Bangladesh |
AllegianceRole in WW2Main articles: Bengal Famine of 1943, India in World War II, and Indian Army during World War II
Bangladesh was part of India during World War II. The Bengal region suffered the Bengal famine of 1943, a major famine in the Bengal Presidency in British India during World War II. The fall of Burma brought Bengal close to the war front; the war's impact fell more strongly on Bengal than elsewhere in India.[12] An estimated 2.1–3 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and social fabric. Historians have frequently characterized the famine as "man-made", asserting that wartime colonial policies created and then exacerbated the crisis. |