Modern Era · South Asia · Disaster
1943
Bengal famine kills three million
July 1943
A combination of cyclone damage, war profiteering, Japanese occupation of Burmese rice fields, and British wartime policy left rural Bengal without food. Between two and three million people starved to death while rice was shipped out of Calcutta to feed the imperial war effort. Churchill dismissed the reports and blamed the Indians for breeding like rabbits.
In context
Also in 1943 (5 other events on record)
- German surrender at Stalingrad · Europe · War
- Warsaw Ghetto uprising · Europe · War
- Casablanca Conference demands unconditional surrender · Africa · War
- Tehran Conference Big Three meet · Middle East · Politics
- Allies invade Sicily · Europe · War
Before and after in South Asia
Before and after in Disaster
Era
Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.