Reid, Walter
Fighting Retreat : Winston Churchill and India - Gurugram Penguin Viking 2023 - xiv, 332p.
Includes Index
Winston Churchill was closely connected with India from 1896, when he landed in Bombay with his regiment, until 1947, when independence was finally achieved. No other British statesman had such a long association with the sub-continent—or interfered in its politics so consistently and harmfully.
Churchill strove to sabotage any moves towards independence, crippling the Government of India Act over five years of dogged opposition to its passage in the 1930s. As Prime Minister during the Second World War, Churchill frustrated the freedom struggle from behind the scenes, delaying independence by a decade. To this day he is ‘the’ imperialist villain for Indians, held personally responsible for the Bengal Famine.
This book reveals Churchill at his worst: cruel, obstructive and selfish. The same man was outstandingly liberal at the Colonial Office, risking his career with his generosity to the Boers and the Irish, and later speeding up independence in the Middle East. Why was he so strangely hostile towards India?
9780670094868 (HB)
Famines -- India -- Bengal
Great Britain -- Colonies -- History -- 20th century
Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- India
94(54) / REI
Fighting Retreat : Winston Churchill and India - Gurugram Penguin Viking 2023 - xiv, 332p.
Includes Index
Winston Churchill was closely connected with India from 1896, when he landed in Bombay with his regiment, until 1947, when independence was finally achieved. No other British statesman had such a long association with the sub-continent—or interfered in its politics so consistently and harmfully.
Churchill strove to sabotage any moves towards independence, crippling the Government of India Act over five years of dogged opposition to its passage in the 1930s. As Prime Minister during the Second World War, Churchill frustrated the freedom struggle from behind the scenes, delaying independence by a decade. To this day he is ‘the’ imperialist villain for Indians, held personally responsible for the Bengal Famine.
This book reveals Churchill at his worst: cruel, obstructive and selfish. The same man was outstandingly liberal at the Colonial Office, risking his career with his generosity to the Boers and the Irish, and later speeding up independence in the Middle East. Why was he so strangely hostile towards India?
9780670094868 (HB)
Famines -- India -- Bengal
Great Britain -- Colonies -- History -- 20th century
Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- India
94(54) / REI