I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by

their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The Long History of Heroism

with me, Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading this edition of the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Frahana Haider.

All this week we're looking back at the Bengali War of Independence, which ended 50 years ago, and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

The catalyst for the conflict was the elections in Pakistan in December 1970.

They were the first since the end of British colonial rule

and the results would lead to the breakup of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh.

This is the first time since Britain granted independence to Pakistan in 1947

that there's been an opportunity for every adult Pakistani to vote for the government he or she wants.

I've been speaking to economist Raymond Subhan, a leading figure in the Bengali nationalist movement.

You had a sense of extraordinary exhilaration.

This was the first time on a national basis that the Bengalis had really been given the right

to democratically express themselves.

And this overwhelming mandate was, of course, something which we only dreamt about.

Pakistan had been created by the British in 1947 as an independent nation for India's

Muslims. Millions migrated there. It was divided into two wings, East and West Pakistan,

with a thousand miles of Indian territory in between. Other than religion, the two provinces

had very little in common.

...