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Empire builder

Tabinshwehti's legacy looms large. Although he did not implement any administrative reforms, his military conquests assembled the largest kingdom in Burma since the fall of Pagan in 1287. His administratively fragile kingdom proved to be the impetus for the eventual reunification of the entire country under Bayinnaung, even if the core of the reunified Burmese state would stabilize only in the early 17th century. Though he may initially have been urged on by his court, it was ultimately his decision to start a war with a wealthier but poorly led neighbor, and to persist until the victory over Hanthawaddy was achieved. He quickly built on the success by combining his kingdom's "more martial tradition" with the maritime wealth and manpower of Lower Burma, which enabled him to acquire foreign mercenaries and firearms. This fortuitous combination would ultimately lead to his founding of the Toungoo Empire. His success in breaking out of an increasingly narrow dry zone not only saved the only remaining ethnic Burman-led kingdom from extinction but also ensured the continued spread of Burmese culture and language in the Irrawaddy valley.

However, not all his legacies endured. Tabinshwehti went to great lengths to ensure that the rise of his regime did not come at the expense of Lower Burma's ethnic Mon culture and language. According to the historian Victor Lieberman, had later Toungoo rulers continued Tabinshwehti's policy of "Mon–Burman synthesis", ethnic relations within the Irrawaddy valley "might have moved along a very different path". Lieberman calls Tabinshwehti's death, "one of the great turning points of mainland history".

While Tabinshwehti's considerable achievements are overshadowed by Bayinnaung's overwhelming achievements, the historian Htin Aung writes that: "it would be unfair to ignore Tabinshwehti when considering the achievements of Bayinnaung... without Tabinshwehti, there could have been no Bayinnaung."