The First Anglo-Burmese War was the result of tension between the East India Company and the Burmese Empire (then known in Europe as the Kingdom of Ava). By 1822, Burmese influence in Assam and Manipur in north-east India had resulted in Company support for the king of Assam, Sudingphaa, who had been deposed by the Burmese ruler, Bagyidaw, and had fled across the border.
These tensions, British claims to Burmese-controlled districts in the region, and a fear of increasing French influence at the Burmese court, saw armed conflict break out in March 1824, with British forces landing at Rangoon (now Yangon) that May. The war lasted for two years and ended with a British victory, the East India Company taking control of Assam, Manipur, Arakan (now Rakhine State) and Tenasserim (now Tanintharyi).
The war was the longest and most costly conflict fought by Britain in South Asia up to that point and questions were raised as to the true causes of the conflict. This account of the events leading up to the war was published in 1827. Dedicated to George IV, it questions the motives of the East India Company and criticises the conduct of Company officials, arguing that the main cause for the war was economic rather than political.