The Last Days of the British Raj

by Leonard Mosley

Genres: Nonfiction, History, India

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Leonard Oswald Mosley OBE OStJ (11 February 1913 – June 1992) was a British journalist, historian, biographer and novelist. His works include five novels and biographies of General George Marshall, Reich Marshall Hermann Göring, Orde Wingate, Walt Disney, Charles Lindbergh, Du Pont family, Eleanor Dulles, Allen Welsh Dulles, John Foster Dulles and Darryl F. Zanuck. He also worked as chief war correspondent for London's The Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Abhijit Basu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, which was published by Jaico in 1961, is presently not in circulation. That is a pity since, after borrowing it through a good friend from the Planning Commission Library, I found it to be an eminently readable book. It is a graphic period chronicle, giving a ring-side view of the tumultuous events leading to independence and partition of India. One is surprised the work is so little known and referred to in historical studies, replete as it is with authentic factual details. It recounts to great analytical effect: the political intrigues of the time; the sacking of Viceroy Wavell in 1946 and fateful rejection of his plan to keep India united based on the Cabinet Mission offer (Wavell wryly commented to his aide: “I always get the dirty end of the stick, don’t I, George?”); the almost cavalier way independence was preponed to ten months before the scheduled date of June 1948 at Mountbatten’s behest; the ‘marginalisation’ of Gandhi from partition negotiations (by Mountbatten, aided, or at least abetted, by Nehru and Patel, in their hurry to be rid of Jinnah); the sterling part played by VP Menon in engineering integration of the Princely states; the uniquely heroic role played by Gandhi as the ‘One Man Boundary Force’ in preventing a recurrence of communal riots in Bengal after partition (the moving scenes of the eponymous film ‘Gandhi’ seem to have been scripted straight from this book); the sheer impracticality of forcing Cyril Radcliff to make his paper partition of Punjab and Bengal in just 6 weeks time; and the tragic bloodbath in Punjab that followed Mountbatten’s ‘deliberate’ inaction in keeping the people and their leaders ignorant of the partition awards until two days after the glitzy celebration of independence.
The book is written in a racy style, which invests it with an ‘unputdownable’ quality. Indeed, it is almost as gripping as Trevor-Roper’s ‘The Last Days of Hitler’ and more engaging than John Reed’s ‘Ten Days that Shook the World’.

[Harshita · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is regrettable that I have read more about world wars, French revolutions and American civil war than about the independence of India. We are taught about the Indian struggle for independence in high school. But what happened once Britain decided to grant it (or we forced their hand, whichever way you look at it), had never been taught to us.

Leonard Mosley gives a thorough account of the events leading up to that fateful day. His book raises a lot of questions. Should Wavell had stayed on? Did Mountbatten act in haste? Could we have avoided partition and the bloodshed that followed?

It is often said that history repeats itself. This book should be read so that we may learn from the errors of our previous generations and strive to never repeat them!

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm calling this book journalism because it vividly reconstructs and enlightens and the pages certainly told me a great deal I had not known about the partitioning of India and Pakistan. We also get photos, for instance Nehru (first Prime Minister of independent India) talking with Gandhi, and being sworn in by Lord Mountbatten in 1947.

The sheer tragedy and horror of a country tearing itself in two is brought home from the start, in August 1946. I won't go into detail, but the author does. We get the social circumstances, for instance, the Muslim people had largely been converted by Mughal invaders or else had chosen this route as they were lowest in the caste system (untouchables) and the Muslim life offered them more opportunities than Hindu. Seen that way it makes excellent sense of the grievances and differences still held between the nations. The British civil servants, we are told, "got on better" with Muslims as their attitude was more respectful and less to imply that they would need to purify their home once the official left.
The tale ends with Mountbatten leaving the subcontinent and returning to the Navy in June 1948. So a short time is packed into this account. A bitter history indeed.

Maps P256 - 257. Bibliography and index P251 - 263.
I read this book from the RDS Library.

[Souri Misra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Strongly recommend

[Meema · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did I really want to know how Indian politicians could not handle Indian summers but the Mountbattens did not mind it at all because don't forget they were posted in Burma right before coming to India? Not really, no.



Forgettable and questionable summary of the last days of the Raj unfortunately. I could have spent the time in many better pursuits.