15th August 1947: The newspaper headlines

When India achieved independence on 15th August 1947, newspapers all over the world were flooded with headlines that tried to capture the essence of that historical day. On the 73rd anniversary of India's Independence Day, let us look back at some of the headlines from that fateful day.

The Daily Telegraph (Photo credit: Pinterest.com)

The Daily Telegraph, a London based newspaper, carried the news of India's independence with a reference to the Partition, on the extreme left side of the front page. The headline read, "India is now two dominions".

Manchester Guardian (Photo credit: Guardian.com)

The headline of Manchester Guardian was, "Farewell and Hail" on top, and then "End of the Indian Empire: Birth of Two Dominions", depicting the contrasting picture of the moment. On one hand, the headline showed the end of British rule in the Indian subcontinent, and on the other hand, welcomed the emergence of two sovereign nations.

The Washington Post (Photo credit: News.yahoo.com)

The Washington Post had a two-column headline, "India Achieves Sovereignty Amid Scenes of Wild Rejoicing".

Morning News (Photo credit: Pinterest.com)

Morning News had the banner headline, "Sovereign Pakistan and India are born", highlighting the birth of two independent nations.

The New York Times (Photo credit: Desidime.com)

The New York Times used a map of the subcontinent with the caption, "Two Indian nations emerge on world scene". Beside that, there was a small column with the headline, "India and Pakistan become nations, clashes continue".

The Statesman (Photo credit: StockmarketcallsIndia.blogspot.com)

The Statesman had the banner headline, "Two Dominions are born", with an interesting strapline, "Political Freedom For One-Fifth of Human Race", underlining the major significance of the day not just in terms of India, but of the world as a whole.

The Hindustan Times (Photo credit: StockmarketcallsIndia.blogspot.com)

The Hindustan Times had banner the headline, "India Independent: British rule ends", with the strapline, "Constituent Assembly takes over". The article also had a description of the crowd's colourful celebrations.

The Times of India. (Photo credit: Pinterest.com)

The Times of India had the banner headline, "Birth of India's Freedom", with quotes from Jawaharlal Nehru. There was also a story about Pakistan's independence, and a description of the frenzied celebrations in Bombay (now Mumbai)with the then Governor of Bombay, Sir John Colville's message, "May Bombay prosper".