Transcript Challenges of Independence

South Asia Nationalist
Movement &
Independence
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
Growth of Nationalism
• Groups like the Indian National Congress
were formed
• Virtually all of the INC was Hindu, lived
in cities, & British educated
• Muslim community watches
suspiciously
WWI
• Earlier colonization =
• large class of Western-educated elites
• earlier nationalism
Social Foundations of a
Mass Movement
• Increasingly resented Britain draining
India economically
Major Event
• Amritsar Massacre, 1919 =
• Ended Indian effort to operate within
British control
Militant Nationalism
• B.G. Tilak garners first public
support via stressing violent
rebellion & Hindu revivalism
Gandhi & Spread of
Nationalism
• Britain attempted to prevent full
independence movement by
offering both political freedoms &
personal restrictions
• 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
• Muslim League (led by Muhammad Ali
Jinnah) sides w/British in hopes of
gaining a separate Muslim state,
creating tension between Hindus and
Muslims
• Hasty pullout of British results in
violence despite a partition of a Muslim
state (Pakistan)
Partition
• Pakistan: clumsy
2-part country
(East & West)
• Tension b/t East
& West Pakistan
• 1971 →
Bangladesh
Independence
WWII & Partition:
• 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 failed to create a peaceful,
multicultural India
• Assassinated for teachings
Gandhi’s Legacy
•Indians had power to
change events
•Shredded legitimacy of
British rule
•Embodied national cause
•Forged links b/t classes
•Mobilized thousands
•Spread civil
disobedience
•Poor father
•Many did not join
campaign or satyagraha
•Raj’s government
never threatened
•WWII caused
independence
•India was partitioned
Independence
• Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi’s close ally,
becomes 1st prime minister of India
• Goals = end economic reliance, end
dalit discrimination, create secular
society
• 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
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)