The British, instead of fighting in hard terrain, take the fight to the Burmese mainland.

A British naval force of over ten thousand men (five thousand British soldiers and over five thousand Indian sepoys) enter the harbor of Yangon on May 11, 1824, a, taking the Burmese by surprise.

The Burmese, pursuing a scorched earth policy, leave an empty city behind and choose to fortify positions along an east-west ten-mile arc outside the city.

The British forces led by General Archibald Campbell take up a position inside the Shwedagon Pagoda compound, which is fortified.