ABSTRACT
That war in Europe was to have a profound impact on nationalism in India and its eventual independence illustrates how important the international context and external factors in general were to the development of the Indian independence movement. Such movements cannot operate in isolation; Tibet’s future is bound to be similarly dependent on international circumstances. The period from World War One until independence in 1947 also illustrates the significance for India of domestic circumstances in Britain. Ultimately, one of the major factors contributing to Indian independence was that the post-war Labour government in Britain was not ideologically disposed towards colonialism and imperialism. Such beneficial circumstances in China are unlikely; there have been no ideological shifts regarding China’s ‘national minorities’. Crucially, China continues to press the claim that Tibet is an historical part of the Motherland; Britain never claimed the same of India.
