At the end of the Second World War Asian colonies were desperate for independence: India, Burma, Indochina, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies all boasted independence movements that now demanded autonomy. But was Britain, which had fought a costly war against fascism and domination and won, willing to grant self-government to its former colonies? And what of France and the Netherlands?

Joining today is historian Phil Craig, author of 1945: The Reckoning, as we explore figures such as Chandra Bhose and General Kodendera Thimayya, or Thimmy for short, and the way Britain and her allies dealt with independence.

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1945: The Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World

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