http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2250344619

Ramparts of empire : British imperialism and India's Afghan frontier, 1918-1948

For generations of British soldiers and administrators, India's North-West Frontier with Afghanistan constituted an imperial obsession. A combination of fears about the local Pashtun population and external invasion from Afghanistan and Russia convinced the rulers of British India that the region was the one place in the empire where Britain could suffer a 'knock-out blow.' In this cultural and political study, Brandon Marsh examines the power and influence of this belief on the Afghan frontier, India as a whole, and British imperialism between 1918 and 1948. This book explores British attempts to isolate the frontier after the First World War, the relationship between colonial nationalism and state sanctioned violence in the region, and the significant connection between British perceptions about the Afghan frontier and the collapse of the British Raj in India.

Open All Close All