On this day, army troops from Madras (now Chennai), led by General Archibald Campbell on behalf of the British Indian government, landed in Rangoon (now Yangon) in Burma (Myanmar), in one of the early episodes of the First Anglo-Burma War.

Two other wars would be fought between the British and the Burmese in this century.

From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Burmese were entering Assam and Manipur. The British wanted to secure this territory, not only for administration but as a market, and restrict the French in the process.
When Campbell landed in Rangoon, it was hoped a settlement would be reached. Instead, the war went on for two years and ended in a decisive British victory. The British gained control over Assam, Manipur, Cachar, Jaintia, Arakan Province and Tenasserim.

The Burmese paid an indemnity of one million pounds sterling, but despite that, the cost of the war damaged the British coffers significantly.