Imperial Illusions

Imperial Illusions By Amartya Sen :India, Britain, and the wrong lessons. AMARTYA SEN is Lamont University Professor at Harvard University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998. December 31, 2007 I. As I entered secondary school in the mid-1940s in what was restrained British India, I remember thinking that, despite our crossness with the British, it was sooner agreeable that the favorite military music of the British Army was Beating the Retreat. There was little sign in 1944 that the British were about to evacuate the country, despite the swelling eachuvial sediment lamp of the Indian national movement led by Gandhi and former(a) governmental leaders; but the decisive moment was non far off. It came rather abruptly in 1947, sixty long time ago, ushering in the beginning of the end of the biggest empire ever, bar none, as Niall Ferguson describes it in his book Empire, a guarded but eager celebration of British gallantism. While this year the Indian newspapers pose been amply of festivity for what has been achieved in six decades of independence, it is worth retentivity more(prenominal) soberly that this is in addition the anniversary of the end of a precise long imperial relationship.

As the year 2007 trails away, it is a proficient time to take a general breast seat at the history of the domination of a hot, sunny, and large subcontinent in the Orient by rulers from a small body bland in rainy, windy, cool--and very far away--islands on the western keenness of Europe. In India, indeed, this is a year of anniversaries. Not only did that imperial r ule of the subcontinent end sixty old age a! go, it also began 250 years ago, with a small but hugely repercussive wooing in 1757. On June 23 of that year, Robert Clive led the forces of the East India keep company to cudgel the Nawab of Bengal in the battle of Plassey, thereby initiating British find of state power in India. The battle lasted all of a day, but it is still seen as a unforgettable event both in Britain and in the subcontinent; and when I gave a...If you indigence to confirm a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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