British Colonization
In 1858, British Crown Rule, or the British Raj, was developed in India. But infact, British rule in India never spread over the country entirely. Because of the lack of politics in India, Britian thought it would be a good choice to have some power in this developing nation. The location of India left many great trading options that were not available to Britain. Also, new resources that only were available to India could now be shared if Britain were to colonize. If India were to comply with British Raj rule, they both would recieve economic gain. As Britain soon gained rule, many Indians were not pleased with its power. Infact, throughout the British Raj, peaceful protests were set against the British rule with the help of Mohandas Gandhi, as well as underground movements. After almost 90 years of the British Raj in India, Indians began to rebell against the foregin rule.
Early Indian Revolts
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| Nehru and Gandhi |
Gandhi
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| Gandhi as a young man, studying law |
Background of Monhandas Gandhi:
In 1888 Monhandas Gandhi, son of Karamchand and Putlibai Gandhi, went to England to study law. From there in 1893, he was sent by a law firm to South Africa, where he remained until 1914, and also where he was first introduced to racism. Upon leaving South Africa, Gandhi returned to India where he eventually joined the INC. From there, he was recognized as the spiritual leader of Indian Independence refried to as the "Mahtma" loved as a "Bapu". Gandhi thought of his goal not in terms of political independence but in the broader terms of self rule.
Gandhi and thousands of Indians practiced non-violent protests against the British Raj. From the 1920's to 1948 he led nationalist movements throughout India. Some non-violent revolts Gandhi praticipated in were the Salt March, and the 1942 Quit India Movement. After his release from jail after the failure of his Non-cooperative protests, he continued his non-violent protests but on January 30, 1948 Monhandas Gandhi was assinated by a member of the Hindu group.
Above is a clip of one of Gandhi's speeches.
To view other helpful links to understand how peaceful Gandhi was visit http://www.mkgandhi.org/health/dailyroutine.htm to view his daily routine
Noncooperation Campaign
Gandhi did however have a non successful revolt named the "Noncooperation Campaign". This unsuccessful organization was an attempt to induce the British Raj to grant India self-government. Unfortunately a massacre arose in Amritsar in April 1919 where the British killed many Indians. However, Gandhi did strengthen the campaign by protesting using nonviolence. Hindus and Muslims, together provided peaceful disobedience. After things seemed as though the strikes were going to be a success, Gandhi was imprisoned, and soon the entire revolt fell apart. Even with the 44% drop of the value of the British cloth and successful non-violent protests, Muslim leaders began abandoning non-violence.While in prison, the noncooperation campaign had failed as the non-violence outlook Gandhi had wanted soon became violent, after the killings of several people with the death of 22 police officers. Trying to control the violent outbreaks, Gandhi agreed to hold a small demonstration campain in Bardoli, however this only became more violent. With this ended the Bardoli movement and declared the end of noncoorporation. A month after, Gandhi was arrested and tried for sedition and was sentenced to six years in prison.
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| Many people demonstrated peaceful protests in the streets of India |
Salt March
Between 11 March and 6 April 1930, Gandhi launched one of the most effective “non-violent” protests of the Indian Independence movement. “The Salt March” was a 400 kilometers [240 miles] from his commune in Ahmedabad to Dandi, on the coast of Gujarat. The march was done in response to the British tax on salt from India, and every day of the march Gandhi and his followers made their own salt from seawater and marched 10 miles. This protest shows how mentally and physically strong Gandhi was that he would walk for 24 days, 10 miles a day just to peaculy show the British government that he would not stand for their mistreatment. This kind of peaceful protest can be seen in many of the “African-American Civil Rights Movement” run by Martin Luther King Jr., and is shows how one can fight against injustice without machine guns or machetes but simply by walking.
Quit India Movement
The most militant of the Indian independence movements, the “Quit India Movement” was an INC led civil disobedience campaign. During World War II, India was divided, but soon decided to side with the British army. In the summer of 1942, Gandhi called for the independence of India from Britain, and for Britain to leave India. This call was rebuffed. On July 14th 1942 the Indian National Congress passed a demand for complete independence from the British government, saying that if they did not agree to the demands the government would launch massive civil disobedience. This resolution was controversial within the Indian national party, but on August 8th 1942 the Quit India Movement was passed at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee. The British responded by imprisoning Gandhi and all the members of the Party's Working Committee. The movement was then carried out in three parts. The first being violent, urban strikes and clashes with police. These were quickly suppressed. The second took place in mid august and was the center of protests. These took place in more rural areas with peasant rebellions fanned by militant student leadership. The third and final part took place at the end of September and was the longest having lasted into 1943. Here there were outbreaks of terrorism by educated youth. There was much regional variation during these protests (Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Madras, and Kerals remained quiet) ( Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Eastern United Provinces, Manipur, and Orissa were hotter areas of revolt). By March 1943, the movement had petered out having been believed to fail in paralyzing the British government, and failed in its attempt to bring down the Raj. The movement did disconcert the Raj, and strike fear into the British government. It also accomplished its goal to keep the congress party united, and enable India to cut economic, political, and militaries ties with Britain.
Indian Independence
After 90 years of protesting of protesting British rule and trying to free itself from the British Raj, India won it’s independence on August 14th 1947. The years of political organizations, non violent movements, freedom fighters, underground movements, petty rebellions and lots of planning paid of as Jawaharlal Nehru made India’s independence official on August 15th 1947. By reading out the famous Tryst with destiny speech proclaiming India's independence, Nehru proclaimed India as its own nation and his role as prime minister and Viceroy in the new Union of India. It took a lot for the Indian people to get to this day. The Indian people began to rebel against the British as a result of British divide and rule policy (exploiting masses, devoiding them of basic human rights). The First Indian protest in 1857, when British East Indian Company soldiers rebelled under leadership of Mangal Pandey. This revolt was easily put down. India’s resistance to British rule staggered from them on until the middle 1910’s when the movement picked up again. From 1918 on, India followed under the leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose peaceful or “satyagraha” protests along with an all out effort from the Indian government and civilians gave India their independence.
Aftermath
After Indian Independence was declared on August 15th 1947, Indian’s ironically went back to fighting amongst them self’s. These fights were between the Muslims and the Hindus, and were the exact opposite of Gandhi’s “satyagraha” way of fighting. The battles between these people were hostile and violent, almost as if they were unleashing all the oppressed rage form the Indian Independence movement, and unleashed it on religious problems. These feuds lead to the assassination of Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist/extremist. Though this was a tragic event, and one that left the nation mourning, Gandhi could still be remembered as the man who won Independence with peaceful force. Without Gandhi the India government still continued to make progress in India’s quest to be its own nation. Prime Minister Nehru invited invited Louis Mountbatten to continue as Governor General of India, but was ultimately replaced by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. The final act toward making India its own nation happened on January 26 1950 when the Constituent Assembly officially proclaimed the Republic of India after completing the drafting of the constitution on November 26 1949. The Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India and Nehru continued to lead as the prime minister. Today India is a rising power both economically and socially and has the fourth largest economy in the world and the second largest labor force.
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| Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of India |
Present Day India
Since being given its freedom in 1947, India has become the second-most populated country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populated democracy in the world. It is the seventh largest country in the world, and has the world 10th largest economy and 4th largest economy in the world. India is the fastest growing major economy, and is considered a newly industrialized country. India’s government is a federal constitutional republic with a parliamentary democracy and is one of the five BRICS nations and. Indians president today is Pratibha Patil and their prime minister is Manmohan Singh. Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained good relations with most nations, and as been an active member of global politics. Along with its political accolades, India also has the third-largest standing army, mainly due to the large number of people living in India and is armed with nuclear weaponry. As of now India is in a dispute with Pakistan over religious and territorial conflicts. The culture in India has a high degree of syncretism. For example, India is a very religious nation, with over 800 million Hindus in the country. They also have 13.4% Muslims, 2.3%Christians, and 1.9%Sikhs as of the 2001 census. India also takes pride in it’s growing film industry(bollywood), and impressive sports teams ( field hockey, 1975 world cup), and cricket(1983, 2011 world cups).
Need a quick recap? Above is a short recap of Indian Independence, for all the visual learners out there
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