A century ago, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait were bound together under a single imperial banner, officially known as the Indian Empire, or more simply, the Raj. It ultimately shattered into multiple partitions. Many of these lands were protectorates, some internationally recognized and others not. Some were princely states within India that had surrendered defense and foreign policy to the empire. This is the story of how those partitions created twelve separate nations.
In 1928, a British commission went to India to draft a new constitution. They encountered a region divided between Mahatma Gandhi’s Hindu-led movement and Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim political leadership. Further east, Burma—the largest and richest province of the Raj—felt routinely excluded from Indian politics, and a movement emerged calling for its separation. The commission ultimately recommended this separation. A few years later, London approved the separation of Burma, and also Arab Oman, from India. These changes took effect on April 1, 1937.
In the late 1930s, India was allowed limited elections, in which Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress Party won significant support. Plans to merge British India and the princely states into a federation were halted when World War II broke out. It would become the largest war in Asia since the Mongol invasions of China. The British Indian Army grew to 2.5 million men, but enthusiasm for Britain’s war effort was limited, as many struggled to distinguish between Nazism and imperial rule. India wanted freedom, not war.
Jinnah increasingly argued for a separate Muslim state in northwest India. In early 1942, Japanese forces attacked Burma, causing around 600,000 Indians to flee westward. Japan conquered Burma, and most Indians were forced to leave. Religious and ethnic tensions intensified as Japanese-backed Burmese forces fought in the border regions. That same year, Britain imprisoned the Congress leaders after Gandhi demanded immediate independence, while Jinnah urged the British to remain to protect Muslim minorities from Hindu-majority rule.
By the end of 1942, the Japanese Empire had conquered much of Southeast Asia. India was in turmoil, flooded with refugees and fearing further invasion. Bengal experienced a devastating famine that killed over a million people, and Prime Minister Churchill was heavily criticized. In late 1944, Japanese forces advanced into India and besieged Kohima. The Battle of Kohima became one of the turning points of the war in Asia, with approximately 40,000 Japanese casualties.
At the end of the war, the Congress leaders were released from prison and returned to a transformed country. Non-violent resistance had weakened, and there was growing demand for more assertive nationalism.
Britain was financially exhausted and even indebted to the Government of India. The subcontinent was home to Sikhs, Nagas, Pashtuns, Bengalis, Hindus, and Muslims, many of whom now demanded separate states. In early 1946, around 50,000 Indian personnel in the Royal Air Force went on strike, followed by 20,000 Royal Navy mutineers. Violence broke out in Bengal, where many Muslims demanded a separate homeland, rather than joining Jinnah’s Pakistan.
By spring 1947, Britain’s retreat from empire resembled a rapid collapse. The government announced withdrawal from Greece, Palestine, and India. Lord Mountbatten was appointed the last Viceroy of India. His plan to partition India and create Pakistan was accepted as the least violent option for separation.
Some provinces were given choices over their future: Assam, Sindh, and Baluchistan had to decide which country to join; Bengal and Punjab were to determine whether they would be divided along religious lines. The independence date was moved up to August 15, the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender. A massive administrative task involving the borders of the new states was attempted in only ten weeks. Still unresolved was the fate of the 565 princely states, which made up about 40 percent of the subcontinent. Most ultimately acceded to India.
Across the region, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs became caught up in widespread communal violence. By early August, mass migration had begun. Armed militias and paramilitary groups moved through border regions. Independence came at midnight, even as borders remained unclear.
The resulting violence was on an immense scale. Tens of millions were displaced along religious lines. Millions died, and many more suffered forced conversions and sexual violence. Hindus and Sikhs fled Pakistan, while Muslims in India often became targets of hostility. The Partition of British India remains one of the most significant events of the twentieth century in South Asia, shaping the identity and politics of nearly a quarter of the world’s population. By the end of the year, around 20 million people had been displaced.
Relations between India and Pakistan were tense from the moment of their creation. Soon after independence, war broke out over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. The territory had a Hindu ruler but a majority Muslim population. After its accession to India, both sides deployed regular armies, replacing earlier tribal militias. Fighting continued through 1948, with India gaining the advantage late in the year. A UN-brokered ceasefire took effect on January 1, later becoming permanent, leaving India in control of roughly two-thirds of the region, including the Kashmir Valley. The ceasefire line eventually became the Line of Control.
Tensions also grew within Pakistan between East and West Pakistan, separated by a thousand miles and marked by a deep economic and political imbalance. The more populous East felt underrepresented in national institutions. Matters worsened after a devastating cyclone in 1970, which killed hundreds of thousands and was widely seen as poorly handled by the government.
These tensions led to what is often called the fifth partition of the region. In March 1971, the government ignored the electoral victory of the Awami League in East Pakistan. Rising unrest led to a military crackdown, and the League declared independence. Bengali soldiers defected and formed the backbone of the resistance. India eventually intervened militarily, leading to war. Pakistan surrendered, and in exchange for 90,000 prisoners of war, recognized the independence of Bangladesh.
Today, these countries often overlook their shared and intertwined histories. Questions of citizenship and belonging—of who is considered an outsider—continue to shape the region. India and Pakistan still maintain heavily restricted cross-border relations, limiting opportunities for many displaced families to visit ancestral homes. History, in many ways, remains very much alive.
This account is very thorough history. The author is an Englishman who grew up in New Delhi and graduated from Oxford. His narrative links religious extremism, political fragmentation, and colonial legacy. The story also raises broader questions about whether Britain’s long imperial dominance—from Ireland to the Far East—has contributed to enduring perceptions of superiority and inequality.
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