Bangladesh Liberation War and independence
- Date
- 26 March – 16 December 1971
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- South Asia (Bangladesh)
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
The Bangladesh Liberation War arose from Bengali demands for self-determination in East Pakistan after the Pakistani military, under Yahya Khan, refused to honour the 1970 election won by the Awami League and launched Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence on 26 March 1971. The Pakistani army's campaign of mass killing, mass rape, and repression caused enormous civilian deaths—estimates range from several hundred thousand to as many as three million—and drove roughly ten million refugees into India. India intervened militarily in December 1971; the resulting India–Pakistan War lasted from 3 to 16 December. Pakistani forces in the east surrendered on 16 December 1971, with over 90,000 troops captured—the largest military surrender since World War II—and the independent state of Bangladesh was established. The war redrew the map of South Asia, dismembered Pakistan, confirmed India as the region's dominant power, and unfolded amid Cold War alignments as the United States tilted toward Pakistan and the Soviet Union toward India.
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Empires active in 26 March – 16 December 1971
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Dutch Empire1581 CE – 1975 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Fall of Saigon and reunification of Vietnam30 April 1975 (reunified 1976)
- Khmer Rouge Seize Cambodia and Declare Year Zero1975
- Cuban Missile Crisis16–28 October 1962
- Korean War25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953
- Creation of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War14 May 1948 (war May 1948 – July 1949)
- The Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi7 April – 19 July 1994
Further reading
The wider story
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
Magisterial, readable history of the subcontinent since independence.
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