India+Before+Independence

Brodie Harvey
=INDIA: The Road to Independence =

In the early 1900s, most Indians were Hindus and a large minority were of Muslim descent. Although these two groups of people lived within the same society, they had many conflicting beliefs. This lead to many conflicts between the two religious groups. At this time, India was a colony of the British Empire; one that Britain was very worried about. They feared that because of the relations between the two religious groups, a move towards independence could end up a huge disaster if not handled with care.

**//1919; The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms//**


India was apart of the vast British since the 1600's, however, they wanted to become their own nation. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms were Britain's answer for India's demands. The main ideal for these reforms was that India would head to independence gradually. Montague was the secretary of state for India, he went to India to meet with Lord Chelmsford, who was the current Viceroy for India. Together they struck a deal in which the India government controlled __health __, __education __, and __agriculture. __ Britain still did not believe that they could completely let India become independent at this time so they still controlled __finance __, __law and order __.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**//Anti-British Unrest//**
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">After the First World War, and Woodrow Wilson's famous points which emphasized self-determination, India expected to become much __#|more__ independent than they <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">were. The reforms did not seem to be enough for the nationalist Indians. Many protests took place. A controversial one occured at Amritsar, where //unarmed// protesters were stopped by the British; 379 killed and over 1000 wounded.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">//Two Conflicting Powers//

Two parties were set up in order to see how India should be divided, once being declared independent. The Congress Party was created by the Hindu population, which made up 3/4 of the population. The Muslim Hague was created for the Muslim population, which was in the vast majority compared to Hindus. Here are some breif explanations on each of the parties, and what they stood for. ====<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__The Congress Party__ ====
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">A group that had nationalist ideals and was Hindu-dominated. They practiced pacifism (non-violent resistance).
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Led by **Mohandas Gandhi** and his right-hand man, **Jawaharlal Nehru**.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The two leaders wanted peace between Hindus and Muslims, and a shared India.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Many extremists in this group wanted nothing to do with the Muslims and disagreed.

====<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__The Muslim League__ ====
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">A group that had nationalist ideals and was Muslim-dominated.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Led by **Ali Jinnah**.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">They wanted a separate state formed, called __#|Pakistan__, and detested Gandhi's ideals.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">
==<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">During WWII, Britain promised India dominion status once the war was over.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">India was divided into **India** //(for Sikhs and Hindus),// and **East and West #|Pakistan** //(for Muslims).//
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Jinnah// controlled Pakistan and //Nehru// controlled India (Gandhi didn't support the division).
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">India officially became independent in August, 1947 as a parliamentary democracy.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Gandhi was assassinated.

==

//<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">India's Independance //
media type="youtube" key="uGxhrBa1L00" width="425" height="350" align="left"In 1946, the Viceroy appointed Nehru, who was Gandhi's right hand man, as the first Prime Minister of India. This lead to much unrest with the Muslims, especially the leader of the Muslim League Jinnah. On August 16 1946, Jinnah declared a "day of action." This declaration lead to much violence between the Hindus in Calcutta.This lead to the Viceroy creating the nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh, to give the Muslims their own territory to prevent future violence of this nature.India became fully independent on August 15, 1947. However, it did not fully work. Much violence sprang up because some Muslims and Hindus were left isolated in a foreign nation. Approximately half a million people died in the violence.




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