Churchill’s Secret War:
The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During World War II
November 27, 2012 · 6:00-8:00PM
Columbia University Business School, Uris Hall, room 141
In 1943, during World War II, the eastern province of Bengal in British India underwent a famine that killed 3 million people or more. The famine has long been understood as arising from a conglomeration of local factors. A wealth of newly unearthed documents show, however, that a series of decisions by Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet precipitated and aggravated the famine. These decisions can be traced partly to Churchill’s efforts to protect the British economy after the war and partly to Churchill’s intense hostility toward Indians, who were seeking independence from British rule.
Introduction:
- Anya Schiffrin, director of SIPA’s International Media, Advocacy, and Communications Specialization at Columbia University
Discussion:
- Dr. Madhusree Mukerjee, Author
Discussant:
- Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology and of Middle Eastern Member, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University