South Asia Nationalist
Movement &
Independence
Review
Imperialism
British East India Company:
• At first learned Indian culture &
intermarried
• Used Indian princes as figureheads
• Pitted Hindus against Muslims
• Kept Indian bankers & merchants
benefiting from British trade
• Used Sepoys
• British trained Indian soldiers to
protect trade
Major Event
• Sepoy Rebellion, 1857 =
• Great Mutiny v. 1st War for
Independence
• Sepoy’s revolt results in colonization.
Sign of early nationalism
British Raj
• British tighten hold on India
• Set-up official colonial government –
“Raj”
• Tax Indian textiles, salt
• Impose British education
• “A class of persons, Indian in blood
and color, but English in taste, in
opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”
• Tight British grip leads to organized
Indian nationalist movements
Years Leading Up To
WWI
Years leading up
to WWI
• Earlier colonization =
• large class of Western-educated elites
• earlier nationalism
• Groups like the Indian National
Congress were formed
• Virtually all of the INC was Hindu,
lived in cities, & British educated
• Muslim community watched
suspiciously
Social Foundations of a
Mass Movement
• Increasingly resented Britain
draining India economically
Militant Nationalism
• B.G. Tilak garners first public
support via stressing violent
rebellion & Hindu revivalism
British Response
• Britain attempted to prevent full
independence movement by
brokering some political freedoms
through INC
After WWI –
Major Event
• Amritsar Massacre, 1919 =
• Ended Indian effort to operate within
British control
Gandhi
• Gandhi broadened nationalist
movement through civil
disobedience
Major Event
• Salt March, 1930 =
• “Tea Party” of India. Solidified Gandhi’s
popularity and effort at peaceful protest.
WWII
• Strain from WWII coupled with British
control fostered greater resentment
• INC organized a “Quit India Movement”
• Advocated complete independence
from Britain
• soldiers stopped fighting WWII
• local officials quit gov’t jobs
• citizens boycotted British goods
• used strikes & work stoppages
Winning Independence
• INC (led by Gandhi) sought united &
multicultural but independent India
• Muslim League (led by Muhammad Ali
Jinnah) sought separate Muslim state
Partition
• Partition & hasty
British pullout =
creates Muslim
state (Pakistan)
• Pakistan: clumsy
2-part country
(East & West)
• Tension b/t East
& West Pakistan
• 1971 →
Bangladesh
Independence
WWII & Partition:
• Muslim League “wins” debate
• Partition was messy & millions fled to the
“correct” side of the new border
• Millions killed in the process
• Problems continue – clear divisions are
difficult: Kashmir
Gandhi’s Legacy
• Gandhi failed to create a
peaceful, multicultural India
• Assassinated for teachings
•Indians had power to
change events
•Shredded legitimacy of
British rule
•Embodied national cause
•Forged links b/t classes
•Mobilized thousands
•Spread civil disobedience
•Raj’s government
never threatened
•WWII caused
independence
•India was
partitioned
Independence
• Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi’s close ally,
becomes 1st prime minister of India
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah, becomes 1st
Governor-General of Pakistan
Goals of Independent India
• Secular democracy
• Outlaw caste
• Economic independence
Challenges Remain:
• Caste differences remain
• Hindu-Muslim clashes
• Cultural diversity
Two Indias
What did you LEARN about
India after independence
based on the article?
Reflection of History?
• Diversity, Tension, Innovation
• Federation:
• allows a fair degree of autonomy to
states
• States based around linguistic &
large ethnic groups)
• Hindu nationalism v. Islam
• Green Revolution
Summary
• British set up BEIC
• Exploit division b/t Hindus & Muslims
• British rule contradicts many Indian
customs – nationalism grows
• Sepoy Rebellion, INC, Muslim League
• Rise of Gandhi & nonviolent protest
• WWII weakens Britain
• India divided into two nations:
India (Hindu/secular), Pakistan (Muslim)