The Second Anglo-Burmese War had shattered conservative forces at the Court of Ava and ushered in the forward-looking and modernising reign of King Mindon. The new ruler had come to power after defeating his elder half-brother Pagan in a bloody struggle for the throne, a palace revolution fought in the shadow of even bloodier battlefield losses against the British Indian army. By the late summer of 1852, Martaban, Rangoon and Bassein had all been lost to the British Indian offensive. Burmese forces, led in part by the eldest son of the great general Thado Maha Bandula, had been decimated and thousands of hastily mustered conscripts had died in futile attempts to hold the king's southern forts.

In Calcutta, the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, having entered the war without clear objectives, proposed annexing the new territories now under occupation. British Tennasserim and Arakan could thereby be united and the rump Ava kingdom would be deprived of its outlet to the sea. But as fighting continued in heavy monsoon rains along a broad west to east front, from Prome to the Shan hills, Dalhousie was unsure as to how to bring the war to a speedy conclusion. But news soon arrived of the revolt in Ava, and the new king quickly sent a message agreeing to a comprehensive ceasefire.

Mindon's seizure of the throne had occurred in the wake of growing animosity between him and the more conservative and militant wing surrounding Pagan.