Ireland, India and empire Indo-Irish radical connections, 1919-64

Offering a fresh new perspective on the history of the end of Empire, with the Irish and Indian independence movements as its focus, this book details how each country’s nationalist agitators engaged with each other and exchanged ideas. Using previously unpublished sources from the Indian Political Intelligence collection; it chronicles the rise and fall of movements such as the Indian-Irish Independence League and the League Against Imperialism whose histories have, until now, remained deeply hidden in the archives.The maturation of the Indo-Irish nexus documented in this book eventually culminated with the establishment of diplomatic ties between both independent states in the 1960s, yet the British government initially interpreted these transnational links as a potential threat to the Empire and monitored their development through its security services. O’Malley highlights opaque aspects of the careers of popular figures from both Irish and Indian history including Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Eamon de Valera and Maud Gonne McBride at points when their paths crossed and also looks at how many one-time agitators went on to become international statesmen.This book encompasses aspects of Irish, Indian, British, Imperial and intelligence history and will be of interest to students, teachers and general history enthusiasts alike.

Kate O'Malley is a research associate with the Centre for Contemporary Irish History, Trinity College Dublin.