India & Independence

How was India partitioned to try and resolve the dispute?

"Partition" - the division of British India into the two separate states of India and Pakistan on August 14-15, 1947 - was the "last-minute" mechanism by which the British were able to secure agreement over how independence would take place. At around 25% of its population, Muslims were British India's largest religious minority. Under imperial rule, they had grown accustomed to having their minority status protected by a system of reserved legislative seats and separate electorates. The prospect of losing this protection as independence drew closer worried more and more Muslims, first in parts of northern India, and then, after World War II, in the influential Muslim-majority provinces of Bengal and Punjab.

Why did the British make India a colony?

(In 1858, the British Government took control of the territories and treaty arrangements of the former East India Company.) In 1876, the area, which included modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, became "the Indian Empire" (often known historically as the "British Raj") with British Monarch Queen Victoria proclaimed as "Empress of India" (a title held by her successors until 1947).

Martyr

A person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs

nationalism

A strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country

Describe Gandhi's way of protest.

Gandhi introduced to the world the concepts of ahimsa (nonviolence) and satyagraha (peaceful civil disobedience). Within the framework of these concepts, Gandhi employed a multitude of tactics, such as peaceful noncooperation with the authorities and massive boycotts of goods and services.

How did Gandhi's experiences in South Africa impact his later actions?

He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics, and politics. He helped improve lives of Indians in South Africa. During the Boer War, he organized a group to support the British to dispel stereotypes about Hindus. in 1906, he encouraged Indians to defy a registration law. His principle of non-violent resistance and protest had been born.

Which American wrote an essay entitled "Civil Disobedience" and what does it mean?

Henry David Thoreau wrote the essay in 1849. Citizens of good conscience should actively oppose unjust government policies through nonviolent resistance, such as refusal to pay taxes. They should even be willing to go to jail rather than yield to immoral or unethical government laws and activities.

What is the disagreement between Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus after independence?

Hindu-Muslim conflict in India has been going on for centuries; While Hindu Indians dominated the central and eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, Muslim Indians dominated the western part of the region (in what is now Pakistan); In the early 20th century, many Muslim Indians belonged to the upper classes of society. But as democratic thinking grew among the poor and lower classes, which had a large composition of Hindus, many Muslim Indians became concerned. Hindus were increasingly coming to power and played a major role in breaking away from the British.

How did Gandhi's early life impact his beliefs later?

His mother believed everyone is equal even if they have a different religion. He was not at his father's deathbed.

What impact did WWII have on India's independence?

India contributed 2.5 million volunteer soldiers to fight for the Allies during WWII. By the time the war ended, Great Britain was bankrupt, unable and unwilling to continue to maintain colonies of the British Empire. WWII acted as a catalyst to India's fight for independence

When and why was Gandhi assassinated?

On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi fell to his assassin Nathuram Vinayak Godse's bullets during an evening prayer ceremony at Birla House in Delhi because of his principled unwillingness to give in to a hatred of Muslims in the wake of the post-Partition turmoil. His refusal to concede to "the Hindus" a right to "settle score" with "the Muslims" was deeply resented by the proponents of Hindu assertiveness. And these proponents found it infuriatingly unacceptable that the Mahatma should invoke his moral authority to want to call a halt to the butchery at work right in the capital of independent India.

colonization

One country taking over another area to be used for their benefit

What role did WWI play in the India independence movement?

Over one million Indian troops served with the British during WWI. The British were surprised by the Indian support. The Indians expected a move towards independence after the war but the British kept control; The British government's post-war attitude quickly alienated Gandhi and was a great stimulus for his independence movement. In 1919, the Government of India Act was introduced. This introduced a national parliament with two houses for India. About 5 million of the wealthiest Indians were given the right to vote (a very small percentage of the total population) Within the provincial governments, ministers of education, health and public works could now be Indian nationals The act planned for a commission to be held in 1929, to see if India was ready for more concessions/reforms. However, the British controlled all central government and within the provincial governments, the British kept control of the key posts of tax and law and order.

When did India finally gain independence?

The Indian independence movement was a movement from 1857 until 15 August 1947, when India got independence from the British Raj. The movement spanned a total of 90 years (1857-1947).

Describe Gandhi's Salt March protest

The Salt March, which took place from March to April 1930 in India, was an act of civil disobedience led by Mohandas Gandhi to protest British rule in India. During the march, thousands of Indians followed Gandhi from his religious retreat near Ahmedabad to the Arabian Sea coast, a distance of some 240 miles. The salt law stated that the British had the right to tax salt. Salt was an essential of food and Gandhi believed it was sinful to tax it. He wanted to produce salt from seawater, as it had been practiced by the Indian people before the British rule.

Describe the lives of the people in India under British rule.

The minority elite Indians who got access to Western education and worked closely with the British lived a life full of opportunities too. Then there was the newly emerging Middle Class comprising of thousands of Zamindars and Jagirdars, Moneylenders, Government Clerks, Army men, Railway employees, Supervisors, Engineers, Lawyers, Academics, Printers, small businessmen catering to the British, who were living in urban centers lived reasonably comfortable lives. However, the bottom 90% Indians or more were tied to agriculture, toiled in the fields, often looking up towards the sky for rains, worrying about debt, the village moneylender, and worst case starvation and disease.

When & why did the British establish a relationship with India?

Trade was established in 1600 when Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to the newly formed East India Company; the East India Company gained influence throughout the 1600 and 1700s

What was Gandhi's profession?

lawyer

civil

observing accepted social customs; not rude

Describe the atrocity at Amritsar.

on 13 April, the traditional festival of Baisakhi, thousands of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh. An hour after the meeting began as scheduled at 16:30, a senior British military officer, Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, arrived with a group of sixty-five Gurkha and twenty-five Baluchi soldiers. Without warning the crowd to disperse, Dyer blocked the main exits and ordered his troops to begin shooting toward the densest sections of the crowd. Firing continued for approximately ten minutes. A British inquiry into the massacre placed the death toll at 379. The Indian National Congress determined that approximately 1,000 people were killed.

oppression

the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.