Aung San

Aung San

(born 1914?, Natmauk, Burma—died July 19, 1947, Rangoon) Nationalist leader of Burma (Myanmar). He led a student strike in 1936 and became secretary-general of a nationalist group in 1939. He accepted Japanese aid in raising a military force in Burma that helped the Japanese in their 1942 invasion. However, he came to doubt that the Japanese would ever allow Burma to become independent and grew displeased with their treatment of Burmese forces, and in 1945 he switched to the Allied cause. After the war, he effectively became prime minister and negotiated Burma's independence, which was agreed on in 1947; he was assassinated before independence was achieved in 1948.