A WAR OF EMPIRES: JAPAN, INDIA, BURMA & BRITAIN 1941-45

This is the story of the Burma Campaign, the longest British campaign of the Second World War. In 1942 the Japanese brutally defeated the British and Indian Armies in Burma and Japan reigned supreme throughout Asia. This talk is about what the British in India did to push back.

It was not until March 1944 when the Japanese invaded India that they were finally defeated in bitter fighting at Kohima and Imphal. This was followed by a series of stunning victories by the Fourteenth Army, culminating in the collapse of all Japanese forces in Burma.

The Indian Army's contribution has been consistently forgotten and ignored. Robert Lyman proves how vital it was in securing Allied victory in the East and defeating Japanese militarism.

Robert Lyman is the author of A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain 1941-45 (Osprey 2021). He is a Research Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and served in the British Army for twenty years. His books include Kohima 1944 and Slim: Master of War.

This talk will be recorded.

This is a paid event.

General Admission: £5.00

Additional donation (optional) to promote scholarship by funding essay and book prizes for excellence in historical writing on the British in South Asia between 1600 and 1947: £1 suggested

Please contact the organiser if you would like to attend the lecture but are experiencing financial hardship during the pandemic. Or if you have any queries.

Reviews

‘Written with meticulous scholarship . . . Robert Lyman has unquestionably become the foremost scholar of the war in the Far East.’ — James Holland

'A fine, comprehensive and much-needed reappraisal of the pivotal Burma campaign in World War II. Exhaustively researched and engagingly written, it tells this dramatic story from the perspective of all the major combatants.' — Professor Saul David, University of Buckingham

'A masterful account not only of the longest British (and imperial) campaign of the Second World War but also, in a very real sense, of India's victory.' — Professor Ian Beckett, University of Kent

'With deep knowledge, clarity and empathy for the tangled cast of remarkable characters involved . . . the best single volume on the campaign.' — Professor Raymond Callahan, University of Delaware

'A comprehensive account of the Second World War campaign in India and Burma. He covers all the fighting armies but most importantly demonstrates the crucial role of the Indian Army who made up the majority of the Fourteenth Army which ultimately defeated the Imperial Japanese Army in 1945.' — Dr Alan Jeffreys, Senior Curator, Imperial War Museum