Key points
- By the time India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, Britain had controlled much of the region for nearly 200 years.
- The fight for independence started almost as soon as the The name given to the period of British rule over India, which lasted from 1858 to 1947. began in 1858, although Indian resistance to British control began much earlier.
- There were many organisations and key individuals who helped bring British rule over India to an end.
Video about India鈥檚 independence campaign
Narrator: By the end of the 19th century, the British had controlled much of India for over 100 years. The Indian National Congress, the INC, was formed in 1885 and the idea of independence, self-government and freedom from colonial rule began to be openly discussed. The British government did not want to give India independence as they benefited economically from cheap labour, natural resources and trade.
In 1905 Lord Curzon, the British monarch鈥檚 representative in India, the Viceroy, was fearful of the influence of the INC, especially in Bengal, so he split the province into different states. This partition of Bengal caused anger across India, as it was seen as a way to divide the people and strengthen British control. More people began to support the INC, believing Indians should be in control of their own country, economically and politically.
In 1919 the British government passed the Rowlatt Act, allowing people to be imprisoned without trial, if suspected of anti-government actions. In Amritsar, at a protest opposing the act, British soldiers killed over 350 peaceful protesters and injured over a thousand more. This further angered the Indian people and inspired Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian civil rights lawyer and activist, to start campaigning for full independence.
Gandhi encouraged peaceful protest and began a civil disobedience movement. This urged people to boycott British institutions and refuse to pay taxes. In 1930 Gandhi organised the Salt March. The British had controlled the manufacture and sale of salt for many years, a staple of the Indian diet. Britain imposed a heavy tax on salt, which negatively impacted the poorest Indians.
Gandhi marched to the coast to make salt from seawater, openly disobeying British law. Gandhi gave speeches along the way and tens of thousands of followers joined him. Similar acts of civil disobedience happened across the country. Gandhi and more than 60,000 others were arrested. While in jail Gandhi went on hunger strikes, continuing his opposition to colonial rule.
During World War Two Gandhi launched the Quit India movement that demanded an end to British rule and oppose supporting the British war effort. Gandhi and other leaders were imprisoned again. Winston Churchill and many in the British government were committed to stopping Indian independence and keeping the British Empire intact. But the USA had agreed to fight in World War Two if Britain allowed colonised countries to have a say in how they were governed after the war.
In 1947, a new British government led by Clement Attlee agreed to the Indian Independence Act. The country was partitioned into Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan.
Over 15 million people found themselves as a religious minority. In the months that followed, over a million people died from atrocities on both sides. Gandhi was appalled by the violence that he saw and he tried to restore peace through fasting. Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.
While the independence movement had been successful, the problems in the region continued for many years.
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The Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress, also known as the INC or the Congress Party, is a political party that was founded in 1885. It was based on the idea of the creation of one independent Indian nation that governed itself and was free from British rule, just as white settlers in Canada, Australia and New Zealand had been governing themselves for many years. Some historians argue that this was the official start of the Indian independence movement.
The British wanted to remain in control of India because it provided Britain with:
- Valuable natural resources
- Cheap workers
- Lots of trade
However, the influence and popularity of the INC grew, which worried British officials in India. This was especially true in Bengal, where the INC was particularly popular.
The Swadeshi movement
Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, was very worried about the growing support for independence. As a result, in 1903, he announced his plans to The separation of two things or areas from each other. An area of South Asia that is today made up of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.. He hoped that if Bengal was split, it would become more difficult for people to form a unified independence movement. This is a tactic known as 鈥榙ivide and rule鈥. People in India strongly opposed this plan.
At first, the leaders of the Swadeshi movement tried to stop the partition with An attempt to persuade someone or something to change., A written, formal request for change that is signed by multiple people who support the change. and When different types of media (such as newspaper articles and posters) are planned and used together to promote a cause.. This failed when Lord Curzon announced that the partition would be going ahead in 1905. This is when the Swadeshi movement in Bengal officially started.
The aims of the Swadeshi movement were:
- To try to undo the partition of Bengal
- To put pressure on the British government to grant India independence
- To help Indian-based companies and increase their trade and profit
- To reduce the influence and profits of British companies in Bengal by A refusal to buy goods or services from a person or organisation as a form of punishment or protest. their products
The first action taken by the Swadeshi movement was to boycott all cloth from Manchester and all salt from Liverpool. Sometimes they even publicly burned cloth that had come from Britain. They also boycotted British-run schools and courts. They set up their own institutions, such as the Bengal National College, to prove that Indians could educate and govern themselves.
This was significant because it was the first time that so many people from both villages and cities could get involved in politics.
How did British authorities respond to the Swadeshi movement?
The British authorities responded harshly to anyone who tried to resist their rule. Leaders of the Swadeshi movement, as well as protesters, faced arrest and violence.
In addition, students who took part in the boycotts were often forced to leave their colleges. Once the leaders of the Swadeshi movement were arrested, it was difficult to replace them. However, in the long term the movement had some successes:
- Bengal was reunified in 1911
- Significant leaders, like Gandhi, were inspired by the Swadeshi movement
Who was Mohandas Gandhi?
Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869. He later trained as a lawyer in London.
In 1893 he moved to South Africa, where he lived for 21 years. Gandhi suffered racist discrimination during his time in South Africa, and joined the fight to win equal rights for Indian South Africans. He returned to India in 1915 to help campaign for Indian independence.
When he returned to India, Gandhi played a major role in fighting for Indian independence.
Why is Gandhi known as 鈥楳ahatma Gandhi鈥?
Gandhi is now known by many people as 鈥楳ahatma Gandhi鈥.
鈥楳ahatma鈥 means 鈥榞reat soul鈥. Gandhi was given this name for all of the work he did to achieve Indian independence.
The Rowlatt Act and the Amritsar Massacre
In 1919 the British government passed the Rowlatt Act, which made it legal for British forces to arrest and hold Indians without a trial.
Many Indians hoped that, after World War One ended in 1918, India and Indian citizens would be given more freedoms. As a result, the Rowlatt Act was deeply unpopular. There were several protests after the act was passed, some of which ended violently.
What role had Indian soldiers played in World War One?
Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought alongside Britain during World War One. Historians estimate that over 74,000 Indian troops died during World War One, with a similar number injured.
Indian soldiers fought in many different places during the war, including Europe, North Africa, East Africa and the Middle East.
A number of Indian soldiers received medals for their bravery during the conflict. Some, such as Khudadad Khan, were awarded the Victoria Cross, which is the highest military honour that can be awarded by Britain. In 1915, following his bravery in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in northern France, Khan became the first South Asian soldier to receive this honour.
The Amritsar Massacre
On 13 April 1919, over 10,000 men, women and children gathered in an enclosed park in Amritsar, the Jallianwala Bagh, which had only one accessible exit. The British authorities had given orders banning large gathering of people, but not everyone had been made aware of this.
Some of the people who had gathered were protesting against British rule. Many others had gathered to celebrate a Sikh festival. Without warning, a British general, Colonel Dyer, had his troops block the only exit and shoot into the unarmed crowd.
It was initially estimated that over 350 people were killed, with over a thousand more injured. However, some historians now suggest that the death toll may have been higher. Reports of the massacre spread across the world, and calls to give India its independence began to grow.
Civil disobedience
Gandhi was determined to achieve independence for India, but he believed that this could and should be achieved through non-violent protest, which he called satyagraha.
The main way he asked people to do this was through A form of peaceful protest in which someone refuses to obey certain laws because they believe they are unjust..
The Salt March
The first major protest led by Gandhi was the 1930 Salt March, which was a protest against the high tax that Britain had placed on salt. This tax made it difficult for poorer Indians to afford British salt, and it was also illegal for them to produce their own salt. Anyone found to be making their own salt could be imprisoned for up to six months.
Gandhi and 78 other leaders marched 240 miles from the Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, both in the state of Gujarat. They were joined by thousands of people who wanted to protest against British rule. Gandhi led people to boycott British salt, inspired by the Swadeshi movement, and instead encouraged them to produce their own salt from sea water at Dandi.
After this protest, around 60,000 people were arrested, including Gandhi himself. However, the British government accepted that they had to consider some of Gandhi鈥檚 requests and invited him to London. This was a significant turning point, because it showed that the British government was starting to seriously consider Indian independence.
India during World War Two
In 1939, World War Two broke out. 250,000 Indians volunteered to fight for Britain and the Allies.
By 1942, British forces needed more troops. The British government planned to Making it compulsory for a particular group of people to join the armed forces. more Indian soldiers. The INC and other Indian leaders were outraged, so the British sent a member of the government called Sir Stafford Cripps to To hold discussions as a way of reaching an agreement or compromise. an agreement. Cripps offered When a country is still part of the British Empire, but is allowed to rule itself. to India if they agreed to send more troops, which was turned down as the INC would only accept full independence.
In August 1942, Gandhi delivered his 鈥楺uit India鈥 speech. In this speech, Gandhi demanded full and immediate independence for India. Many people continued to follow Gandhi鈥檚 instructions to campaign peacefully against British rule. However, there were other groups who used A violent outburst from a crowd. and fires to get the British government鈥檚 attention.
By the end of World War Two, the British government was losing control of India.
The end of British rule in India
British government views on Indian independence
World War Two ended in 1945. The British government then began to consider how they might declare India an independent state. Many members of the government still did not want to, because:
- India was still considered the 鈥榡ewel in the crown鈥 of the British Empire
- Britain would lose access to cheap labour and Materials that grow or can be found in a particular area.
- If India was given full independence, then other nations would soon demand the same and the British Empire would inevitably fall apart
By 1945, it had become clear that the British were spending more money than they could afford to keep control of India, especially after World War Two.
There were also important political reasons that contributed to India鈥檚 independence. Winston Churchill had been the prime minister of Britain since 1940. He was a Conservative politician who was strongly opposed to Indian independence. However, in July 1945, Britain elected a new prime minister: Clement Attlee of the Labour Party.
Attlee was more open to the idea of granting India independence than Churchill had been, which meant that Indian independence was far more likely when he was elected. However, granting India its independence would not be simple, as there were differences of opinion within India on how this should be achieved.
Views on independence in India
Alongside the INC鈥檚 campaign for Indian independence, there was another political party called the Muslim League. They had some similar aims, but disagreed on one big issue by the 1940s. While the INC wanted one, united, independent India, the Muslim League wanted a separate Muslim state.
As a former leader of the INC, Gandhi was strongly in favour of one, united, independent India and opposed the creation of one Hindu state and one Muslim state. This was known as Partition. However, when the last An official who was responsible for running India on behalf of the British government. of India, Lord Mountbatten, arrived in India with the task of creating an independent Indian state, he felt the best decision was to partition India. This was because there were growing levels of violence between Hindus and Muslims in India. However, Gandhi strongly believed that Partition was not the way to resolve this issue.
What were the main differences between the INC and the Muslim League?
While the INC and the Muslim League both wanted to be free from British rule, they had very different ideas about how they wanted things to be when they became independent:
| Indian National Congress | Muslim League |
|---|---|
| Led by Jawaharlal Nehru | Led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah |
| Wanted complete freedom from British rule | Wanted complete freedom from British rule |
| Wanted India to be kept as one independent nation | Wanted India to be split into two nations: India for the Hindu population and Pakistan for the Muslim population |
The Partition of India
Despite Gandhi鈥檚 opposition, on 15 August 1947 the Indian Independence Act divided British India into two countries, India and Pakistan, declaring both countries free and independent states. While the independence movement had achieved its main goal of independence, the new boundaries of India and Pakistan meant that 15 million people became When a religious belief is held by a smaller group within a country. This can sometimes result in them being vulnerable to attack if they do not have enough support to prevent the violence. overnight.
In trying to When a person moves from living in one country or area to living in another country or area. to and from the new states of India and Pakistan, 1 million people died in the violence that broke out, although some historians estimate that the death toll may be higher.
Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948, largely for his Being prepared to accept opinions or beliefs that are different from your own, even if you disagree with them. towards Muslims.
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