Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army

Not to be confused with Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.

Commander-in-Chief of the Army

ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ် (ကြည်း)

Flag of the Commander in Chief of Myanmar Army

Incumbent
Vice-Senior General Soe Win

since 1 April 2011

Myanmar Army
Reports to| Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
Appointer| President of Myanmar
Term length| No fixed length
Precursor| Vice Chief of Staff (Army)
Formation| 4 January 1948
First holder| Saw Kyar Doe

The Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army, officially the Commander-in-Chief (Army) (Burmese: ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ် (ကြည်း)), is the highest ranking military officer of the Myanmar Army. Up until 1990, Myanmar Armed Forces has Chief of Staff system and the army was led by Vice Chief of Staff (Army) (ဒုတိယကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ် (ကြည်းတပ်)). A new system was introduced in 1990 during Armed Forces reorganisation and all three branches of Armed Forces are now led by the Commander-in-Chief.[1] The Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army also traditionally serves as Deputy Commander-in-Chief.[2]

## List of chiefs

[edit]

### Vice Chief of Staff (1948–1990)

[edit]

No. | Portrait  | Vice Chief of Staff | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
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| Doe, SawBrigadier general
Saw Kyar Doe
(1907–1999)| 4 January 1948| 31 July 1948| 209 days| Karen Officer, then named "Deputy Chief of Army staff. Was replaced with Ne Win in August 1948. So Kya Doe moved to the post of Chief of Operation but forced to retire due to civil war with Karen

| Win, NeBrigadier general
Ne Win
(1910–2002)| 1 August 1948| 1 February 1949| 184 days| Member of Thirty Comrades, Became Chief of General Staff in February 1949. Later became President and Chairman of Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) till July 1988

| Gyi, AungBrigadier general
Aung Gyi
(1919–2012)| 28 April 1959| 7 February 1963| 3 years, 184 days| Promoted from Colonel General Staff in April 1959 as Vice Chief Staff (Army) but resigned in February 1963 and was imprisoned few times. First Chairman of NLD but left after few months in December 1988

| Yu, SanBrigadier general
San Yu
(1918–1996)| 9 February 1963| 20 April 1972| 9 years, 71 days| Later became Chief of Defence Staff in April 1972 // then Became Secretary of Council of State in March 1974 President

| Oo, TinBrigadier general
Tin Oo
(1927–2024)| 20 April 1972| 1 March 1974| 1 year, 315 days| Succeeded San Yu as Chief of Defence Staff in 1974 but dismissed two years later and imprisoned for alleged holding of information in coup attempt next year, later founded NLD with Suu Kyi and Aung Gyi and became Vice-Chairman of National League for Democracy and chairman when Aung Gyi left. House arrest for few times and became Vice Chairman of NLD again and later Patron of NLD

| Htin, KyawBrigadier general
Kyaw Htin
(1925–1996)| 2 March 1974| 6 March 1976| 2 years, 5 days| Later became Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister // Briefly became Joint General Secretary of BSPP in 1988 July- September

| Ko, AyeLieutenant general
Aye Ko
(1921–2006)| 2 April 1976| 7 August 1981| 5 years, 154 days| Later became BSPP general secretary and then Vice President

| Ye, TunLieutenant general
Tun Ye
(1926–2014)| 7 August 1981| 21 July 1983| 1 year, 348 days| Retired from Army in 1983 at age 60 and became Member of Council of State till 1988. Then became general secretary and then Chairman of National Unity Party which was re-incarnation of BSPP

| Maung, SawLieutenant general
Saw Maung
(1928–1997)| 21 July 1983| 4 November 1985| 2 years, 106 days| Became Chief of Defence Staff in November 1985 // later promoted to Senior General, coup in 1988 and formed State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
10|

| Shwe, ThanLieutenant general
Than Shwe
(born 1933)| 4 November 1985| 18 March 1990| 4 years, 134 days| Became Commander in Chief of Tatmadaw in 1992// later promoted to Senior General and Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)

### Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army (1990–present)

[edit]

No. | Portrait  | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

| Shwe, ThanGeneral
Than Shwe
(born 1933)| 18 March 1990| 22 April 1992| 2 years, 35 days| .

| Aye, MaungVice Senior General
Maung Aye
(born 1937)| 22 April 1992| 31 March 2011| 18 years, 343 days| later promoted to Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)

| Win, SoeVice-Senior General
Soe Win
(born 1960)| 1 April 2011| Incumbent| 13 years, 336 days| .

## See also

[edit]

* Myanmar Army

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Selth, Andrew (2002): Burma's Armed Forces: Power Without Glory, Eastbridge. ISBN 1-891936-13-1
2. ^ Maung Aung Myoe (1999). Building the Tatmadaw. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 73\. ISBN 9780731527427.

* v
* t
* e

Chiefs of the army by country

* Chief of Army Staff

Africa|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* DR Congo
* Republic of the Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Swaziland
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

Former|

* Biafra
* Bophuthatswana
* Ciskei
* British Egypt
* Ethiopian Empire
* Rhodesia
* Transkei
* Venda
* Zaire

Americas|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Argentina
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Cuba
* Dominican Republic
* Ecuador
* El Salvador
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Suriname
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

Former|

* Confederate States

Asia|

* Abkhazia
* Afghanistan
* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* East Timor
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* NEZAJA
* NEZSA
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Republic of China (Taiwan)
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

Former|

* Democratic Kampuchea
* Imperial Japan
* Mengjiang
* Manchukuo
* South Vietnam

Europe|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Georgia
* Greece
* Hungary
* Ireland
* Italy
* Kosovo
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Macedonia
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* Vatican

Former|

* Austria–Hungary
* Independent State of Croatia
* Czechoslovakia
* Prussia
* Imperial Germany
* Weimar Republic
* Nazi Germany
* East Germany
* Ottoman Empire
* Russian Empire
* Soviet Union
* Yugoslavia

Oceania|

* Australia
* Fiji
* New Zealand
* Papua New Guinea
* Tonga
* Vanuatu

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