India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia

by Srinath Raghavan

Overview

India's role in World War II has long been overlooked. But as Srinath Raghavan shows in this authoritative account, India did not fight the war as merely an appendage of the British Empire. From the start, India defended its own sub-empire from Imperial Japan and assisted its allies in battles in Italy, East Africa, and the Pacific.

The war also brought great changes to the subcontinent. By the war's end, the Indian Army had become the largest volunteer force in history, while many millions more Indians had worked in their nation's rapidly expanding industry and agriculture. This nationwide commitment to victory altered the country's social landscape, overturning assumptions about class and opening up new opportunities for India's most disadvantaged people.

The first major account of India during World War II, India's War chronicles how the demands of war forever transformed the country, its economy, its politics, and its people, laying the groundwork for the rise of modern South Asia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465098620
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	05/10/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	592
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Srinath Raghavan is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. He lives in New Delhi, India.

Table of Contents

1. Politics of War
2. Defence of India
3. Competing Offers
4. Mobilizing India
5. Into Africa
6. The Oil Campaigns
7. Fox Hunting
8. Collapsing Dominoes
9. Coils of War
10. Declarations for India
11. Rumour and Revolt
12. Indian National Armies
13. Allies at War
14. War Economy
15. Around the Mediterranean
16. Preparation
17. Back to Burma
18. Post-war
Epilogue: Last Post

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2016
In this durable and occasionally thrilling account of India’s role in WWII, Raghavan (War and Peace in Modern India), a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research and a lecturer at King’s College London, restores significance to a period of modern Indian history often left out of dominant narratives on both WWII and the rise of the Indian nationalist movement. Dragged into the war as an unwilling participant, India would muster the largest volunteer army in history in the service of the British Empire, while leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar simultaneously condemned the war effort and sought to leverage it for political gain. Raghavan’s retelling of this hugely important story tends to become submerged in the details of military campaigns, with the promise of the book’s subtitle remaining largely unfulfilled, despite the attention paid to India’s regional sub-empire and the effect of the warfare state on postwar political mobilization. But the book provides a much-needed window into the wartime experiences of ordinary Indians. As imperial subjects fighting Nazi tyranny, yet denied freedom themselves, the subalterns of the Indian Army found themselves caught between sovereignty and liberty in unknown lands. In making these forgotten voices heard, Raghavan succeeds admirably. Maps & illus. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"[A]s Mr. Raghavan's fascinating account of the geopolitics of the war makes clear, there is more at stake in the history of India in World War II than 'rounding out' the story.... The history [Raghavan] writes is inspired by the search for a wider horizon for India as a regional superpower beyond the confining frame bequeathed by World War II and the ragged end of British Empire in Asia. It is all the more important and urgent for that."—Wall Street Journal

"Raghavan usefully supplies the facts, in charts, figures, maps and details of military operations.... He also gives thorough, fascinating and revealing accounts of the economic transformations."—Economist

"Raghavan's panoramic and richly detailed book deserves the accolades that it is receiving as the most comprehensive account of the subcontinent's experiences in the second world war. A historian at King's College London, Raghavan unearths much new detail and displays a masterful grasp of wartime diplomacy and economics."—Financial Times's summer books

"A panoramic work, spanning the deliberations of the highest Allied councils of war to the febrile mood on the streets of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, in the shadow of the Japanese advance.... Raghavan's splendid history is a reminder not just of India's historic contribution to the defeat of fascism, but also its geopolitical potential throughout the Indo-Pacific."—Financial Times

"A highly readable account of one of the more complex—and ignored—phase of World War II."—Washington Times

"Raghavan has written what will probably become the standard account of India's involvement in World War II." —Library Journal

"India's War provides a much-needed window into the wartime experiences of ordinary Indians. As imperial subjects fighting Nazi tyranny, yet denied freedom themselves, the subalterns of the Indian Army found themselves caught between sovereignty and liberty in unknown lands. In making these forgotten voices heard, Raghavan succeeds admirably."—Publishers Weekly

"[Raghavan] is unarguably our finest military historian. Like the best in the genre, he turns the battlefields of the past into pages where we read the backstories of our political existence—and makes history intimate and immediate."—Open Magazine (India)

"Masterly.... Despite the vastness of the fields he has to cover, Raghavan has written a surprisingly comprehensive piece of work, an unlikely but successful combination of both enormous scope and a great depth of detail. An accomplished writer, he guides his readers through the labyrinths of the changing military and political scenes while keeping their interest with flashes of rare detail and personal witness."—The Diplomat (Japan)

"Histories of the Second World War tend to ignore India, and histories of modern India tend to underplay the War. In this superb work of scholarship, Srinath Raghavan comprehensively makes up for decades of neglect by writers and historians.... India's War is a work of immense and enduring importance."—Ramachandra Guha, author of India After Gandhi

"World War II was a crucible that forged the modern identities of South Asian nations in ways rarely acknowledged since.... India's War illuminates that period."—Kirkus Reviews

"An illuminating political, sociological, and historical study of India's role in WWII. Raghavan expertly fills a gap in twentieth-century history and geopolitical collections."—Booklist

"Absorbing and important...this rational and detailed book should start a debate."—Spectator (UK)

"Ambitious.... Raghavan's study fulfills his mission in presenting readers with intertwined narratives of military campaigns, international strategies, and the rise of the freedom struggle that was to determine the future of the subcontinent."—Independent (UK)

"Rarely does one come across a relatively young analyst being as thoughtful and erudite on questions of war, peace and national strategy, as Dr Srinath Raghavan. His book India's War is a comprehensive account of how a 2.5 million-strong Indian Army was raised, trained, equipped and deployed, to fight during the Second World War."—New Indian Express

From the Publisher

02/15/2016
Raghavan (War and Peace in Modern India) has written what will probably become the standard account of India's involvement in World War II. His more balanced approach, compared to other recent works on the subject, is less critical of Great Britain's administration of the subcontinent and more comprehensive in terms of emphasizing aspects beyond India's role in the Middle East, the fighting in Burma, and the war's impact on Indian domestic politics. The country's history is challenging to document because the Indian experience was complicated by many residents viewing Britain as a greater threat than the Axis Powers—and because the events were quickly overshadowed by the convulsions that took place when India gained independence and was partitioned. The author, however, shows that understanding India's background is fundamental to comprehending Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and India itself today. VERDICT This book will be appreciated by scholars and general readers alike who wish to discover more answers to India's role in World War II.—Michael Farrell, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL

Library Journal

2016-03-01
Though the story is overshadowed today by the cataclysmic aftereffects of independence and partition, India during World War II raised the largest volunteer fighting force in history, ineluctably altering the nation's social structure and political makeup. Raghavan (Defense Studies/King's Coll. London; 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh, 2013, etc.), a military historian and former Indian infantry officer, unearths a period of India's history customarily consigned to the dustbin as the last gasp of an antiquated colonial system. Even amid mounting opposition to the crown, the Indian political classes widely recognized that the British Empire should be supported in its struggle with Hitler, and "New Delhi and London knew that the Raj would be called upon to make a major contribution to the defense of countries that traditionally fell under its sphere of influence." Between 1939 and 1945, the size of the Indian army increased tenfold, and Raghavan examines the rapidly shifting political alliances within and among the Congress Party, the Muslim League, and the princely states, the performance of the new soldiers on battlefields from North Africa to Malaya, and the massive domestic disruptions caused by recruiting and shipping out well over 2 million young men. While certain chapters belabor the minutiae of troop movements and formations, the author is more compelling when addressing the constraints and paradoxes faced by Indians battling fascism on behalf of an empire that still deemed them unworthy of exercising self-governance and relied on an Orientalist conception of "martial races" to plan recruiting efforts. The strategic needs of British divisions always came first, and Indian troops were moved around with little regard for their preparation or aptitude. In the hapless Southeast Asian campaigns, writes the author, "[t]he brigade [in Burma] had done little training for jungle warfare either in India or Burma," and the officers "showed little interest in organized training." World War II was a crucible that forged the modern identities of South Asian nations in ways rarely acknowledged since. While overlong, this book illuminates that period.

Kirkus Reviews