Just finished reading, "The Last Thousand Days of British Empire", and here is what I think of this book:
As an Indian now living in US, with my grandparents forced out of Pakistan in 1947 due to partition, I wanted to better understand what led to Britishers finally leaving India, and want caused them to spilt it on their way put. Both questions are very well answered. First, as British were under a huge debt after the WWII and had no means to maintain an empire of people wanting to be free.... moreJust finished reading, "The Last Thousand Days of British Empire", and here is what I think of this book:
As an Indian now living in US, with my grandparents forced out of Pakistan in 1947 due to partition, I wanted to better understand what led to Britishers finally leaving India, and want caused them to spilt it on their way put. Both questions are very well answered. First, as British were under a huge debt after the WWII and had no means to maintain an empire of people wanting to be free. Second, due to Jinnah and Muslim league falsely claiming to represent all Muslim minority's interests, while Indian Congress failed to pacify Jinnah to stay within one nation. It is ironical that India has more Muslims than Pakistan. Also as 3 subsequent wars and Billions $$ spent per year by each nation on arms prove, the British solution was bad. They should've just left and let people sort it out. Better yet they should've never gone in. Overall a good book, as it also throws light on Israel's birth. The author is generally balanced but sometimes takes extra pains to make British look good, e.g., how they tried to avoid India's partition. In reality, it was the manifestation of their divide and rule policy in response to the first Indian freedom fight in 1857.
