A War of Empires

Japan, India, Burma & Britain: 1941-45

By: Robert Lyman

Narrated by: Roger May

Bloomsbury presents A War of Empires by Robert Lyman, read by Roger May.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE RUSI DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY 2022

'This is a superb book.' – James Holland

In 1941 and 1942 the British and Indian Armies were brutally defeated and Japan reigned supreme in its newly conquered territories throughout Asia. But change was coming. New commanders were appointed, significant training together with restructuring took place, and new tactics were developed. A War of Empires by acclaimed historian Robert Lyman expertly records these coordinated efforts and describes how a new volunteer Indian Army, rising from the ashes of defeat, would ferociously fight to turn the tide of war.

But victory did not come immediately. It wasn’t until March 1944, when the Japanese staged their famed ‘March on Delhi’, that the years of rebuilding paid off and, after bitter fighting, the Japanese were finally defeated at Kohima and Imphal. This was followed by a series of extraordinary victories culminating in Mandalay in May 1945 and the collapse of all Japanese forces in Burma. Until now, the Indian Army’s contribution has been consistently forgotten and ignored by many Western historians but Robert Lyman proves how vital this hard-fought campaign was in securing Allied victory in the east.

Detailing the defeat of Japanese militarism, he recounts how the map of the region was ultimately redrawn, guaranteeing the rise of an independent India free from the shackles of empire.

©2021 Robert Lyman (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Every so often new work emerges that dramatically changes how we view key aspects of the war, and A War of Empires does just that. Written with meticulous scholarship and from a deep and profound knowledge of the subject matter, it is full of wisdom, sound judgement and with a convincing and refreshing central thesis. Robert Lyman has unquestionably become the foremost scholar of the War in the Far East." (James Holland, best-selling author and broadcaster)

"A fine, comprehensive and much-needed reappraisal of the pivotal Burma campaign in World War II. Exhaustively researched and engagingly written, it tells this dramatic story from the perspective of all the major combatants." (Professor Saul David, historian, novelist and broadcaster)

Fills In a Great Gap

This book was a marvelous explanation of the war in Burma and India that has not received much understanding in America. This therefore filled in a great gap in my knowledge of WW2. The narrator was superb and perfect for the book. The author certainly did his homework as this book was thorough and kept my interest in it to the end. Highly recommend to any other WW2 history buffs.

Void of Interesting Detail

I have a few hundred audible books and this book is among those I got the least from. I expected to at least learn about the geography of this remote theater of the war but I got no sense of the places or of the people involved. This book is mostly about management of Brit and Indian resources and the potential for unrest in India and only peripherally about facing the Japanese.