Siege of Ayutthaya (1766–1767)
| Siege of Ayutthaya (1766–1767) | |||||||||
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| Part of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767) | |||||||||
Modern depiction of the Fall of Ayutthaya in April 1767 at the National Memorial | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Konbaung dynasty (Burma) | Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Hsinbyushin Maha Nawrahta # Ne Myo Thihapate Nemyo Gonnarat Mingyi Kamani Sanda Mingyi Zeyathu Satpagyon Bo Thado Mindin |
Ekkathat † Chaophraya Phrakhlang (POW) Phraya Yommaraj (POW) Phraya Phollathep (POW) Phraya Phetchaburi Rueang † Phraya Tak | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Royal Burmese Army |
Royal Siamese Army Royal Siamese Navy | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 40,000+ | Around 20,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Heavy |
10,000+ killed 30,000 deported | ||||||||
| 200,000–1,000,000 civilians killed | |||||||||
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The siege of Ayutthaya in 1766–1767, also known as the Fall of Ayutthaya and Sack of Ayutthaya, was a part of the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767), in which King Hsinbyushin of the Burmese Konbaung dynasty sent his generals Maha Nawrahta and Ne Myo Thihapate to conquer the Siamese Kingdom of Ayutthaya. After conquering and subjugating Siamese peripheral cities, the two Burmese invading columns converged onto and reached the royal city of Ayutthaya in January 1766. Unable to halt Burmese advances at the frontiers, the Siamese were obliged to take defensive positions in the Ayutthaya citadel.
By February 1766, the Burmese laid siege to Ayutthaya and closed in to approach the Ayutthaya city walls in September. Ayutthaya employed traditional defense strategies by relying on the supposed impregnability of its walls and the incoming of the rainy flooding season. The Burmese, however, circumvented these strategies by persisting to stay in rainy season and by the tactics of destroying Ayutthaya city wall at the roots. After fourteen months of enduring the siege, the centuries-old royal Siamese capital of Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese on 7 April 1767 and was completely destroyed, signifying the end of the Ayutthaya kingdom and paving way for subsequent events in Thai history.