Resumen de When Legions Thunder Past: The Second World War and India’s Northeastern Frontier
Between 1942 and 1945, the Patkai mountains of Assam and Manipur became India’s front line against Japan. This article charts the concatenation of political, cultural, and socio-economic transformations that the Second World War caused in a region that colonial authorities had tried to cordon off. The conflict had push-and-pull effects on the Patkai, intensifying direct state penetration yet reviving long-standing transregional ties with Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia. When ‘national’ borders appeared with Burma and India’s independence two years later, the effect was jarring. As such, the war was a watershed in the postcolonial evolution of northeastern India and northwestern Burma.
