Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in IndiaBritain's precipitous and ill-planned disengagement from India in 1947--condemned as a "shameful flight" by Winston Churchill--had a truly catastrophic effect on South Asia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead in its wake and creating a legacy of chaos, hatred, and war that has lasted over half a century. Ranging from the fall of Singapore in 1942 to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Shameful Flight provides a vivid behind-the-scenes look at Britain's decision to divest itself from the crown jewel of its empire. Stanley Wolpert, a leading authority on Indian history, paints memorable portraits of all the key participants, including Gandhi, Churchill, Attlee, Nehru, and Jinnah, with special focus on British viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Wolpert places the blame for the catastrophe largely on Mountbatten, the flamboyant cousin of the king, who rushed the process of nationhood along at an absurd pace. The viceroy's worst blunder was the impetuous drawing of new border lines through the middle of Punjab and Bengal. Virtually everyone involved advised Mountbatten that to partition those provinces was a calamitous mistake that would unleash uncontrollable violence. Indeed, as Wolpert shows, civil unrest among Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs escalated as Independence Day approached, and when the new boundary lines were announced, arson, murder, and mayhem erupted. Partition uprooted over ten million people, 500,000 to a million of whom died in the ensuing inferno. Here then is the dramatic story of a truly pivotal moment in the history of India, Pakistan, and Britain, an event that ignited fires of continuing political unrest that still burn in South Asia. |
Contents
From Crippss Failure to the Failure of the Congress Partys | |
From Gandhis Fast through the First Year of Wavells | |
Summit Failures and Cabinet Obstacles August 1944July | |
From the End of World War II through the Cabinet Mission | |
The Interim Government JuneDecember 1946 | |
Lord Mountbattens Last Chukka December 1946June 1947 | |
Other editions - View all
Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India Stanley A. Wolpert No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
accept agreed agreement AllIndia Amery to Linlithgow Amritsar April Army asked Attlee Auchinleck August Azad Bengal Bihar Bombay Britain’s British India’s British Raj cabinet mission Calcutta Churchill Churchill’s commanderinchief communal conference Congress leaders Congress Party Congress Party leaders constituent assembly constitution council Cripps’s delegation Delhi dominion East Bengal feared Government of India Governor GovernorGeneral Hindu hoped ibid insisted interim government interview invited Ismay Japanese Jenkins Jinnah July June Kashmir Khan Lahore League’s Leo Amery Liaquat Liaquat Ali Khan Linlithgow to Amery London Lord Lord Mountbatten Mahatma Gandhi Majesty’s Government Majesty’s Stationery Office majority March meeting Menon million Mountbatten Muslim League National Congress Pakistan Party’s PethickLawrence Prime Minister princes proposals provinces Punjab quotation Rajagopalachari refused replied reported Roosevelt Sardar Patel secretary September Sikhs Simla Singh Suhrawardy told TOP SECRET Transfer of Power troops V. P. Menon viceroy viceroy’s Wavell to Amery Wavell’s wired Wolpert wrote