History Today: How Lord Mountbatten was appointed last viceroy and oversaw India’s independence

It is a known fact that Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, also known as Lord Mountbatten, served as India’s last Viceroy of India. He was appointed by the British Raj to oversee the move to independence and the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan. But have you ever wondered how he came to be in this role?

If you are a history buff and want to know more about this, Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, titled ‘ _History Today_’ has the answer for this.

In today’s report, February 20, we also take a look at other important events that decide the course of history.

Lord Mountbatten appointed as India’s last English viceroy

At the end of World War II, Britain was at a critical stage — it came out of the war with reduced power and experiencing shortages and hardships at home to a significant degree. The pressure from Indian freedom fighters for full independence was also weighing heavily on the British Raj.

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Under such circumstances, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee was determined to put the subject to rest once and for all. With such a view, Attlee advised King George VI to appoint Lord Mountbatten as the Viceroy of India on February 20, 1947, and charge him with the transition of British India to independence no later than June 30, 1948. His instructions were clear: to preserve a united India as a result of the transference of power, but authorised him to adapt to a changing situation in order to get Britain out promptly with minimal reputational and financial damage.

Mountbatten had until then acquired a reputation as Chief Allied Commander in the Southeast Asia Theatre in World War II. According to historical reports, it is Mountbatten’s experience in the region and his perceived friendship with VK Krishna Menon that led Attlee to suggest his name for the job.

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At first, Mountbatten, who had no political experience before this, was reluctant to take up this task. But felt it was his duty.

Ultimately responding to his sense of duty, Lord Mountbatten arrived in India on March 22, 1947 and within two days’ time was sworn in as the last British Viceroy of India.

Mountbatten wasted no time in his duties and on June 3, 1947, released a plan on the country’s independence from the British. Known as the Mountbatten Plan, it announced that India would be splitting into two nations after its independence — India and Pakistan — and the division would come into effect on August 15, 1947.

The rest, as they say, is history.

John Glenn becomes America’s first space hero

Until February 20, 1962, the US didn’t have a space hero. Then came John Herschel Glenn Jr, a freckle-faced son of Ohio, who became the first American to orbit Earth, and in the process also making history.

Glenn, a lieutenant colonel in the US Marine Corps, was among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in 1959 to become America’s first astronauts. A decorated pilot, he flew nearly 150 combat missions during World War II and the Korean War. In 1957, he made the first nonstop supersonic flight across the United States, flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes.

In the backdrop of the US-Russia space race, Glenn lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 9:47 am on February 20, 1962. Some 100,000 spectators watched on the ground nearby and millions more saw it on television. After separating from its launching rocket, the bell-shaped Friendship 7 capsule entered into an orbit around Earth at a speed of about 17,500 miles per hour.

In order to one-up Russia, Glenn made three orbits of the earth — Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut from the Soviet Union had made just one. He then returned to Earth as a national hero.

Many years later, in October 1998, Glen, a then 77 year-old-man, became the oldest ever to venture into space. The record stood for 23 years until it was claimed by 90-year-old Star Trek actor William Shatner in October 2021.

The Met opens to the public in New York

Today, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, better known as the Met, is the US’ greatest art museum and perhaps the greatest in the world.

But how did this world institution come to be?

The Met’s earliest roots date back to 1866 in Paris, France, when a group of Americans agreed to create a “national institution and gallery of art” to bring art and art education to the American people. The lawyer John Jay, who proposed the idea, swiftly moved forward with the project upon his return to the United States from France.

After purchasing its first artefact — a third-century AD Roman marble sarcophagus decorated with intricately carved garlands — it opened to the public on February 20, 1872. Housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue, it has since then grown into a renowned trove of cultural heritage that attracts more than seven million visitors each year.

This Day, That Year

>> On February 20, 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states of India.

>> In 1985, Ireland defies the powerful Catholic Church and approves the sale of contraceptives.