The decline of empires in South Asia

Fisher, John

Abstract

Heather Campbell’s book discusses British policies towards Persia and Afghanistan after the First World War. She maintains that in order to comprehend these policies, one must understand the persistence of Great Game mentalities among senior policy makers, notably George Curzon. While Curzon was preoccupied with Bolshevik Russia, she suggests that the Government of India, was instead more vexed by growing manifestations of nationalism and pan-Islamic sentiment, and more keenly aware than Curzon of the ‘empire’s limitations’ in the post-war world. Perhaps, as a caveat to that judgement, it might be recalled that some London-based strategists were also keenly aware of the limits of British power. Notable, was Sir Henry Wilson, awoken from his wartime visions of territorial expansion by the need, as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, to find troops to secure British gains amidst post-war unrest, overstretch, and retrenchment. His correspondence encapsulates the multi-faceted post-war crisis of empire, which the author outlines, though possibly belatedly in view of its overall importance to the theme of her book. Campbell suggests that the question for policymakers was not whether Britain should hold onto the empire, but how (xix). This was true for many forward thinkers, but of course doubts had been expressed during the war about the wisdom of accruing certain territories, notably the Caucasus. Woodrow Wilson’s ideas of self-determination were also in the wind, and in the minds of some policymakers and their advisers and were a key constraint in that regard.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 23, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 27, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 2, 2024
• Journal: Middle Eastern Studies
• Print ISSN: 0026-3206
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-7881
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 532-533
• Item Discussed: The Decline of Empires in South Asia by Heather A. Campbell (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2022), 205 pp., £20 (hardback), ISBN 9781526775801
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2023.2172247
• Keywords: Sociology and Political Science, History, Cultural Studies, Geography, Planning and Development
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10448272
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263206.2023.2172247