Transcript Indian Decolonization

Indian Decolonization
1947-Present
India and Britain
• India supported Allies during WWI, GB promised
eventual self-rule in return; did not give it
• Indian National Congress staged protests after WWI,
but divided by religion: Hindu and Muslim
• British passed laws that could arrest and jail
nationalists without trial
• April 1919, Amritsar Massacre
– Brits declared all large gatherings illegal
– 10,000 unarmed Indians gathered in walled garden , British
troops blocked only exit and fired; 400 dead (many children),
1200 injured
• Indians shocked and more determined to rid British
control
Gandhi
• Mohandas K. Gandhi, after
massacre became leading nationalist
– Educated in GB
– Passive resistance, civil disobedience:
boycotted British goods, refused to
pay taxes, disregarded British laws
– Used ahimsa (nonviolence) and
satyagraha (search for truth)
– Tried to improve status of
untouchables
– Called Mahatma “Great soul”
– Boycotted British cloth, spun cloth 30
minutes a day and always wore
homespun clothes, symbol of INC
became spinning wheel
Salt
• Indian workers needed salt
to replace what they lost in
sweat daily
• British controlled salt mines
and ocean salt fields, heavily
taxed all salt
• 1930, Gandhi staged a march
to the sea
• British did not arrest him, but
did arrest thousands of
followers
• Continued throughout the
1930s
Government of India Act
• 1935, passed by Parliament
• Gave provincial legislatures control over
agriculture, health, public works
• GB remained in control of national laws,
finance, defense, foreign affairs
• Most nationalists rejected, but INC at urging
of Gandhi, accepted it as first step toward full
independence
Hindu-Muslim Relations
• As independence grew
nearer, Muslims worried
about how they would be
treated by Hindus, formed
Muslim League, headed by
Mohammed Ali Jinnah,
demanded separate Muslim
nation
• Hindus led by Jawaharlal
Nehru, wanted united India
• Gandhi greatly concerned
about split
Independence and Division
•
•
•
1947, after WWII, British agreed to
give India independence
Riots between Hindus and Muslims
convinced GB to partition India into
India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim)
August 15, 1947: Independence for
both countries
– Mass migration of 12 million between
India and Pakistan
– 1 Million died in violence between
religious groups
– Gandhi killed by Hindu extremist
angered by Gandhi’s call for peace and
reconciliation
– More than 60 million Muslims
remained in India
Independent India
•
Democratic government with an elected legislature, led by Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1947 until his death in 1964)
– Wanted modern, industrialized state with religious freedom and social
equality
• Universal suffrage
• Ban caste distinctions
• Improve status of women
– Mixed economy; private and government owned
– Non-alignment: tied to neither superpower
Doctors in India
protesting
affirmative action
against caste
system
Nehru “Dynasty”
• After Nehru’s death, his daughter
Indira Gandhi became PM
– Continued father’s policies
– Accused of violating election laws,
forced to resign in 1977
– Returned to office in 1980, but
ethnic unrest in Punjab region of
N. India
• Sikhs wanted own state, occupied
shrine in Punjab, Gandhi ordered
troops to get them out
• Gandhi assassinated by her own
Sikh bodyguard
• Her son, Rajiv Gandhi was PM from
1984-89, but assassinated in 1991
India since 1991
• Struggle with poverty, disease, illiteracy
– Free compulsory education through age 14, 52% literacy rate
– Religious freedoms, but still differences caused by revival of
traditional Hinduism in wake of modernization
– Five-Year plans helped boost economy
Pakistan
• India has fought three wars with
Pakistan; 1947, 1965, 1971
• Both claimed Kashmir region; Hindu
prince ruled mostly Muslim population
• Indian troops helped Bangladesh
break away from Pakistan in 1971
• Both nations worked to develop
nuclear weapons, 1998 both
successfully tested nuclear bombs
• 1999 Indian and Pakistani PMs met
and relations became less tense