Synopses & Reviews
In August 1939 as the world waited for the news of the outbreak of war, a government official in Simla, the summer capital of imperial India, declared, "We only have to press a button and the whole organization prepared to meet a war emergency will slide smoothly into action." In reality, India's response to the Second World War was less straightforward and more fraught with political and social complexities. Yet it was a response of crucial importance to England and the Allied powers, and one that has been long overlooked.
World War II was a global catastrophe, something which had broader ramifications than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis. This was a time of social relocation, which re-orientated people's ideas of patriotism and geographical attachment, caused the movement of people across oceans and continents and brought different nationalities into contact with each other. In India at War, Yasmin Khan offers an account of India's role in this global conflict, one that takes into consideration the social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred in South Asia between 1939 and 1945--and reveals how vital the Commonwealth's contribution was to the war effort.
Khan's sweeping work centers on the lives of ordinary Indian people, exploring the ways they were affected by a cataclysmic war with its origins far beyond Indian shores. In manpower alone, India's contribution was momentous; it produced the largest volunteer army in world history, with 2.5 million men. Indians were also affected by the presence of a very large Allied army in the region, including not only British but American, African, and Chinese troops. Madras was bombed by the Japanese and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were occupied, while the Bengal famine of 1943--in which perhaps three million Bengalis died--was a man-made disaster precipitated by the effects of the war.
Beyond these "danger zones" on the Eastern coastline, Khan shows that across the subcontinent Indians turned to the war effort. They were engaged in making the raw materials and food stuffs needed by the allies, and became involved in the construction of airstrips, barracks, hospitals, internee camps, roads and railways. The landscape itself was radically transformed as the region became the great military encampment from which the Japanese were to be pushed out of Burma and South-East Asia. Vast infrastructure advances started the broad trend of developmentalism and cemented a state-centered approach that paved the way for the postcolonial state.
Despite the profound ways in which World War II shaped modern India, this story has remained under-examined. Khan's authoritative and dramatically compelling account offers a critically important look at the contribution of a nation far from the conflict's origins, conveying through the voices of ordinary people the ways in which Indian lives and fates were fundamentally changed during the war years.
Synopsis
World War II was a global catastrophe. Far broader than just the critical struggle between Allies and Axis, its ramifications were felt throughout the world. It was a time of social relocation, reorienting ideas of patriotism and geographical attachment, and forcing the movement of people across oceans and continents. In
India at War, Yasmin Khan offers an account of India's role in the conflict, one that takes into consideration the social, economic, and cultural changes that occurred in South Asia between 1939 and 1945-and reveals how vital the Commonwealth's contribution was to the war effort.
Khan's sweeping work centers on the lives of ordinary Indian people, exploring the ways they were affected by a cataclysmic war with origins far beyond Indian shores. In manpower alone, India's contribution was staggering; it produced the largest volunteer army in world history, with 2.5 million men. Indians were engaged in making the raw materials and food stuffs needed by the Allies, and became involved in the construction of airstrips, barracks, hospitals, internee camps, roads and railways. Their lives were also profoundly affected by the presence of the large Allied army in the region, including not only British but American, African, and Chinese troops. Madras was bombed by the Japanese and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were occupied, while the Bengal famine of 1943-in which perhaps three million Bengalis died-was a man-made disaster precipitated by the effects of the war.
This authoritative account offers a critically important look at the contributions of colonial manpower and resources essential to sustaining the war, and emphasizes the significant ways in which the conflict shaped modern India.
About the Author
Yasmin Khan is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College. Her first book,
The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan, won the Gladstone Prize for History from the Royal Historical Society.
Table of Contents