Photos: India's Turning Points

Indian troops
Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Cobris

1962: India vs. China
Reinforcements head to the front after China steamrolls India's unprepared defenses, seizing a chunk of Kashmir that it holds to this day. The defeat is a dark moment in India's young history and a political blow from which Nehru never recovers. Battling ill health, he dies two years later.

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