In 1971, Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan, and World War III almost started. India allowed 10 million Bangladeshi refuges to cross into India to escape an army backed genocide, putting unsustainable pressure on the Indian economy. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi planned to send Indian troops into East Pakistan, but the Indian military needed time to prepare. India also needed to find a way to keep Pakistan’s allies, China and the United States, from aiding Pakistan or attacking India. You Play India, and you must liberate Bangladesh while holding on to Kashmir and Ladakh. Good Luck!

The 1971 Indo-Pakistani War has everything: secret diplomacy, super power brinkmanship, nuclear submarines, a Kennedy, and two of the four members of the Beatles. The conflict erupted in the middle of secret negotiations between the US and Communist China, negotiations facilitated by Pakistan! To keep the Sino-American rapprochement on track, the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger went to great lengths to try and keep India from intervening militarily in Bangladesh. Senator Ted Kennedy thwarted these efforts by visiting Indian refugee camps and highlighting Pakistani atrocities. Former Beatles member, and sitar enthusiast, George Harrison also derailed Kissinger’s plans by throwing a major benefit concert for Bangladesh, The Concert for Bangladesh (Ringo Starr performed, as did Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan).

Nixon was not going to let a bunch of hippies stop the US from aiding Pakistan, and the US sent a carrier battle group to the Bay of Bengal to try and lift the Indian Navy’s blockade of Dhaka. In response, the Soviet Union sent a nuclear submarine armed with carrier killer nuclear torpedoes to intercept the US navy task force. Rather than fight a nuclear war to save an unpopular ally, the US backed down, and the carrier battle group turned around. Ringo Starr 1, Nixon 0.