86 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
possibility of stones in the gallbladder. The medical facilities in Vi-
enna were outstanding. Even though his chest and stomach ailments
were not immediately remedied, Bose soon felt rejuvenated after the
stresses and strains of being shunted from one jail to another during
the previous year. His passport had been endorsed for Austria, Italy,
Switzerland, and France, but it was marked invalid for Britain and Ger-
many. The British claimed that it was “not uncommon to indicate on
the passport countries for which it is not valid.” Bose had been allowed
to visit Europe solely on health grounds, and the reason he had been
con fined still held good—namely, “his connection with the movement
of revolutionary violence.”^3 An exaggerated view of the sympathy Bose
felt for the revolutionaries led the British to be quite paranoid about
his intentions.
Despite the restrictions imposed on him, Bose soon found ways to
travel around the European continent as the spokesman for India’s
freedom. He had long felt that Indian nationalists underutilized inter-
national diplomacy in furthering their cause, and now he wanted to
rectify that shortcoming. Despite his recurring health prob lems, Bose
traveled tirelessly for the next three years, inspiring Indian students
studying abroad, establishing associations to promote friendship be-
tween India and various European countries, and meeting opinion-
makers and leaders of governments wherever possible, to win their
support for Indian in de pen dence. He wanted Indians overseas to serve
as unof fi cial ambassadors of their enslaved country, and he set a per-
sonal example by becoming the doyen among them. During those
years, he grew from a radical leader into an international statesman.
In 1930s Europe, the forces of imperialism and nationalism, fascism
and communism, were arrayed against one another. Navigating that
po lit i cal minefield was no easy task. It involved carefully balancing
ethical principles and the inexorable realities of power. The worldwide
economic crisis of the Great Depression had unleashed xenophobic
tendencies across European so ci e ties and polities. It was a terrible time
for vulnerable minorities, who quickly became the convenient scape-
goats for all ills and dep ri va tions. A monstrous dictatorship had just
come to power in Germany through formally democratic means. The
echoes of a recent catastrophic war did not deter a new race for arma-