Indian Summer : the Secret History of the End of an Empire

The last days of the British Raj. The end of empire. A love affair between Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. The stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947 liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, a nation admitted it was no longer a superpower, and a king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator. It was one of the defining moments of world history, but it had been brought about by a tiny group of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister with radical plans for a socialist revolution; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Muslim leader who would stop at nothing to establish the world’s first modern Islamic state; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India without delay. Within hours of the midnight chimes, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror. Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi and the Mountbattens struggled with public and private turmoil while their dreams of freedom and democracy turned to chaos, bloodshed, genocide and war. Indian Summer depicts the epic sweep of events that ripped apart the greatest empire the world has ever seen, and saw one million people killed and ten million dispossessed. It reveals the secrets of the most powerful players on the world stage: the Cold War conspiracies, the private deals, and the intense and clandestine love affair between the wife of the last viceroy and the first prime minister of free India. From the Hardcover edition. The last days of the British Raj. The end of empire. A love affair between Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister.The stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947 liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, a nation admitted it was no longer a superpower, and a king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator.It was one of the defining moments of world history, but it had been brought about by a tiny group of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister with radical plans for a socialist revolution; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Muslim leader who would stop at nothing to establish the world’s first modern Islamic state; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India without delay. Within hours of the midnight chimes, the two new nations of India and Pakistan would descend into anarchy and terror. Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi and the Mountbattens struggled with public and private turmoil while their dreams of freedom and democracy turned to chaos, bloodshed, genocide and war. **Indian Summer**__From the Hardcover edition.__ Title Page......Page 3 Copyright......Page 4 Dedication......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Maps......Page 10 Prologue: A Tryst With Destiny......Page 15 Part I - Empire......Page 20 1 - In Their Gratitude Our Best Reward......Page 21 2 - Mohan and Jawahar......Page 28 3 - Civis Britannicus Sum......Page 41 4 - Dreaming of the East......Page 51 5 - Private Lives......Page 63 6 - We Want No Caesars......Page 72 7 - Power Without Responsibility......Page 88 8 - A New Theatre......Page 99 9 - Now or Never......Page 109 Part II - The End......Page 123 10 - Operation Madhouse......Page 124 11 - A Barrel of Gunpowder......Page 138 12 - Lightning Speed Is Much Too Slow......Page 149 Photo Insert......Page 160 13 - A Full Basket of Apples......Page 179 14 - A Rainbow in the Sky......Page 189 Part III - The Beginning......Page 201 15 - Paradise on Earth......Page 202 16 - The Battle for Delhi......Page 214 17 - Kashmir......Page 227 18 - Maybe Not Today, Maybe Not Tomorrow......Page 242 Part IV - Afterwards......Page 260 19 - A Kiss Goodbye......Page 261 20 - Echoes......Page 275 Notes......Page 288 Bibliography......Page 351 A Note on Names......Page 361 Glossary......Page 363