revolutionary forces was started to be paraded in 1954. Since the evening of 27 March 1955, the Revolution Day has been renamed to the Defence Services Day or the Armed Forces Day. The holiday has been referred to as Anti-Fascist-Resistance Day by participants in the 2021 Myanmar protests.