Dimitri’s Reviews > India > Status Update

the stride of history slows down as it nears the present but its shuffle is complex. At best, I have a framework for the 1947 partitions, but no complete understanding of Pakistani independence or the Kashmir conflict.

British appeasement towards the Indian Congress' demands growing from home rule (inspired by Ireland), dominion status or full indepence, were always a step behind from one world war to another. Neville Chamberlain, we're spying a pattern here...

as so often, a singular event in Western memory, here the "Indian Mutiny", was a patchy affair with support for both sides across all layers of society and long-term origins.

I still get the impression that the "conquest" by the East Indian Company was a case of divide & rule, albeit inconsistently.

the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb: mere example of imperial overstretch or Indian equivalent to the longevity of Franz Joseph ?

1500-1565 the Portugese and the Mughols have arrived on the scene. Indian history is entering my chartered waters.

there's a similarity between the European growth of the nation-state & the rise of the princely states following the demise of the Delhi sultanate in the 14th-15th century.

bad bad me, starting the 2016 challenge with two books i'm already underway in