Conflicted: A History Podcast
Untangling history’s greatest controversies. Every month, we take a hard look at the historical conflicts that raise difficult questions, stoke controversy, and send our moral compasses spinning.
The Partition of India – Part 2: Two Blind Eyes
As the British Raj crumbles, old animosities begin to stir in the subcontinent’s communities. Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru face a formidable new adversary in the form of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who calls for the creation of a separate Muslim nation - Pakistan. Hindu-Muslim tensions, fueled by political polarization and corrosive rhetoric, explode into sectarian violence during the Great Calcutta Killing of August 1946.
Sources:
Akbar, M.J. Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan. 2011.
Tharoor, Shashi. Nehru: The Invention of India. 2003.
Tharoor, Shashi. Inglorious Empire: What The British Did To India. 2017.
Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. 2007.
Guha, Ramachandra. Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World. 2018.
Sarila, Narendra Singh. The Shadow of the Great Game. 2005.
Charles Rivers Editors. The Punjab. 2018.
Charles Rivers Editors. British India. 2017.
Puri, Kavita. Partition Voices: Untold British Stories. 2019.
Malhotra, Aanchal. Remnants of Partition: 21 Objects From A Continent Divided. 2017.
Von Tunzelmann, Alex. Indian Summer. 2007.
Zakaria, Anam. The Footprints of Partition. 2015.
Ahmed Akbar. Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity. 1997.
Urvashi, Butalia. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. 1998.
White-Spunner, Barney. Partition. 2017.
Lawrence, James. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. 1997.
Hamdani, Yasser Latif. Jinnah: A Life. 2020.
Fischer, Louis. Gandhi. 1950.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Podcast Episodes
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Mujahideen Civil War (Part 4)
It’s 1992. The 40th Army is long gone and the Soviet Union has collapsed, but war still rages across Afghanistan. As the Afghan communist regime crumbles, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces clash in Kabu…
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Soviet-Afghan War – Part 3
As the CIA wages a covert proxy war against the Soviet 40th Army, the Mujahideen are showered with billions of dollars and cutting-edge weaponry. An old animosity between two prominent Mujahideen commanders – Ahmed Shah…
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Soviet-Afghan War – Part 2
The Soviet 40th Army invaded Afghanistan in the closing days of 1979. They would not leave for another nine years. Exhausted and frustrated by their inability to decisively crush the elusive freedom fighters in the mount…
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Soviet-Afghan War – Part 1
When Soviet Russia invaded Afghanistan in December of 1979, few could have imagined what a seismic impact it would have on the modern world. In an attempt to prop up a wobbly client regime, the Soviets sparked a transnat…
Curse of the Koh-I-Noor Diamond
The infamous Koh-I-Noor diamond currently sits in the Tower of London among the crown jewels of the British monarchy, but its bloody, eon-spanning journey began in the riverbeds of ancient India. Cut, coveted, and stolen…
Kill Yamamoto: The Mission to Avenge Pearl Harbor - Part 2
After the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Navy is in tatters and Yamamoto’s hopes of a quick victory against the United States have evaporated. He has no choice but to fight a war he knows Japan will lose. Tom Lanphier, R…
Kill Yamamoto: The Mission To Avenge Pearl Harbor - Part 1
In 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was the most hated man in America. As the architect of Japan’s December 7th surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States military decided Yamamoto had to die by any means necessary…
Prophet's Dilemma: The Sunni Shia Split Part 3
Civil war has torn the Caliphate apart. In 656 AD, Aisha marches with an army at her back. Ali, newly crowned as Caliph, has no choice but to oppose her. Muawiya sees an opportunity to grab power and start a dynasty of h…
Prophet's Dilemma: The Sunni Shia Split Part 2
The Prophet is dead. In 632 AD, the armies of Islam explode out of Arabia, led by a series of aggressive new Caliphs. The Prophet’s young widow Aisha struggles to understand her new role as “Mother of the Faithful”. Mean…
