- List of Illustrations*
- Maps
- Asia in late 1945
- The Great Crescent
- British South East Asia
- The Partition of East Bengal
- British Malaya in 1945
- Some Key Characters
- Preface
- Prologue: An Unending War
- 1. 1945: Interregnum
- The New Asia
- The last journey of Subhas Chandra Bose
- Nations without states
- Three weeks in Malaya
- The fall of Syonan
- 2. 1945: The Pains of Victory
- Burma intransigent
- India: the key
- Bengal on the brink
- The reckoning
- 3. 1945: A Second Colonial Conquest
- ‘Black Market Administration’
- A world upside down
- Liberal imperialism and New Democracy
- ‘Malaya for the Malays, not the Malayans’
- 4. 1945: The First Wars of Peace
- The crescent regained
- Britain’s forgotten war in Vietnam
- Britain and the birth of Indonesia
- Freedom or death in Surabaya
- 5. 1946: Freedom without Borders
- The passing of the Malayan Spring
- Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat
- British and Indian mutinies
- Dorman-Smith’s Waterloo
- A new world order?
- 6. 1946: One Empire Unravels, Another Is Born
- The killing begins
- Britain’s terminal crisis in Burma
- The burial of the dead
- Business as usual in Malaya
- 7. 1947: At Freedom’s Gate
- The last days of the Raj
- The crescent fragments: Bengal divided
- Tragedy in Rangoon
- Disaster approaches
- 8. 1947: Malaya on the Brink
- The crescent fragments: orphans of empire
- Malaya’s forgotten regiments
- The strange disappearance of Mr Wright
- ‘Beware, the danger from the mountain’
- A people’s constitution
- 9. 1948: A Bloody Dawn
- Boys’ Day in Burma
- The genesis of communist rebellion
- A summer of anarchy
- Karens and Britons
- India recedes, India reborn
- 10. 1948: The Malayan Revolution
- A third world war?
- The frontier erupts
- Calls to arms
- Sten guns and stengahs
- The road to Batang Kali
- 11. 1949: The Centre Barely Holds
- Britain, India and the coming of the Cold War
- The centre barely holds
- The battle for the ulu
- Freedom and revolution
- The generation of 1950
- Epilogue: The End of Britain’s Asian Empire
- Freedom, slowly and gently
- Freedom from fear?
- Flawed memories
- A flawed inheritance
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- * List of Illustrations
- 1. Surrendered Japanese troops in Burma, August 1945 (Imperial War Museum)
- 2. Japanese troops clearing the Singapore Padang before the surrender ceremony, 12 September 1945 (Imperial War Museum)
- 3. Lt General Seishiro Itagaki signing the surrender, Singapore, 12 September 1945 (Empics)
- 4. Mountbatten announces the surrender of the Japanese in Singapore, September, 1945 (Corbis)
- 5. A forgotten army: surrendered Japanese in north Malaya, November 1945 (Empics)
- 6. Seagrave’s return, 1945 (Getty)
- 7. Leclerc and Gracey with Japanese sword of surrender, Saigon, 1945 (Corbis)
- 8. Soldiers of the Parachute Regiment, Java, 1945 (Imperial War Museum)
- 9. Bengal sappers and miners watch the reprisal burning of the village of Bekassi, Java, 1945 (Imperial War Museum)
- 10. Imperialism’s return? Christison in Java, 1946 (Getty)
- 11. Sukarno addresses an ‘ocean’ rally, Java, 1946 (Getty)
- 12. Charisma and revolution: Sukarno, Java, 1946 (Getty)
- 13. Nehru’s arrival at Kalling Airport, Singapore, April 1946 (Imperial War Museum)
- 14. Macdonald inspects the Malay Regiment, Kuala Lumpur, 1946 (Imperial War Museum)
- 15. Dorman Smith leaves Burma, June 1946 (Imperial War Museum)
- 16. Muslim rioters and the corpse of a Hindu, Calcutta, August 1946 (Corbis)
- 17. India’s interim government at their swearing in, Delhi 1946 (Corbis)
- 18. Aung San and Attlee, London, January 1947 (Getty)
- 19. Aung San and family, 1947 (Popperfoto)
- 20. The Mountbattens in Delhi, eve of independence, August 1947 (Getty)
- 21. Celebrating independence in Calcutta, August 1947 (Getty)
- 22. Ending the Burmese days: Rance and Burma’s president, January 1948 (Corbis)
- 23. Communist suspect, Malaya c. 1949 (Imperial War Museum)
- 24. Bren gun and stengah: rubber planter in Malaya, 1949 (Getty)
- 25. Chinese peasants being arrested by Malay policemen, April 1949 (Getty)
- 26. Dyak trackers in Malaya, c. 1949 (Imperial War Museum)
- 27. The sultan expects: the ruler of Selangor inspects Malay special constables on rubber estate, 1949 (Imperial War Museum)
- 28. Hearts and minds: a propaganda leaflet drop, 1948 (Imperial War Musuem)
- 29. Imperial Twilight: Drinks party at Malcolm MacDonald’s residence, Bukit Serene, 1949 (Getty)
- 30. Fighting during the Karen insurgency, 1949 (Getty)
- 31. The quiet man: Ne Win in London for military training, 1949 (Corbis)
- 32. The man with the plan: Templer with the Home Guard, Kinta, 1942 (Getty)
- 33. Bandung spirits: Nasser, Nu and Nehru celebrating the Burmese Water Festival, 1955 (Corbis)
- 34. Chin Peng at Baling, December 1955, with his old Force 136 ally, John Davis (Corbis)
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