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India was partitioned in 1947, the Bengal famine occured in 1943. Indian food, labor, supplies, and soldiers did play a large role in WW2 allied countries' mil

India was partitioned in 1947, the Bengal famine occured in 1943. Indian food, labor, supplies, and soldiers did play a large role in WW2 allied countries' military successes in Asia.

sofixa 5y ago
> Indian food, labor, supplies, and soldiers did play a large role in WW2 allied countries' military successes in Asia. And Africa, and Europe, and in WW1 too! Indian contributions to the world wars cannot be understated. However, my statement was regarding the claim that the Bengali famine is "how the second world war was funded", which is bullshit. It happened years into the war, and compared to the costs associated with waging a conflict of this size, it would have been miniscule to distribute rice to the population. It was war, bad weather, incompetence, negligence, not financing that caused the famine.
- sandGorgon 5y ago
  again - please read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_Wor... check the contribution tables During the war, India provided 196.7 million tonnes of coal, 6 million tonnes of iron ore and 1.12 million tonnes of steel. Approx 35 per cent of India’s annual cotton textile production, amounting to about 5,000,000,000 yards, went into creating war material. India contributed more than Australia, Canada, New Zealand put together. And yeah - we werent even part of the war. (oh also, Indian army had become the largest volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945. with the operative word being "volunteer"!) By the end of the war outstanding balances were equivalent to 60 per cent of British net receipts under Lend-Lease. Of the total sterling balances, about a third was accumulated by India. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12372 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12372 you can go ahead and ignore this if you want. your choice and your call. This is fairly debated and fairly well known - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33618621 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33618621
  - sofixa 5y ago
    You seem to be misunderstanding me. I'm not saying India was one of the biggest contributors to both World Wars - it absolutely was. And yes, reparations would make sense, but there's no chance in hell the UK pays up, or they'll open the floodgates. However to claim the Bengali famine had anything to do with that is misleading at best. Cotton, iron, coal wouldn't have helped the starving people, and there was enough food within India and the wider British Empire. It wasn't a choice between people in Bengal starve or we don't build enough tanks/send enough troops to North Africa. It was bad weather, the war ( the fall of Burma), incompetence, negligence that caused the famine, not a premeditated choice to sacrifice the people of Bengal for the war effort.

India was partitioned in 1947, the Bengal famine occured in 1943. Indian food, labor, supplies, and soldiers did play a large role in WW2 allied countries' military successes in Asia.

sofixa 5y ago

> Indian food, labor, supplies, and soldiers did play a large role in WW2 allied countries' military successes in Asia. And Africa, and Europe, and in WW1 too! Indian contributions to the world wars cannot be understated. However, my statement was regarding the claim that the Bengali famine is "how the second world war was funded", which is bullshit. It happened years into the war, and compared to the costs associated with waging a conflict of this size, it would have been miniscule to distribute rice to the population. It was war, bad weather, incompetence, negligence, not financing that caused the famine.

sandGorgon 5y ago
again - please read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_Wor... check the contribution tables During the war, India provided 196.7 million tonnes of coal, 6 million tonnes of iron ore and 1.12 million tonnes of steel. Approx 35 per cent of India’s annual cotton textile production, amounting to about 5,000,000,000 yards, went into creating war material. India contributed more than Australia, Canada, New Zealand put together. And yeah - we werent even part of the war. (oh also, Indian army had become the largest volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945. with the operative word being "volunteer"!) By the end of the war outstanding balances were equivalent to 60 per cent of British net receipts under Lend-Lease. Of the total sterling balances, about a third was accumulated by India. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12372 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12372 you can go ahead and ignore this if you want. your choice and your call. This is fairly debated and fairly well known - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33618621 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33618621
- sofixa 5y ago
  You seem to be misunderstanding me. I'm not saying India was one of the biggest contributors to both World Wars - it absolutely was. And yes, reparations would make sense, but there's no chance in hell the UK pays up, or they'll open the floodgates. However to claim the Bengali famine had anything to do with that is misleading at best. Cotton, iron, coal wouldn't have helped the starving people, and there was enough food within India and the wider British Empire. It wasn't a choice between people in Bengal starve or we don't build enough tanks/send enough troops to North Africa. It was bad weather, the war ( the fall of Burma), incompetence, negligence that caused the famine, not a premeditated choice to sacrifice the people of Bengal for the war effort.