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The British Empire and International Terrorism: India's Separate Path at the League of Nations, 1934–1937

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2017

Mary Barton
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Abstract

In October 1934, a Croatian terrorist organization assassinated King Alexander of Yugoslavia in the streets of Marseilles, France. His murder caused an international crisis because of the safe haven given to the group by the Italian and Hungarian governments. The assassination led the world's first peacekeeping body, the League of Nations, to intervene and to propose a legal solution for the political crisis. In November 1937, the league completed two antiterrorism treaties. Only the British colonial government of India ratified the terrorism convention, which was, by contrast, rejected by the United Kingdom on legal and political grounds. This article examines the European origins of the League of Nation's consideration of international terrorism and the divisions that occurred between Delhi and London over supporting the antiterrorism measure. Delhi's separate membership in the League of Nations allowed the colonial government to deviate from London and to sign a treaty deemed necessary for domestic security.

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Articles
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Journal of British Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 351 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © The North American Conference on British Studies 2017 

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References

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100 TNA, HO 45/180/80, C. M. Trivedi, Home Department, Government of India to under-secretary of state for India, India Office, 2 March 1935.

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