Dethroned
eBook - ePub

Dethroned

The Downfall of India's Princely States

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Dethroned

The Downfall of India's Princely States

About this book

On 25 July 1947, India's last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, stood before the Chamber of Princes in New Delhi and prepared to deliver the most important speech of his career. He had just three weeks to convince more than 550 sovereign princely states--some the size of Britain, some so small that cartographers had trouble locating them--to become part of a free India. Once Britain's most faithful allies, the princes could choose between joining India or Pakistan, or declaring their independence. This is a saga of promises and betrayals, of brinkmanship and intrigue. Mountbatten worked with two of independent India's founding fathers--the country's most senior civil servant, V.P. Menon, and Congress strongman Vallabhbhai Patel--to save the subcontinent from self-destruction. What India's architects described as a 'bloodless revolution' was anything but, as violence engulfed Kashmir and Indian troops put an end to Hyderabad's dreams of independence. Most states accepted the inevitable, giving up their kingdoms in exchange for guarantees that their privileges and titles would be preserved in perpetuity. Instead, they were led to their extinction--not by the sword, but by political expediency, leaving them with little more than fading memories of a glorified past.

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Yes, you can access Dethroned by John Zubrzycki in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Historical Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Photos
  7. Contents
  8. Prologue: The Last Durbar
  9. 1. The ‘Iron Man’ and the Civil Servant
  10. 2. The Bonfire of Vices
  11. 3. Allies and Agitators
  12. 4. A Basket-full of States
  13. 5. Dangerous Liaisons
  14. 6. ‘A Dagger into the Very Heart of India’
  15. 7. Endgames of Empire
  16. 8. A Pawn in a Chess Game
  17. 9. The Vale of Tears
  18. 10. The Killing Fields
  19. 11. ‘The Beauty of the Dawn’
  20. 12. The Wrath of Shiva
  21. 13. Trouble on the Frontier
  22. 14. Lost Among the Cobwebs
  23. Epilogue: ‘No More Boodle’
  24. Notes
  25. Select Bibliography
  26. Acknowledgements
  27. Index
  28. Back Cover