Aung San Bogyoke ( General ) Aung San ( , ) ; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947 ) was a Burmese revolutionary , nationalist , founder of the modern Burmese army ( " Tatmadaw " ) , and considered to be the Father of modern - day Burma . He was responsible for bringing Burma ' s independence from British colonial rule in Burma , but was assassinated six months before independence . He is recognized as the leading architect of independence , and the founder of the Union of Burma . Affectionately known as " Bogyoke " ( General ) , Aung San is still widely admired by the Burmese people , and his name is still invoked in Burmese politics to this day . Aung San had a daughter , Aung San Suu Kyi , who is a Burmese politician and the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize . Youth . Aung San was born to U Pha , a lawyer , and his wife , Daw Suu , in Natmauk , Magway District , in central Burma on 13 February 1915 . His family was already well known in the Burmese resistance movement ; his great uncle Bo Min Yaung fought against the British annexation of Burma in 1886 . Aung San received his primary education at a Buddhist monastic school in Natmauk , and secondary education at Yenangyaung High School . He went to Rangoon University ( now the University of Yangon ) and received a B . A . degree in English Literature , Modern History , and Political Science in 1938 . Struggle for independence . After Aung San entered Rangoon University in 1933 , he quickly became a student leader . He was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students ' Union ( RUSU ) . He then became editor of their magazine " Oway " ( Peacock ' s Call ) . In February 1936 , he was threatened with expulsion from the university , along with U Nu , for refusing to reveal the name of the author of the article " Hell Hound At Large " , which criticized a senior University official . This led to the Second University Students ' Strike and the university authorities subsequently retracted their expulsion orders . In 1938 , Aung San was elected president of both the Rangoon University Student Union ( RUSU ) and the All - Burma Students Union ( ABSU ) , formed after the strike spread to Mandalay . In the same year , the government appointed him as a student representative on the Rangoon University Act Amendment Committee . In October 1938 , Aung San left his law classes and entered national politics . At this point , he was anti - British , and staunchly anti - imperialist . He became a " Thakin " ( lord or master – a politically motivated title that proclaimed that the Burmese people were the true masters of their country , not the colonial rulers who had usurped the title for their exclusive use ) when he joined the " Dobama Asiayone " ( Our Burma Union ) , and acted as their general secretary until August 1940 . While in this role , he helped organize a series of countrywide strikes that became known as ME 1300 Revolution ( , " Htaung thoun ya byei ayeidawbon " ) , named after the Burmese calendar year . He also helped found another nationalist organization , the Freedom Bloc ( , " Bama - htwet - yat Gaing " ) , by forming an alliance between the Dobama , the ABSU , politically active monks and Dr Ba Maw ' s " Sinyètha " ( Poor Man ' s ) Party , and became its general secretary . What remains relatively unknown is the fact that he also became a founder member and first secretary - general of the Communist Party of Burma ( CPB ) in August 1939 . Shortly afterwards he co - founded the People ' s Revolutionary Party , renamed the Socialist Party after the Second World War . In March 1940 , he attended the Indian National Congress Assembly in Ramgarh , India . However , the government issued a warrant for his arrest due to Thakin attempts to organize a revolt against the British and he had to flee Burma . He went first to China , seeking assistance from the nationalist government of the Kuomintang , but he was intercepted by the Japanese military occupiers in Amoy , and was convinced by them to go to Japan instead . World War II period . Whilst Aung San was in Japan , the " Blue Print for a Free Burma " , which has been widely but mistakenly attributed to him , was drafted . In February 1941 , Aung San returned to Burma , with an offer of arms and financial support from the Fumimaro Konoe government of Japan . He returned briefly to Japan to receive more military training , along with the first batch of young revolutionaries who came to be known as the Thirty Comrades . On 26 December 1941 , with the help of the " Minami Kikan " , a secret intelligence unit that was formed to close the Burma Road and to support a national uprising and that was headed by Colonel Suzuki , he founded the Burma Independence Army ( BIA ) in Bangkok , Thailand . It was aligned with Japan for most of World War II . The former capital of Burma , Rangoon ( now Yangon ) , fell to the Japanese in March 1942 ( as part of the Burma Campaign in World War II ) . The BIA formed an administration for the country under Thakin Tun Oke that operated in parallel with the Japanese military administration until the Japanese disbanded it . In July , the disbanded BIA was re - formed as the Burma Defense Army ( BDA ) . Aung San was made a colonel and put in charge of the force . He was later invited to Japan , and was presented with the Order of the Rising Sun by Japanese Emperor Hirohito . On 1 August 1943 , the Japanese declared Burma to be an independent nation . Aung San was appointed War Minister , and the army was again renamed , this time as the Burma National Army ( BNA ) . Aung San became skeptical of Japanese promises of true independence and of Japan ' s ability to win the war . As William Slim , 1st Viscount Slim put it " It was not long before Aung San found that what he meant by independence had little relation to what the Japanese were prepared to give - that he had exchanged an old master for an infinitely more tyrannical new one . As one of his leading followers once said to me , ' If the British sucked our blood , the Japanese ground our bones ! ' He became more and more disillusioned with the Japanese , and early in 1943 we got news from Seagrim , a most gallant officer who had remained in the Karen Hills at the ultimate cost of his life , that Aung San ' s feelings were changing . On the 1st August 1944 he was bold enough to speak publicly with contempt of the Japanese brand of independence , and it was clear that , if they did not soon liquidate him , he might prove useful to us . . . At our first interview , Aung San began to take rather a high hand . . . I pointed out that he was in no position to take the line he had . I did not need his forces ; I was destroying the Japanese quite nicely without their help , and could continue to do so . I would accept his help and that of his army only on the clear understanding that it implied no recognition of any provisional government . . . The British Government had announced its intention to grant self - government to Burma within the British Commonwealth , and we had better limit our discussion to the best method of throwing the Japanese out of the country . . . " He made plans to organize an uprising in Burma and made contact with the British authorities in India , in cooperation with Communist leaders Thakin Than Tun and Thakin Soe . On 27 March 1945 , he led the BNA in a revolt against the Japanese occupiers and helped the Allies defeat the Japanese . 27 March came to be commemorated as ' Resistance Day ' until the military regime later renamed it ' Tatmadaw ( Armed Forces ) Day ' . Post - World War II . After the return of the British , who had established a military administration , the Anti - Fascist Organisation ( AFO ) , formed in August 1944 , was transformed into a united front , comprising the BNA , the Communists and the Socialists , and renamed the Anti - Fascist People ' s Freedom League ( AFPFL ) . The Burma National Army was renamed the Patriotic Burmese Forces ( PBF ) and then gradually disarmed by the British as the Japanese were driven out of various parts of the country . The Patriotic Burmese Forces , while disbanded , were offered positions in the Burma Army under British command according to the Kandy conference agreement with Lord Louis Mountbatten in Ceylon in September 1945 . Aung San was offered the rank of Deputy Inspector General of the Burma Army , but he declined it in favor of becoming a civilian political leader and the military leader of the " Pyithu yèbaw tat " ( People ' s Volunteer Organisation or PVO ) . In January 1946 , Aung San became the President of the AFPFL following the return of civil government to Burma the previous October . In September , he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma by the new British Governor Sir Hubert Rance , and was made responsible for defence and external affairs . Rance and Mountbatten took a very different view from the former British Governor , Sir Reginald Dorman - Smith , and also Winston Churchill , who had called Aung San a ' traitor rebel leader ' . A rift had already developed inside the AFPFL between the Communists and Aung San , leading the nationalists and Socialists , which came to a head when Aung San and others accepted seats on the Executive Council , culminating in the expulsion of Thakin Than Tun and the CPB from the AFPFL . Aung San was to all intents and purposes Prime Minister , although he was still subject to a British veto . On 27 January 1947 , Aung San and the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee signed an agreement in London guaranteeing Burma ' s independence within a year ; Aung San had been responsible for its negotiation . During the stopover in Delhi at a press conference , he stated that the Burmese wanted ' complete independence ' not dominion status and that they had ' no inhibitions of any kind ' about ' contemplating a violent or non - violent struggle or both ' in order to achieve this , and concluded that he hoped for the best but he was prepared for the worst . Two weeks after the signing of the agreement with Britain , Aung San signed an agreement at the Panglong Conference on 12 February 1947 with leaders from other national groups , expressing solidarity and support for a united Burma . Karen representatives played a relatively minor role in the conference and , as subsequent rebellions revealed , remained alienated from the new state . U Aung Zan Wai , U Pe Khin , Major Aung , Sir Maung Gyi , Dr . Sein Mya Maung , Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar representative General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947 . All these leaders unanimously decided to join the Union of Burma . In general elections held in April 1947 , the AFPFL won 176 out of 210 seats in the election for a Constituent Assembly , while the Karens won 24 , the Communists 6 and Anglo - Burmans winning 4 . In July , Aung San convened a series of conferences at Sorrenta Villa in Rangoon to discuss the rehabilitation of Burma . Assassination . On 19 July 1947 , a gang of armed paramilitaries of former Prime Minister U Saw broke into the Secretariat Building in downtown Rangoon during a meeting of the Executive Council ( the shadow government established by the British in preparation for the transfer of power ) and assassinated Aung San and six of his cabinet ministers , including his older brother Ba Win , father of Sein Win , leader of the government - in - exile , the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma ( NCGUB ) . A cabinet secretary and a bodyguard were also killed . U Saw was subsequently tried and hanged . Many mysteries still surround the assassination . There were rumours of a conspiracy involving the British — a variation on this theory was given new life in an influential , but sensationalist , documentary broadcast by the BBC on the 50th anniversary of the assassination in 1997 . What did emerge in the course of the investigations at the time of the trial , however , was that several low - ranking British officers had sold guns to a number of Burmese politicians , including U Saw . Shortly after U Saw ' s conviction , Captain David Vivian , a British Army officer , was sentenced to five years imprisonment for supplying U Saw with weapons . Captain Vivian escaped from prison during the Karen uprising in Insein in early 1949 . Little information about his motives was revealed during his trial or after the trial . Family . While he was War Minister in 1942 , Aung San met and married Khin Kyi , and around the same time her sister met and married Thakin Than Tun , the Communist leader . Aung San and Khin Kyi had four children . Their youngest surviving child , Aung San Suu Kyi , is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the Burmese Opposition , the National League for Democracy ( NLD ) , and was until 13 November 2010 , held under house arrest by the military regime . Their second son , Aung San Lin , died at age eight , when he drowned in an ornamental lake in the grounds of the house . The elder , Aung San Oo , is an engineer working in the United States and has disagreed with his sister ' s political activities . Their youngest daughter , Aung San Chit , born in September 1946 , died on 26th sep 1946 the same day Aung San got into Governor " s Executive council , a few days after her birth . Aung San ' s wife Daw Khin Kyi died on 27 December 1988 . Daw Khin Kyi ' s Mausoleum was constructed by Engineer corps , close supervised by major Win Aung Tint , Capt Tin Aye & wo 1 Kan Nyunt of G E ( 954 ) Yangon , situated on former Godwin road . Legacy . His place in history as the Architect of Burmese Independence and a national hero is assured both from his own legacy and due to the activities of his daughter . Aung San Suu Kyi was only two when her father died . A martyrs ' mausoleum was built at the foot of the Shwedagon Pagoda and 19 July was designated Martyr ' s Day ( " Azani nei " ) , a public holiday . His literary work entitled " " Burma ' s Challenge " " was likewise popular . Aung San ' s name had been invoked by successive Burmese governments since independence until the military regime in the 1990s tried to eradicate all traces of Aung San ' s memory . Nevertheless , several statues of him adorn the former capital Yangon and his portrait still has pride of place in many homes and offices throughout the country . Scott Market , Yangon ' s most famous , was renamed Bogyoke Market in his memory , and Commissioner Road was retitled Bogyoke Aung San Road after independence . These names have been retained . Many towns and cities in Burma have thoroughfares and parks named after him . His portrait was held up everywhere during the 8888 Uprising in 1988 and used as a rallying point . Following the 8888 Uprising , the government redesigned the national currency , the kyat , removing his picture and replacing it with scenes of Burmese life .