Editing Ne Win (section)

{{Short description|Military leader and head of state of Burma from 1962 to 1988}}
{{About|the president of Burma|the Thai politician|Newin Chidchob||Ne Win (disambiguation)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Ne Win|lang=Burmese}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[His Excellency]]<ref>[https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/letter-premier-zhou-enlai-his-excellency-ne-win Letter from Premier Zhou Enlai to His Excellency Ne Win]</ref><br>[[Order of the Union of Burma|Agga Maha Thray Sithu]]<ref>[https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-regime-leader-awards-himself-two-highest-honorary-titles.html General Ne Win, the first military general who led the 1962 coup, was posthumously named Agga Maha Thray Sithu, the second-highest honor. Former military leader Than Shwe, who picked Min Aung Hlaing as his successor as commander-in-chief, was given the same title.]</ref><br>[[General]]
| name                = Ne Win
| native_name         = {{nobold|နေဝင်း}}
| image               = Ne Win in 1959, Jerusalem.jpg
| caption             = Ne Win in 1959
| office              = [[Burma Socialist Programme Party#Chairmen|Chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party]]
| term_start          = 4 July 1962
| term_end            = 23 July 1988
| predecessor         = ''Office established''
| successor           = [[Sein Lwin]]
| order2              = 4th
| office2             = President of Burma
| term_start2         = 2 March 1974
| term_end2           = 9 November 1981
| predecessor2        = [[Win Maung]] (1962)
| successor2          = [[San Yu]]
| office3             = Chairman of the [[Union Revolutionary Council]]
| term_start3         = 2 March 1962
| term_end3           = 2 March 1974
| predecessor3        = ''Office established''
| successor3          = ''Office abolished''
| office4             = [[Prime Minister of Burma]]
| term_start4         = 29 October 1958
| term_end4           = 4 April 1960
| president4          = Win Maung
| predecessor4        = [[U Nu]]
| successor4          = U Nu
| term_start5         = 2 March 1962
| term_end5           = 2 March 1974
| predecessor5        = U Nu
| successor5          = [[Sein Win (general, born 1919)|Sein Win]]
| birth_name          = Shu Maung<ref name="EB">{{cite web|title=U Ne Win|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410203054/https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win|url-status=live}}</ref>
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1911|5|24|df=y}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/06/guardianobituaries|title=Ne Win (Shu Maung), Burmese military strongman, born May 24 1911; died December 5 2002}}</ref>
| birth_place         = [[Paungdale]], Pegu Province, Lower Burma, British&nbsp;India (present-day [[Myanmar]])
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2002|12|5|1910|7|10|df=y}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/world/ne-win-ex-burmese-military-strongman-dies-at-81.html|title=Ne Win, Ex-Burmese Military Strongman, Dies at 81|work=The New York Times |date=6 December 2002 |last1=Pace |first1=Eric }}</ref>
| death_place         = [[Yangon]], [[Union of Myanmar]]
| resting_place       = Ashes scattered into [[Yangon River]]
| nationality         = [[Burmese people|Burmese]]
| party               = [[Burma Socialist Programme Party]] (BSPP)
| spouses             = 5, including [[June Rose Bellamy|Yadana Nat Mei]]
| children            = 6, including [[Sandar Win]]
| alma_mater          = [[Rangoon University]]
| occupation          = {{hlist|General|politician}}
| signature           = Ne Win Signature.svg
<!--Military service-->| allegiance          = [[File:Flag of Myanmar (1974–2010).svg|23px]] [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma]]
| branch              = {{army|MYA|Burmese Army}}
| serviceyears        = 1931–1974
| rank                = [[File:16. Myanmar Army GEN.svg|15px]] [[General]]
| unit                = 
| commands            = 
| battles             = [[Second World War]]
| awards              = 
| native_name_lang    = my
}}

'''Ne Win''' ({{langx|my|နေဝင်း}}; {{IPA|my|nè wɪ́ɰ̃|IPA}}; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002),<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 March 2024 |title=U Ne Win (born May 24, 1911, Paungdale, Burma [Myanmar]—died December 5, 2002, Yangon, Myanmar) was a Burmese general who was the leader of Burma (now Myanmar) from 1962 to 1988. |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> born '''Shu Maung''' ({{Langx|my|ရှူမောင်}}; {{IPA|my|/ʃù màʊ̃̀/|IPA}}), was a Burmese army general, politician and [[Prime Minister of Burma]] from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also [[President of Burma]] from 1962 to 1981.<ref>{{Cite web|title=U Ne Win {{!}} Myanmar general and dictator|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win|access-date=17 November 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027215803/https://www.britannica.com/biography/U-Ne-Win|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=C. P. Cook |date=June 1970 |title=Burma: The Era of Ne Win |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=259–266 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40394388 |journal=The World Today|jstor=40394388 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frank Milne |date=23 November 2015 |title=Review of General Ne Win: A Political Biography |url=https://www.newmandala.org/book-review/review-of-general-ne-win-a-political-biography/ |journal=New Mandala}}</ref> Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma|Socialist Burma]] period of 1962 to 1988.{{Efn|Ne Win was earlier the President of [[Post-independence Burma, 1948–1962|Union of Burma]] for 12 years from 2 March 1962 to	2 March 1974 and then later the [[Myanmar|President of Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma]] for 7 years and 252 days from 2 March 1974 to 9 November 1981.(See [[List of presidents of Myanmar#Presidents of Burma / Myanmar (1948–present)|list]])|name=|group=lower-alpha}}

Ne Win founded the [[Burma Socialist Programme Party]] (BSPP) and overthrew the democratic [[Union Parliament]] of [[U Nu]] in the [[1962 Burmese coup d'état]], establishing Burma as a one-party socialist state under the [[Burmese Way to Socialism]] ideology.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lindsay Maizland |date=31 January 2022 |title=Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta for many of the years since it gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948. The Union of Burma began as a parliamentary democracy, like most of its newly independent neighbors on the Indian subcontinent. But representative democracy only lasted until 1962, when General Ne Win led a military coup and held power for the next twenty-six years |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/myanmar-history-coup-military-rule-ethnic-conflict-rohingya |work=[[Council on Foreign Relations]]}}</ref> Ne Win was Burma's ''de facto'' leader as [[chairman]] of the [[Burma Socialist Programme Party|BSPP]], serving in various official titles as part of his military government, and was known by his supporters as '''[[Burmese name#Honorifics|U]] Ne Win'''.{{efn|"[[Burmese names#Honorifics|U]]" is an [[honorific]] in [[Burmese language|Burmese]], roughly equal to "Mr" or "Uncle".}}<ref name="EB" /><ref>{{cite web|title=U Ne Win|url=https://www.biography.com/people/u-ne-win-9422402|website=[[Biography (TV series)|Biography.com]]|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004732/https://www.biography.com/people/u-ne-win-9422402|url-status=live}}</ref> His rule was characterized by a [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]] foreign policy, [[isolationism]], one-party rule, economic stagnation, and [[Yadaya|superstition]].{{Sfn|Taylor|2015|p=67}} Ne Win resigned in July 1988 in response to the [[8888 Uprising]] that overthrew the Burma Socialist Programme Party, and was replaced by the [[military junta]] of the [[State Peace and Development Council|State Law and Order Restoration Council]] (SLORC). He held minor influence in the 1990s but was eventually placed under house arrest, under which he died in 2002. There was no state funeral, public eulogy or monument in his memory.<ref>{{Cite web|date=14 January 2016|title=Ne Win: Understanding the 'old man'|url=https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/ne-win-understanding-the-old-man/|access-date=17 November 2020|website=Frontier Myanmar|language=en-US|archive-date=21 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121113034/https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/ne-win-understanding-the-old-man/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In foreign affairs, Ne Win followed a strictly neutralist policy during the [[Cold War]], participating in the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] and keeping his distance from both the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]].{{Sfn|Yawnghwe|1990|p=45-47}} On the other hand, his relations with [[Mao Zedong]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] were initially excellent, but were temporarily broken between 1967 and 1971, due to Mao's covert support for the [[Communist insurgency in Myanmar|Communist insurgency within Burma]] and the outbreak of [[Anti-Chinese sentiment|anti-Chinese]] [[Riot|riots]] by regime supporters; however, in March 1971 relations were fully restored and Chinese economic aid continued.<ref name="globalsec">[https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/myanmar/ne-win-4.htm Ne Win Military Rule – Neutralism and Seclusion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716230258/https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/myanmar/ne-win-4.htm |date=16 July 2019 }} ''Globalsecurity.org''</ref>