This chapter provides a case study of the princely state of Hyderabad, over the central Deccan Plateau, from the 1930s to 1950. For just over a year, Hyderabad’s ruler, known as the Nizam, refused to sign the Instrument of Accession, remaining essentially an independent state in the heart of India until New Delhi resorted to military force to resolve the matter. Like the Kashmir chapter, the Hyderabad case study first outlines the tensions between Hyderabad’s Muslim Nizam and the state’s largely Hindu population and then discusses Hyderabad’s opposition to accession and its intention to remain an independent state. Given the Hindu majority among his subjects and their increased political activism against his rule, the Nizam feared the introduction of a democratic government under the Indian government would ultimately threaten his sovereignty and the privileged position of Muslims within the government. Following this, the chapter provides an overview of negotiations between authorities in New Delhi, who pushed for full accession and the assertion of the sovereignty of the Indian state, and Hyderabad, and the ultimate breakdown in the negotiations as both sides refused to compromise, with the Nizam under pressure from the state’s pro-independence Majlis-e-Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen. The chapter concludes with an overview of Operation Polo, the Indian military’s ‘police action’ against the Nizam’s government, and the resulting military administration put into place in Hyderabad following the military operation, which led to the state’s full integration into the Indian Union and the end of princely rule.