History - India

The secretary of state of India –

The top British decision maker they did not even live in India and were a member of the British Cabinet

The Viceroy –

He lives in India, the viceroy was chosen by the British and made the day to day decisions for India

Round Table Conference

- Talks held in London to discuss giving home rule to the Indians

- 1^st failed because congress leaders were in prison

- 2^nd failed because Gandhi refused to accept anything less than home rule

- 3^rd failed because no congress were there

- Britain still refused to hand over : defence, foreign affairs & taxation

- Gandhi claimed that the British made too much of the religion problem between Hindu’s & Muslim’s

Direct Action –

Muslim violence

World War Two

- The British upset the Indians in 1939 because they declared war on Germany without consulting the Indians first

- The British had broke the government of India act 1935 which made it clear that the British still made the major decisions

- Congress were furious an withdrew from local government

- The Muslims continued to support the war effort which gave them the chance to press for Pakistan

- In 1940 congress leaders agreed to support the war effort if they could have immediate independence for India

- The British would only give India dominion status after winning the war

- This led to the congress party turning to civil disobedience; the British saw this as treason and arrested 1,700 Indians.

Cripps Offer

- Offered the Indians home rule after the war

- Britain set up the Cripps offer in 1942 because they needed the Indians to help them fight and win the war, also because it looked like Japan was going to invade India.

- Congress disliked the Cripps offer because it meant they had to give the Muslims their own state, Pakistan

Gandhi

- used peaceful non co-operation called satyagraha

- Hartals were used, these were religious strikes

- He persuaded Indians to boycott schools, elections and paying taxes

- He made congress into a national movement

- Gandhi supported even the untouchables.

- He believed that self rule came from self control and aimed to shame the British.

- No Indian was allowed to use violence

Chandra Bose

- Before the war Chandra Bose was a congress leader

- Bose had disagreed with Gandhi because he said his methods were too slow

- Bose believed he could get a better deal from the Japanese because they were of an Asian race.

- Bose set up a new army, the INA. The soldiers in this army were from Japanese prisons

- The INA was not that important in the end because Bose died in 1945 and the INA only had good propaganda value and they rarely ever fought in the front line

- The INA was useful to the Japanese though because of its propaganda value

- After the war the INA leaders were on trial for treason

Direct Action

- Ali Jinnah’s direct action went badly wrong because it lead to extreme violence amongst religions

- The British government felt that they could not cope anymore and this led to them accepting that India would have to be split into two countries, PARTITION

- Gandhi was upset because he had wanted a united India

Suttee –

a Hindu belief that if a man dies before his wife it was the woman’s fault because of some evil that she had done in a previous life, therefore they believed the wife had to be punished. The punishment was to be burnt alive on the funeral pyre with her dead husband.

Curzon Plan –

This was the plan of the viceroy Lord Curzon he decided to split Bengal into two, East Bengal and Bengal

Direct Action – Muslim violence

In 1909 Lord Minto and John Morley introduced a new series of reforms: the Morley-Minto reforms. This meant some Indians were allowed to vote in local elections and Indians were to be elected for local government.

Muslim League

- In 1935 the government of India act led to new local elections

- Congress won 8 provinces out of 11 an upset the Muslim league because Congress refuse to give any posts to the league

- Congress underestimated the Muslim league because they seemed unimportant

- Many Muslims were upset an joined the Muslim League, led by Ali Jinnah

- The Muslims started to campaign for a new country called Pakistan

Gandhi

- used peaceful non co-operation called satyagraha

- Hartals were used, these were religious strikes

- He persuaded Indians to boycott schools, elections and paying taxes

- He made congress into a national movement

- Gandhi supported even the untouchables.

- He believed that self rule came from self control and aimed to shame the British.

- No Indian was allowed to use violence

Dyarchy

- Dyarchy meant shared government between the Indians and the British.

- This was introduced by the government of India act 1919

- Indians now had control over health & public affairs

- Indians still wanted defence, foreign affairs and taxation but the British still had these.

- Some Indians were upset that the British still had control of the main areas of government and riots broke out in the streets

- This led to the British over reacting and passing a new set of anti terrorism laws – the Rowlatt Act.

- This law meant that the British could arrest suspected terrorists and imprison them without a trial.

- This led to more violence on the streets in Amritsar and one English lady was attacked.

Quit India

- Hindus had refused to co-operate with the British

- The quit India campaign had led to mass violence and railways were attacked

- The Muslim league did not support the campaign so they were not arrested

- Congress leaders like Nehru and Gandhi were arrested

- The aim of quit India was to gain immediate independence for India

- After the violence congress was declared illegal and its funds were seized

- Quit India was a new form of satyagraha

Chandra Bose

- Before the war Chandra Bose was a congress leader

- Bose had disagreed with Gandhi because he said his methods were too slow

- Bose believed he could get a better deal from the Japanese because they were of an Asian race.

- Bose set up a new army, the INA. The soldiers in this army were from Japanese prisons

- The INA was not that important in the end because Bose died in 1945 and the INA only had good propaganda value and they rarely ever fought in the front line

- The INA was useful to the Japanese though because of its propaganda value

- After the war the INA leaders were on trial for treason

Salt march 1930

- Was to protest against Simon commission

- It was a new form of campaign tactics

- It was to break the law

- It was an attempt to force the British government to react.

- Gandhi marched to Dandi to make salt illegally

- They then sold this salt on the streets – illegally

- Gandhi stopped at different villages to get more supporters

- 2 Indians were killed

- 290 Indians were seriously injured

- 60,000 were put into prison

- this march led to the round table conferences

Government of IndiaAct 1935

- Failure of the round table conferences led to the government of India act being introduced.

- Indians almost had complete control of national government

- This law ended Dyarchy in local government

- British still kept defence, foreign affairs & taxation but they had to listen to Indian advice.

- Elections were now held for local & national parliament

- Seats were reserved for Muslims & Maharajahs

Partition

- Direct action had proved that a untied India was impossible

- The local princes had to decided which area to live in either India or Pakistan

- The two religions were against each other and there was major violence