Key events in Myanmar:
- Jan. 4, 1948: Country then known as Burma gains independence from British colonial rule.
- 1962: Military leader Ne Win stages a coup and rules the country through a junta for many years.
- 1988: Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of an independence hero, returns to her home country as pro-democracy protests are erupting against the junta. Security forces open fire on demonstrators in August protests, and hundreds are killed.
- July 1989: An increasingly outspoken critic of the junta, Suu Kyi is put under house arrest.
- May 27, 1990: The National League for Democracy, founded by Suu Kyi, wins a landslide victory in elections, but the military refuses to hand over power.
- October 1991: Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful struggle against the regime.
- Nov. 7, 2010: A pro-junta party wins Myanmar’s first elections in 20 years, a vote that was boycotted as unfair and rigged in its favor.
- Nov. 13, 2010: Suu Kyi is freed from detention after spending long periods of the past two decades under house arrest.
- 2012: Suu Kyi wins a by-election and takes her seat in Parliament, holding public office for the first time.
- Nov. 8, 2015: The NLD wins a sweeping victory in general elections that were the first openly held since 1990. The military retained significant power under a constitution that also barred Suu Kyi from the presidency, but the position of state counsellor was created for her to lead the government.
- Aug. 25, 2017: Insurgents attack military outposts in the western state of Rakhine, killing dozens. The military responds with a massive crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim population, who begin fleeing by the hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh.
- Dec. 11, 2019: Suu Kyi defended the military in a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, denying it had committed genocide.
- Nov. 8, 2020: Myanmar holds elections, with the NLD capturing an outright majority in Parliament.
- Jan. 29, 2021: Myanmar’s election commission rejects the military’s allegations of fraud in the elections, finding no evidence to support the claims.
- Feb. 1, 2021: Myanmar military takes control of the country under a one-year state of emergency, citing the government’s failure to act on its fraud claims. Her party says Suu Kyi is again placed under house arrest.
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