India and Bangladesh achieved a historic victory in the 1971 war. Yet fifty years later, important questions remain about India's aims and policy in the war. Did India have a plan to break up Pakistan? Why was no other country prepared to support the cause of an independent Bangladesh? Drawing on previously unexplored Indian records, eminent diplomat and historian Chandrashekhar Dasgupta dispels many myths as he sheds fascinating new light on these and other questions. Based on eighteen years of research, this is the definitive book on India's role in the liberation of Bangladesh.