Abstract
Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam of the Indian Air Force has produced a book which covers India's four wars during 1947–1971: the 1947–1948 limited war in Kashmir with Pakistan; the 1962 border war with China; the stalemated 1965 war with Pakistan; and the 1971 war with Pakistan, which resulted in the latter's defeat, its breakup with East Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh.
The opening remarks or the background chapter, dealing with the origins of the fighting men of India – primarily Rajputs, Jats, Sikhs and Marathas – is startling. The author states that he has excluded the Mughals because they were foreigners and invaders, and Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, who fought the English East India Company, because their wars lasted a very brief period. Such reasoning makes one wonder if the story of India's wars he wants to tell is an exercise in ultra-Hindu nationalist historiography.
Mercifully, the first impression is quickly shed because what follows in subsequent chapters is a reader's delight. The perspective on India's wars is unabashedly patriotic, but the author tries to understand the enemy's mind and praises his clever moves. Based on painstaking research and unmistakable competence and mastery over the subject, the book is highly informative, fair and analytical.
A lot has been written about India's four wars, including from the Pakistani side because three of those wars were with Pakistan. Some of the stories are familiar, but the author has added new and detailed information and the description of events as they unfolded is done with great skill. The biggest surprise for me was to learn that the Kashmir Operation, which Pakistan launched in October 1947 by sending armed men into that princely state with a view to inciting a popular uprising of the Muslim majority against the Hindu Maharaja, was discussed several months prior to the partition of India. Apparently, during the spring of 1947, Colonel Akbar Khan and other Muslim officers of the British Indian Army used to meet at Mohammad Ali Jinnah's residence on Aurangzeb Road in Delhi to plan that clandestine incursion into Kashmir. The reference given is to a book, A Soldier Recalls, by Lieutenant General S. K. Sinha. I have not seen this event mentioned by other writers and its reliability is difficult to assess. But if true, it adds another dimension to the origins of the Kashmir dispute.
The great strength of the book is that the overall political situation, the role of key players in civilian governments and of the generals, marshals and commanders are brought into the picture vividly and even-handedly when the wars are discussed. In doing so, the author evaluates the performances of the army, air force and navy and of the main weapons deployed during battles, while highlighting the levels and degrees of coordination of the three services. One gets a holistic, comprehensive overview of those wars.
Arjun Subramaniam has undoubtedly produced a compendium on India's military history, which the public as well as specialists and researchers will find an invaluable work of dedicated scholarship.