Srinath Raghavan's comprehensive work India's War delves deeply into the role that India played in World
War II. India in the 1930's and 1940's was still under British rule, and its
geographic position in South Asia put it on the edge of two theatres of battle
- Japan in Southeast and East Asia and the African battles that raged as close
as Ethiopia.
Raghavan's book is well-researched and detailed, talking
about the recruitment of India's armed forces and the "rogue" army that
was raised and sought out Japanese and German support. All of this amid the specter of political
drama that was playing out as the leading factions in India's dueling
nationalist movements quarrelled with the British colonial government as the
nationalists sought further self-control and power.
The author focuses significant time on World
War II, but very little deals with the consequences of war with
regard to the political turmoil that overtook India and Pakistan in the late
1940's and continues to this day. While the seeds for division and partition
were being sewn during World War II, and the author does talk about this, it
feels like the immediate aftermath of the war and how India's military shaped
some of the civil strife during the India-Pakistan partition was only given
brief consideration. More information on this would have been beneficial.
This is a solid but unspectacular work that misses the mark
in a few areas but properly mentions the contributions of India's armies to the
British war effort.
MY RATING - 3
