Chapter 9: South Asia in
Transition
Section 1: Freedom and
Partition
Lesson Questions
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Why did Gandhi help India win
independence from Britain?
How did WWII affect the struggle for
independence?
What cultural differences led to the
partition of India?
Growing Unrest from the British
Empire
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Indian nationalists demand freedom
in 1919, hoping their cooperation
from WWI would grant them freedom
G.B. responded by limiting their
freedom of press, furthermore
General Dyer banned their rights to
public gatherings after 5 British
officials were killed
Unrest continued
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April 13th, 1919: the Amritsar Massacre
10,000 Indians gather for protest in
northwestern India, General Dyer and his
troops open fire
379 dead, 1100 wounded
The incident increased violence from both
sides and led to the distrust of G.B.
Mohandas Gandhi
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Gandhi led the Indian nationalist
movement from around 1914
His leadership skills allowed him to attract
all types of different classes from rich to
poor
The congress party of India was mainly
middle class, but he managed to get poor
people and Indians who benefited from
British rule on his side
Gandhi’s Principles
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He studied law in London and had little success as a
lawyer when he returned to India
He developed his satyagraha or “truth force” from his
experience in South Africa
Gandhi said his teachings were from Hinduism and
Christianity
Hinduism stressed nonviolence and respect for life
Christianity taught forgiveness of one’s enemies
He was influenced heavily by American philosopher
Henry David Thoreau, whom practiced civil
disobedience, or the refusal to obey unjust laws
Gandhi hoped to make the world aware of British
injustice by accepting punishment without striking
back.
He hoped to awaken in the British a sense of their
own wrongdoing
Gandhi’s Appeal
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He gained appeal by drawing on the rich heritage
of India
He gave up western ways and encouraged
traditional Indian industries such as spinning
cotton
Gandhi dressed simply in white garments much
like the India’s poor people
He stressed morals and ways of life such as
virtue, self-discipline, fasting, and being a
vegetarian; which are all values of devout Hindus
Mahatma or “Great Soul” became his name
The Mahatma wanted reforms for the lower
castes and political power for Muslims
Campaign of Civil disobedience
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The early 1920’s: the Mahatma travels around the
country supporting worker strikes and protests
He calls for a boycott on British made goods
1930: Salt March: the Satyagraha movement to
protest the tax on salt
led by Gandhi, followers go on a 200-mile march to
the coast to harvest salt
They also broke the British ban on manufacturing
salt by making it from sea water
The result was the arrest of Gandhi and 50,000
followers
Furthermore, it gained worldwide support for India
and Britain’s government began to debate if holding
onto India was worth it
Pictures of the Salt March
Moving Toward Independence
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WWII started in the west in 1939 with the
invasion of Poland by Germany
The Indian National Congress refused to
support the war and Gandhi organized a
“Quit India” movement
20,000 Congress members and supporters
are arrested
1945: war-weakened Britain realized it
can no longer maintain India
Nationalist forces became too strong and
British popular opinion opposed keeping
their colonies
Hindu- Muslim Conflict
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Hindus and Muslims had cooperated in the
nationalist movement
G.B. encouraged their divisions to weaken their
grip over the region
The Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
asked for a separate Muslim state
Religious differences caused a clash between the
Muslims and Hindus
Also, some Muslims feared for their rights to be
dominated by a Hindu majority
Gandhi thought the groups could live together, if
they respected each other and treated each other
as family
Hindus distrusted the Muslims and looked at
them as foreign conquerors
Economic and political differences also increased
the tension
The Subcontinent Divided
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1946: Rioting breaks out between Hindus
and Muslims
1947: the British Parliament tried to
prevent civil war by passing the Indian
Independence Act
This act partitioned the Indian
subcontinent into two independent
nations
Pakistan- Muslim ruled by Governor
General Jinnah
India – Hindu ruled by Prime Minister
Nehru
Jinnah
Nehru
Partition
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The division led to increased violence
Both governments on each side stressed a policy
of religious toleration, however distrust was
deeply rooted
500,000 people would die as a result
To escape death on both sides, roughly 15 million
people migrated to their religious majority country
Gandhi refused to celebrate the independence and
in prayer services he recited from the Koran, the
Bible, and the Bhagavad-Gita
A Hindu extremist assassinated Gandhi because he
believed he betrayed his own people