The Indian Revolutionary Movement in Europe, 1905-1918 : Exile, Internationalism, and Resistance to Empire

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative. The book explores the history of Indian revolutionary movement in Europe during the early twentieth century, focusing on activists who lived and operated in exile across European metropolitan centres. It highlights the extensive networks Indian revolutionaries forged with Egyptians, Irish, Russians, and European socialists, anarchists, and republicans. Rather than viewing Indian anticolonialism solely through the framework of territorial nationalism, the book argues for a trans-regional approach that emphasizes mobility, exile, and political organizing within Europe itself. By tracing how revolutionaries moved across European cities, the study challenges rigid distinctions between metropole and colony and moves beyond a British-centred imperial narrative. The book shows that European cities, while shaped by colonial power, were also crucial sites of anticolonial thought and activism. In exile, Indian revolutionaries engaged with radical political ideas that were less accessible in India, transforming their struggle from nationalist to internationalist and, in turn, reshaping European notions of internationalism. These interactions subtly undermined imperial authority from within. The book further challenges nationalist historiography by emphasizing diverse solidarities, internal debates, and ideological differences within the movement. By examining both routes and everyday sites of activism—such as cafés, boarding houses, and congress venues—it offers a spatially grounded and interconnected account of early twentieth-century anticolonial resistance that brings India and Europe into closer historical relation.