World War II left the British exhausted, and that, coupled with the rise of nationalism in India, a strong desire for self-rule, and an effective, nonviolent resistance movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, spelled the end of the colonial period. As was often the case elsewhere when the colonial period came to an end, violence ensued. Many of India’s

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Pakistan is thought to have the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal. There have been several crises that led to wars, and the possibility exists for nuclear weapons to be introduced in a war growing out of historical resentments, the dispute over Kashmir (which intensified in 2019 following India’s decision to revoke much of its autonomy), or

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India and Pakistan now represent two of the world’s nine nuclear weapon states. India first tested a nuclear device in 1974, in part as a response to China’s development of nuclear weapons. India and China fought a short war in 1962 that China won easily, and the two continue to view each other warily. The border between them remains in dispute,

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