India and the DEI after the alternate WW2 ???

Markus

Banned
Which direction could/would the two take after "Malaya Campaign"-WW2.

For those -no doubt very, very, very few ;) - not familiar with what happened:

On December 8th 1941 an extremely powerful elite force of the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the British colony of Malaya that was defended by a handful of poorly-trained and ill-equipped Indian soldiers but Indians being Indians they prevailed against all odds, stopped the invasion, chased the invaders back all the way to Tokyo and liberated Thailand, Indo-china, China and Korea from the yoke of Japan. In case you wonder why this differs from the official history, this is the version the Congress Party is telling. ;)

So, no mass surrenders, no Bengal famine, no IO raid but victories over victories.
One could argue this accelerates Indian independence on the grounds of “We won the war for you, now pay up!” But more important could it affect the partition of India? If so how? Me, I have not even read the wiki-article on the matter but maybe a few people here know about this sorry episode.


Egarding the DEI, the durch rule was so unpopular the locals greeted the Japanese as liberators but that attitude changed fast. In the ATL Java and Sumatra are never invaded, so the anti-dutch sentiment will survive. Borneo, Celebes and a few smaller islands are taken by the Japanese and soon retaken by the allies. Since the Japanese did not care about the civilan population inside a warzone (see Battle of Manila and the three-all-policy) one would assume that the Dutch are suddenly looking MUCH more acceptable the people of Borneo. But how would they view the people of Java? “Jap loving scum” or just “Bloody fools”? And how would this affect their willingness to live in the same nation?
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
Well the Javanese might have turned anti-Japanese during the war but that didn't make them the slightest bit more pro-dutch or even anti-Sukarno. Except for the ones who were that before the war ofcourse. The reaction on Japanese warcrimes depends alot on Sukarnos actions during the war though. If he supports the Japanese and tries to get some rebellion or sedition going on he might be identified with the actions of the Japanese which would be good for the Dutch government. Things will be radically different from OTL, that's for sure. The Nationalists might be seen as a serious partner in the political process by the Dutch (again, depending on their actions), there will be no largscale unrest (Plokkers) which caused alot of animosity towards the DEI government, troops are already in place, etc. etc.
 
To really change things in a big way one needs to go back to the 19th century and the failure of the Dutch to respond in a big way to the natural disaster caused by the explosion of the Volcano. It was this that started to turn the native population against the Dutch.

As for the second world war if the Japanese are unable to take Malaysia and the Netherlands East Indies entirely then the prestige of the European powers is not deminished and both countries stand a chance of holding on.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
One significant difference (besides the regretable veneration of the Brewster Buffalo ;)) would be Indians view of themselves. ITTL India is already well on the way to regional superpower.

China will also be a very different place.
 
One significant difference (besides the regretable veneration of the Brewster Buffalo ;)) would be Indians view of themselves. ITTL India is already well on the way to regional superpower.

China will also be a very different place.

Yes, an India with an internationalist outlook seeing itself as the Liberator of Asia will be very, very different.
 
The different invasion pattern exacerbates the differences between the Islands and there is no over arching government. Each Island becomes independent on it's own.

India will depend on the Veterans and their opinions.
I still see a partition, but with different borders than OTL.
 
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