Bengal famine of 1943

1943MajorContested

About three million people die in Bengal under British rule during World War II. Price inflation, wartime policy and slow relief, more than absolute shortage, drive the disaster.

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Contested history

Consensus: About three million people died; most historians agree the famine was driven by war, inflation and policy failure rather than a large drop in food supply.

Entitlement failure: prices rose beyond what laborers could payEstablished

Amartya Sen showed rice supply in 1943 was not far below earlier years while wages fell far behind soaring prices.

British wartime policy worsened the famineEstablished

Denial policies, export of rice, priority for war needs and delayed relief are documented in official records.

Churchill personally caused the famineDebated

Churchill's War Cabinet refused or delayed some relief shipments, but historians differ on how much this added to deaths compared with other causes.

Crop disease and a 1942 cyclone caused a major harvest shortfallDebated

Some recent studies argue the fungal brown spot and cyclone losses were larger than Sen estimated.