ABSTRACT
Lord Wavell’s viceroyalty was marred by his disillusionment from the beginning. It was an irony that an honest soldier-Viceroy like Wavell, imbued as he was with a sense of purpose, fairplay and justice, who displayed remarkable dynamism and humanity in handling the crisis created by the Bengal famine, should have failed to reach the height of statesmanship while negotiating with the parties to resolve the constitutional problem. He did not lack the will nor was he devoid of ideas and plans to resolve outstanding issues, yet he did not succeed in his mission, partly because of his own obsessions and partly because of intangible circumstances which were not of his making.
