Srinath Raghavan

Srinath Raghavan was born in 1977. He studied in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai, graduating with a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Madras in 1997.[http://permanent-black.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/infosys-laureate-2015-srinath-raghavan.html Infosys Laureate 2015: Srinath Raghavan], Permanent Black, 16 November 2015.

Raghavan joined the Indian Army in 1997 as a commissioned officer in the infantry. He served for six years in the Rajputana Rifles, in Sikkim, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

He entered academia in 2003, studying at King's College London on an Inlaks scholarship. He worked with Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, receiving an MA and PhD in War Studies. His Ph.D. dissertation was the basis of his first book, War and Peace in Modern India.

Afterwards, Raghavan taught as a lecturer in Defence studies at King's College for three years. {{As of|2015}} he worked at the Carnegie India, a policy think tank in New Delhi.[https://www.pressreader.com/india/business-standard/20160917/281857233001862 Military intelligence], Business Standard, 17 September 2016.

Raghavan published three works on the strategic history of India between 2010 and 2016 and was working on further books.

In 2015, Raghavan was chosen by India's Ministry of Defence to head a team of historians working on the official history of the Kargil War. The project was to last two years.[http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/the-fear-of-history-kargil-war-conflict-india-pakistan-china-sri-lanka-2937448/ The fear of history], The Indian Express, 27 July 2016. He has served as a member of the National Security Advisory Board formed by the Indian Prime Minister.

His first book, it covered the strategic history of Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership and was published as part of The Indian Century Series edited by scholars Ramachandra Guha and Sunil Khilnani. The editors stated in the book's preface that Raghavan has set a "benchmark" for the historical study of the strategic and foreign policy issues of India. He has covered the strategic crises faced by India in the first fifteen years of its independent existence, using a range of sources and analytical depth.{{citation |last1=Khilnani |first1=Sunil |last2=Guha |first2=Ramachandra |chapter=Series Editor's Preface |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbtBJb1bsHUC |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-00737-7 |page=x}}

Scholar Kristina Roepstorff, in a book review, said that the book illuminated the rationale behind the strategic choices made by Nehru in facing major dilemmas during his tenure, and was a good and relevant account of the events that shaped Nehru's strategic thinking and his approach to crisis management. However, she found the book to be short on "theoretical reflection", and noted that the book covered a selection of case studies mainly dealing with India's princely states and crises with neighbours, but omitted general international issues such as the crises dealing with Goa or Congo. She felt that further justification of the selection of cases was necessary to avert selection bias in drawing general conclusions.{{citation |first=Kristina |last=Roepstorff |chapter=Srinath Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India (Book Review) |title=Südasien-Chronik - South Asia Chronicle |volume=2 |year=2012 |pages=441–448 |publisher=Südasien-Seminar der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |isbn=978-3-86004-286-1 |chapter-url=https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/18639/441.pdf?sequence=1}}

Shashank Joshi called the book a "commanding diplomatic history" of the Nehru years.{{cite news |last=Joshi |first=Shashank |url=http://www.caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/paradigm-trap |title=A Paradigm Trap |newspaper=The Caravan |date=1 May 2012}} Odd Arne Westad called it "international history at its very best".{{citation |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbtBJb1bsHUC |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-00737-7 |at=Back cover}} Scholar Jivanta Schottli called it "polished historical study",{{cite journal |last1=Schottli |first1=Jivanta |title=War and Peace in Modern India by Srinath Raghavan (Review) |journal=Contemporary South Asia |date=September 2011 |volume=19 |issue=3 | pages=344–345 |doi=10.1080/09584935.2011.594286 |s2cid=218543142 |issn=0958-4935}} and Rudra Chaudhuri said it should be considered "the single most important text on Indian strategic history".{{cite journal |last1=Chaudhuri |first1=Rudra |title=War and Peace in Modern India: A strategic history of the Nehru years by Srinath Raghavan (Review) |journal=Cold War History |date=October 2014 |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=705–706 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2014.955690 |s2cid=154360723 |issn=1468-2745}} Priya Chacko noted that it is meticulously researched and draws on previously untapped archival sources, such as the private papers of British officials, allowing Raghavan to circumvent the usual limitations of diplomatic history.{{cite journal |last1=Chacko |first1=Priya |title=Srinath Raghavan, (Ranikhet: Permanent Black), 2010, pp. 359 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |date=July 2011 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=305–307 |doi=10.1177/001946461104800211|s2cid=144338163 }}

Historian Perry Anderson finds that Srinath Raghavan is a firm apologist for India and describes his book as a hymn to Nehru's strategism.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pboDnQEACAAJ|title=The Indian Ideology|author=Perry Anderson|publisher=Verso|year=2013|isbn=978-1-78168-259-3|page=85|quote=Footnote 46: Even such a staunch apologist for New Delhi as Srinath Raghavan, a former Indian Army officer, author of a book that is a prolonged hymn to Nehru's strategic sagacity}}

The book was well-received by critics.{{Cite journal|last=Ganguly|first=Sumit|date=2016-10-07|title=1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh by Srinath Raghavan (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/632286|journal=Journal of Cold War Studies|language=en|volume=18|issue=3|pages=194–195|issn=1531-3298|doi=10.1162/JCWS_r_00660|s2cid=57559829|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Iqbal|first=Iftekhar|date=2014-12-01|title=Srinath Raghavan. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh.|url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/119/5/1661/44651|journal=The American Historical Review|language=en|volume=119|issue=5|pages=1661–1662|doi=10.1093/ahr/119.5.1661|issn=0002-8762|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Carter|first=David|date=2014-09-02|title=Srinath Raghavan. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh; Gary J. Bass. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide|journal=Asian Affairs|language=en|volume=45|issue=3|pages=519–521|doi=10.1080/03068374.2014.954220|s2cid=161348197|issn=0306-8374}}{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/33151/newberg-raghavan-1971-global-history-creation-bangladesh|title=Newberg on Raghavan, '1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh' {{!}} H-Asia {{!}} H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews/1971-a-global-history-of-the-creation-of-bangladesh-by-srinath-raghavan/|title=1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh {{!}} By Srinath Raghavan {{!}} Pacific Affairs|website=pacificaffairs.ubc.ca|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite journal|last=Mathur|first=Nameeta|date=2014-09-22|title=1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-386612813/1971-a-global-history-of-the-creation-of-bangladesh|journal=Canadian Journal of History|volume=49|issue=2|pages=335|issn=0008-4107|doi=10.3138/cjh.49.2.335|doi-access=|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/LYovXLite2v9KBBUjpSzmK/Book-Review--Bangladesh-1971-An-ambiguous-war.html|title=Book Review {{!}} Bangladesh 1971: An ambiguous war?|last=Chandrasekaran|first=Gayatri|date=2013-10-03|website=Livemint|language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite journal|last=Mohaiemen|first=Naeem|date=January 2016|title=1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. By Srinath Raghavan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. Pp. 368. {{text|ISBN}} 10: 0674728645; {{text|ISBN}} 13: 978-0674728646. - The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. By Gary J. Bass. New York: Knopf, 2013. Pp. 528. {{text|ISBN}} 10: 0307700208; {{text|ISBN}} 13: 978-0307700209.|journal=International Journal of Asian Studies|language=en|volume=13|issue=1|pages=105–108|doi=10.1017/S1479591415000303|issn=1479-5914}}{{Cite web|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-unexpected-country|title=David Gilmour - The Unexpected Country|website=Literary Review|language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/global-politics-and-the-birth-of-bangladesh/article5440861.ece|title=Global politics and the birth of Bangladesh|last=Joshi|first=Manoj|date=2013-12-09|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-01-06|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/23/unholy-alliances-3|title=Unholy Alliances|last=Mishra|first=Pankaj|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2013-09-16|access-date=2020-01-06|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sehepunkte.de/2016/07/25516.html|title=SEHEPUNKTE - Rezension von: 1971 - Ausgabe 16 (2016), Nr. 7/8|website=www.sehepunkte.de|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite journal|last=Rahman|first=Mizanur|date=2015-01-01|title=Srinath Raghavan, 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-449107970/srinath-raghavan-1971-a-global-history-of-the-creation|journal=Southeast Review of Asian Studies|volume=37|pages=100|issn=1083-074X}}

The book was well-received by critics.{{Cite journal|last=Kumar|first=Pavan|date=2018-01-01|title=India's war: the making of modern south Asia 1939–1945|journal=International Affairs|language=en|volume=94|issue=1|pages=218–219|doi=10.1093/ia/iix197|issn=0020-5850|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last=Thakur|first=Atul K.|date=2017-05-04|title=India's war: the making of modern south Asia (1939–1945)|journal=Strategic Analysis|volume=41|issue=3|pages=303–305|doi=10.1080/09700161.2017.1295608|s2cid=157361079|issn=0970-0161}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/indias-war-the-making-of-modern-south-asia-1939-1945-by-srinath-raghavan-book-review-a6950401.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/indias-war-the-making-of-modern-south-asia-1939-1945-by-srinath-raghavan-book-review-a6950401.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=India's War by Srinath Ragh: More than a bastion of the British Empire|date=2016-03-24|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/8140f8ec-f030-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386|title='India's War', by Srinath Raghavan|last=|first=|date=|website=www.ft.com|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/150381/deshpande-raghavan-indias-war-world-war-ii-and-making-modern-south|title=Deshpande on Raghavan, 'India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia' {{!}} H-Asia {{!}} H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/bose-arrows|title=John Keay - Bose & Arrows|website=Literary Review|language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/the-making-of-modern-india/|title=The making of modern India|date=2016-03-26|website=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/09/making-modern-south-asia-indias-role-in-world-war-ii/|title=Making Modern South Asia: India's Role in World War II|last=Gady|first=Franz-Stefan|website=thediplomat.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite journal|date=2015-06-05|title=India's War for the Empire|url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/50/book-reviews/indias-war-empire.html|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|language=en|volume=51|issue=50|pages=7–8}}{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/books/review-chronicling-the-birth-of-india-after-the-second-world-war|title=Review: Chronicling the Birth of India after the Second World War|website=The Wire|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/a-war-for-the-empire-a-battle-against-the-raj/|title=A War For the Empire, a Battle Against the Raj|date=2017-11-24|website=The Indian Express|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite journal|last=Ranjan|first=Amit|date=2016-09-01|title=Srinath Raghavan. India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939–1945|journal=Asian Affairs|volume=47|issue=3|pages=500–502|doi=10.1080/03068374.2016.1225924|s2cid=164222126|issn=0306-8374}}{{Cite journal|last=Towle|first=Philip|date=2016-11-01|title=India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia 1939–1945|journal=The Round Table|volume=105|issue=6|pages=750–752|doi=10.1080/00358533.2016.1246819|s2cid=157966478|issn=0035-8533}}

The book was well-received by critics.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/the-most-dangerous-place-a-history-of-the-united-states-in-south-asia-review-tangled-up-in-knots/article24298739.ece|title=The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia review: Tangled up in knots|last=Haidar|first=Suhasini|date=2018-06-30|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-01-06|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/books/a-new-way-to-look-at-the-us-in-south-asia/cid/1683302|title=A new way to look at the US in South Asia|website=www.telegraphindia.com|language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=http://thebookreviewindia.org/illuminating-past-patterns-and-future-challenges/|title=Illuminating Past Patterns And Future Challenges|website=The Book Review|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/books/the-anatomy-of-power/|title=The Anatomy of Power|date=2018-06-20|website=Open The Magazine|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/3515710/subramaniam-raghavan-fierce-enigmas-history-united-states-south-asia|title=Subramaniam on Raghavan, 'Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia' {{!}} H-Asia {{!}} H-Net|website=networks.h-net.org|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/books/review-americas-deep-history-with-south-asia|title=Review: America's Deep History With South Asia|website=The Wire|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/afterword/never-mind-the-title-the-most-dangerous-place-is-an-absorbing-read/68205/|title=Never mind the title, 'The Most Dangerous Place' is an absorbing read|last=Malhotra|first=Jyoti|date=2018-06-10|website=ThePrint|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/the-most-dangerous-place-book-review-history-of-us-in-south-asia-5219426/|title=Terms of Engagement|date=2018-06-16|website=The Indian Express|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/up-front/story/20180625-rules-of-american-engagement-1261023-2018-06-16|title=Not Found {{!}} IndiaToday|website=www.indiatoday.in|access-date=2020-01-06}}

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Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Indian historians

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Category:1977 births