Arjun Subramaniam is a retired Air Vice Marshal from the Indian Air Force and an accomplished fighter pilot. Embarking on a second career as a military historian, academic and strategic analyst, he has taught at several universities. He is also the author of India’s Wars: A Military History, 1947-1971.
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The armed forces play a key role in protecting India and occupy a special place in people’s hearts. Yet, standard accounts of contemporary Indian history rarely have a military dimension. In India’s Wars, serving Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam, who has a Ph.D in Defence and Strategic Studies, seeks to give India’s military exploits their rightful place in history. Beginning with a snapshot of the growth of the armed forces, he provides detailed accounts of the conflicts from Independence to 1971: the first India-Pakistan war of 1947-48, the liberation of Hyderabad and Junagadh, the campaign to evict the Portuguese from Goa in 1961, and the full-blown wars against China and Pakistan.At the same time, India’s Wars is much more than a record of events. It is a tribute to the valour of the men and women in olive green, white and blue in the hope that it reaches out to a large audience, specially the youth. It highlights ways to improve the synergy between the three services, as too emphasizes the need to declassify material about national security. Laced with veterans’ exhilarating experiences in combat operations, India’s Wars fuses the strategic, operational, tactical and human dimensions of war with great finesse. Deeply researched and passionately written, it unfolds with surprising ease and offers a fresh perspective on independent India’s history.
