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The Vietnam War and Indian independence devastated British policy towards Asia. The Labour Government failed to understand its commitments. Yet some senior British officers were prepared to work alongside Asian nationalism in order to secure British interests. This created a radical local fusion of imperial, diplomatic and humanitarian policies.

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Introduction 1. The Prelude: Burma 1942-5 2. The Power Vacuum: Vietnam 1945 3. The Sideshow: Cambodia 1945 4. The Enforcement: Indo-China 1945-6 5. The Aftermath: Bengal and Kashmir 1946-51 Conclusion

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T.O. Smith is Associate Professor of History at Huntington University, USA, specialising in decolonisation and political violence in South and Southeast Asia. His previous publications include Britain and the Origins of the Vietnam War: UK Policy in Indo-China 1943-50 (2007) and Churchill, America and Vietnam, 1941-45 (2011). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

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