Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood

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Anthony Mascarenhas

An important international account of post-independence Bangladesh, political killings, coups, and state instability.

Est. 1947 · Bengal✺A Bilingual Archive

Referenced In Events

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Timeline View

1971

Liberation War

The Liberation War of 1971 grew out of the denied majority verdict of the 1970 election, the March non-cooperation movement, and the Pakistan Army's 25 March crackdown. What followed was not a single battlefield episode but a combined political, military, and humanitarian rupture: a provisional government, sector-based armed resistance, mass displacement into India, and finally the defeat of Pakistani forces in December and the birth of Bangladesh.

1975

15 August Assassination of Sheikh Mujib

On 15 August 1975, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family were killed in a military-backed coup in Dhaka. The event marked a foundational rupture in post-independence politics and opened a prolonged period of military and quasi-military dominance.

1975

7 November Sepoy-Janata Uprising

On 7 November 1975, amid coups and counter-coups after the August and jail killings, sections of soldiers and political activists mobilized in Dhaka. The upheaval helped bring Ziaur Rahman to the center of state power, while its meaning remains sharply contested in Bangladesh's political memory.

1981

Assassination of Ziaur Rahman

President Ziaur Rahman was killed in Chittagong on 30 May 1981 during a military revolt. The immediate aftermath included a contested search for responsibility, the death of Major General M. A. Manzur, and a civilian succession under Abdus Sattar before Ershad’s 1982 coup.