Rising Nationalism in India Timeline by Lawun Soe Moe Thu https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb Lawun & Rebecka (10INSD) en-us 2021-11-03 01:55:42 UTC 2025-10-22 12:47:13 UTC hello@padlet.com Taxation by the British (1835) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399243 Theme: Create mass support 

Special taxes were forced onto Indian salt after the British East India Company established its rule over provinces in India. Traders from the Company made a lot of money from this. The Indian public heavily disapproved of the salt taxes. 

This increased nationalism because Indians thought it unfair that the British were imposing taxes on their salt. This most likely encouraged a large group of Indians to fight against the unjust taxes. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:47:32 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399243 Indian National Congress (1885) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399428 Theme: Create more effective protests 

The Indian National Congress was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. It was formed in 1885 to create a platform for civil and political discussion among educated and influential Indians. Many of the founding members spoke English and therefore saw themselves as the bridge between indian masses and colonial power - such as Gandhi: After the non-cooperation movement took place he worked hard in this congress to unite different groups, in particular Hindus and Muslims. This unity would make it harder for the British to resist Indian's demands. Gandhi was an active member of the congress and even brought about a vote to declare immediate self-rule for India even if the British said otherwise - this led to the Indian flag being shown for the first time. 

The Indian National Congress didn't demand independence from Britain or question their rule at all at first. They rather wanted to have a greater representation for Indians in the government as well as to create a modern Indian nation instead of going back to the pre-colonial form. This could partly be because the Indian population was rather diverse and could only be unified by imperial rule by one group. 

However after time, a nationalistic and independent view grew which caused them to oppose the British in many ways: they boycotted imported British goods and promoted Indian-made goods, they advocated nonviolent noncooperation, and they declared that India would not support the British in World War II unless they were granted complete independence. Throughout the independence movement, the Congress party led and guided many protests that weren’t aggressive or terrorizing. Because of the large number of protestors who did not engage in violence, the Indians were able to protest for their rights in a peaceful manner that boosted their image. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:47:50 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399428 Rowlatt Act (1919) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399573 Theme: Create mass support 

The Rowlatt Act permitted protestors to be brought into court without juries, and even imprisoned without proper trials. 

The Indian public resented the Act. Due to the Act, Gandhi organized a protest that directly resulted in the Amritsar Massacre. Later on, the Non-Cooperation Movement also rose because of the Rowlatt Act. Because of the people’s support for the confrontation of the British’s legislation, the acts never got around to actually being implemented. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:48:01 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399573 Amritsar Massacre (1919) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399765 Theme: Create more effective protests 

There were new measures applied in India which resulted in protests all over India such as work stoppage and larger marches. The protests were turning violent, therefore General Dyer ordered a ban on public meetings. Ignoring the ban on the public meeting, about 5000 people gathered at Amritsar. This led to the decision by the British officer in charge, Dyer, to march in with his soldiers to the protest which was peaceful and made up of both men, women, and children - and order the troops to open fire on the unarmed protestors. Because of the narrow place with hardly any exits the crowd was packed together, this caused a large number of deaths and wounded - even women and children who had been trapped because soldiers blocked the exits. 

Following the massacre, Dyer set up a series of punishments for Indians such as the crawling order where the Indians were forced to crawl on their hands and knees if they wished using a particular street, this was seen as a mark of respect to the British. Dyer did this to make an impression, he wanted people to see it as a merciful act that the people ought to thank him for doing it.

When this news was received by the British government, they ordered an inquiry into the incident and forced Dyer to resign from the army. This caused not only a change in people's opinions, such as a larger amount of Indian élite supporters of the Congress that beforehand had called themselves British subjects. But it also led to a division between some British officials who expressed approval of the actions and some settlers in India regarded him as a savior and welcomed him back to England as a hero. But mostly after the massacre, there was an increase of supporters of the Congress and a call for the end of British rule. Even with these changes of events that the British government went through with, it wasn't enough for a specific nationalistic leader: Gandhi to see them as good. He declared them evil and forfeited the right of governing since they went up against unarmed subjects 
Gandhi believed that Indians should have the right to self-rule which would be achieved by 1. Self-government for India and 2. self-control for each individual. He thought that individuals should learn to control their passions and live simple lives to help develop the "soul-force". The British would ultimately be defeated by this "soul-force" rather than by violence and so he advocated a campaign of non-cooperation - an Indian nationalist movement.

The Amritsar Massacre was therefore a turning point in the development of Indian nationalistic movements. Since it caused anger in the Indian population of how the situation was handled by the British. Even with the British government ultimately resigning Dyer it wasn’t an adequate action against those responsible because it does not justify all the deaths that were caused during the protest and was most probably a move just to gain India's trust and neglect any further rebellions. 

This angered not only Gandhi, a nationalistic leader who was influenced by this happening and started advocating for different nationalistic movements such as the Non-cooperation movement, but also India’s population. The Amritsar massacre only brought Indian’s together with a common value: hatred of British control and rule. It only increased the nationalistic opinion of a self-governed India and further increased the number of protests.

]]> 2021-11-20 09:48:24 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399765 Partition of Bengal (1905) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399892 Theme: Counteract divide and rule strategy of the British 

The authorities of the British Raj implemented the Partition of Bengal to separate the mainly Muslim eastern areas from the mainly Hindu western areas. Most Muslims liked the partition because it meant that they would get their own province, but most Hindus took issue with the partition. 

Because the British were intimidated by the power of Hindus and Muslims together, they manipulated and tricked the two groups to turn against each other. This led them to waste their energy and resources fighting each other, weakening their ability to fight the British. In this way, the British split up their former alliance to make it easier to control and dominate all of India. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:48:38 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903399892 Non-Cooperation Movement (1920) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400041 Theme: Create mass support

The non-cooperation movement took many forms like e.g. a larger amount of Indians renounced titles and honors, lawyers refused to work for the British, students boycotted school's and universities established by the British, and people refused to buy British cloth; Gandhi encouraged men as well as women to make their own cloth at home and wear the clothing made from homespun cloth. People also started refusing to pay taxes. This was itself a huge nationalistic movement since a larger group of Indians were all cooperating together to make a change, to liberate India from British colonization and rule.

In spite of Gandhi's wishes violence broke out in several places - he was outraged and went on a five day fast and started calling off the campaign. However, Gandhi was still arrested and charged with sedition, because he encouraged other people to disobey the law, he was therefore sentenced to prison for six years but was later released only after twenty-two months. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:48:55 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400041 Government of India Act (1935) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400302 Theme: Create mass support 

The Government of India Act was seen as the first step in progress to reach an independent and self-governing India. The British Parliament gave Indian ministers the possibility to have an increase of responsibilities such as agriculture, education, and health in eleven provinces. Even with the progression of India's independence the British still held power, for example still retained control of the police and justice system. Even with these steps towards reform in the society, it did not satisfy Indian nationalists. By 1935 the British parliament gave the government of India Act new reforms that gave more control in provinces to elected Indian ministers but the Act still ensured that Britain would retain their control on emergency powers whenever necessary. 

Before world war 2 Indian nationalism had grown stronger and was better advanced and organized. India was becoming increasingly at liberty from British rule with their own tariff system against British goods and well-developed civil service.


]]> 2021-11-20 09:49:27 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400302 Viceroy declares India will fight alongside Britain (1939) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400485 When Britain declared war on Germany, the Viceroy of India in 1939without any consultation forced to send out Indians to war on the Allied side. This act was legal but emphasized India's servile to the colonial power.

The leaders of the Indian National Congress were angered because of the treatment of India and gave Britain certain terms otherwise they wouldn't cooperate: in return for the support Britain needed they had to let India become independent after the war, and that Indians had to be included directly to the Viceroy but this was declined by the British government. This led to seven congress ministers in provinces resigned and British governors had to run these areas instead for the continuation of the war. 

Because of the arrogant usage of Indian's as if they were a matter of objects that could be done with whatever the British wanted it strengthened the resolve of nationalist movements to continue to strive for India's independence. By 1941 Japan entered the war on Germany's side with a series of successful military strikes across East Asia, they made it even to the borders of India. This severely impacted the population of India as they now saw a weakness in Britain's military and imperial prestige.]]> 2021-11-20 09:49:50 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400485 Quit India Campaign (1942) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400672 Theme: Create more effective protests

The Quit India Campaign was a movement that was introduced during World War II, that demanded an end to British rule in India. Gandhi referred to the procedure as an “orderly British withdrawal”. The British obviously did not agree with the campaign, so they arrested almost every leader of the Indian National Congress, just a couple hours after Gandhi’s Do or Die speech. 

To become an independent nation, Indians wanted the British to leave so that they could govern their own country. This campaign was not one of the more successful ones. It failed because of the British’s oppressive prevention of any taken measures and the lack of a definite action plan. However, from this, the people of India could have learned from the mistakes made this time around, and come up with better strategies for the next movement. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:50:14 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400672 Britain's debt to India after WWII (1947) clca2024_2 https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400806 WWII had a damaging effect on the relationship between the British and the Indians; in order to fight in the war effectively, economic controls were introduced, people were compulsorily enlisted into jobs, and political rights were suppressed. The Japanese victories over the British showed that the British were no longer invincible. Not only this, but many Indians had gained senior jobs in the army and civil service during the war, which gave them experience and self-confidence in running their own affairs. Nationalist leaders, like Gandhi, were released during the time perido from 1944 to 1945. These leaders then continued to strive for India's independence. 

After the war, Britain was nearly bankrupt and was not in the position to maintain resources to thwart future Indian rebellions. Additionally, India had played a significant role in the Allied war effort. the economic availability was a significant factor in the final defeat of the Axis power because during the war Britain was in need to fund the war and were therefore forced to borrow heavily from India. By the end of the war was increasingly in a better economic situation, by contrast to  Britain's weak position they were ready to negotiate an end of the Indian empire. 


Since India was no longer providing Britain with substantial economic advantages and was moreover a financial liability since in 1945 Britain was 1.3 billion pounds in debt to India. This led to Britain seeking financial support from the United States to not reach bankruptcy - the United States did not support the idea of an empire which further led to Britain's rule leaving India. This helped the progression of India's independence, and it developed into a stable Democracy and one of the most influential states in the 21st century. ]]> 2021-11-20 09:50:32 UTC https://padlet.com/laso2024/cwll5c4bex9d2nzb/wish/1903400806