In APHR’s new 5-part series, Anatomy of a Coup, we’ll be taking a close look at the major players in Myanmar’s current environment: the coup maker, those resisting the coup, and the external influencers. We’ll be speaking with a range of people, both inside and outside of Myanmar, to try to better understand these players’ mindsets, interests and motivations, with a view to identifying measures to put an end to the military’s chaotic rule and ensure that democracy and the will of the people prevail. Episode 1 looks at the country’s most powerful institution, the Tatmadaw. Running over two episodes, the first part unpacks the Tatmadaw: how big it is, how it views itself and how it funds itself. In the second episode we will delve into its historic pattern of violence, and how the brutality we are currently seeing is just the latest in a long history of oppression and state-terror it has meted out against the Myanmar people.