# Canonical recap data for Partition of India (1947)
# Source: https://recap.at/1947/partition-india-pakistan-1947
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: partition-india-pakistan-1947
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1947/partition-india-pakistan-1947"
title: Partition of India
aliases:
- Partition of British India
- Indian Independence
- Independence Day (India)
- Vivisection of India
subtitle: Two nations, one bloodbath, zero plan for what came next.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1947-08-15
datePrecision: day
year: 1947
decade: 1940
summaryShort: British India split into independent India and Pakistan on August 15, 1947, displacing over 10 million people and killing an estimated 200,000–2 million in communal violence.
summaryLong: |-
  On August 15, 1947, British India ceased to exist. In its place: two nations, India and Pakistan, born from the same colonial territory but carved along religious lines. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Pakistan's first Governor-General; Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime Minister. The partition was swift, messy, and catastrophic.

  The British had ruled India for nearly two centuries, but by the 1940s the independence movement had become impossible to ignore. The Indian National Congress, led by figures like Mohandas Gandhi and Nehru, demanded self-rule. So did the All-India Muslim League, under Jinnah's leadership, which feared Hindu-Muslim tensions and wanted a separate Muslim state. The British, weakened by World War II and facing mounting pressure, decided to leave-and quickly.

  Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived as Viceroy in March 1947 with orders to accelerate the handover. By June, the plan was set: partition along religious lines. The boundary would split Punjab and Bengal, creating a Muslim-majority Pakistan (with two geographically separated parts: West Pakistan and East Pakistan, later Bangladesh) and a Hindu-majority India. The lines were drawn by Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who had never visited India and worked from maps in a London office.

  What followed was one of history's largest human migrations and one of its bloodiest. As independence approached, communal violence erupted across the subcontinent. Hindus and Sikhs in areas designated for Pakistan fled eastward. Muslims in areas designated for India fled westward. Trains arrived at stations packed with corpses. Villages were ransacked. By some estimates, 200,000 died in the immediate aftermath; other historians cite figures as high as 2 million. Over 10 million people were displaced.

  The trauma was immediate and deep. Gandhi, who opposed partition, was assassinated by a Hindu extremist on January 30, 1948-just months after independence. The two new nations inherited a wounded geography, disputed territories, and mutual suspicion that would define their relationship for decades. Partition created modern South Asia, but it was born in violence and unresolved grief.
lede: "On August 15, 1947, British India split into two independent nations: India and Pakistan. The division, drawn primarily along religious lines to separate Hindu and Muslim populations, set off one of the largest mass migrations in history and triggered widespread communal violence that killed hundreds of thousands. The trauma of partition shaped South Asian politics for generations."
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Brit_IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg/1280px-Brit_IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Partition of India"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 50
keyFacts:
- label: People displaced
  value: 10–20 million
- label: Deaths in communal violence
  value: 200,000–2,000,000 (estimates vary widely)
- label: Viceroy overseeing partition
  value: Lord Louis Mountbatten
- label: British lawyer who drew the boundary
  value: Cyril Radcliffe
- label: India's first Prime Minister
  value: Jawaharlal Nehru
- label: Pakistan's first Governor-General
  value: Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- label: Date of Indian independence
  value: August 15, 1947
- label: Date of Gandhi's assassination
  value: January 30, 1948
- label: Number of successor states created
  value: 2 (India and Pakistan; Pakistan later split into 2)
timeline:
- date: 1947-03-24
  title: Mountbatten arrives as Viceroy
  description: Lord Louis Mountbatten takes office with orders to accelerate the British withdrawal from India.
- date: 1947-06-03
  title: Mountbatten Plan announced
  description: The British government announces the plan for partition along religious lines, with independence to come by August 15.
- date: 1947-07-18
  title: Indian Independence Act receives royal assent
  description: British Parliament formally passes legislation establishing the legal framework for partition and independence.
- date: 1947-08-14
  title: Pakistan becomes independent
  description: Pakistan officially gains independence at midnight, one day before India. Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as Governor-General.
- date: 1947-08-15
  title: India becomes independent
  description: India gains independence and becomes a sovereign nation. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes Prime Minister. Partition begins displacing millions.
- date: 1947-09-01
  title: Communal violence peaks
  description: Mass killings and displacement reach their height across Punjab and Bengal as Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims flee designated territories.
- date: 1947-09-17
  title: Radcliffe Line published
  description: The official boundary demarcation drawn by Cyril Radcliffe is made public, formally dividing Punjab and Bengal.
- date: 1948-01-30
  title: Gandhi assassinated
  description: Mohandas Gandhi is shot and killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist opposed to Gandhi's support for Muslim-Hindu coexistence.
sources: []
related: []
relationships:
- targetSlug: september-11-attacks
  type: echoed
  confidence: 65
  evidence: Both events fractured multiethnic/multireligious polities along identity lines and triggered large-scale communal violence; partition's 200,000–2 million deaths from intercommunal killing set a precedent for post-9/11 Islamophobia and communal tensions affecting Muslims in India and the West.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: storming-of-bastille
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Partition of India" references "French Revolution Begins (Storming of the Bastille)" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: indian-rebellion-1857
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Partition of India" references "Indian Rebellion" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: world-wide-web-public-release
  type: caused
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Partition of India" references "World Wide Web Released to Public" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg/1280px-Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg/800px-Partition_of_India_1947_en.svg.png"
  caption: Partition of India 1947 en
  credit: Own work
  width: 1189
  height: 1170
  alt: A map of the Indian subcontinent showing the partition of India in 1947, with territories colored to indicate India in orange, Pakistan in green, partitioned provinces in brown-green, and princely states in gray, along with arrows indicating refugee movements and symbols marking inter-communal conflicts.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Partition_Anti-Memorial_Project_close-up.webp/1280px-Partition_Anti-Memorial_Project_close-up.webp.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Partition_Anti-Memorial_Project_close-up.webp/800px-Partition_Anti-Memorial_Project_close-up.webp.png"
  caption: Partition Anti-Memorial Project close-up
  credit: Pritika Chowdhry
  width: 1960
  height: 754
  alt: A historical map of India and surrounding regions with political boundaries marked in gray, overlaid with red lines indicating a partition route or memorial project path spanning from the northwest through central India to the northeast and southeastern regions.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/PartitionCollage2.jpg/1280px-PartitionCollage2.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/PartitionCollage2.jpg/800px-PartitionCollage2.jpg"
  caption: PartitionCollage2
  credit: Captain AmericanBurger1775
  width: 3264
  height: 3264
  alt: A four-panel collage depicting scenes from the Partition of India, including overcrowded trains filled with refugees, abandoned buildings and courtyards, officials in a meeting room reviewing documents, and ruins of destroyed structures with displaced persons gathered nearby.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Partition_of_India_1947_gu.svg/1280px-Partition_of_India_1947_gu.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Partition_of_India_1947_gu.svg/800px-Partition_of_India_1947_gu.svg.png"
  caption: Partition of India 1947 gu
  credit: Own work
  width: 1189
  height: 1170
  alt: This map illustrates the partition of India in 1947, showing the division of the Indian subcontinent into India (orange), Pakistan (green), and various princely states and regions with different administrative statuses, with arrows and symbols indicating territorial disputes, communal violence, and migration patterns during the partition period.
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: Vande Mataram
  artist: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (composition, 1876); popularized during independence movement
  year: 1947
  note: This nationalist anthem became emblematic of India's independence struggle and was adopted post-partition, though its Hindu associations caused controversy in Muslim-majority areas.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-29T09:29:16.816Z"
- title: Jana Gana Mana
  artist: Rabindranath Tagore
  year: 1950
  note: Tagore's 1911 composition was adopted as India's national anthem on January 26, 1950, chosen partly to transcend communal divisions.
  referenceCard:
  status: ok
  checkedAt: "2026-05-21T10:25:02.811Z"
topFilms:
- title: Mehboob Ki Mehendi
  year: 1947
  note: Released during partition, this Bollywood film reflected the era's social anxieties about independence and national identity.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-29T09:29:16.816Z"
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: "Partition dominated Indian and Pakistani consciousness in 1947–48. British newsreels documented the chaos; Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on January 30, 1948, by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse intensified communal tensions. Literature and art became vehicles for processing trauma: Saadat Hasan Manto's short stories, published in *Akhbar-e-Jahan* and *Adab-e-Latif*, became partition's defining literary voice, documenting violence and displacement with unflinching realism. The partition-era dominated Indian and Pakistani culture for decades, shaping cinema, literature, and political discourse."
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: India's population
  thenValue: 345 million
  thenYear: 1947
  nowValue: 1.45 billion
  nowYear: 2024
  note: India's population quadrupled; partition reduced British India's combined population from ~400 million to roughly 345 million in India and 30+ million in Pakistan.
- metric: Pakistan's population
  thenValue: 32 million
  thenYear: 1947
  nowValue: 240 million
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Pakistan's population grew sevenfold, with East Pakistan/Bangladesh accounting for roughly 170 million of the total.
- metric: Indo-Pakistani military conflicts
  thenValue: 1 war (Kashmir, 1947–49)
  thenYear: 1947
  nowValue: 4 wars, plus nuclear arms race
  nowYear: 2024
  note: 1947–49, 1965, 1971, and 1999 Kargil conflict; both nations possess nuclear weapons as of 1998 (India) and 1998 (Pakistan).
- metric: Displaced persons (partition-era)
  thenValue: 10–20 million
  thenYear: 1947
  nowValue: Broadly resettled; borders remain contested
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Refugee rehabilitation occurred over decades; Kashmir's status remains disputed 77 years later.
impactStatement: On August 15, 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but the subcontinent fractured immediately into two nations-India and Pakistan-along religious lines. The partition, formalized by Cyril Radcliffe's hastily drawn borders, triggered one of history's largest mass migrations and communal violence that killed between 200,000 and 2 million people in a matter of months.
consequences:
- title: Communal Violence and Displacement
  year: 1947
  description: Partition sparked immediate rioting across Punjab and Bengal. Between August and December 1947, approximately 10–20 million people crossed newly drawn borders-Hindus and Sikhs fleeing toward India, Muslims toward Pakistan-while mobs attacked trains, villages, and refugee columns. Death tolls remain disputed, ranging from 200,000 to 2 million.
- title: Creation of Pakistan
  year: 1947
  description: Pakistan emerged as an independent nation on August 14, 1947, initially comprising West Pakistan and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh). Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Governor-General, establishing a Muslim-majority state carved from British India's northwestern and eastern regions.
- title: First Indo-Pakistani War
  year: 1947
  description: Disputes over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir escalated into armed conflict beginning in October 1947. The war lasted until 1949 and established a precedent for repeated Indo-Pakistani military confrontations over the territory.
- title: Refugee Crisis and Rehabilitation
  year: 1948
  description: India's government, under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, launched massive rehabilitation programs for incoming refugees. By 1951, over 7 million Hindu and Sikh refugees had been resettled, straining resources and reshaping Indian cities like Delhi and Punjab.
- title: Language and Nation-Building Tensions
  year: 1950
  description: India's Constitution, adopted January 26, 1950, enshrined Hindi and English as official languages while recognizing 14 regional languages. Language riots erupted in southern India (particularly Tamil Nadu) in the 1950s and 1960s, as communities resisted Hindi imposition and demanded linguistic autonomy.
- title: Bangladesh Independence from Pakistan
  year: 1971
  description: East Pakistan's civil war and India's military intervention in 1971 resulted in Bangladesh's independence. The partition's unresolved tensions-economic disparity, cultural distance, and political marginalization of the eastern wing-directly triggered the 1971 conflict.
archiveSnapshots: []
categories:
- revolution
metaDescription: The messy divorce that split British India into independent India and Pakistan. Millions displaced, communal violence erupted, and two nuclear powers emerged from the chaos.
originSignals:
- "wikipedia:partition-india-pakistan-1947"
wikidataQid: Q129053
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- civil_war
- war
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- collapse
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: gradual
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
peoplesVoice:
- source: Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister-elect of India
  voiceType: official
  context: Nehru delivered his famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech at midnight on August 14–15, 1947, as India gained independence.
  excerpt: At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 95
  attribution: Speech to Indian Constituent Assembly, August 14, 1947
  publishedAt: 1947-08-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of Pakistan
  voiceType: official
  context: Jinnah addressed Pakistan's Constituent Assembly on August 14, 1947, defining the new nation's secular founding principles.
  excerpt: You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 88
  attribution: Address to Pakistan's Constituent Assembly, August 14, 1947
  publishedAt: 1947-08-14
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian independence leader
  voiceType: expert
  context: Gandhi was deeply troubled by partition and communal bloodshed; he fasted and spoke out against violence in early August 1947.
  excerpt: The unity of India is not only a question of the Congress or the Hindus. It is a question of the crores of people of this country.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 89
  attribution: Statement in New Delhi, August 1947
  publishedAt: 1947-08-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Katherine Mayo, American journalist and author
  voiceType: media
  context: Mayo witnessed partition chaos firsthand and filed reports during the mass displacement and violence of August–September 1947.
  excerpt: The streets run red. Trains arrive bearing mutilated corpses. Entire villages have been erased from the map.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - American press dispatches, September 1947
  publishedAt: 1947-09-01
  originalLanguage: en
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The Times
  publisherSlug: the-times
  headline: India and Pakistan become free nations at midnight
  publishedAt: 1947-08-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: At the stroke of midnight, India and Pakistan emerged as independent dominions within the British Commonwealth, ending nearly two centuries of British rule. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, handed over power to India's new Governor-General.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: new-york-times
  headline: India splits into two nations as British Raj ends; communal violence erupts
  publishedAt: 1947-08-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: India's partition into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan has triggered widespread rioting and mass displacement. British authorities report severe communal clashes in Punjab and Bengal as millions begin migration across newly drawn borders.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: The Statesman
  publisherSlug: the-statesman
  headline: Freedom at Last-but at what cost? Independence dawns amid bloodshed
  publishedAt: 1947-08-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Indian independence was celebrated with flag hoisting ceremonies across major cities, yet trains carrying refugees arrived filled with the wounded and dead from sectarian violence in the border regions.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: India
- publisher: Dawn
  publisherSlug: dawn
  headline: Pakistan born as independent nation; Jinnah sworn in as Governor-General
  publishedAt: 1947-08-14
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: Pakistan came into being as an independent nation today, with Muhammad Ali Jinnah taking office as Governor-General. However, celebrations in Karachi are tempered by reports of mass exodus and violence in Punjab.
  significance: 89
  type: newspaper
  region: Pakistan
- publisher: The Manchester Guardian
  publisherSlug: manchester-guardian
  headline: "British Raj ends in chaos: millions flee homes as India, Pakistan divide"
  publishedAt: 1947-08-20
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - A week after independence, refugee camps are overflowing and death tolls mount daily. The hasty partition has left borders contested and entire communities uprooted in what observers call a humanitarian catastrophe.
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
relatedQueries:
- Mountbatten Plan 1947 India partition
- communal violence partition India Pakistan death toll
- Radcliffe Line border India Pakistan
- Indian Independence Act 1947
- Partition of India refugee crisis millions displaced
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah Pakistan independence
- Jawaharlal Nehru independent India 1947
- Operation Polo Hyderabad integration India 1948
translations:
es:
lede: "On August 15, 1947, British India split into two independent nations: India and Pakistan. The division, drawn primarily along religious lines to separate Hindu and Muslim populations, set off one of the largest mass migrations in history and triggered widespread communal violence that killed hundreds of thousands. The trauma of partition shaped South Asian politics for generations."
summaryShort: British India split into independent India and Pakistan on August 15, 1947, displacing over 10 million people and killing an estimated 200,000–2 million in communal violence.
summaryLong: |-
  On August 15, 1947, British India ceased to exist. In its place: two nations, India and Pakistan, born from the same colonial territory but carved along religious lines. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Pakistan's first Governor-General; Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime Minister. The partition was swift, messy, and catastrophic.

  The British had ruled India for nearly two centuries, but by the 1940s the independence movement had become impossible to ignore. The Indian National Congress, led by figures like Mohandas Gandhi and Nehru, demanded self-rule. So did the All-India Muslim League, under Jinnah's leadership, which feared Hindu-Muslim tensions and wanted a separate Muslim state. The British, weakened by World War II and facing mounting pressure, decided to leave-and quickly.

  Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived as Viceroy in March 1947 with orders to accelerate the handover. By June, the plan was set: partition along religious lines. The boundary would split Punjab and Bengal, creating a Muslim-majority Pakistan (with two geographically separated parts: West Pakistan and East Pakistan, later Bangladesh) and a Hindu-majority India. The lines were drawn by Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who had never visited India and worked from maps in a London office.

  What followed was one of history's largest human migrations and one of its bloodiest. As independence approached, communal violence erupted across the subcontinent. Hindus and Sikhs in areas designated for Pakistan fled eastward. Muslims in areas designated for India fled westward. Trains arrived at stations packed with corpses. Villages were ransacked. By some estimates, 200,000 died in the immediate aftermath; other historians cite figures as high as 2 million. Over 10 million people were displaced.

  The trauma was immediate and deep. Gandhi, who opposed partition, was assassinated by a Hindu extremist on January 30, 1948-just months after independence. The two new nations inherited a wounded geography, disputed territories, and mutual suspicion that would define their relationship for decades. Partition created modern South Asia, but it was born in violence and unresolved grief.
generatedAt: "2026-05-22T12:51:38.722Z"
fr:
lede: "Le 15 août 1947, l'Inde britannique s'est divisée en deux nations indépendantes : l'Inde et le Pakistan. La division, tracée principalement selon des lignes religieuses pour séparer les populations hindoue et musulmane, a déclenché l'une des plus grandes migrations de masse de l'histoire et a provoqué une violence communautaire généralisée qui a tué des centaines de milliers de personnes. Le traumatisme de la partition a façonné la politique sud-asiatique pendant des générations."
summaryShort: L'Inde britannique s'est divisée en Inde et Pakistan indépendants le 15 août 1947, déplaçant plus de 10 millions de personnes et tuant environ 200 000 à 2 millions dans la violence communautaire.
summaryLong: |-
  Le 15 août 1947, l'Inde britannique a cessé d'exister. À sa place : deux nations, l'Inde et le Pakistan, nées du même territoire colonial mais divisées selon des lignes religieuses. Muhammad Ali Jinnah devint le premier gouverneur général du Pakistan ; Jawaharlal Nehru devint le premier ministre de l'Inde. La partition fut rapide, chaotique et catastrophique.

  Les Britanniques avaient gouverné l'Inde pendant près de deux siècles, mais dans les années 1940, le mouvement d'indépendance était devenu impossible à ignorer. Le Congrès national indien, dirigé par des figures comme Mohandas Gandhi et Nehru, exigeait l'autonomie gouvernementale. Il en alla de même pour la Ligue musulmane panindienne, sous la direction de Jinnah, qui craignait les tensions hindoues-musulmanes et voulait un État musulman séparé. Les Britanniques, affaiblis par la Seconde Guerre mondiale et face à des pressions croissantes, décidèrent de partir, et rapidement.

  Le Lord Louis Mountbatten arriva comme vice-roi en mars 1947 avec pour mission d'accélérer le transfert. En juin, le plan était établi : partition selon des lignes religieuses. La frontière diviserait le Panjab et le Bengale, créant un Pakistan à majorité musulmane (avec deux parties géographiquement séparées : le Pakistan-Occidental et le Pakistan-Oriental, devenu plus tard le Bangladesh) et une Inde à majorité hindoue. Les lignes ont été tracées par Cyril Radcliffe, un avocat britannique qui n'avait jamais visité l'Inde et qui travaillait à partir de cartes dans un bureau londonien.

  Ce qui suivit fut l'une des plus grandes migrations humaines de l'histoire et l'une de ses plus sanglantes. À l'approche de l'indépendance, la violence communautaire éclata sur tout le sous-continent. Les hindous et les sikhs dans les régions désignées pour le Pakistan fuyirent vers l'est. Les musulmans dans les régions désignées pour l'Inde fuyirent vers l'ouest. Des trains arrivaient aux gares remplis de cadavres. Les villages furent pillés. Selon certaines estimations, 200 000 personnes sont mortes dans les suites immédiates ; d'autres historiens citent des chiffres aussi élevés que 2 millions. Plus de 10 millions de personnes furent déplacées.

  Le traumatisme fut immédiat et profond. Gandhi, qui s'opposait à la partition, fut assassiné par un extrémiste hindou le 30 janvier 1948, quelques mois à peine après l'indépendance. Les deux nouvelles nations héritèrent d'une géographie blessée, de territoires contestés et d'une méfiance mutuelle qui définiraient leurs relations pendant des décennies. La partition créa l'Asie du Sud moderne, mais elle est née dans la violence et le deuil non résolu.
generatedAt: "2026-05-22T12:51:45.565Z"
de:
lede: "Am 15. August 1947 wurde Britisch-Indien in zwei unabhängige Nationen aufgeteilt: Indien und Pakistan. Die primär nach religiösen Linien gezogene Teilung sollte Hindu- und Muslimbevölkerungen trennen, löste eine der größten Massenmigration in der Geschichte aus und führte zu weit verbreiteter kommunaler Gewalt, die Hundertausende tötete. Das Trauma der Teilung prägte die südostasiatische Politik für Generationen."
summaryShort: Britisch-Indien wurde am 15. August 1947 in die unabhängigen Staaten Indien und Pakistan aufgeteilt, vertrieb über 10 Millionen Menschen und tötete schätzungsweise 200.000–2 Millionen in kommunaler Gewalt.
summaryLong: |-
  Am 15. August 1947 hörte Britisch-Indien auf zu existieren. An seiner Stelle entstanden zwei Nationen, Indien und Pakistan, aus demselben Kolonialgebiet geboren, aber nach religiösen Linien aufgeteilt. Muhammad Ali Jinnah wurde Pakistans erster Generalgouverneur; Jawaharlal Nehru wurde Indiens erster Premierminister. Die Teilung war schnell, chaotisch und katastrophal.

  Die Briten hatten Indien fast zwei Jahrhunderte lang beherrscht, aber in den 1940er Jahren war die Unabhängigkeitsbewegung nicht mehr zu ignorieren. Der Indische Nationalkongress unter Führung von Persönlichkeiten wie Mohandas Gandhi und Nehru forderte Selbstbestimmung. Ebenso die All-India Muslim League unter Jinnahs Leitung, die Hindu-muslimische Spannungen fürchtete und einen separaten Muslimstaat wollte. Die Briten, geschwächt durch den Zweiten Weltkrieg und unter zunehmendem Druck, beschlossen zu gehen – und schnell.

  Lord Louis Mountbatten kam im März 1947 als Vizekönig an mit dem Auftrag, die Machtübergabe zu beschleunigen. Im Juni stand der Plan fest: Teilung nach religiösen Linien. Die Grenze sollte Punjab und Bengalen aufteilen und einen muslimisch dominierten Pakistan (mit zwei geografisch getrennten Teilen: Westpakistan und Ostpakistan, später Bangladesch) sowie ein hindu-dominiertes Indien schaffen. Die Linien wurden von Cyril Radcliffe gezogen, einem britischen Anwalt, der Indien nie besucht hatte und von Karten in einem Londoner Büro aus arbeitete.

  Es folgte eine der größten Menschenmigrationen der Geschichte und eine der blutigsten. Als die Unabhängigkeit näherrückte, brach kommunale Gewalt im gesamten Subkontinent aus. Hindus und Sikhs in für Pakistan bestimmten Gebieten flohen ostwärts. Muslime in für Indien bestimmten Gebieten flohen westwärts. Züge kamen in Bahnhöfen an, beladen mit Leichen. Dörfer wurden geplündert. Nach einigen Schätzungen starben unmittelbar nach der Unabhängigkeit 200.000 Menschen; andere Historiker nennen Zahlen von bis zu 2 Millionen. Über 10 Millionen Menschen wurden vertrieben.

  Das Trauma war unmittelbar und tiefgreifend. Gandhi, der sich gegen die Teilung ausgesprochen hatte, wurde am 30. Januar 1948 – nur wenige Monate nach der Unabhängigkeit – von einem Hindu-Extremisten ermordet. Die beiden neuen Nationen erbten eine verwundete Geografie, umstrittene Territorien und gegenseitiges Misstrauen, das ihre Beziehung für Jahrzehnte definieren würde. Die Teilung schuf das moderne Südostasien, aber sie wurde in Gewalt und ungelöster Trauer geboren.
generatedAt: "2026-05-22T12:51:53.985Z"
heroImageAlt: A historical map from the Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India (1909) depicts the prevailing religions across the British Indian Empire, with color-coded regions showing the distribution of Hindus, Sikhs, Muhammadans, Buddhists, Christians, and Animists throughout the Indian subcontinent and surrounding territories.
