India’s road to independence
1885 Indian National Congress, Bombay 83/600 Muslims in 1888
1905 The first partition of Bengal
1906 Formation of the Muslim League
1909 Indian Councils Act - reforms agreed by Secretary of State for India (Morley) and Viceroy (Minto):
● 60 Indian reps elected to serve in viceroy’s Exec Council. 27/60 would be minorities
● Provincial councils to be enlarged as to create non-official majorities
● Separate electorates for Muslims + Hindus
● Minto defensive about electing Indians to his council
1910s
INC = Tilak v Gokhale (emergence of Gandhi)
14 Government of India Act No1- Indian version of the Defence of the Realm Act:
- Protest forbidden
- Imprisonment sans trial /Judges without a jury
- Censorship
14-18 WW1
- 27 Princely 👑 states gave their armies to 🇬🇧 and a ship 🛳 Loyalty
- 1914 +20,000 departed from Karachi to Marseille
- Heavy losses, 47th Sikhs lost half their men in 🇫🇷
- Then were sent to fight in Middle East ill equipped = disaster and lost to Ottoman Turks in Iraq 🇮🇶
- 1918 827,000 enlisted & 64,500 died
Outcomes:
● ^national pride as Indians defended principles of freedom abroad
● Heavy losses, as sense of carrying 🇬🇧burden of war and now should be seen as equal to the white man: morals of
nobility, loyalty and pride
● India gave 🇬🇧 massive war loans (💵) £146 mill
● ^tax and inflation ~ 93%
● Boom in 🇮🇳 manufacturing industry: dividends 6 - 30%
● March 1915 - no 🇬🇧 battalions left in 🇮🇳 which implies that had India decided to revolt they could have dealt a huge blow
to the Raj
16 Lucknow Pact moderate Gokhale dies and INC is free to cooperate with the Muslim League
- The British not partitioning Bengal made ML believe that would ignore the need for separate electorates and thus pushed
them away from cooperating with the Raj
- 🇬🇧 war against Turkey made ML feel ostracised by British as the Sultan was head of the Muslim Caliphate and centre of
the Islamic world
- Congress agreed with ML to have proportionate safe seats for Muslims in each province 💚ML x INC 💙
17 Montagu declaration (= vague🤪) vs Rowlatt Acts (=duplicitous 😡)
Secretary of State for India, Montagu was a liberal and wanted to make a definitive statement on the future of India and set the tone
for future relations between the Raj and Indian people.
M’s declaration was unsuccessful as it was not the concrete commitment that Indians deserved. M only implied a road to self-
government for India, was very vague.
The Rowlatt Acts {would continue the censorship of Gov India Act} = result of an investigation into revolutionary conspiracies that
concluded Bengal,Bombay + Punjab as areas of concern.
All 22 Indians in the Indian Legislative council opposed it but were outvoted by others.
Jinnah resigned from the council and was furious!…………… DAMAGED 🇬🇧 REPUTATION
- Gandhi’s grass roots Satyagraha in Bihar (growing indigo via exploitation) and Ahmedabad (cotton mills) = multiple
successes gave him nationwide support that no other Indian could command
- Home rule leagues (Tilak + Annie Besant) W India, Karnataka: 32,000
- When the Raj arrested Tilak (40,000 rupee fine) INC + ML backed Home Rule
, 19 Amritsar Massacre, Jallianwalabagh, Punjab state
● Hartals are organised in Amritsar to oppose the Rowlatt Acts
● The arrest of organisers (Kitchlew) triggered rioting + violence
● Marcia Sherwood is beaten and European women take refuge in Gobindgarh fort
● Governor O’Dwyer thinks that the riot was a carefully planned plot to overthrow Raj
● O’Dwyer sends General Dyer (+1,000 men) to police the streets of Amritsar
● 13th April, Baisakhi Day = festive Indians flaunt the rules of curfew and ban in assembly ~ 20,000 - rules Dyer made in
proclamations on the day
● Suddenly Dyer appears in Jbagh narrow entrance and fired rounds for 15 mins = 400 dead
● Then D enacts martial law e.g. Crawling Order
Outcomes:
- House of Commons and Lords divided over Dyer’s actions
- November, the Hunter Commission sent to trial Dyer and he is censured
- Indians are angry
19 Government of India Act No2 (Montague - Chelmsford report/reforms )
July, led to creation of dyarchy:
- Viceroy advised by council of 6 with 3 having to be Indian however the V was not obliged to listen
- Provincial and central assemblies were made bigger
- Provincial councils have devolved power: education, farming, public works + could give women the vote if they wanted
- Indians have NO control over: military, foreign affairs, currency of criminal law
- 10% of Indian men can now vote
- Reserved seats e.g. for Sikhs, Muslims…
Outcome:
INC boycott provincial elections because they don’t like reserved seat policy
Khilafat Movement begins
- Emerged after WW1 challenged Muslim loyalties to Raj when Turkey sided with Germany
- 1919 Treaty of Sevres deposed the Sultan, isolating Indian Muslims
- Muslim leaders join 1920 and 21 civil disobedience campaigns
- The khilafat movement is endorsed by Gandhi and therefore the acknowledgement of a Hindu diaspora along with it
- Solidifies the individual voice of a Muslim population within the struggle
20s Gandhi takes over INC with the support of businessmen and Muslims after successes in Bihar (+ Tilak and Gokhale die)
20 Tabligh and Tanzeem Movements reinforce Muslim political identity
- Jinnah was largely alienated during the movement because many Islamic spiritual leaders decided to support Gandhi who
provided them with a larger national platform.
- Nagpur, INC conference he spoke against civil disobedience
20-22 December, Satyagraha No2: After Gandhi proposed his SWARAJ at the 25th annual INC meeting, Nagpur, he
persuaded the majority of Congress to support his Civil Disobedience Campaign.
- G reorganises Congress massively: relativising old 3 level structure to one with 350 instead of 161 seats reallocated
based on population, recruitment of women and trade unions, 100 new provincial committees set up and 100s more local
branches.
In August Gandhi wrote to V Chelmsford expressing his dissatisfaction at the Raj and highlighting that such Imperial rule in Europe
would have been met with violent popular revolution.
Non Cooperation:
● Boycotting the Raj 1 school system, 2 elections to legislative assemblies, 3 reject titles from Raj, 4 law courts, 5 civil
service + 6 taxation
● Success = boycott exams, 200 lawyers cease work and Duke of Connaught’s visit to Calcutta was met with a shuttered
city and protests on his arrival :)
● Membership of Congress = 100,000 but many Muslims leave
● Despite wanting to avoid violence, Gandhi did not have true control:( e.g Hartals protesting the arrival of Prince of Wales
left 53 dead after turning violent. Moplahs of Malaba declared jihad killing British + Hindus while in the Gangeatic Plains,
Hindus brutally ‘purified’ Muslims via submersion in water tanks
22
● February, Chauri Chaura police fire kills 22 Indian policemen - Gandhi withdraws to his Ashram and called off the 2nd
Satyagraha END OF CAMPAIGN
● Gandhi goes to prison, charged with inciting violence
