‘Foreign armies are functioning on Asian soil’: India, Indonesian decolonisation and the onset of the Cold War (1945–1949)

Abstract

This article studies the role of non-aligned India in the global diplomatic effort that surrounded the Dutch recolonisation conflict in Indonesia (1945–9). It argues that its role was significant, especially in light of its own transition to independence over this period. It draws on material sourced from the National Archives of India and the Netherlands, diplomatic memoirs and published primary material. In demonstrating how decolonisation was complicated by the onset of the Cold War, this article illustrates the intersections between two phenomena that greatly informed the transition of global order from one pinned on European imperialism for centuries.