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{{Short description|1857–1947 movement to end British rule over India}}
The '''Indian independence movement''' was a movement from 1857 until 15 August 1947, when [[India]] got its independence from the [[British Raj]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Timeline of India's Independence and Democracy: From 1857 to 1947|url=https://www.pacificatrocities.org/book-timeline-of-indias-independence-and-democracy-from-1857-to-1947.html|access-date=2021-03-18|website=Pacific Atrocities Education|language=en}}</ref>
{{for|independence movements of Native American Indians|Native American self-determination}}
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{{Colonial India}}
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The '''Indian independence movement''' was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending [[British Raj|British rule in India]] also known as British Raj. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.


== European Rule ==
The first nationalistic [[revolutionary movement for Indian independence]] emerged from [[Bengal]]. It later took root in the newly formed [[Indian National Congress]] with prominent moderate leaders seeking the right to appear for [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service examinations in British India]], as well as more economic rights for natives. The first half of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards self-rule by the [[Lal Bal Pal|Lal Bal Pal triumvirate]], [[Aurobindo Ghosh]] and [[V. O. Chidambaram Pillai]].
[[Vasco da Gama]] of [[Portugal]] had discovered a sea route to India. He had reached [[Kozhikode]] ([[Kerala|Calicut, Kerala]]) in 1498. After this, many Europeans started coming to India for trading. They made their offices and forts in various parts of India. The British East India Company became the major force in India. The company's troops led by [[Robert Clive]] defeated the rulers of Bengal in 1757. This battle became famous as the [[Battle of Plassey]]. That was the beginning of British rule, known as the [[British Raj]], in India. In 1764, the [[Battle of Buxar]] was won by the English forces.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/581294948|title=India's freedom struggle, 1857-1947 : a short history|last=Heehs|first=Peter|date=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-908067-0|location=Delhi|pages=11–12|oclc=581294948}}</ref> After ''this'', the British got control over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.


The Parliament of the [[United Kingdom]] passed many laws to help the British East India Company. The [[:en:Regulating_Act_of_1773|Regulating Act of 1773]], [[:en:Pitt's_India_Act|the India Act of 1784]], and the Charter Act of 1813 were designed to help trade with India.
The stages of the independence struggle in the 1920s were characterized by the leadership of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Indian National Congress|Congress]]' adoption of Gandhi's policy of [[non-violence]] and [[Salt March|civil disobedience]]. Some of the leading followers of Gandhi's ideology were [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]], [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan]], [[Maulana Azad]], and others. Intellectuals such as [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Subramania Bharati]], and [[Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay]] spread patriotic awareness. Female leaders like [[Sarojini Naidu]], [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]], [[Pritilata Waddedar]], and [[Kasturba Gandhi]] promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in the freedom struggle.


Before the First War of Independence (1857), Indians in different parts of India had revolted against the British. Many such of the revolts and armed struggles had taken place in this Some examples include:
Few leaders followed a more violent approach. This became especially popular after the [[Rowlatt Act]], which permitted [[indefinite detention]]. The Act sparked protests across India, especially in the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab province]], where they were violently suppressed in the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]].
* Revolts by many local rulers of [[Tamil people]] in southern India like [[Dheeran Chinnamalai]], [[:en:Veerapandiya Kattabomman|Veerapandiya Kattabomman]] ...etc.
* In 1825 in Karnataka [[kittur Chennamma]] rejected Doctrine of Lapsi and refused British rulers any royalty. She defeated British in the war. Kittur was defeated by British army in the second war. Her lieutenant [[Sangolli Rayanna]] continued the revolt until he was killed.
* A revolt in 1787 took place in Goa against the rule of Portugal. The histo call this revolt as the [[:en:Conspiracy_of_the_Pintos|Conspiracy of the Pintos]].
* A rebellion by tribes of Jharkhand in India. Historians call this [[:en:Santhal_rebellion|Santhal Rebellion]]
* Rebellion under the leadership of [[Titumir]] in [[Bengal]].


== Revolt of 1857 ==
The Indian independence movement was in constant ideological evolution. Essentially [[Anti-imperialism|anti-colonial]], it was supplemented by visions of independent, economic development with a secular, democratic, republican, and civil-libertarian political structure. After the 1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation. It culminated in the [[Indian Independence Act 1947]], which ended [[British Crown|Crown]] [[suzerainty]] and partitioned British Raj into [[Dominion of India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan]].
{{main|Indian Rebellion of 1857}}
[[File:Bahadur Shah II.jpg|thumb|Bahadur Shah II (portrait painted about 1854)]]
India's First War of Independence (by this name later a book was published by V.D Savarkar) was a revolt of Indian soldiers and people (rulers and peasants) against British rule. Historians had used the terms like the Indian Mutiny or the Sepoy Mutiny to describe this event. The rebellion by Indian troops of the British Raj started in May 1857 and continued until December 1858. Many reasons had combined to result in this rebellion.


The British rulers continued to forcibly take regions ruled by Indians and made these regions part of the British Raj. They did not give any respect to old royal houses of India like the Mughals and the Peshwa. They also made the Indian soldiers of their army use a special type of cartridge (immediate cause of the rebel). The soldiers had to open the cartridges with their teeth before loading them into their guns. The cartridges supposedly used cow and pig fat. For [[Hindu]]s the cow is a sacred animal and they do not eat beef. Similarly, [[Muslim]]s do not eat pork. Thus, the use of these cartridges made soldiers of both the religions turn against the British.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1031406367|title=The uprising of 1857|date=2017|others=Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, Science Museum|isbn=978-93-85360-11-4|location=New Delhi|oclc=1031406367}}</ref> Although the British tried to replace the cartridges, the feelings against them stayed.
India remained a [[Dominion|Crown Dominion]] until 26 January 1950, when the [[Constitution of India]] established the Republic of India. Pakistan remained a dominion until 1956 when it adopted its first constitution. In 1971, East Pakistan declared its own independence as [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Remembering the war of 1971 in East Pakistan|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/remembering-war-1971-east-pakistan-191216054546348.html|last=Zakaria|first=Anam|work=Al Jazeera|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref>


Rebellion broke out when a soldier called Mangal Pandey attacked a British sergeant and wounded an adjutant. General Hearsey ordered another Indian soldier to arrest Mangal Pandey but he refused. Later the British arrested Mangal Pandey and the other Indian soldier. The British killed both by hanging them.
==Background==
===Early British Colonialism in India===
{{Main|Colonial India|East India Company|Company rule in India|British Raj}}
The first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean was the Portuguese explorer [[Vasco da Gama]], who reached [[Calicut]] in 1498 in search of spice.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vasco da Gama reaches India|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vasco-da-gama-reaches-india|website=History.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the Indian subcontinent, with the first English trading post set up at [[Surat]] in 1613.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|p=9}}</ref>


At the beginning the British were slow to respond. Then they took very quick action with heavy forces. They brought their regiments from the [[Crimean War]] to India. They also redirected many regiments that were going to China from India. The British forces reached Delhi, and they surrounded the city from 1st July 1857 until 31st August 1857. Street-to-street fights broke out between the British troops and the Indians. Ultimately, they took control of Delhi. The massacre at Kanpur (July 1857) and the siege of Lucknow (June to November 1857) were also important. The last important battle was at [[Gwalior]] in June 1858 in which the Rani of Jhansi was killed. With this, the British had practically suppressed the rebellion. However, some guerrilla fighting in many places continued until early in 1859 and Tantia Tope was captured and executed until April 1859.
Over the next two centuries, the British{{#tag:ref|The [[English colonial empire]], including the territories and trading post in Asia, came under [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] control following the [[Acts of Union 1707|union of England and Scotland in 1707]].|group=note}} defeated the Portuguese and Dutch but remained in conflict with the French. The decline of the [[Mughal Empire]] in the first half of the eighteenth century allowed the British to establish a foothold in Indian politics.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|pp=9–10}}</ref> During the [[Battle of Plassey]], the East India Company's Army defeated [[Siraj ud-Daulah]], the [[Nawab of Bengal]], and the company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs. After the [[Battle of Buxar]] of 1764, it gained administrative rights over [[Bengal]], [[Bihar]] and the Midnapur part of [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|pp=11–12}}</ref>


=== The Results ===
After the defeat of [[Tipu Sultan]], most of southern India came either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control in a [[subsidiary alliance]]. The Company subsequently seized control of regions ruled by the [[Maratha Empire]], after defeating them in a series of wars. Much of Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of Sikh armies in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War|First]] (1845–46) and [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|Second]] (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sikh Wars {{!}} Indian history|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sikh-Wars|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref><gallery widths="200" heights="200">
India's First War of Independence was a major event in the history of modern India. The Parliament of the United Kingdom withdrew the right of the British East India Company to rule India in November 1858. The United Kingdom started ruling India directly through its representative called the [[Viceroy of India]](earlier governor-general of India). It made India a part of the British Empire. They promised "the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India," equal treatment under the British law.
File:Clive.jpg|Robert Clive with [[Mir Jafar]] after the [[Battle of Plassey]]. Mir Jafar's betrayal towards the [[Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad|Nawab]] [[Siraj ud-Daulah|Siraj-ud-Daulah]] of [[Bengal Subah|Bengal]] in Plassey made the battle one of the main factors of [[Company rule in India|British supremacy]] in the sub-continent.
File:Tipu death.jpg|''The Last Effort and Fall of Tipu Sultan'' by [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]], c. 1800. After the defeat of [[Tipu Sultan]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]], most of South India was now either under the company's direct rule, or under its [[princely state|indirect political control]].
</gallery>


The British sent [[Bahadur Shah II]], the last Mughal Emperor, out of India, and kept him in [[Rangoon|Rangoon (now called Yangon in Burmese)]], [[Burma]] where he died in 1862. The Mughal dynasty, which had ruled India for about four hundred years, ended with his death.
== Early rebellions ==
[[Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone]] was an early rebel against the British presence in Tamil Nadu. He became a military leader in the town of [[Ettayapuram]] and was defeated in battle against the British and Maruthanayagam's forces. He was executed in 1757.<ref>{{Cite news |title=P Chidambaram releases documentary film on Alagumuthu Kone {{!}} Madurai News |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/P-Chidambaram-releases-documentary-film-on-Alagumuthu-Kone/articleshow/17737324.cms|access-date=2020-10-01|work=The Times of India|language=en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=June 2023}} [[Puli Thevar]] opposed the [[Nawab of Arcot]], who was supported by the British.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}


The British also took many steps to employ Indian higher castes and rulers into the government. They stopped taking the lands of the remaining princes and rulers of India. They stopped interference in religious matters. They started employing Indians in the civil services but at lower levels. They increased the number of British soldiers, and allowed only British soldiers to handle artillery.
In [[East India|Eastern India]] and across the country, Indigenous communities organized numerous rebellions against the British and their fellow members, especially [[Zamindar|landlords]] and moneylenders.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Horo|first=Albert|date=2013|title=Jharkhand Movement|url=http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2(4)/version-2/A240106.pdf|journal=International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention|volume= 2| issue = 4|pages=1–6|via=Google Scholar}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Gupta|first1=Sanjukta Das|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VDGIpkJ9BgwC|title=Narratives from the Margins: Aspects of Adivasi History in India|last2=Basu|first2=Raj Sekhar|date=2012|publisher=Primus Books|isbn=978-93-80607-10-8|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-20|title=Summary of the Tribal Rebellions during British rule in India|url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/summary-of-the-tribal-rebellions-during-british-rule-in-india-1521541943-1|access-date=2021-11-21|website=Jagranjosh.com}}</ref> One of the earliest of these on record was led by Binsu Manki around 1771 over the transfer of [[Jharkhand]] to the [[East India Company]].<ref name=":0" /> The Rangpur Dhing took place from 1782 to 1783 in nearby [[Rangpur, Bangladesh|Rangpur, Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=LEES|first=JAMES|date=2015|title='A Character to lose': Richard Goodlad, the Rangpur dhing, and the priorities of the East India Company's early colonial administrators|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43307694|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume=25|issue=2|pages=301–315|jstor=43307694|issn=1356-1863}}</ref> Following the Binsu Manki's revolt in Jharkhand, numerous rebellions across the region took place including the [[Bhumij rebellion|Bhumij Revolt]] of [[Manbhum]] from 1798 to 1799; the [[Chero]] Uprising of [[Palamu district|Palamu]] in 1800 under the leadership of Bhukan Singh, and two uprising of the [[Munda people|Munda]] community in Tamar region, during 1807 led by Dukan Mank, and 1819-20 under the leadership Bundu and Konta.<ref name=":0" /> The Ho Rebellion took place when the [[Ho people|Ho community]] first came in contact with the British, from 1820 to 1821 near [[Chaibasa]] on the Roro River in [[West Singhbhum district|West Singhbhum]], but were defeated by the technologically enhanced colonial cavalry.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Gupta|first=Sanjukta Das|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8McrAwEACAAJ|title=Adivasis and the Raj: Socio-economic Transition of the Hos, 1820-1932|date=2011|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-4198-6|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kumar|first=Akshay|date=2021-06-18|title=Ho Rebellion & Kol Rebellion {{!}} Jharkhand|url=https://edvnce.com/blog/ho-rebellion-kol-rebellion/|access-date=2021-11-21|website=Edvnce|language=en-US}}</ref> A larger [[Bhumij rebellion|Bhumij Revolt]] occurred near [[Midnapore|Midnapur]] in Bengal, under the leadership of [[Ganga Narayan Singh|Ganga Narain Singh]] who had previously also been involved in co-leading the [[Chuar rebellion|Chuar Rebellions]] in these regions from 1771 to 1809.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jha|first=Jagdish Chandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPjNAQAACAAJ|title=The Bhumij Revolt (1832-33): (ganga Narain's Hangama Or Turmoil)|date=1967-01-01|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Limited|isbn=978-81-215-0353-2|language=en}}</ref> [[Syed Mir Nisar Ali Titumir]] was an Islamic preacher who led a peasant uprising against the [[Zamindars of Bengal|Hindu Zamindars of Bengal]] and the British during the 19th century. Along with his followers, he built a bamboo fort (''Bansher Kella'' in Bengali) in Narkelberia Village, which gained a prominent place into Bengali folk legend. After the storming of the fort by British soldiers, Titumir died of his wounds on 19 November 1831.<ref>Khan, Muazzam Hussain. "Titu Mir". Banglapedia. Bangladesh Asiatic Society. Retrieved 4 March 2014.</ref> These rebellions lead to larger regional movements in Jharkhand and beyond such as the [[Kol uprising|Kol Insurrection]] led by Singhray and Binray Manki, where the [[Kol people|Kol]] ([[Munda people|Munda]], [[Kurukh people|Oraon]], [[Bhumij people|Bhumij]] and [[Ho people|Ho]] communities) united to rebel against the "outsiders" from 1830 -1833.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jha|first=Jagdish Chandra|date=1958|title=THE KOL RISING OF CHOTANAGPUR (1831-33)—ITS CAUSES|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44145239|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=21|pages=440–446|jstor=44145239|issn=2249-1937}}</ref>


== Organised movements ==
The [[Santhal rebellion|Santhal Hul]] was a movement of over 60,000 [[Santal people|Santhals]] that happened from 1855 to 1857 (but started as early as 1784) and was particularly led by siblings - brothers [[Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu|Sidhu, Kanhu]], Chand and Bhairav and their sisters Phulo and Jhano from the [[Murmu]] clan in its most fervent years that lead up to the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Revolt of 1857]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9T3zYvKVF98C|title=This is our homeland... a collection of essays on the betrayal of Adivasi rights in India|publisher=Equations|year=2007|location=Bangalore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Soren|first=Nayan|date=June 30, 2020|title=Remembering Santal Hul : A quest for Indigenous sovereignty|url=http://adivasiresurgence.com/2020/06/30/remembering-santal-hul-a-quest-for-indigenous-sovereignty/|access-date=21 November 2021|website=Adivasi Resurgence}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Forgotten Santhal Revolt of 1855|url=https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/img.livehistoryindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Santhal1.jpg|access-date=2021-11-21|website=Live History India|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Remembering Santal Hul, a 19th Century Struggle Against Imperialism|url=https://thewire.in/history/santal-hul-revolution|access-date=2021-11-21|website=The Wire}}</ref> More than 100 years of such escalating rebellions created grounds for a large, impactful, millenarian movement in Eastern India that again shook the foundations of British rule in the region, under the leadership of [[Birsa Munda]]. Birsa Munda belonged to the [[Munda people|Munda community]] and lead thousands of people from Munda, [[Kurukh people|Oraon]], and [[Kharia people|Kharia]] communities in "Ulgulaan" (revolt) against British political expansion and those who advanced it, against forceful conversions of Indigenous peoples into Christianity (even creating a Birsaite movement), and against the displacement of Indigenous peoples from their lands.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Singh|first=Kumar Suresh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFSgAAAAMAAJ|title=Birsa Munda and His Movement, 1872-1901: A Study of a Millenarian Movement in Chotanagpur|date=2002|publisher=Seagull Books|isbn=978-81-7046-205-7|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=A.K.Dhan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEg1DwAAQBAJ|title=BIRSA MUNDA|date=2017-08-29|publisher=Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting|isbn=978-81-230-2544-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-11-15|title=About Birsa Munda [ 1875-1900 ] Biography & Life History|url=https://www.ambedkaritetoday.com/2019/11/about-birsa-munda-biography-life-history.html|access-date=2021-11-21|website=The Ambedkarite Today - Voice Of Voiceless|language=English}}</ref> To subdue these rising tensions which were getting increasingly out of control of the British, they aggressively set out to search for Birsa Munda, even setting up a reward for him. They brutally attacked the Dombari Hills where Birsa had repaired a water tank and made his revolutionary headquarters between January 7–9, 1900, murdering a minimum of 400 of the Munda warriors who had congregated there, akin to the attacks on the people at [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre|Jallianwallah Bagh]], however, receiving much less attention.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=2016-06-09|title=The 'Ulgulaan' of 'Dharti Aba- Birsa Munda'|url=http://adivasiresurgence.com/2016/06/09/the-ulgulaan-of-dharti-aba-birsa-munda/|access-date=2021-11-21|website=Adivasi Resurgence|language=en-US}}</ref> The hills are known as "Topped Buru" today - the mound of the dead.<ref name=":5" /> Birsa was ultimately captured in the Jamkopai forest in [[Singhbhum (Lok Sabha constituency)|Singhbhum]], and assassinated by the British in jail in 1900, with a rushed cremation/burial conducted to ensure his movement was subdued.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />
The period following India's First War of Independence was an important period in the Indian independence movement. Many leaders emerged at the national and provincial levels, and the Indians became more aware of their rights. Social movements also helped in shaping people's outlook, tried for social changes, and tried to remove bad social practices and evils like illiteracy and caste system. During this period, many social and religious leaders worked to inspire the Indian society. They included men like [[Swami Vivekananda]], [[Ramakrishna ]], [[Sri Aurobindo]], [[Subramanya Bharathy]], [[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]], Sir [[Syed Ahmed Khan]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and [[Dadabhai Naoroji]].<br /> They spread the message of self-confidence, removing of social evils, and making India free from domination of foreign power. [[Lokmanya Tilak]] was one such leader who was not very modest in his views. The British arrested him. In the court he declared: "Swaraj (independence) is my birthright". This concept of Swaraj later became a main policy and philosophy of India's independence movement in the following decades until India became independent. <br />
In 1885, at the suggestion of [[Allan Octavian Hume]], a retired British civil servant, seventy-three Indian delegates met in Bombay. They founded the [[Indian National Congress]]. The delegates represented educated Indians in professions such as [[law]], [[teaching]], and [[journalism]]. A few years before, [[Dadabhai Naoroji]] had already formed the East India Association. It merged with the Indian National Congress to form a bigger party. <br />
To begin with, the Indian National Congress was not a very active political party. It met annually and gave some suggestions to the rulers of the British Raj. The suggestions generally related to civil rights and opportunities for Indians in the government jobs. Despite its claim to represent all Indians, it represented only the educated and higher class of the society. But, it failed to attract all Muslims. Many Muslims had become distrustful of Hindu reformers who raised their voice against matters like religious conversion and killing of cows for their meat. For Hindus, the cow is a sacred animal not to be killed. Sir [[Syed Ahmed Khan]] launched a separate movement for Muslims, and founded in 1875 a college in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh state, India. Later, this college became [[Aligarh University]] in 1921. The objective of the college was to give modern education to India's Muslims. By 1900, the Indian National Congress had become a national party, but did not represent all groups of Indian society, particularly the Muslims.


===Partition of Bengal===
The toughest resistance the Company experienced was offered by Mysore. The [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]] were a series of wars fought in over the last three decades of the 18th century between the [[Kingdom of Mysore]] on the one hand, and the British East India Company (represented chiefly by the [[Madras Presidency]]), and [[Maratha Confederacy]] and the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] on the other. [[Hyder Ali]] and his successor [[Tipu Sultan]] fought a war on four fronts with the British attacking from the west, south, and east, while the Marathas and the Nizam's forces attacked from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu (who was killed in the final war, in 1799), and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which won and took control of much of India.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company|title=East India Company – Definition, History, & Facts|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> [[Pazhassi Raja]] was the prince regent of the princely state of [[Kingdom of Kottayam|Cotiote]] in North Malabar, near [[Kannur]], India between 1774 and 1805. He fought a guerrilla war with tribal people from Wynad supporting him. He was captured by the British and his fort was razed to the ground.
In 1905, Lord Curzon ([[George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston]]), the Viceroy and Governor-General (1899-1905) of India divided Bengal province into two provinces: Eastern Bengal & [[Assam]], with its capital at [[Dhaka]], and [[West Bengal]], with its capital at [[Calcutta]] (Kolkata). At that time Calcutta was the [[capital city]] of the British Raj. The people became very angry at that partition (division), and created the phrase "divide and rule" for the policy followed by the British Empire. The leading intellectual figures of India at that time expressed their unhappiness at this partition. For example, Rabindranath Tagore, the most famous Indian poet (originally from Bengal) composed a poem against this partition.


== World War I ==
In 1766 the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] transferred the [[Northern Circars]] to the British authority. The independent king [[Jagannatha Gajapati Narayana Deo II|Jagannatha Gajapati Narayan Deo II]] of [[Paralakhemundi]] estate situated in today's [[Odisha]] and in the northernmost region of the then political division was continuously revolting against the [[French East India Company|French]] occupants since 1753 as per the Nizam's earlier handover of his estate to them on similar grounds. Narayan Deo II fought the British at Jelmur fort on 4 April 1768 and was defeated due to superior firepower of the British. He fled to the tribal hinterlands of his estate and continued his efforts against the British until his natural death on the Fifth of December 1771.
During the First World War, Indians gave support to the United Kingdom. About 1.3 million Indian soldiers went to many parts of [[Europe]], [[Africa]], and the [[Middle East]] to fight. Many Indians, including the princes and rich people of India, contributed money and materials to the war funds of the United Kingdom. However, many Indian soldiers died in foreign lands. In India, [[influenza|flu]] called Spanish flu spread like an epidemic killing many people. The tax rates increased in India, and prices also increased. The Indians became restless.
In August 1917, [[Edwin Samuel Montagu]], the Secretary of State for India, announced in the British Parliament about many steps to give more rights to Indians. A new law named the Government of India Act of 1919 gave many rights to the Indians in the provincial government. These rights related to farming, local government, health, education, and public works. The British administrators kept matters like taxation, finance, and law and order under their control.


== The Rowlatt Act ==
[[Velu Nachiyar|Rani Velu Nachiyar]] (1730–1796), was a queen of [[Sivaganga]] from 1760 to 1790. Rani Nachiyar was trained in war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam (fighting using stick), horse riding and archery. She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like French, English, and Urdu. When her husband, Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar, was killed in battle with British soldiers and the forces of the [[Nawab of Arcot]], she was drawn into battle. She formed an army and sought an alliance with Gopala Nayaker and [[Hyder Ali]] with the aim of attacking the British, whom she successfully challenged in 1780. When the inventories of the Britishers were discovered, she is said to have arranged a suicide attack by a faithful follower, [[Kuyili]], dousing herself in oil and setting herself alight and walking into the storehouse. Rani formed a women's army named "Udaiyaal" in honour of her adopted daughter, who had died detonating a British arsenal. Rani Nachiyar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom, and ruled it for a decade more'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/remembering-queen-velu-nachiyar-sivagangai-first-queen-fight-british-55163 |title=Remembering Queen Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai, the first queen to fight the British|website=The News Minute|date=3 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Velu-Nachiyar-Jhansi-Rani-of-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/51436071.cms|title=Velu Nachiyar, Jhansi Rani of Tamil Nadu|date=17 March 2016 |newspaper=The Times of India}}</ref>'''
In 1919 the British made a new law named the Rowlatt Act. Under this law, the government got many powers, including the ability to arrest people and keep them in prisons without a trial. They also obtained the power to stop newspapers from reporting and printing news. The people called this act the Black Act. Indians protested against this law in many places.


The positive impact of reform was seriously undermined in 1919 by the [[Rowlatt Act]], named after the recommendations made the previous year to the Imperial Legislative Council by the Rowlatt Commission, which had been appointed to investigate "seditious conspiracy." The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black Act, vested the Viceroy's government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining political activists without trial, and arresting any individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. In protest, a nationwide cessation of work (''[[hartal]]'') was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent.
[[Veerapandiya Kattabomman]] was an eighteenth-century [[Polygar]] and chieftain from [[Panchalankurichi]] in [[Tamil Nadu]], India who waged the [[Polygar Wars|Polygar war]] against the East India Company. He was captured by the British and hanged in 1799 CE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sanmargroup.com/Newsmain/Matrix/June2001/LegVeeraJ01.htm |title=Legends from South |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904104239/http://www.sanmargroup.com/Newsmain/Matrix/June2001/LegVeeraJ01.htm |archive-date=4 September 2012}}</ref> Kattabomman refused to accept the sovereignty of East India Company, and fought against them.<ref name=Anand>{{cite journal |last=Yang |first=Anand A. |date=November 2007 |title=Bandits and Kings: Moral Authority and Resistance in Early Colonial India |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=881–896 |jstor=20203235 |doi=10.1017/s0021911807001234}}</ref> [[Dheeran Chinnamalai]] was a [[Kongu Nadu]] chieftain and [[Palayakkarar]] from Tamil Nadu who fought against the East India Company.<ref>{{cite book |author=K. Guru Rajesh |year=2015 |title=Sarfarosh: A Naadi Exposition of the Lives of Indian Revolutionaries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c_dLCgAAQBAJ&q=dheeran+chinnamalai&pg=PT65 |publisher=Notion Press |page=65 |isbn=978-93-5206-173-0}}</ref> After [[Kattabomman]] and Tipu Sultan's deaths, Chinnamalai sought the help of [[Marathas]] and [[Maruthu Pandiyar]] to attack the British at [[Coimbatore]] in 1800. The British forces managed to stop the armies of the allies, forcing Chinnamalai to attack Coimbatore on his own. His army was defeated and he escaped from the British forces. Chinnamalai engaged in [[guerrilla warfare]] and defeated the British in battles at [[Cauvery]] in 1801, Odanilai in 1802 and [[Arachalur]] in 1804.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/02/stories/2008080254520600.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914020119/http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/02/stories/2008080254520600.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 September 2008|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|title=Chinnamalai, a lesser-known freedom fighter of Kongu soil |date=2 August 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tw8nBgAAQBAJ&q=dheeran+chinnamalai|title=Rough with the Smooth|first=Ram|last=Govardhan|publisher=Leadstart publishing|year=2001|pages=212|isbn=9789381115619}}</ref>


The agitation reached a peak in Amritsar (Punjab, India). In Amritsar, on 13th April 1919, about 10,000 Indians had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh. They had no idea of the law that they couldn't gather. The British military commander, Brigadier-General [[Reginald Dyer]] ordered his troops to fire at the civilians without any warning. The troops fired 1,650 times. Some historians estimate that the troops killed 379 and injured about 1,137 people. This incident came to be known as the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]]. With this killing of innocent people, the British lost the trust of the Indian people.
In 1804 the King of [[Khordha]], [[Odisha|Kalinga]] was deprived of his traditional rights to the [[Jagannath]] Temple. In retaliation, a group of armed Paiks attacked the British at [[Pipili]]. [[Jayee Rajguru]], the chief of Army of Kalinga requested a common alliance against the British.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/article1368449.ece |title=Villages fight over martyr's death place |first=Hemant Kumar |last=Rout |newspaper=The New Indian Express |year=2012 |quote=historians claim he is actually the first martyr in the country's freedom movement because none was killed by the Britishers before 1806 |access-date=7 February 2013}}</ref> After Rajguru's death, [[Bakshi Jagabandhu]] launched an armed rebellion against the East India Company's rule in Odisha. This is now known as the [[Paik Rebellion]], the first Rebellion against the British East India Company.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mohanty|first=N.R.|title=The Oriya Paika Rebellion of 1817|journal=Orissa Review|date=August 2008|pages=1–3|url=http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/August-2008/engpdf/1-3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111185749/http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/August-2008/engpdf/1-3.pdf |archive-date=11 November 2013 |access-date=13 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="orissa">{{cite journal|last=Paikaray|first=Braja|title=Khurda Paik Rebellion – The First Independence War of India|journal=Orissa Review|date=February–March 2008|pages=45–50|url=http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/feb-march-2008/engpdf/45-50.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232307/http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2008/feb-march-2008/engpdf/45-50.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2014 |access-date=13 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="as">{{cite web |url=https://khordha.nic.in/paik-rebellion/ |title=Paik Rebellion |website=Khordha |publisher=National Informatics Centre |access-date=14 August 2018}}</ref>


Congress forced Britishers to investigate massacre of jallianwala later, a tehkikat committee was made by congress.
<gallery widths="200" heights="150" mode="packed">
File:Puli Thevar Statue in his Nerkattumseval Palace 2013-08-12 06-35.jpeg|[[Puli Thevar]]
File:Veera Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.jpg|[[Pazhassi Raja]], fought the British in a series of continuous struggles for 13 years during the [[Cotiote War]].
File:Velu Nachchiyar 2008 stamp of India.jpg|[[Velu Nachiyar]], was one of the earliest Indian queens to fight against the British colonial power in India.
File:Veerapandiya Kattabomman 1999 stamp of India.jpg|[[Veerapandiya Kattabomman]]
File:Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone.jpg|[[Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone|Maveeran Azhagu Muthukon]]
File:Bakshi Jagabandhu.jpg|Statue of [[Bakshi Jagabandhu]], the leader of [[Paika Rebellion]]
File:Ganga Narayan Singh.jpg|[[Ganga Narayan Singh]], leader of [[Bhumij rebellion]]
File:Birsa Munda, photograph in Roy (1912-72).JPG|[[Birsa Munda]], leader of Munda rebellion (Ulgulan)
File:Stamp of India - 2002 - Colnect 158245 - Sido Murmu - Kanhu Murmu.jpeg|[[Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu]], leaders of [[Santhal rebellion]]
</gallery>


== Gandhi's way ==
===Rebellion of 1857===
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi) had received his education at London. He was a barrister (lawyer). In 1893, he went to [[South Africa]]. After Gandhi was thrown off a train because he was a colored person sitting in a first-class seat, he took that emotion and used it to begin to fight the injustices that many people of color faced at the time. He became successful and the government of South Africa removed most of such rules and restrictions. Gandhi led the Salt March, an act of protest.
{{Main|Indian Rebellion of 1857}}
The Indian rebellion of 1857 was a large uprising in northern and central India against the East India Company.<ref name="Chandra 1989 31" /> The conditions of service in the company's army and [[cantonment]]s had increasingly come into conflict with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the [[sepoy]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|p=33}}</ref> The predominance of members from the upper castes in the army, perceived loss of caste due to overseas deployment, and rumours of secret designs of the government to convert them to Christianity led to growing discontent.<ref>{{harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|pp=33–34}}</ref> The sepoys were also disillusioned by their low salaries and the racial discrimination practised by British officers in matters of promotion and privileges.<ref name="Chandra 1989 34">{{harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|p=34}}</ref>


When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, few people knew him. Under the leadership of Gandhi, Indians began to use a different method to get freedom over the next few years.
The indifference of the British towards native Indian rulers and the annexation of [[Oudh]] furthered dissent. The [[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Marquess of Dalhousie]]'s policy of annexation, the [[doctrine of lapse]] and the projected removal of the Mughals from their ancestral palace at [[Red Fort]] also led to popular anger.


== Civil disobedience ==
The final spark was provided by the rumoured use of tallow (from cows) and lard (pig fat) in the newly introduced [[Pattern 1853 Enfield]] rifle cartridges. Soldiers had to bite the cartridges with their teeth before loading them into their rifles, ingesting the fat. This was sacrilegious to both Hindus and Muslims.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bd0018)|title=The Uprising of 1857|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=10 November 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Gandhi at Dandi 5 April 1930.jpg|thumb|Gandhi collecting salt from the seashore on 5 April 1930]]
In December 1929, the Indian National Congress Party agreed to start a movement for complete independence from British rule. The Party decided to start a movement named to disobey the British rule. It became the civil disobedience movement. They decided to observe 26th January 1930 as the complete Independence Day (this is the reason why India celebrate republic day on 26 January). Many other political parties and revolutionaries came together to support this movement.


Gandhi started this movement, leading 72 people on a 400 kilometer route from Ahmedabad to Dandi (both in the Indian state of Gujarat), on the coast of the [[Arabian Sea]]. There they made salt from the seawater and broke a law of British India prohibiting making salt without paying taxes, so this event is referred to as the Salt March. Thus the civil disobedience movement began, and it soon spread throughout India. Indians started to break unfair laws in a peaceful manner in protest against the British rule.The effect of civil disobedience movement in Kerala was at Payannur and Beypore.
[[Mangal Pandey]] was sepoy who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the [[Indian rebellion of 1857]]. His defiance to his British superiors and later his execution ignited the fire for [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|1857 Indian Rebellion]].


== Revolutionary activities ==
On 10 May 1857, the sepoys at [[Meerut]] broke ranks and turned on their commanding officers, killing some of them. They reached Delhi on 11 May, set the company's [[toll house]] on fire, and marched into the Red Fort, where they asked the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal emperor]], [[Bahadur Shah II]], to become their leader and reclaim his throne. The emperor eventually agreed and was proclaimed ''Shahenshah-e-Hindustan'' by the rebels.<ref name="Chandra 1989 31">{{harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|p=31}}</ref> The rebels also murdered much of the European, [[Anglo-Indian|Eurasian]], and Christian population of the city.<ref>{{harvnb|David|2002|p=122}}</ref>
Many Indians did not believe in such peaceful protests, claiming that the British would not give independence to Indians so easily. They believed in armed struggle was necessary to oust the British from India. In some way, this had continued for years after the partition of Bengal in 1905. Many revolutionaries and leaders emerged from time to time. [[Bhagat Singh]] was one of them.


== The elections ==
Revolts broke out in other parts of [[Oudh]] and the [[North-Western Provinces]] as well, where [[civil rebellion]] followed the mutinies, leading to popular uprisings.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|p=35}}</ref>  The British were initially caught off-guard and were thus slow to react, but eventually responded with force. The lack of effective organisation among the rebels, coupled with the military superiority of the British, brought an end to the rebellion.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|pp=38–39}}</ref> The British fought the main army of the rebels near Delhi, and after prolonged fighting and a siege, defeated them and reclaimed the city on 20 September 1857.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chandra|Mukherjee|Mukherjee|Mahajan|1989|p=39}}</ref> Subsequently, revolts in other centres were also crushed. The last significant battle was fought in [[Gwalior]] on 17 June 1858, during which [[Rani Lakshmibai]] was killed. Sporadic fighting and [[guerrilla warfare]], led by [[Tatya Tope]], continued until spring 1859, but most of the rebels were eventually subdued.
The rulers of the British Raj made a new law to govern India, named the [[Government of India Act 1935]]. This law aimed at constitutional process to govern India. It had three major aims: to establish a federal system with many provinces, to give self-ruling position (autonomy) to the provinces, and to give the Muslim minority protection through giving them some separate electorates. In such separate electorates only Muslims could stand for elections. In February 1937, elections took place for the provincial assemblies. The members of the Indian National Congress won in five provinces, and held upper position in two more provinces. The Muslim League's performance in the election was not good.


== The Indian move to freedom ==
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a turning point. While affirming the military and political power of the British,<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|p=32}}</ref> it led to a significant change in how India was to be controlled by them. Under the [[Government of India Act 1858]], the East India Company's territory was transferred to the British government.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/393/ |title = Official, India |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1890–1923 |access-date = 30 May 2013 }}</ref> At the apex of the new system was a [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet minister]], the [[Secretary of State for India]], who was to be formally advised by a [[Council of India|statutory council]];<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|pp=47–48}}</ref> the [[Governor-General of India]] (Viceroy) was made responsible to him, while he in turn was responsible to the government.
During the Second World War, the rulers of the British Raj declared India to be a party to the war. They did not discuss the matter with Indians and their leaders. The Indians and their leaders became divided over this matter. Some supported the British, while many did not. British rulers of India wanted the Indians to fight and die in the name of freedom, yet they had denied this freedom to India and the Indians for more than a hundred years. This created a lot of dissatisfaction among Indians, and two big movements for India's independence took shape. The first was the Indian National Army of [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]. The second was Quit India Movement of Mohandas Gandhi.


== The Indian National Army ==
In a [[royal proclamation]] made to the people of India, [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] promised equal opportunity of public service under British law, and also pledged to respect the rights of native princes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heehs|1998|p=48}}</ref> The British stopped the policy of seizing land from the princes, decreed [[religious tolerance]] and began to admit Indians into the civil service. However, they also increased the number of British soldiers in relation to native Indian ones, and allowed only British soldiers to handle artillery. Bahadur Shah II was exiled to [[Yangon|Rangoon]] where he died in 1862.
[[File:Subhas Chandra Bose.jpg|thumb|Subhas Chandra Bose]]
[[Subhas Chandra Bose]] and many leaders did not like the British decision to drag India into the Second World War. He had twice (in 1937 and 1939) become president of the Indian National Congress Party, the leading Indian political party of that time. However, he and many other leaders of the Indian National Congress Party differed on many matters. He resigned and formed a new party named All India Forward Bloc. The British government of India put him under house arrest, but he escaped in 1941. He reached Germany and secured the support of Germany and Japan to fight the British in India. In 1943, he traveled in submarines of Germany and Japan, and reached Japan. He organised the Indian National Army. The INA fought the troops of the British Raj in northeastern India. Despite many difficulties, INA recorded many victories. However, with the surrender of Japan in 1945, INA's operations stopped. Bose died in a plane crash, but circumstances of his death are not clear.


The British government of India put on trial three Indian National Army officers at the Red Fort in Delhi. The British had chosen for this trial one Hindu, one Sikh, and one Muslim of the INA. This made many Indians of all religions very angry. A naval mutiny also broke out in Bombay. Ultimately, the British ruled that these officers were guilty, but they set them free seeing the public anger. When India became independent, the government of India did not allow the former officers and soldiers of the INA to join the armed forces of the independent India. However, the government granted them very good pensions and other facilities. The Indian public also gave them much respect.
In 1876 the British Prime Minister [[Benjamin Disraeli]] proclaimed Queen Victoria the [[Empress of India]]. The British Liberals objected as the title was foreign to British traditions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robert P. O'Kell|title=Disraeli: The Romance of Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DyWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT443|year=2014|publisher=U of Toronto Press|pages=443–44|isbn=9781442661042}}</ref>
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=140|lines=4
|File:Indian revolt of 1857 states map.svg|Map of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
|File:Rani of jhansi.jpg|[[Rani of Jhansi|Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi]], one of the principal leaders of the rebellion who earlier had lost her kingdom as a result of the [[Doctrine of Lapse]].
|File:"Attack of the Mutineers on the Redan Battery at Lucknow, July 30th, 1857,.jpg|Attack of the mutineers on the Redan Battery at Lucknow, 30 July 1857.
|File:Vereshchagin-Blowing from Guns in British India.jpg|''[[Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English]]'', which depicts the execution of mutineers by [[blowing from a gun]] by the British.
}}


Many consider Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose a controversial figure due to his association with the [[Axis Powers]]. But, in India, people consider him a patriotic hero of the Indian independence movement.
==Rise of organized movements==
[[File:1st INC1885.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The Congress was the first modern nationalist movement in the British Empire.<ref name="Marshall2001">{{citation|last=Marshall|first=P. J.|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire|url={{Google books|S2EXN8JTwAEC|page=PA179|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00254-7|page=179}} Quote: "The first modern nationalist movement to arise in the non-European empire, and one that became an inspiration for many others, was the Indian Congress."</ref>]]
[[File:Lal Bal Pal.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Lala Lajpat Rai]], [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]], and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]], popularly known as Lal Bal Pal. ]]


== Quit India ==
The decades following the Rebellion were a period of growing political awareness, the manifestation of Indian public opinion and the emergence of Indian leadership at both national and provincial levels. [[Dadabhai Naoroji]] formed the East India Association in 1867 and [[Surendranath Banerjee]] founded the [[Indian National Association]] in 1876. Inspired by a suggestion made by [[Allan Octavian Hume|A.O. Hume]], a retired Scottish civil servant, seventy-two Indian delegates met in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] in 1885 and founded the Indian National Congress.<ref name="Marshall2001"/> They were mostly members of the upwardly mobile and successful western-educated provincial elites, engaged in professions such as law, [[teaching]] and journalism. At its inception, Congress had no well-defined ideology and commanded few of the resources essential to a political organization. Instead, it functioned more as a debating society that met annually to express its loyalty to the British and passed numerous resolutions on less controversial issues such as civil rights or opportunities in government (especially in the civil service). These resolutions were submitted to the Indian government and occasionally to the British Parliament, but the Congress's early gains were slight. "Despite its claim to represent all India, the Congress voiced the interests of urban elites;<ref name="Marshall2001"/> the number of participants from other social and economic backgrounds remained negligible.<ref name="Marshall2001"/> However, this period of history is still crucial because it represented the first political mobilization of Indians, coming from all parts of the subcontinent and the first articulation of the idea of India as one nation, rather than a collection of independent princely states.<ref name="Marshall2001"/>
On 8th August 1942, the leaders of the Indian National Congress Party met in Bombay (Mumbai). The leaders adopted a policy to force the British out of India. Gandhi's slogan "Do or Die" became a national slogan, and the movement became the Quit India Movement. At the beginning of the Second World War, the Indian National Congress Party had supported the British, but they had demanded freedom for India after the war. The British did not agree to this proposal. On 14th July 1942, the Indian National Congress Party passed a resolution demanding complete independence from the British rule. However, this did not have support of some other political parties.


Gandhi had asked the people to keep the Quit India Movement as a peaceful movement. Many people started the movement in many places of India. But at some places, the movements turned violent. Gandhi refused to eat until the violence stopped. He was successful in ending the violence.
Religious groups played a role in reforming Indian society. These were of several religions from Hindu groups such as the ''[[Arya Samaj]]'', the ''[[Brahmo Samaj]]'', to other religions, such as the [[Namdhari]] (or ''Kuka'') sect of [[Sikhism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chhabra |first=G.S. |title=Social and Economic History of the Panjab: (1849-1901) |publisher=S. Nagin |year=1963 |pages=129–130, 346}}</ref> The work of men like [[Swami Vivekananda]], [[Ramakrishna]], [[Sri Aurobindo]], [[V. O. Chidambaram Pillai]], [[Subramanya Bharathy]], [[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and [[Dadabhai Naoroji]], as well as women such as the Scots–Irish [[Sister Nivedita]], spread the passion for rejuvenation and freedom. The rediscovery of India's indigenous history by several European and Indian scholars also fed into the rise of nationalism among Indians.<ref name="Marshall2001"/>


The British action was very quick. They arrested over 100,000 people. They levied fines on many people. They dropped bombs on the people who demonstrated against the British Raj. The troops of the British Raj even beat people with sticks and caned them. The British arrested all the leaders of the Congress Party. Gandhi's wife, Kasturba Gandhi, died during detention, as well as his secretary Mahadev Desai. Gandhi's health had also become very bad. In 1944, the British set him free fearing that Gandhi's death might result in a very large protest by Indians. Gandhi continued to oppose the British, and demanded that all other leaders be set free.
The triumvirate also is known as [[Lal Bal Pal]] ([[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]], [[Bipin Chandra Pal]], [[Lala Lajpat Rai]]), along with [[V. O. Chidambaram Pillai]], [[Sri Aurobindo]], [[Surendranath Banerjee]], and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] were some of the prominent leaders of movements in the early 20th century. The [[Swadeshi movement]] was the most successful. The name of Lokmanya began spreading around and people started following him in all parts of the country.


The Second World War had reduced the economic, political, and military strength of the British Empire. They were also aware that after the war Indians would begin a larger movement for independence. The mood of the British people and the British Army had also changed. After the Second World War, most of them were no longer willing to support the British ruling class in India. That position was now clear to the leaders of the United Kingdom. By early 1946, those leaders set free all the political prisoners held in India and opened independence discussions with the Indian National Congress Party. On the 14th of August 1947 Pakistan gained independence and a day later on the 15th of August India gained its independence as well.
The Indian textile industry also played an important role in the freedom struggle of India. The merchandise of the textile industry pioneered the Industrial Revolution in India and soon England was producing cotton cloth in such great quantities that the domestic market was saturated, and the products had to be sold in foreign markets.


== India's independence (1947 to 1950) ==
On the other hand, India was rich in cotton production and was in a position to supply British mills with the raw material they required. This was the time when India was under British rule and the East India Company had already established its roots in India. Raw materials were exported to England at very low rates while cotton cloth of refined quality was imported to India and sold at very high prices. This was draining India's economy, causing the textile industry of India to suffer greatly. This led to great resentment among cotton cultivators and traders.
[[File:Mountbattens with Gandhi (IND 5298).jpg|thumb|Gandhi with Lord and Lady Mountbatten, 1947]]
On midnight of 15th August 1947, Britain handed India its formal political Independence. A short time after that, Gandhi, who was aging and ill, died from a bullet fired by a Hindu extremist named [[Nathuram Godse]]. The national leadership was then passed to his chief lieutenant, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. On 3rd June 1947, the Viceroy [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]] announced partition of India into two countries: union of India, and an Islamic [[Pakistan]]. In this partition, many people died while others were separated from their families. On 26th January 1950, India adopted their constitution, the longest constitution in the world.


==References==
After Lord Curzon announced the partition of Bengal in 1905, there was massive opposition from the people of Bengal. Initially, the partition plan was opposed through press campaign. The total follower of such techniques led to the boycott of British goods and the people of India pledged to use only swadeshi or Indian goods and to wear only Indian cloth.  Imported garments were viewed with hate. At many places, public burnings of foreign cloth were organized.  Shops selling foreign cloths were closed. The cotton textile industry is rightly described as the Swadeshi industry. The period witnessed the growth of swadeshi [[textile mill]]s. Swadeshi factories came into existence everywhere.
{{reflist}}
 
According to Surendranath Banerji, the Swadeshi movement changed the entire texture of Indian social and domestic life. The songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore, Rajanikanta Sen and Syed Abu Mohd became the moving spirit for the nationalists. The movement soon spread to the rest of the country and the partition of Bengal had to be firmly inhaled on the first of April, 1912.
 
==Rise of Indian nationalism==
[[File:1909magazine vijaya.jpg|thumb|200px|Cover of a 1909 issue of the Tamil magazine ''Vijaya'' showing "Mother India" ([[Bharat Mata]]) with her diverse progeny and the rallying cry "[[Vande Mataram]]".]]
[[File:Ghadar di gunj.jpg|thumb|200px|''[[Ghadar di Gunj]]'', was [[Ghadar Party]] literature produced in the early stages of the movement. A compilation of nationalist literature, it was banned in India in 1913.]]
By 1900, although the Congress had emerged as an all-India political organisation, it did not have the support of most Indian Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Wolpert |chapter=The Indian National Congress in Nationalist Perspective |year=1988 |editor1-last=Sisson |editor1-first=Richard |editor2-last=Wolpert |editor2-first=Stanley |title=Congress and Indian Nationalism: The Pre-independence Phase |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfOSxFVQa8IC&pg=PA24 |publisher=University of California Press |page=24 |isbn=978-0-520-06041-8 |quote=For the most part, however, Muslim India remained either aloof from or distrustful of the Congress and its demands.}}</ref> Attacks by Hindu reformers against religious conversion, cow slaughter, and the preservation of [[Urdu language|Urdu]] in [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] script deepened their concerns of minority status and denial of rights if the Congress alone were to represent the people of India. Sir [[Syed Ahmed Khan]] launched a movement for Muslim regeneration that culminated in the founding in 1875 of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at [[Aligarh]], Uttar Pradesh (renamed [[Aligarh Muslim University]] in 1920). Its objective was to educate students by emphasising the compatibility of Islam with modern western knowledge.  The diversity among India's Muslims, however, made it impossible to bring about uniform cultural and intellectual regeneration.
 
Nationalistic sentiments among Congress members led to a push to be represented in the bodies of government, as well as to have a say in the legislation and administration of India. Congressmen saw themselves as loyalists, but wanted an active role in governing their own country, albeit as part of the Empire. This trend was personified by [[Dadabhai Naoroji]], who went as far as contesting, successfully, an election to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]], becoming its first Indian member.
 
[[Dadabhai Naoroji]] was the first Indian nationalist to embrace ''[[Swaraj]]'' as the destiny of the nation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Swaraj {{!}} Indian politics {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/swaraj |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] deeply opposed a British education system that ignored and defamed India's culture, history, and values. He resented the denial of freedom of expression for nationalists, and the lack of any voice or role for ordinary Indians in the affairs of their nation. For these reasons, he considered Swaraj as the natural and only solution. His popular sentence "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it" became the source of inspiration for Indians.
 
In 1907, Congress was split into two factions: The ''radicals'', led by Tilak, advocated civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire and the abandonment of all things British. The ''moderates'', led by leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji and [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]], on the other hand, wanted reform within the framework of British rule. Tilak was backed by rising public leaders like [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] and [[Lala Lajpat Rai]], who held the same point of view. Under them, India's three great states – [[Maharashtra]], Bengal and [[Punjab region|Punjab]] shaped the demand of the people and India's nationalism. Gokhale criticised Tilak for encouraging acts of violence and disorder. But the Congress of 1906 did not have public membership, and thus Tilak and his supporters were forced to leave the party.
 
But with Tilak's arrest, all hopes for an Indian offensive were stalled. The Indian National Congress lost credibility with the people. A Muslim deputation met with the Viceroy, [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto|Minto]] (1905–10), seeking concessions from the impending constitutional reforms, including special considerations in government service and electorates.  The British recognised some of the [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]]'s petitions by increasing the number of elective offices reserved for Muslims in the [[Indian Councils Act 1909]].  The Muslim League insisted on its separateness from the Hindu-dominated Congress, as the voice of a "nation within a nation".
 
The [[Ghadar Party]] was formed overseas in 1913 to fight for the Independence of India with members coming from the United States and Canada, as well as Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ramnath |first1=Maia |title=Haj to Utopia: How the Ghadar Movement Charted Global Radicalism and Attempted to Overthrow the British Empire |date=2011 |publisher=University of California Press |page=227 |isbn=978-0-520-26955-2}}</ref> Members of the party aimed for [[Hindu-Muslim unity|Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim unity]] against the British.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Latif |first1=Asad |title=India in the Making of Singapore |date=2008 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |location=Singapore |isbn=9789810815394 |page=34}}</ref>
 
In colonial India, the [[All India Conference of Indian Christians]] (AICIC), which was founded in 1914, played a role in the Indian independence movement, advocating for [[swaraj]] and [[opposition to the partition of India|opposing the partition of India]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Abraham Vazhayil |title=Christians in Secular India |year=1974 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-1021-3 |pages=106–107}}</ref> The AICIC also was opposed to separate electorates for Christians, believing that the faithful "should participate as common citizens in the one common, national political system".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Abraham Vazhayil |title=Christians in Secular India |year=1974 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-1021-3 |pages=107–108n}}</ref><ref name="Oddie2001">{{cite journal |last1=Oddie |first1=Geoffrey A. |title=Indian Christians and National Identity 1870-1947 |journal=The Journal of Religious History |date=2001 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=357, 361 |doi=10.1111/1467-9809.00138 }}</ref> The All India Conference of Indian Christians and the [[All India Catholic Union]] formed a working committee with M. Rahnasamy of [[Andhra University]] serving as president and B.L. Rallia Ram of Lahore serving as general secretary. In its meeting on 16 and 17 April 1947, the joint committee prepared a 13-point memorandum that was sent to the [[Constituent Assembly of India]], which asked for [[religious freedom]] for both organisations and individuals; this came to be reflected in the [[Constitution of India]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Abraham Vazhayil |title=Christians in Secular India |year=1974 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn=978-0-8386-1021-3 |pages=109–110}}</ref><ref name="Oddie2001" />
 
The [[temperance movement in India]] became aligned with Indian nationalism under the direction of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who saw alcohol as a foreign importation to the culture of the subcontinent.<ref name="BlockerFahey2003">{{cite book|last1=Blocker|first1=Jack S.|last2=Fahey|first2=David M.|last3=Tyrrell|first3=Ian R.|title=Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|language=en|isbn=9781576078334|page=310}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Fischer-Tiné|Tschurenev|2014|pp=255–257}}</ref>
<gallery widths="150" heights="150" perrow="5">
File:Dadabhai Naoroji 1889.jpg|[[Dadabhai Naoroji]], was one of the founding members of the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref name="INC_BritishRaj">{{citation|last=Nanda|first=B. R.|author-link=Bal Ram Nanda|title=Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pI19BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58|series=Legacy Series|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7049-3|page=58|orig-year=1977}}</ref>
File:Lal Bal Pal.jpg|[[Lala Lajpat Rai]] of [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak]] of [[Bombay Province|Bombay]], and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] of [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], the triumvirate were popularly known as [[Lal Bal Pal]], changed the political discourse of the Indian independence movement.
File:Surendranath Banerjee.jpg|[[Surendranath Banerjee]], founded the [[Indian National Association]] and founding members of the [[Indian National Congress]].
File:GKGokhale.jpg|[[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]], was a senior leader of the [[Indian National Congress]] and the founder of the [[Servants of India Society]].
</gallery>
 
==Movements==
===Partition of Bengal, 1905===
{{Main|Partition of Bengal (1905)}}
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Khudiram Bose 1905 cropped.jpg|[[Khudiram Bose]] was one of the youngest Indian revolutionaries tried and executed by the British.<ref name=Guha/>
File:Prafulla Chaki.jpg|[[Prafulla Chaki]] was associated with the  [[Jugantar]]. He carried out assassinations against [[British Raj|British colonial]] officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.
File:Bhupendranath Datta (brother of Swami Vivekananda).png|[[Bhupendranath Datta]] was an Indian revolutionary who was privy to the  [[Indo-German Conspiracy]].
</gallery>
In July 1905, [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], the Viceroy and Governor-General (1899–1905), ordered the [[Partition of Bengal (1905)|partition of the province of Bengal]]. The stated aim was to improve administration.<ref>John R. McLane, "The Decision to Partition Bengal in 1905" ''Indian Economic and Social History Review,'' July 1965, 2#3, pp 221–237</ref> However, this was seen as an attempt to quench nationalistic sentiment through [[divide and rule]].  The Bengali Hindu intelligentsia exerted considerable influence on local and national politics. The partition outraged Bengalis. Widespread agitation ensued in the streets and in the press, and the Congress advocated boycotting British products under the banner of ''[[swadeshi]]'', or indigenous industries. A growing movement emerged, focussing on indigenous Indian industries, finance, and education, which saw the founding of [[National Council of Education]], the birth of Indian financial institutions and banks, as well as an interest in Indian culture and achievements in science and literature. Hindus showed unity by tying [[Raksha Bandhan|Rakhi]] on each other's wrists and observing ''Arandhan'' (not cooking any food). During this time, Bengali Hindu nationalists like [[Sri Aurobindo]], [[Bhupendranath Datta]], and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] began writing virulent newspaper articles challenging the legitimacy of British rule in India in publications such as ''Jugantar'' and ''Sandhya'', and were charged with sedition.
 
The Partition also precipitated increasing activity from the then still Nascent militant nationalist [[revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionary movement]], which was particularly gaining strength in Bengal and Maharashtra from the last decade of the 1800s.  In Bengal, {{Lang|bn-latn|[[Anushilan Samiti]]|italic=no}}, led by brothers Aurobindo and Barin Ghosh organised a number of attacks of figureheads of the Raj, culminating in the attempt on the life of a British judge in Muzaffarpur. This precipitated the [[Alipore bomb case]], whilst a number of revolutionaries were killed, or captured and put on trial. Revolutionaries like [[Khudiram Bose]], [[Prafulla Chaki]], Kanailal Dutt who were either killed or hanged became household names.<ref name=Guha>{{cite book |last=Guha |first=Arun Chandra |year=1971 |title=First Spark of Revolution |publisher=Orient Longman |pages=130–131 |oclc=254043308 |quote="They [Khudiram Basu and Prafulla Chaki] threw a bomb on a coach similar to that of Kingsford's ... Khudiram ... was sentenced to death and hanged."}}</ref>
 
The British newspaper, ''The Empire'', wrote:<ref name=Patel2008>{{Harvnb|Patel|2008|p=56}}</ref>
 
{{blockquote|Khudiram Bose was executed this morning;... it is alleged that he mounted the scaffold with his body erect. He was cheerful and smiling.}}
 
===Jugantar===
{{Main|Jugantar}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Sri aurobindo.jpg|[[Aurobindo Ghose]] was one of the founding member of [[Jugantar]], as well as being involved with [[Indian National Congress|nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress]] and the [[Anushilan Samiti|nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti]].
Barindra Kumar Ghosh 01.jpg|[[Barindra Kumar Ghosh]], was one of the founding members of Jugantar and younger brother of [[Sri Aurobindo]].
BaghaJatin14.jpg|[[Jatindranath Mukherjee]] (Bagha Jatin) in 1910; was the principal leader of the [[Jugantar Party]] that was the central association of revolutionary Indian independence fighters in Bengal.
</gallery>
[[Jugantar]] was a paramilitary organization. Led by [[Barindra Ghosh]], with 21 revolutionaries, including [[Bagha Jatin]], started to collect arms and explosives and manufactured bombs.
 
Some senior members of the group were sent abroad for political and military training. One of them, [[Hemchandra Kanungo]] obtained his training in Paris. After returning to [[Kolkata]] he set up a combined religious school and bomb factory at a garden house in [[Maniktala]] suburb of [[Calcutta]]. However, the attempted murder of district Judge Kingsford of [[Muzaffarpur]] by [[Khudiram Bose]] and [[Prafulla Chaki]] (30 April 1908) initiated a police investigation that led to the arrest of many of the revolutionaries.
 
{{multiple image|perrow=3|total_width=300|caption_align=center
| image1 = Benoy Krishna Basu.jpg
| image2 = Badal gupta.jpg
| image3 = Dinesh Gupta 1.jpg
| footer = <div style="text-align: center;">[[Benoy Basu]], [[Badal Gupta]], and [[Dinesh Gupta]] were noted for launching an attack on the Secretariat Building - the [[Writers' Building]] in the [[B.B.D. Bagh|Dalhousie square]] in [[Kolkata]].</div>
}}
[[Bagha Jatin]] was one of the senior leaders in Jugantar. He was arrested, along with several other leaders, in connection with the [[Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy case]]. They were tried for treason, the charge being that they had incited various regiments of the army against the ruler.<ref>The major charge... during the trial (1910–1911) was "conspiracy to wage war against the King-Emperor" and "tampering with the loyalty of the Indian soldiers" (mainly with the [[10th Jats]] Regiment) (cf: ''Sedition Committee Report'', 1918)</ref>
 
[[Benoy Basu]], [[Badal Gupta]] and [[Dinesh Gupta]], who are noted for launching an attack on the Secretariat Building - the [[Writers' Building]] in the [[B.B.D. Bagh|Dalhousie square]] in [[Kolkata]], were Jugantar members.<ref name="bd">{{cite book |last=Basu |first=Raj Sekhar |year=2012 |chapter=Basu, Benoy Krishna |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Basu,_Benoy_Krishna |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref>
 
===Alipore bomb conspiracy case===
{{Main|Alipore bomb case}}
Several leaders of the [[Jugantar]] party including [[Aurobindo Ghosh]] were arrested in connection with bomb-making activities in [[Kolkata]] and [[Hare Krishna Konar]] was one of the founding member of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] and [[Communist Consolidation]] were arrested for connection with Calcutta arms act case in 1932 and deported to [[Cellular Jail]].<ref name=Heehs2008p133>{{harvnb|Heehs|2008|p=133}}</ref> Several others were also deported to the [[Andaman Islands|Andaman]] [[Cellular Jail]] for doing Indian independence movement.
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Alipore Bomb Case 1908-09 Trial Room - Alipore Sessions Court - Calcutta 1997 1.jpg|The trial room, Alipore Sessions Court, Calcutta, depiction from 1997.
File:Muraripukur garden house.png|Muraripukur garden house, in the Manicktolla suburbs of Calcutta. This served as the headquarters of [[Barindra Kumar Ghosh]] and his associates.
File:Michil l.jpg|[[Hare Krishna Konar]], was connected with [[Civil disobedience]] and Calcutta arms act case and was deported to [[Cellular Jail]]. There he founded [[Communist Consolidation]].
File:Cellular Jail 2.JPG|A wing of the [[Cellular Jail]], [[Port Blair]]; showing the central tower where many [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionaries for Indian independence]] were held imprisoned.
</gallery>
 
===Communist Consolidation===
{{Main|Communist Consolidation}}
Several leaders of Jugantar group were imprisoned in various jails, one of which was a prominent jail of [[British India]], [[Cellular Jail]]. The Cellular jail was also referred to as ''Kalapani''. In 1932 many freedom fighters from Bengal were imprisoned in cellular jail as a result of the ''Calcutta arms act case''. The prisoners of cellular jail carried out their first hunger strike in 1933 due to inhumane treatment in jail. The prisoners encountered [[Marxism|Marxist]] and [[Communism|Communist]] ideology in jail and in 1935 a Communist Consolidation party was formed by [[Hare Krishna Konar]], [[Shiv Verma]], [[Batukeshwar Dutt]] and other prisoners of Cellular jail who were attracted to Marxist ideology. This party also led the second hunger strike in Cellular Jail, which demanded the designation of these prisoners as political prisoners rather than a freedom fighters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Majumdar |first=R. C. |title=Penal Settlement in Andamans |publisher=Government of India |location=Delhi |pages=339 |language=English}}</ref>
 
===Delhi-Lahore conspiracy case===
{{Main|Delhi-Lahore conspiracy}}
[[File:An assassination attempt on Lord Charles Hardinge.jpg|thumb|right|250px|1912 assassination attempt on [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Lord Hardinge]].]]
The [[Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy]], hatched in 1912, planned to assassinate the then [[Viceroy of India]], [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Lord Hardinge]], on the occasion of transferring the capital of [[British India]] from [[Calcutta]] to New Delhi. Involving revolutionary underground in [[Bengal]] and headed by [[Rash Behari Bose]] along with [[Sachin Sanyal]], the conspiracy culminated on the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912, when the ceremonial procession moved through the [[Chandni Chowk]] suburb of [[Delhi]]. The Viceroy escaped with his injuries, along with Lady Hardinge, although the [[Mahout]] was killed.
 
The investigations in the aftermath of the assassination attempt led to the Delhi Conspiracy trial. [[Basant Kumar Biswas]] was convicted of having thrown the bomb and executed, along with [[Amir Chand]] and [[Avadh Behari]] for their roles in the conspiracy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nandi |first=Soumitra |date=2017-10-20 |title=Story of Basanta Biswas, penned by Ujjal Biswas, to be portrayed on celluloid |url=http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/story-of-basanta-biswas-penned-by-ujjal-biswas-to-be-portrayed-on-celluloid-267293 |access-date=2022-03-15 |website=www.millenniumpost.in |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Samaddar |first=Ranabir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDzgNhV3tHEC&dq=basanta+kumar+biswas&pg=PA76 |title=The Materiality of Politics: Volume 1: The Technologies of Rule |date=2007-08-01 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-84331-765-4 |pages=76–77 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoda |first=Noorul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBEBEAAAQBAJ&dq=basanta+kumar+biswas&pg=PT203 |title=The Alipore Bomb Case |date=2008-02-01 |publisher=Niyogi Books |isbn=978-81-89738-31-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Nitish K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&dq=basanta+kumar+biswas&pg=PA329 |title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 |pages=329 |language=en}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Basanta biswas.JPG|[[Basanta Kumar Biswas]] threw a bomb at the [[Viceroy]]'s [[Parade]] in what came to be known as the [[Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy]].[https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Biswas,_Basanta_Kumar]
File:AMARENDRA CHATTERJEE.JPG|[[Amarendranath Chatterjee]] was in charge of raising funds for the [[Jugantar]] movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in [[Bihar]], [[Odisha]] and the [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]].
</gallery>
 
===Howrah gang case===
Most of the eminent [[Jugantar]] leaders including [[Bagha Jatin]] alias [[Jatindra Nath Mukherjee]] who were not arrested earlier, were arrested in 1910, in connection with the murder of Shamsul Alam. Thanks to Bagha Jatin's new policy of a decentralised federated action, most of the accused were released in 1911.<ref>[[#Samanta|Samanta]], Vol. II, "Nixon's Report", p. 591.</ref>
 
==All India Muslim League==
The [[All-India Muslim League]] was founded by the [[All India Muhammadan Educational Conference]] at [[Dhaka|Dacca]] (now Dhaka, [[Bangladesh]]), in 1906. Being a political party to secure the interests of the Muslim in [[British Raj|British India]], the Muslim League played a decisive role behind the creation of Pakistan in the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Jalal|1994|p=4}}</ref>
 
In 1916, [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] joined the Indian National Congress, which was the largest Indian political organisation. Like most of the Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favour outright self-rule, considering British influences on education, law, culture, and industry as beneficial to India. Jinnah became a member of the sixty-member [[Imperial Legislative Council]]. The council had no real power or authority, and included a large number of unelected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental in the passing of the ''Child Marriages Restraint Act'', the legitimisation of the Muslim [[waqf]] (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, which helped establish the [[Indian Military Academy]] at [[Dehradun]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/politician7.htm|title=The Statesman: Jinnah's differences with the Congress|first=Government of Pakistan|last=Official website|access-date=20 April 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060127234847/http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/politician7.htm |archive-date = 27 January 2006}}</ref> During the [[First World War]], Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort.
 
==First World War==
{{See also|Defence of India Act 1915}}
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=180|lines=4
|File:Hodsons Horse France 1917 IWM Q 2061.jpg|Indian cavalry on the Western Front during World War I.
|File:Indian Army QF 3.7 inch gun battery Jerusalem 1917.jpg|Indian Army gunners (probably 39th Battery) with [[3.7-inch mountain howitzer]]s, Jerusalem 1917.
|File:Rash Behari Bose 02.jpg|[[Rash Behari Bose]], was one of the key organisers of the [[Ghadar Mutiny]] and later the [[Indian National Army]].
|File:Komogata Maru LAC a034014 1914.jpg|Punjabi Sikhs aboard the&nbsp;{{SS|Komagata Maru}} in Vancouver's [[Burrard Inlet]], 1914. Most of the passengers were not allowed to land in Canada and the ship was forced to return to India. The events surrounding the [[Komagata Maru incident]] served as a catalyst for the Ghadarite cause.
}}
The First World War began with an unprecedented outpouring of support towards Britain from within the mainstream political leadership.  Contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt, Indians contributed considerably to the British war effort by providing men and resources.  About 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. Nonetheless, Bengal and [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]] remained hotbeds of [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|anti-colonial activities]]. Nationalism in Bengal, increasingly associated with the [[Ghadar Mutiny|unrest in Punjab]], was of significant ferocity to almost complete the paralysis of the regional administration. Meanwhile, [[Hindu-German Conspiracy|failed conspiracies]] were triggered by revolutionaries lack of preparedness to organise a nationalist revolt.<ref name=Gupta12>{{Harvnb|Gupta|1997|p=12}}</ref><ref name="Popplewell 1995 p=201">{{Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=201}}</ref>
 
None of the revolutionary conspiracies made a significant impact inside India. The prospect that subversive violence would have an effect on a popular war effort drew support from the Indian population for special measures against anti-colonial activities in the form of [[Defence of India Act 1915]].  There were no major mutinies occurring during wartime, yet conspiracies exacerbated profound fears of insurrection among British officials, preparing them to use extreme force to frighten Indians into submission.<ref>Lawrence James, ''Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India'' (2000) pp 439–518</ref>
 
=== Hindu–German Conspiracy ===
{{Main|Hindu–German Conspiracy}}
[[File:1915 Singapore Mutiny Memorial Tablet.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[1915 Singapore Mutiny]] memorial tablet at the entrance of the [[Victoria Memorial Hall]], [[Singapore]].]]
The [[Hindu–German Conspiracy]], was a series of plans between 1914 and 1917 by Indian nationalist groups to attempt Pan-Indian rebellion against the [[British Raj]] during World War I, formulated between the [[Indian revolutionary underground]] and exiled or self-exiled nationalists who formed, in the United States, the [[Ghadar Party]], and in Germany, the [[Indian independence committee]], in the decade preceding the [[World War I|Great War]].<ref name="Plowman 84">{{Harvnb|Plowman|2003|p=84}}</ref><ref name=Hoover252>{{Harvnb|Hoover|1985|p=252}}</ref><ref name=GBrown300>{{Harvnb|Brown|1948|p=300}}</ref> The conspiracy was drawn up at the beginning of the war, with extensive support from the [[Auswärtiges Amt|German Foreign Office]], the German consulate in San Francisco, as well as some support from [[Ottoman Turkey]] and the [[Irish republicanism|Irish republican movement]]. The most prominent plan attempted to foment unrest and trigger a Pan-Indian mutiny in the [[British Indian Army]] from [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] to [[Singapore]]. This plot was planned to be executed in February 1915 with the aim of overthrowing British rule over the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The [[Ghadar Conspiracy|February mutiny]] was ultimately thwarted when British intelligence infiltrated the [[Ghadarite]] movement and arrested key figures. Mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed.
 
Other related events include the [[1915 Singapore Mutiny]], the [[Annie Larsen affair|Annie Larsen arms plot]], the [[Christmas Day Plot|Jugantar–German plot]], the [[Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition|German mission to Kabul]], the mutiny of the [[Connaught Rangers]] in India, as well as, by some accounts, the [[Black Tom explosion]] in 1916. Parts of the conspiracy included efforts to subvert the [[British Indian Army]] in the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I]].
 
===Ghadar Mutiny===
{{Main|Ghadar Mutiny}}
[[File:1915 Singapore Mutiny.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The public executions of convicted sepoy mutineers of the [[1915 Singapore Mutiny]] at [[Outram Road]], Singapore.]]
The [[Ghadar Mutiny]] was a plan to initiate a pan-Indian [[mutiny]] in the [[British Indian Army]] in February 1915 to end the [[British Raj]] in India. The plot originated at the onset of [[World War I]], between the [[Ghadar Party]] in the United States, the [[Berlin Committee]] in Germany, the [[Indian revolutionary underground]] in British India and the German Foreign Office through the consulate in San Francisco. The incident derives its name from the North American [[Ghadar Party]], whose members of the [[Punjabi Sikh]] community in Canada and the United States were among the most prominent participants in the plan. It was the most prominent amongst a number of plans of the much larger [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|Hindu–German Mutiny]], formulated between 1914 and 1917 to initiate a Pan-Indian rebellion against the [[British Raj]] during World War I.<ref name="Plowman 84"/><ref name="Hoover252"/><ref name="GBrown300"/> The mutiny was planned to start in the key state of [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]], followed by mutinies in Bengal and rest of India. Indian units [[1915 Singapore Mutiny|as far as Singapore]] were planned to participate in the rebellion. The plans were thwarted through a coordinated intelligence and police response. British intelligence infiltrated the Ghadarite movement in Canada and in India, and last-minute intelligence from a spy helping to crush the planned uprising in Punjab before it started. Key figures were arrested, mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed.
 
Intelligence about the threat of the mutiny led to a number of important war-time measures introduced in India, including the passages of [[Ingress into India Ordinance, 1914]], the Foreigners act 1914, and the [[Defence of India Act 1915]]. The conspiracy was followed by the [[First Lahore Conspiracy Trial]] and [[Benares Conspiracy Trial]] which saw death sentences awarded to a number of Indian revolutionaries, and exile to a number of others. After the end of the war, fear of a second Ghadarite uprising led to the recommendations of the [[Rowlatt Act]]s and thence the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]].
 
===1st Christmas Day and 2nd Christmas Day plot===
{{Main|Christmas Day plot}}
[[Image:BaghaJatin13.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Bagha Jatin]] after the final battle, [[Balasore]], 1915.]]
The first [[Christmas Day plot]] was a conspiracy made by the Indian revolutionary movement in 1909: during the year-ending holidays, the Governor of Bengal organised at his residence a ball in the presence of the Viceroy, the Commander-in-Chief and all the high-ranking officers and officials of the Capital (Calcutta). The 10th Jat Regiment was in charge of the security. Indoctrinated by [[Jatindranath Mukherjee]], its soldiers decided to blow up the ballroom and take advantage of destroying the colonial Government. In keeping with his predecessor Otto (William Oskarovich) von Klemm, a friend of Lokamanya [[Tilak]], on 6 February 1910, M. Arsenyev, the Russian Consul-General, wrote to St Petersburg that it had been intended to "arouse in the country a general perturbation of minds and, thereby, afford the revolutionaries an opportunity to take the power in their hands."<ref name= Mukherjee>{{Harvnb|Mukherjee|2010|p=160}}</ref>  According to [[R. C. Majumdar]], "The police had suspected nothing and it is hard to say what the outcome would have been had the soldiers not been betrayed by one of their comrades who informed the authorities about the impending coup".<ref name= Majumdar-1975-281>{{Harvnb|Majumdar|1975|p=281}}</ref>
 
The second Christmas Day plot was to initiate an insurrection in [[Bengal]] in [[British India]] during World War I with German arms and support. Scheduled for Christmas Day, 1915, the plan was conceived and led by the [[Jugantar group]] under the Bengali Indian revolutionary Jatindranath Mukherjee, to be coordinated with simultaneous uprising in the British colony of Burma and Kingdom of [[Siam]] under direction of the [[Ghadar Party]], along with a German raid on the South Indian city of [[Madras]] and the British [[Cellular Jail|penal colony in Andaman Islands]]. The aim of the plot was to seize the Fort William, isolate Bengal and capture the capital city of [[Calcutta]], which was then to be used as a staging ground for a pan-Indian revolution. The Christmas Day plot was [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|one of]] the later plans for pan-Indian mutiny during the war that were coordinated between the Indian nationalist underground, the "[[Indian independence committee]]" set up by the Germans in Berlin, the Ghadar Party in North America, and the German Foreign office.<ref name=Hopkirk179>{{Harvnb|Hopkirk|1994|p=179}}</ref> The plot was ultimately thwarted after British intelligence uncovered the plot through German and Indian double agents in Europe and Southeast Asia.
 
===Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition===
{{Main|Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition}}
[[File:Indian,German and Turkish delegates of Niedermayer Mission.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Mahendra Pratap]] (centre), President of the [[Provisional Government of India]], at the head of [[Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition|the Mission]] with the German and Turkish delegates in Kabul, 1915. Seated to his right is [[Werner Otto von Hentig]].]]
The [[Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition]] was a [[diplomatic mission]] to [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] sent by the [[Central Powers]] in 1915–1916. The purpose was to encourage Afghanistan to declare full independence from the [[British Empire]], enter [[World War I]] on the side of the Central Powers, and attack [[British Raj|British India]]. The expedition was part of the [[Hindu–German Conspiracy]], a series of Indo-German efforts to provoke a nationalist revolution in India. Nominally headed by the exiled [[Princely state|Indian prince]] [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]], the expedition was a joint operation of [[German Empire|Germany]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]] and was led by the German Army officers [[Oskar Niedermayer]] and [[Werner Otto von Hentig]]. Other participants included members of an Indian nationalist organisation called the [[Berlin Committee]], including [[Maulavi Barkatullah]] and [[Chempakaraman Pillai]], while the Turks were represented by [[Kazim Bey]], a close confidante of [[Enver Pasha]].
 
Britain saw the expedition as a serious threat. Britain and its ally, the [[Russian Empire]], unsuccessfully attempted to intercept it in [[Persia]] during the summer of 1915. Britain waged a covert intelligence and diplomatic offensive, including personal interventions by the [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy]] [[Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst|Lord Hardinge]] and [[George V|King George V]], to maintain Afghan neutrality.
 
The mission failed in its main task of rallying Afghanistan, under Emir [[Habibullah Khan]], to the German and Turkish war effort, but it influenced other major events. In Afghanistan, the expedition triggered reforms and drove political turmoil that culminated in the assassination of the Emir in 1919, which in turn precipitated the [[Third Afghan War]]. It influenced the [[Kalmyk Project]] of nascent [[October Revolution|Bolshevik Russia]] to propagate socialist revolution in Asia, with one goal being the overthrow of the British Raj. Other consequences included the formation of the [[Rowlatt Committee]] to investigate [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|sedition in India]] as influenced by Germany and Bolshevism, and changes in the Raj's approach to the Indian independence movement immediately after World War I.
 
===Nationalist response to war===
In the aftermath of the First World War, high casualty rates, soaring inflation compounded by heavy taxation, a [[1918 flu pandemic in India|widespread influenza pandemic]] and the disruption of trade during the war escalated human suffering in India.
 
The pre-war nationalist movement revived moderate and extremist groups within the Congress submerged their differences in order to stand together as a unified front.  They argued that their enormous services to the British Empire during the war demanded a reward to demonstrate Indian capacity for self-rule. In 1916, Congress succeeded in forging the [[Lucknow Pact]], a temporary alliance with the All India Muslim League over the issues of devolution and the future of Islam in the region.<ref name=Wilkinson>{{citation |first=Steven Ian |last=Wilkinson |title=India, Consociational Theory, and Ethnic Violence |journal=Asian Survey |volume=40 |pages=767–791 |number=5 |date=September–October 2000 |jstor=3021176 |ref={{sfnref|Wilkinson, India, Consociational Theory and Ethnic Violence|2000}} |doi=10.2307/3021176}}</ref>
 
===British reforms===
The British themselves adopted a "carrot and stick" approach in recognition of India's support during the war and in response to renewed nationalist demands. In August 1917, [[Edwin Samuel Montagu|Edwin Montagu]], Secretary of state for India, made an historic announcement in Parliament that the British policy was for: "increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." The means of achieving the proposed measures were later enshrined in the [[Government of India Act, 1919]], which introduced the principle of a dual-mode of administration, or diarchy, in which both elected Indian legislators and, appointed British officials shared power. The act also expanded the central and provincial legislatures and widened the franchise considerably. The diarchy set in motion certain real changes at the provincial level: a number of non-controversial or "transferred" portfolios, such as agriculture, local government, health, education, and public works, were handed over to Indians, while more sensitive matters such as finance, taxation, and maintaining law and order were retained by the provincial British administrators.<ref>James, ''Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India'' (2000) pp 459–60, 519–20</ref>
 
==Gandhi arrives in India==
{{See also|Rowlatt Satyagraha|Jallianwala Bagh massacre}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Gandhi Kheda 1918.jpg|Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the [[Kheda Satyagraha of 1918|Kheda Satyagraha]] and [[Champaran Satyagraha]].
Dr Rajendra Pd. DR.Anugrah Narayan Sinha.jpg|(Sitting L to R) [[Rajendra Prasad]] and [[Anugrah Narayan Sinha]] during Mahatma Gandhi's 1917 [[Champaran Satyagraha]].
'The Martyr's' well at Jallianwala Bagh.jpg|''The Martyrs' Well'' of [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]], at [[Jallianwala Bagh]]. 120 bodies were recovered from this well as per inscription on it.<ref>[https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/jallianwala-bagh-massacre-was-a-horrifying-bloodbath-on-the-day-of-baisakhi-99-years-ago-1211231-2018-04-13 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre]</ref>
Sir Sidney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt (cropped).jpg|[[Sidney Rowlatt]], best remembered for his controversial presidency of the [[Rowlatt Committee]], a [[sedition]] committee appointed in 1918 by the [[British Raj|British Indian]] Government to evaluate the links between [[political terrorism]] in [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|India]], the actions indirectly led to the infamous [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] of 1919.
</gallery>
Gandhi had been a leader of the Indian nationalist movement in [[South Africa]]. He had also been a vocal opponent of basic discrimination and abusive labour treatment as well as suppressive police control such as the [[Rowlatt Acts]].  During these protests, Gandhi had perfected the concept of ''[[satyagraha]]''.  In January 1914 (well before the First World War began) Gandhi was successful. The legislation against Indians was repealed and all Indian political prisoners were released by General [[Jan Smuts]].<ref>Denis Judd, ''Empire: The British Imperial Experience From 1765 To The Present'' (pp.&nbsp;226—411, 998)</ref> Gandhi accomplished this through extensive use of non-violent protests, such as boycotting, protest marching, and fasting by him and his followers.<ref>{{cite web |title = The Indian Independence Movement |url = http://www.tcnj.edu/ |access-date=29 May 2014 }}</ref>
 
Gandhi returned to India on 9 January 1915, and initially entered the political fray not with calls for a nation-state, but in support of the unified commerce-oriented territory that the Congress Party had been asking for.  Gandhi believed that the industrial development and educational development that the Europeans had brought were long required to alleviate many of India's chronic problems. [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]], a veteran Congressman and Indian leader, became Gandhi's mentor.  Gandhi's ideas and strategies of non-violent [[civil disobedience]] initially appeared impractical to some Indians and their Congress leaders.  In the Mahatma's own words, "civil disobedience is civil breach of immoral statutory enactments."  It had to be carried out non-violently by withdrawing co-operation with the corrupt state.  Gandhi had great respect for [[Lokmanya Tilak]]. His programmes were all inspired by Tilak's "Chatusutri" programme.
 
The positive impact of reform was seriously undermined in 1919 by the [[Rowlatt Act]], named after the recommendations made the previous year to the [[Imperial Legislative Council]] by the [[Rowlatt Committee]]. The commission was set up to look into the war-time conspiracies by the nationalist organisations and recommend measures to deal with the problem in the post-war period.  Rowlatt recommended the extension of the war-time powers of the [[Defence of India act 1915|Defence of India act]] into the post-war period. The war-time act had vested the Viceroy's government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining [[Activism|political activists]] without trial, and arresting any individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. It was increasingly reviled within India due to widespread and indiscriminate use.  Many popular leaders, including [[Annie Besant]] and Ali brothers had been detained.  The Rowlatt Act was, therefore, passed in the face of universal opposition among the (non-official) Indian members in the Viceroy's council. The extension of the act drew widespread critical opposition.  A nationwide cessation of work (''[[hartal]]'') was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent.
 
The agitation unleashed by the acts led to demonstrations and British repressions, culminating on 13 April 1919, in the [[Jallianwala Bagh massacre]] (also known as the Amritsar Massacre) in [[Amritsar]], Punjab. In response to agitation in Amritsar, Brigadier-General [[Reginald Dyer]] blocked the main, and only entrance, and ordered troops under his command to fire into an unarmed and unsuspecting crowd of some 15,000 men, women, and children. They had assembled peacefully at Jallianwala Bagh, a walled courtyard, but Dyer had wanted to execute the imposed ban on all meetings and proposed to teach all protestors a lesson the harsher way.<ref>{{harvnb|Collett|2005|p=ix}}</ref> A total of 1,651 rounds were fired, killing 379 people (as according to an official British commission; Indian officials' estimates ranged as high as 1,499 and wounding 1,137 in the massacre.)<ref>{{harvnb|Lloyd|2011|p=181}}</ref> Dyer was forced to retire but was hailed as a hero by some in Britain, demonstrating to Indian nationalists that the Empire was beholden to public opinion in Britain, but not in India.<ref>Derek Sayer, "British Reaction to the Amritsar Massacre 1919–1920," ''Past & Present,'' May 1991, Issue 131, pp 130–164</ref> The episode dissolved wartime hopes of home rule and goodwill and opened a rift that could not be bridged short of complete self-rule.<ref>Dennis Judd, "The Amritsar Massacre of 1919: Gandhi, the Raj and the Growth of Indian Nationalism, 1915–39," in Judd, ''Empire: The British Imperial Experience from 1765 to the Present'' (1996) pp 258- 72</ref>
 
===First non-co-operation movement===
[[File:Gandhi smiling R.jpg|thumb|250px|Mahatma Gandhi.]]
From 1920 to 1922, Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement.  At the Kolkata session of the Congress in September 1920, Gandhi convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-co-operation movement in support of [[Khilafat movement|Khilafat]] as well as for dominion status. The first satyagraha movement urged the use of [[khadi]] and Indian material as alternatives to those shipped from Britain. It also urged people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, resign from government employment, refuse to pay taxes, and forsake British titles and honors. Although this came too late to influence the framing of the new ''[[Government of India Act 1919]]'', the movement enjoyed widespread popular support, and the resulting unparalleled magnitude of disorder presented a serious challenge to foreign rule. However, Gandhi called off the movement because he was scared after the [[Chauri Chaura incident]], which saw the death of twenty-two policemen at the hands of an angry mob that India would descend into anarchy.
 
Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee, a hierarchy of committees was established, made responsible for discipline and control over a hitherto amorphous and diffuse movement. The party was transformed from an elite organisation to one of mass national appeal and participation.
 
Gandhi was sentenced in 1922 to six years in prison, but was released after serving two. On his release from prison, he set up the [[Sabarmati Ashram]] in [[Ahmedabad]]. On the banks of the river [[Sabarmati River|Sabarmati]], he established the newspaper ''Young India'', introducing a series of reforms aimed at the socially disadvantaged within Hindu society&nbsp;— the rural poor, and the [[Dalit (outcaste)|untouchables]].<ref>Sankar Ghose, ''Gandhi'' (1991) p. 107</ref><ref>Sanjay Paswan and Pramanshi Jaideva, ''Encyclopaedia of Dalits in India'' (2003) p. 43</ref>  This era saw the emergence of a new generation of Indians from within the Congress Party, including [[Maulana Azad]], [[C. Rajagopalachari]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Vallabhbhai Patel]], [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] and others- who would, later on, come to form the most prominent voices of the Indian self-rule movement, whether keeping with Gandhian Values, or, as in the case of Bose's [[Indian National Army]], diverging from it.
 
The Indian political spectrum was further broadened in the mid-1920s by the emergence of both moderate and militant parties, such as the [[Swaraj Party]], [[Hindu Mahasabha]], [[Communist Party of India]] and the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]]. Regional political organisations also continued to represent the interests of non-[[Brahmin]]s in [[Madras]], [[Mahar]]s in [[Maharashtra]], and [[Sikh]]s in Punjab. However, people like Mahakavi [[Subramanya Bharathi]], [[Vanchinathan]], and Neelakanda Brahmachari played a major role from Tamil Nadu in both self-rule struggle and fighting for equality for all castes and communities.  Many women participated in the movement, including Kasturba Gandhi (Gandhi's wife), [[Rajkumari Amrit Kaur]], [[Muthulaxmi Reddy]], [[Aruna Asaf Ali]], and many others.
 
===Result of movements by Gandhi===
[[File:Marche sel.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Gandhi]] leading the famous 1930 [[Salt March]], a notable example of ''satyagraha''.]]
 
The mass movements sparked nationalist sentiment with the Indian populace and figures like Mahatma Gandhi united a nation behind his non-violence movement; philosophy and undoubtedly put crucial pressure on the British occupation. The movements failed in their primary objective, achieving independence for India, as they were often called off before they naturally concluded due to laws and punishment. While in the later years of the Raj economic factors like the reversing trade fortunes between Britain and India and the cost of fielding the Indian armed forces abroad lumped on the British taxpayer by the 1935 Government of India act, had mounting implications for British administration, united resistance further drew light on the growing disparity of the British failures to achieve solidarity over India.
 
On 14 July 1942 the [[Congress Working Committee]] (Indian National Congress, whose president [[Abul Kalam Azad]] supported Gandhi, passed a resolution demanding complete independence from the British government, and proposed massive civil disobedience if the British did not accede to the demands. On 8 August 1942 the [[Quit India Movement]] (Bharat Chhodo Andolan) began, a civil disobedience movement in India in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for immediate self-rule by Indians and against sending Indians to World War II. Other major parties rejected the Quit India plan, and most cooperated closely with the British, as did the princely states, the civil service, and the police. The Muslim League supported the Raj and grew rapidly in membership, and in influence with the British.
 
The British swiftly responded to the [[Quit India Movement]] with mass arrests. Over 100,000 arrests were made, massive fines were levied, and demonstrators were subjected to public flogging. Hundreds of civilians were killed in violence many shot by the police army. Tens of thousands of leaders were also arrested and imprisoned until 1945. Ultimately, the British government realised that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the question for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.
 
== Purna Swaraj ==
{{Main|Purna Swaraj}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Chauri chaura new photo.jpg|Chauri Chaura Shahid Samarak, which is a memorial to the [[Chauri Chaura incident]], when a large group of protesters, participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with police, who opened fire.
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari.jpg|[[C. Rajagopalachari]], was an Indian nationalist who participated in the agitations against the [[Rowlatt Act]], joining the [[Non-cooperation movement]], the [[Vaikom Satyagraha]], and the [[Civil disobedience movement]].
File:Nehru in 1930.jpg|[[Jawaharlal Nehru]] in 1929 demanded "complete independence from Great Britain."
Sardar patel (cropped).jpg|[[Vallabhbhai Patel]] was appointed as the 49th [[List of Presidents of the Indian National Congress|President of Indian National Congress]], organising the party for elections in 1934 and 1937 while promoting the [[Quit India Movement]].
1931 Flag of India.svg|The flag adopted, during the Purna Swaraj movement, in 1931 and used by [[Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind|Provisional Government during the subsequent years of Second World War]].
</gallery>
Congress leader and famous poet [[Hasrat Mohani]] and [[Communist Party of India]] leader [[Swami Kumaranand]] were the first activists to demand complete independence (Purna Swaraj) from the British in 1921 resolution from an All-India Congress Forum at the [[Ahmedabad]] Session of [[All India Congress Committee|AICC]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.timesofindia.com/city/kochi/thiruvananthapuram-communists-first-to-demand-poorna-swaraj-says-sitaram-yechury/articleshow/78729733.cms | title=Thiruvananthapuram: Communists first to demand Poorna Swaraj, says Sitaram Yechury &#124; Kochi News - Times of India | website=[[The Times of India]] }}</ref><ref name=MilliGazette>{{Cite web|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/4146-hasrat-mohani-Syed-Fazlul-Hasan|title=Profile: Maulana Hasrat Mohani|website=The Milli Gazette (newspaper)|language=en|date=6 October 2012|access-date=11 March 2019}}</ref> [[Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi]] supported the 'Purna Swaraj' motion demanded by Hasrat Mohani.<ref name="Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav">{{cite web|last1=Ministry of Culture|first1=Government of India|title=Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi|url=https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/unsung-heroes-detail.htm?138|website=amritmahotsav.nic.in}}</ref>
Following the rejection of the [[Simon Commission's]] rejections, an all-party conference was held at [[Mumbai]] in May 1928 to instill a sense of camaraderie. The conference appointed a committee under [[Motilal Nehru]] to create a constitution for India. The Kolkata session of the Indian National Congress asked the British government to accord India dominion status by December 1929, or face a countrywide civil disobedience movement.
 
Amid rising discontent and increasingly violent regional movements, a call for complete sovereignty and an end to British rule found greater support from the people.  At the [[Lahore]] session in December 1929, the Indian National Congress adopted the aim of complete self-rule. It authorized the Working Committee to launch a civil disobedience movement throughout the country.  It was decided that 26 January 1930 should be observed all over India as the ''[[Purna Swaraj]]'' (complete self-rule) Day.
 
The [[Gandhi–Irwin Pact]] was signed in March 1931, and the government agreed to release political prisoners. Gandhi managed to have over 90,000 political prisoners released under this pact.<ref>Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, Volume 3, p. 36, Sirajul Islam, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh</ref> Though the death sentence for [[Bhagat Singh]] and his two comrades was not taken back by the British. For the next few years, Congress and the government negotiated until the [[Government of India Act 1935]] emerged. The Muslim League disputed the claim of the Congress to represent all people of India, while the Congress disputed the Muslim League's claim to voice the aspirations of all Muslims.
 
The Civil Disobedience Movement launched a new chapter in the Indian independence movement. It did not succeed by itself, but it brought the Indian population together, under the Indian National Congress's leadership. The movement resulted in self rule being a talking point once again, and recruited more Indians to the idea. The movement allowed the Indian independence community to revive their inner confidence and strength against the British Government. In addition, the movement weakened the authority of the British and aided in the end of the British Empire in India. Overall, the civil disobedience Movement was an essential achievement in the history of Indian self-rule because it persuaded New Delhi of the role of the masses in self-determination.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenough|first=Paul R.|date=1999|title=Political mobilization and the Underground Literature of the Quit Indian Movement, 1942-44|journal=Social Scientist|volume=27 |issue=7/8 |pages=11–47|jstor=3518012|doi=10.2307/3518012}}</ref>
 
==Elections and the Lahore resolution==
{{Main|1937 Indian provincial elections}}
[[File:Jinnah Gandhi.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Muhammad Ali Jinnah|Jinnah]] with [[Mahatma Gandhi]], 1944.]]
[[File:Gandhi at Peshawar meeting.jpg|thumb|250px|Gandhi and [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan]] at a pro-independence rally in [[Peshawar]], 1938]]
The [[Government of India Act 1935]], the voluminous and final constitutional effort at governing [[British India]], articulated three major goals: establishing a loose federal structure, achieving provincial autonomy, and safeguarding minority interests through separate electorates. The federal provisions, intended to unite [[princely state]]s and British India at the centre, were not implemented because of ambiguities in safeguarding the existing privileges of princes. In February 1937, however, provincial autonomy became a reality when elections were held; the Congress emerged as the dominant party with a clear majority in five provinces and held an upper hand in two, while the Muslim League performed poorly.
 
In 1939, the Viceroy [[Victor Alexander John Hope|Linlithgow]] declared India's entrance into the Second World War without consulting provincial governments. In protest, the Congress asked all of its elected representatives to resign from the government. [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]], the president of the [[All-India Muslim League]], persuaded participants at the annual Muslim League session at Lahore in 1940 to adopt what later came to be known as the [[Lahore Resolution]], demanding the division of India into two separate sovereign states, one Muslim, the other Hindu; sometimes referred to as [[Two Nation Theory]]. Although the idea of Pakistan had been introduced as early as 1930, very few had responded to it.
 
In [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposition]] to the Lahore Resolution, the [[All India Azad Muslim Conference]] gathered in Delhi in April 1940 to voice its support for a united India.<ref name="QasmiRobb2017">{{cite book |last1=Qasmi |first1=Ali Usman |last2=Robb |first2=Megan Eaton |title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108621236 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> Its members included several Islamic organisations in India, as well as 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates;<ref name="Haq1970">{{cite book |last1=Haq |first1=Mushir U. |title=Muslim politics in modern India, 1857-1947 |date=1970 |publisher=Meenakshi Prakashan |page=114 |oclc=136880 |language=en |quote=This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed2016">{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ishtiaq |title=The dissenters |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-dissenters/ |work=[[The Friday Times]] |date=27 May 2016|quote=However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People's Party in 1934, which later came to be known as ‘Ittehad’ or ‘Unity Party’. ...Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League's demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a ‘majority of India's Muslims’. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations ... Shamsul Islam argues that the All-India Muslim League at times used intimidation and coercion to silence any opposition among Muslims to its demand for Partition. He calls such tactics of the Muslim League as a ‘Reign of Terror’. He gives examples from all over India including the NWFP where the Khudai Khidmatgars remain opposed to the Partition of India.}}</ref> the "attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."<ref name="Ali2017">{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Afsar |title=Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims |url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims |work=[[The Milli Gazette]]  |date=17 July 2017}}</ref>
 
The All-India Muslim League worked to try to silence those Muslims who stood against the partition of India, often using "intimidation and coercion".<ref name="Ali2017"/><ref name="Ahmed2016"/> The murder of the All India Azad Muslim Conference leader [[Allah Bakhsh Soomro]] also made it easier for the All-India Muslim League to demand the creation of Pakistan.<ref name="Ali2017"/>
 
==Revolutionary movement==
{{Main|Revolutionary movement for Indian independence}}
{{See also|Anushilan Samiti|Jugantar|India House|Ghadar Party|Hindustan Socialist Republican Army|Communist involvement in the Indian independence movement}}<blockquote>There is no real connection between these two unrests, labour, and Congress opposition. But their very existence and coexistence, explains and fully justifies the attention, which Lord Irwin gave to the labour problems.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWfUpdZwRVIC&q=There+is+no+real+connection+between+these+two+unrests,labour+and+Congress+opposition.+But+their+very+existenceand+coexistence,+explains+and+fully+justifies+the+attention,which+Lord+Irwin+gave+to+the+labour+problems.London+Times,+29+January+1928&pg=PA33|title=Crisis in the Indian Subcontinent, Partition: Can it be Undone?|last=K̲h̲ān|first=Lāl|date=2007|publisher=Aakar Books|isbn=9788189833107|language=en}}</ref>
::- [[London Times]], 29 January 1928</blockquote>
{{multiple image|perrow=1/1|total_width=200|caption_align=center
| image1 = Bhagat Singh Sukh Dev Raj Guru.jpg|caption1=[[Bhagat Singh]] (left), [[Sukhdev Thapar|Sukhdev]] (center), and [[Shivaram Rajguru|Rajguru]] (right) are considered among the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement.
| image2 = Bhagat Singh's execution Lahore Tribune Front page.jpg|caption2=Front page of the ''Tribune'' (25 March 1931), reporting the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev by the British.
}}
Apart from a few stray incidents, armed rebellions against the British rulers did not occur before the beginning of the 20th century. The Indian revolutionary underground began gathering momentum through the first decade of the 20th century, with groups arising in Bengal, [[Maharashtra]], [[Odisha]], Bihar, [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]], and the [[Madras Presidency]] including what is now called [[South India]]. More groups were scattered around India. Particularly notable movements arose in Bengal, especially around the [[Partition of Bengal (1905)|Partition of Bengal]] in 1905, and in [[1907 Punjab unrest|Punjab after 1907]].<ref name=Fraser257>{{Harvnb|Fraser|1977|p=257}}</ref> In the former case, it was the educated, intelligent and dedicated youth of the urban middle class ''[[Bhadralok]]'' community that came to form the "classic" Indian revolutionary,<ref name="Fraser257"/> while the latter had an immense support base in the rural and military society of Punjab.
 
In Bengal, the {{Lang|bn-latn|[[Anushilan Samiti]]}} emerged [[History of the Anushilan Samiti|from conglomerations]] of local youth groups and gyms (''Akhra'') in Bengal in 1902, forming two prominent and somewhat independent arms in [[East Bengal|East]] and [[West Bengal]] identified as {{Lang|bn-latn|[[Dhaka Anushilan Samiti]]}}  in [[Dhaka]] (modern-day [[Bangladesh]]), and the ''[[Jugantar]]'' group (centred at [[Calcutta]]) respectively. Led by nationalists of the likes of [[Aurobindo Ghosh]] and his brother [[Barindra Ghosh]], the ''Samiti'' was influenced by philosophies as diverse as [[Hindu]] [[Shakti|''Shakta'' philosophy]] propounded by Bengali literature [[Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay|Bankim]] and [[Swami Vivekananda|Vivekananda]], [[Carbonari|Italian Nationalism]], and [[Pan-Asianism]] of [[Kakuzo Okakura]]. The ''Samiti'' was involved in a number of noted incidences of revolutionary terrorism against British interests and administration in India within the decade of its founding, including [[Alipore bomb case|early attempts]] to assassinate Raj officials whilst led by Ghosh brothers. In the meantime, in Maharashtra and Punjab arose similarly militant nationalist feelings. The District Magistrate of [[Nasik]], [[A.M.T. Jackson]] was shot dead by [[Anant Kanhere]] in December 1909, followed by the death of [[Robert D'Escourt Ashe]] at the hands of [[Vanchi Iyer]].<ref name=Yadav4>{{Harvnb|Yadav|1992|p=4}}</ref>{{citation not found|date=February 2019}}
 
Indian nationalism made headway through Indian societies as far as Paris and London. In London [[India House]] under the patronage of [[Shyamji Krishna Verma]] came under increasing scrutiny for championing and justifying violence in the cause of Indian nationalism, which found in Indian students in Britain and from Indian expatriates in [[Paris Indian Society]] avid followers. By 1907, through Indian nationalist [[Madame Bhikaji Rustom Cama]]'s links to Russian revolutionary Nicholas Safranski, Indian groups including Bengal revolutionaries as well as India House under [[V.D. Savarkar]] were able to obtain manuals for manufacturing bombs. India House was also a source of arms and seditious literature that was rapidly distributed in India. In addition to ''The Indian Sociologist'', pamphlets like ''Bande Mataram'' and ''Oh Martyrs!'' by Savarkar extolled revolutionary violence. Direct influences and incitement from India House were noted in several incidents of political violence, including assassinations, in India at the time.<ref name="Yadav4"/><ref name=Hopkirk46>{{Harvnb|Hopkirk|1994|p=46}} [By 1909] India House was beginning to come under suspicion ... too late to save Sir William Curzon Wyllie from the assassin's pistol ... Savarkar could see that London was rapidly becoming too hot for him ... In early January 1910, therefore, he slipped quietly over to Paris, determined to make it his new revolutionary headquarters ... [police] managed to obtain evidence linking him with the smuggling of firearms into India.</ref><ref name=Majumdar1966p>{{Harvnb|Majumdar|1966|p=147}} Savarkar's ''Bande Mataram'' contained exhortations [advocating terrorism] ... This sort of propaganda produced a natural effect. A. M. T. Jackson, the Magistrate ... was shot dead on 21 December 1909 ... charges against him [Savarkar] included the sending of pistols and seditious pamphlets to India. Another charge was that in 1908 he with the help of residents in the India House manifolded in type a number of copies of a work describing minutely the manner of preparing explosives and bombs. He despatched these copies to various addresses in India.</ref> One of the two charges against Savarkar during his trial in Bombay was for abetting the murder of the District Magistrate of Nasik, A.M.T. Jackson, by [[Anant Kanhere]] in December 1909. The arms used were directly traced through an Italian courier to India House. Ex-India House residents M.P.T. Acharya and V.V.S. Aiyar were noted in the [[Rowlatt report]] to have aided and influenced political assassinations, including the murder of Robert D'Escourt Ashe.<ref name="Yadav4"/> The Paris-Safranski link was strongly suggested by French police to be involved in a 1907 attempt in Bengal to derail the train carrying the Lieutenant-Governor [[Sir Andrew Fraser]].<ref name=Popplewell135>{{Harvnb|Popplewell|1995|p=135}}</ref>
 
{{Gallery|align=center
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|File:Shyamji krishna varma.jpg|[[Shyamji Krishna Varma]], who founded the [[Indian Home Rule Society]], [[India House]] and ''[[The Indian Sociologist]]'' in [[London]].
|File:Dhingra.jpg|[[Madan Lal Dhingra]], while studying in England, [[assassinated]] [[William Hutt Curzon Wyllie]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Nehru |first=Jawaharlal |author2=Nand Lal Gupta|title=Jawaharlal Nehru on Communalism|publisher=Hope India Publications|page=161|year=2006|isbn=978-81-7871-117-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sI_I-jk8YWsC&pg=PT161}}</ref> a British official who was "old unrepentant foes of India who have fattened on the misery of the Indian peasant every [sic] since they began their career".<ref name="Popplewell1995">{{cite book|author=Richard James Popplewell|title=Intelligence and imperial defence: British intelligence and the defence of the Indian Empire, 1904-1924|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H44J2uDSE2cC&pg=PA144|access-date=25 March 2012|year=1995|publisher=Frank Cass|isbn=978-0-7146-4580-3|pages=143}}</ref>
|File:Vvsaiyar.jpg|[[V. V. S. Aiyar]] subscribed to the militant form of resistance against the British.
|File:Statue of Senapati Bapat - panoramio (cropped).jpg|[[Pandurang Mahadev Bapat]], acquired the title of ''[[Senapati]]'', meaning ''commander'', as a consequence of his leadership during the Mulshi Satyagraha.<ref name="Cashman190">{{cite book |title=The Myth of the Lokamanya: Tilak and mass politics in Maharashtra |first=Richard I. |last=Cashman |publisher=University of California |year=1975 |isbn=9780520024076 |url=https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/mythoflokamanya00rich/page/190 190]}}</ref>
|File:Chandrashekar azad.jpg|[[Chandra Shekhar Azad]] reorganised the Hindustan Republican Association under its new name of [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|Hindustan Socialist Republican Army]] (HSRA) after the death of its founder, [[Ram Prasad Bismil]].
}}
The activities of nationalists abroad is believed to have shaken the loyalty of a number of native regiments of the [[British Indian Army]].<ref name=Lahiri129>{{Harvnb|Lahiri|2000|p=129}}</ref> The assassination of [[William Hutt Curzon Wyllie]] in the hands of [[Madanlal Dhingra]] was highly publicised and saw increasing surveillance and suppression of Indian nationalism.<ref name=OxfordDNBMadanlalDhingra>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Dhingra, Madan Lal |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71628 |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71628 |access-date=29 October 2015}}</ref> These were followed by the [[Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy|1912 attempt]] on the life of Viceroy of India. Following this, the nucleus of networks formed in [[India House]], the [[Anushilan Samiti]], nationalists in Punjab, and the nationalism that arose among Indian expatriates and labourers in North America, a different movement began to emerge in the North American [[Ghadar Party]], culminating in the [[Hindu-German Conspiracy|Sedetious conspiracy]] of World War I led by [[Rash Behari Bose]] and [[Lala Hardayal]].
 
[[File:India House today.jpg|thumb|200px|left|[[India House]] founded by [[Shyamji Krishna Varma]] to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britain. A number of [[blue plaque]]s commemorate the stay of its various Indian revolutionaries including: [[Madan Lal Dhingra]], [[V. V. S. Aiyar]], [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]], [[Senapati Bapat]], [[M. P. T. Acharya]], [[Anant Laxman Kanhere]] and [[Chempakaraman Pillai]].]]
However, the emergence of the Gandhian movement slowly began to absorb the different revolutionary groups. The Bengal ''Samiti'' moved away from its philosophy of violence in the 1920s, when a number of its members identified closely with the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] and Gandhian non-violent movement. Revolutionary nationalist violence saw a resurgence after the collapse of Gandhian non-cooperation movement in 1922. In Bengal, this saw reorganisation of groups linked to the ''Samiti'' under the leadership of [[Surya Sen]] and [[Hem Chandra Kanungo]]. A spate of violence led up to the enactment of the [[Bengal Criminal Law Amendment]] in the early 1920s, which recalled the powers of incarceration and detention of the Defence of India Act. In north India, remnants of Punjab and Bengalee revolutionary organisations reorganised, notably under [[Sachindranath Sanyal]], founding the [[Hindustan Republican Association]] with [[Chandrashekhar Azad]] in north India.
 
The HSRA had strong influences from leftist ideologies. [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]] (HSRA) was formed under the leadership of [[Chandrasekhar Azad]]. [[Kakori train robbery]] was done largely by the members of HSRA. A number of Congress leaders from Bengal, especially [[Subhash Chandra Bose]], were accused by the British Government of having links with and allowing patronage to the revolutionary organisations during this time. The violence and radical philosophy revived in the 1930s, when revolutionaries of the ''Samiti'' and the HSRA were involved in the [[Chittagong armoury raid]] and the [[Kakori conspiracy]] and other attempts against the administration in British India and Raj officials. [[Sachindra Nath Sanyal]] mentored revolutionaries in the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Army]] (HSRA), including Bhagat Singh and [[Jatindra Nath Das]], among others; including arms training and how to make bombs.<ref name="Chatterji">{{cite book |title=Filming Reality: The Independent Documentary Movement in India |first=Shoma A. |last=Chatterji |publisher=SAGE Publications India |year=2015 |isbn=978-9-35150-543-3 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xV0lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36}}</ref> [[Bhagat Singh]] and [[Batukeshwar Dutt]] threw a bomb inside the [[Central Legislative Assembly]] on 8 April 1929 protesting against the passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill while raising slogans of "[[Inquilab Zindabad]]", though no one was killed or injured in the bomb incident. Bhagat Singh surrendered after the bombing incident and a trial was conducted. Sukhdev and Rajguru were also arrested by police during search operations after the bombing incident. Following the trial (Central Assembly Bomb Case), Bhagat Singh, [[Sukhdev]] and [[Shivaram Rajguru|Rajguru]] were hanged in 1931. [[Allama Mashriqi]] founded [[Khaksars|Khaksar Tehreek]] in order to direct particularly the Muslims towards the self-rule movement.<ref>Khaksar Tehrik Ki Jiddo Juhad Volume 1. Author Khaksar Sher Zaman</ref> Some of its members left for the Indian National Congress then led by Subhas Chandra Bose, while others identified more closely with [[Communism]]. The ''Jugantar'' branch formally dissolved in 1938. On 13 March 1940, [[Udham Singh]] shot [[Michael O'Dwyer]] (the last political murder outside India), generally held responsible for the [[Amritsar Massacre]], in London. However, the revolutionary movement gradually disseminated into the Gandhian movement. As the political scenario changed in the late 1930s&nbsp;— with the mainstream leaders considering several options offered by the British and with religious politics coming into play&nbsp;— revolutionary activities gradually declined. Many past revolutionaries joined mainstream politics by joining [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] and other parties, especially [[Communist involvement in Indian Independence movement|communist ones]], while many of the activists were kept under hold in different jails across the country. Indians who were based in the UK, joined [[India League|the India League]] and the [[Indian Workers' Association|Indian Workers Association]], partaking in revolutionary activities in Britain.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Nasta |editor-first=Susheila |year=2013 |title=India in Britain : South Asian networks and connections, 1858-1950 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-39271-7|location=New York|oclc=802321049}}</ref>
 
Within a short time of its inception, these organisations became the focus of an extensive police and intelligence operations. Operations against {{Lang|bn-latn|[[Anushilan Samiti]]}} saw founding of the [[Special Branch]] of [[Calcutta Police]]. The intelligence operations against India House saw the founding of the [[Indian Political Intelligence Office]] which later grew to be the Intelligence Bureau in independent India. Heading the intelligence and missions against Ghadarite movement and India revolutionaries was the [[MI5(g)]] section, and at one point involved the [[Pinkerton's]] detective agency. Notable officers who led the police and intelligence operations against Indian revolutionaries, or were involved in it, at various time included [[John Arnold Wallinger]], [[Sir Robert Nathan]], [[Sir Harold Stuart]], [[Vernon Kell]], [[Sir Charles Stevenson-Moore]] and [[Sir Charles Tegart]], as well as [[W. Somerset Maugham]]. The threat posed by the activities of the ''Samiti'' in Bengal during [[World War I]], along with the threat of a [[Ghadar mutiny|Ghadarite uprising in Punjab]], saw the passage of [[Defence of India Act 1915]]. These measures saw the arrest, internment, transportations, and execution of a number of revolutionaries linked to the organisation, and was successful in crushing the East Bengal Branch. In the aftermath of the war, the [[Rowlatt committee]] recommended extending the Defence of India Act (as the [[Rowlatt act]]) to thwart any possible revival of the ''Samiti'' in Bengal and the Ghadarite movement in Punjab.
 
In the 1920s, [[Alluri Sitarama Raju]] led the ill-fated [[Rampa Rebellion of 1922]]–24, during which a band of tribal leaders and other sympathisers fought against the British Raj.  Local people referred to him as "Manyam Veerudu" ("Hero of the Jungles").  After the passage of the 1882 Madras Forest Act, its restrictions on the free movement of tribal peoples in the forest prevented them from engaging in their traditional ''[[Podu (agriculture)|podu]]'' ([[Slash-and-burn]]) agricultural system, which involved [[shifting cultivation]]. Raju started a protest movement in the border areas of the Godavari Agency part of [[Madras Presidency]] (present-day [[Andhra Pradesh]]).  Inspired by the patriotic zeal of revolutionaries in Bengal, Raju raided police stations in and around [[Chintapalle, Visakhapatnam|Chintapalle]], [[Rampachodavaram]], [[Dammanapalli]], Krishna Devi Peta, [[Rajavommangi]], [[Addateegala]], [[Narsipatnam]] and [[Annavaram]]. Raju and his followers stole guns and ammunition and killed several [[British Indian Army]] officers, including Scott Coward near [[Dammanapalli]].<ref name="Balakrishna">{{cite web|last=Balakrishna|first=V.G.|title=Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh|url=http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0798/PIBF0707982.html|publisher=Government of India Press Information Bureau|access-date=28 March 2011}}</ref> The British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December 1922. Raju was eventually trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli then tied to a tree and shot dead with a rifle.<ref name="Balakrishna"/>
 
The [[Kallara-Pangode Struggle]] was one of some 39 agitations against the Government of India.  The Home department has later notified about 38 movements/struggles across Indian territories as the ones that culminated in self-rule ended the [[British Raj]].
 
{{Gallery|align=center
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||[[Vanchinathan]], best remembered for shooting down the collector and magistrate [[Robert Ashe (administrator)|Robert Ashe]]. He was mentored by [[V.V.S. Aiyar]].
|File:Jatindra Nath Das c1929.jpg|[[Jatindra Nath Das]] was arrested for revolutionary activities and was [[imprisoned]] in Lahore jail to be tried under the supplementary [[Bhagat Singh#Hunger strike and Lahore conspiracy case|Lahore Conspiracy Case]] and died in [[Central Jail Lahore|Lahore jail]] after a 63-day [[hunger strike]].
|File:Champakraman Pillai.jpg|[[Chempakaraman Pillai]] was involved in the [[Hindu-German Conspiracy]] along with the [[Ghadar Party]] in the United States.
|File:Surya Sen real collected by Rahat.jpg|[[Surya Sen]], best known for leading the 1930 [[Chittagong armoury raid]].
|File:Madam Bhikaiji Cama.jpg|[[Bhikaiji Cama]], raised "Flag of Indian Independence" in Stuttgart, Germany.
}}
[[Vanchinathan]], in a letter found in his pocket, stated the following:
{{Quote frame| I dedicate my life as a small contribution to my motherland. I am alone responsible for this.<br />
The [[Mleccha|mlechas]] of England having captured our country, tread over the [[Sanatana Dharma]] of the Hindus and destroy them. Every Indian is trying to drive out the English and get ''swarajyam'' and restore Sanatana Dharma. Our Raman, Sivaji, Krishnan, Guru Govindan, Arjuna ruled our land protecting all dharmas, but in this land, they are making arrangements to crown George V, a [[Mleccha|mlecha]], and one who eats the flesh of cows.<br />
Three thousand ''Madrasees'' have taken a vow to kill George V as soon as he lands in our country. In order to make others know our intention, I who am the least in the company, have done this deed this day. This is what everyone in Hindustan should consider it as his duty.<br />
I will kill Ashe, whose arrival here is to celebrate the crowning of cow-eater King George V in this glorious land which was once ruled by great [[Emperor|Samrat]]s. This I do to make them understand the fate of those who cherish the thought of enslaving this sacred land.
I, as the least of them, wish to warn George by killing Ashe.<br />
[[Vande Mataram]]. Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram<br />
: -[[Vanchinathan]]}}
 
==Final process of Indian self-rule movement==
{{Gallery|align=center
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|File:Bismil Park2811.JPEG|Ram Prasad Bismil Udyan ([[Park]]) in [[Greater Noida]], was dedicated to [[Ram Prasad Bismil]], who participated in [[Mainpuri]] conspiracy of 1918, and the [[Kakori conspiracy]] of 1925, and struggled against [[British imperialism]].
|File:Rajendranath Lahiri.jpg|[[Rajendra Lahiri]] was the mastermind behind [[Kakori conspiracy]] and Dakshineshwar bombing.
|File:Roshan Singh.jpg|[[Roshan Singh]], was [[death sentence|sentenced to death]], along with [[Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil]], [[Ashfaqulla Khan]] and [[Rajendra Lahiri]].
|File:Bhagwati Charan Vohra.jpg|[[Bhagwati Charan Vohra]], died in [[Lahore]]<ref>{{Cite book|title=The People Speak: Democracy is not a Spectator Sport|first1=Colin|last1=Firth|first2=Anthony|last2=Arnove|publisher=Canongate Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OP2eljLVM7cC&q=Bhagwati+Charan+Vohra&pg=PT145|isbn=9780857864475|date=13 September 2012}}</ref> on 28 May 1930 while testing a bomb on the banks of the [[River Ravi]].
}}
In 1937, [[Indian Provincial Elections, 1937|provincial elections]] were held and the Congress came to power in seven of the eleven provinces. This was a strong indicator of the Indian people's support for complete self-rule.
 
When the Second World War started, [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow|Viceroy Linlithgow]] unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives. In opposition to Linlithgow's action, the entire Congress leadership resigned from the provincial and local governments. The Muslims and Sikhs, by contrast, strongly supported the war effort and gained enormous stature in London. Defying Congress, millions of Indians supported the war effort, and indeed the [[Indian Army during World War II|British Indian Army]] became the largest volunteer force, numbering 2,500,000 men during the war.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Roy | first1 = Kaushik | year = 2009 | title = Military Loyalty in the Colonial Context: A Case Study of the Indian Army during World War II | journal = Journal of Military History | volume = 73 | issue = 2| pages = 144–172 }}</ref>
 
{{Gallery|align=center
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|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-130-30, Berlin, Gründung Zentrale "Freies Indien".jpg|National celebration at the founding of the Provisional National Indian government at the Free India Center, Berlin, with [[Secretary of State#Germany|Secretary of State]] [[Wilhelm Keppler]] speaking, on 16 November 1943.
|File:Greater East Asia Conference.JPG|[[Greater East Asia Conference]] in November 1943, participants left to right: [[Ba Maw]], [[Zhang Jinghui]], [[Wang Jingwei]], [[Hideki Tojo]], [[Wan Waithayakon]], [[José P. Laurel]], [[Subhas Chandra Bose]].
|File:Azadhindpostage.jpg|[[Azad Hind Stamps|Unreleased postage stamps]] of the Azad Hind government.
|File:Lal Bahadur Shastri (cropped).jpg|[[Lal Bahadur Shastri]], was sent to prison for one year, for offering individual [[Satyagraha]] support to the independence movement.<ref name="freeindia_prison_again">{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page13.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: In Prison Again|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119032519/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page13.htm|archive-date=19 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}
Especially during the [[Battle of Britain]] in 1940, Gandhi resisted calls for massive civil disobedience movements that came from within as well as outside his party, stating he did not seek India's self-rule out of the ashes of a destroyed Britain. In 1942, the Congress launched the [[Quit India]] movement. There was some violence but the Raj cracked down and arrested tens of thousands of Congress leaders, including all the main national and provincial figures. They were not released until the end of the war was in sight in 1945.
 
The self-rule movement included the [[Kakori conspiracy]] (9 August 1925) led by Indian youth under the leadership of [[Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil]] and masterminded by [[Rajendra Lahiri]]; and the [[Azad Hind]] movement, whose main protagonist [[Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose]] was a former leader of Congress. From its earliest wartime inception, Bose joined the [[Axis Powers]] to fight Britain.
 
===Quit India Movement===
{{Main|Quit India Movement}}
[[File:Discussing the "Quit India" movement with Nehru.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Mahatma Gandhi discusses the Quit India Movement with Nehru]]
The Quit India Movement ''(Bharat Chhodo Andolan)'' or the ''August Movement'' was a [[civil disobedience]] movement in India which commenced on 8 August 1942 in response to [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]]'s call for immediate self-rule by Indians and against sending Indians to World War II. He asked all teachers to leave their schools, and other Indians to leave their respective jobs and take part in this movement. Due to Gandhi's political influence, his request was followed by a significant proportion of the population. In addition, Congress-led the Quit India Movement to demand the British to leave India and transfer the political power to a representative government.
 
During the movement, Gandhi and his followers continued to use non-violence against British rule. This movement was where Gandhi gave his famous message, "Do or Die!", and this message spread towards the Indian community. In addition, this movement was addressed directly to women as "disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom" and they had to keep the war for independence to go on (against British rule).
 
[[File:QUITIN2.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Procession in [[Bangalore]] during the [[Quit India Movement]].]]
At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had during the Wardha meeting of the working-committee in September 1939, passed a resolution conditionally supporting the fight against fascism,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aicc.org.in/the_congress_and_the_freedom_movement.htm#the|title=The Congress and The Freedom Movement|access-date=24 September 2007|publisher =Indian National Congress |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070811001411/http://www.aicc.org.in/the_congress_and_the_freedom_movement.htm#the |archive-date = 11 August 2007}}</ref> but were rebuffed when they asked for self-rule in return. In March 1942, faced with an increasingly dissatisfied sub-continent only reluctantly participating in the war, and deteriorations in the war situation in Europe and [[South East Asia]], and with growing dissatisfactions among Indian troops- especially in Europe- and among the civilian population in the sub-continent, the British government sent a delegation to India under [[Stafford Cripps]], in what came to be known as the [[Cripps' Mission]]. The purpose of the mission was to negotiate with the Indian National Congress a deal to obtain total co-operation during the war, in return of progressive devolution and distribution of power from the crown and the [[Viceroy]] to elected Indian legislature. However, the talks failed, having failed to address the key demand of a timeframe towards self-government, and of the definition of the powers to be relinquished, essentially portraying an offer of limited dominion-status that was wholly unacceptable to the Indian movement.<ref name="Barkawi">Culture and Combat in the Colonies. The Indian Army in the Second World War. [[Tarak Barkawi]]. J Contemn History. 41(2), 325–355.pp:332</ref> To force the British Raj to meet its demands and to obtain definitive word on total self-rule, the Congress took the decision to launch the Quit India Movement.
 
The aim of the movement was to force the British Government to the negotiating table by holding the Allied war effort hostage. The call for determined but [[passive resistance]] that signified the certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement is best described by his call to ''Do or Die'', issued on 8 August at the [[Gowalia Tank]] Maidan in Bombay, since renamed ''August Kranti Maidan'' (August Revolution Ground). However, almost the entire Congress leadership, and not merely at the national level, was put into confinement less than 24 hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress were to spend the rest of the war in jail.
 
On 8 August 1942, the Quit India resolution was passed at the Mumbai session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The draft proposed that if the British did not accede to the demands, a massive Civil Disobedience would be launched. However, it was an extremely controversial decision. At Gowalia Tank, [[Mumbai]], Gandhi urged Indians to follow non-violent civil disobedience. Gandhi told the masses to act as citizens of a sovereign nation and not to follow the orders of the British. The British, already alarmed by the advance of the Japanese army to the India–Burma border, responded the next day by imprisoning Gandhi at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Pune]]. The Congress Party's Working Committee, or national leadership was arrested all together and imprisoned at the Ahmednagar Fort. They also banned the party altogether. All the major leaders of the INC were arrested and detained. As the masses were leaderless the protest took a violent turn. Large-scale protests and demonstrations were held all over the country. Workers remained absent en masse and strikes were called. The movement also saw widespread acts of sabotage, Indian under-ground organisation carried out bomb attacks on allied supply convoys, government buildings were set on fire, electricity lines were disconnected and transport and communication lines were severed. The disruptions were under control in a few weeks and had little impact on the war effort. The movement soon became a leaderless act of defiance, with a number of acts that deviated from Gandhi's principle of non-violence. In large parts of the country, the local underground organisations took over the movement.
 
All the other major parties rejected the Quit India plan, and most cooperated closely with the British, as did the princely states, the civil service, and the police. The [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] supported the Raj and grew rapidly in membership, and in influence with the British.
 
There was opposition to the Quit India Movement from several political quarters who were fighting for Indian self-rule. Hindu nationalist parties like the [[Hindu Mahasabha]] openly opposed the call and boycotted the Quit India Movement.<ref name="Bapu2013">{{cite book|first=Prabhu|last=Bapu|title=Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915–1930: Constructing Nation and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUFalxUFFWkC&pg=PA103|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-67165-1|pages=103–}}</ref> [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]], the president of the Hindu Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts", in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army...to stick to their posts" across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.<ref name="Bapu2013"/>
 
The other Hindu nationalist organisation, and Mahasabha affiliate [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS) had a tradition of keeping aloof from the anti-British Indian self-rule movement since its founding by [[K.B. Hedgewar]] in 1925. In 1942, the RSS, under [[M.S. Golwalkar]] completely abstained from joining in the Quit India Movement as well. The Bombay government (British) appreciated the RSS as such, by noting that,
<blockquote> The Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law, and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942.<ref name="Bandyopādhyāẏa2004">{{cite book |first=Sekhara |last=Bandyopadhyaya |year=2004 |title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0oVra0ulQ3QC&pg=PA422 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |page=422 |isbn=978-81-250-2596-2}}</ref></blockquote>
The British Government stated that the RSS was not at all supporting any civil disobedience against them, and as such their other political activities(even if objectionable) can be overlooked.<ref name="Chandra2008">{{harvnb|Chandra|2008|p=140}}</ref>  Further, the British Government also asserted that at Sangh meetings organised during the times of anti-British movements started and fought by the Indian National Congress,
<blockquote> Speakers urged the Sangh members to keep aloof from the congress movement and these instructions were generally observed.<ref name="Chandra2008"/>
</blockquote> As such, the British government did not crackdown on the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha at all.
 
The RSS head (''sarsanghchalak'') during that time, [[M.S. Golwalkar]] later openly admitted to the fact that the RSS did not participate in the Quit India Movement. However, such an attitude during the Indian independence movement also led to the Sangh being viewed with distrust and anger, both by the general Indian public, as well as certain members of the organisation itself. In Golwalkar's own words,
<blockquote>In 1942 also, there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too, the routine work of the Sangh continued. Sangh decided not to do anything directly. ‘Sangh is the organisation of inactive people, their talks have no substance’ was the opinion uttered not only by outsiders but also our own ''swayamsevaks''.<ref name="Puniyani2005">{{harvnb|Puniyani|2005|pp=134–}}</ref><ref name="Islam2006">{{cite book|first=Shamsul|last=Islam|title=Religious Dimensions of Indian Nationalism: A Study of RSS|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaQjbO8SN48C&pg=PA187|year=2006|publisher=Media House|isbn=978-81-7495-236-3|pages=187–}}</ref>
</blockquote>
 
A number of violent incidents against British officials also took place during the Quit India movement around the country. The British arrested tens of thousands of leaders, keeping them imprisoned until 1945. Ultimately, the British government realised that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the question for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.
 
===Others===
{{Main|Indian National Army|Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind| Direct Action Day|Noakhali riots|Royal Indian Navy Mutiny}}
{{See also| Legion Freies Indien|Battaglione Azad Hindoustan|Capt. Mohan Singh|Indian Independence League|INA trials}}
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=180|lines=4
|File:Fujiwara Kikan.jpg|Major [[Iwaichi Fujiwara]] greets [[Mohan Singh (general)|Mohan Singh]], leader of the [[First Indian National Army]]. ''Circa'' April 1942.
|File:Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.jpg|[[Subhas Chandra Bose]] founded the [[Indian Legion]] and revamped the [[Indian National Army]].
|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-263-1580-05, Atlantikwall, Soldaten der Legion "Freies Indien".jpg|Sikh soldiers of the [[Indian Legion]] guarding the [[Atlantic Wall]] in France in March 1944.
}}
India's entry into the war was strongly opposed by [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]. Bose had been elected President of the Congress in 1938 and 1939 but later resigned owing to differences of opinion with Gandhi, however he remained emotionally attached to Congress for the remainder of his life. After his resignation he formed his own wing separated from the mainstream Congress leadership known as [[Forward bloc]] which was a ''loci'' focus for ex-congress leaders holding socialist views.<ref>{{harvnb|Bose|1985|p=}}</ref>  Bose then founded the [[All India Forward Bloc]]. In 1940 the British authorities in Calcutta placed Bose under house arrest.  However, he escaped and made his way through [[Afghanistan]] to [[Nazi Germany]] to seek [[Axis powers of World War II|Hitler and Mussolini's]] help for raising an army to fight the British.  The [[Free India Legion]] comprising [[Erwin Rommel]]'s Indian [[POW]]s was formed.  After a dramatic decline in Germany's military fortunes, a German land invasion of India became untenable.  Hitler advised Bose to go to Japan where a submarine was arranged to transport Bose, who was ferried to Japanese Southeast Asia, where he formed the [[Azad Hind Government]].  The Provisional Free Indian Government in exile reorganised the [[Indian National Army]] composed of Indian POWs and volunteer Indian [[expatriates]] in South-East Asia, with the help of the Japanese. Its aim was to reach India as a fighting force that would build on public resentment to inspire revolt among Indian soldiers of the Raj.
 
The INA was to see action against the Allies, including the [[British Indian Army]], in the forests of Arakan, [[Burma]], and in [[Assam]], laying [[Battle of Imphal|siege to Imphal and Kohima]] with the [[Japanese 15th Army]]. During the war, the [[Andaman and Nicobar]] islands [[Invasion and Occupation of the Andaman Islands during World War II|were captured by the Japanese]] and handed over by them to the INA.
 
While a number of Japanese officers, even those like [[Iwaichi Fujiwara|Fujiwara]], who were devoted to the Indian cause, observed Bose as a military incompetent as well as an unrealistic and stubborn man who sees only his own needs and problems and could not observe the larger picture of the war as the Japanese had to.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Leonard A.|author-link=Leonard A. Gordon|title=Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose|location=New York and Oxford|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1990|isbn=0-231-07443-3|pages=517}}</ref>
 
The INA failed owing to disrupted logistics, poor supplies from the Japanese, and lack of training.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mondediplo.com/2005/05/13wwiiasia |title=Forgotten armies of the East – Le Monde diplomatique – English edition |publisher=Mondediplo.com |date=10 May 2005 |access-date=14 June 2012}}</ref> The Azad Hind Fauj surrendered unconditionally to the British in Singapore in 1945. In the consensus of scholarly opinion, [[Death of Subhas Chandra Bose|Subhas Chandra Bose's death]] occurred from third-degree burns on 18 August 1945 after his overloaded Japanese plane crashed in Japanese-ruled Formosa (now Taiwan).
 
Trials against members of the INA began in late 1945, and included the infamous joint court-martial of key figures [[Shah Nawaz Khan (general)|Shah Nawaz Khan]] and [[Prem Sahgal]].
 
[[Image:RIN HMIS Hindustan.jpg|thumb|250px|[[HMIS Hindustan (L80)|HMIS ''Hindustan'']] at Bombay Harbour after the war, was occupied by mutineers during the [[Royal Indian Navy Mutiny]].]]
The [[Royal Indian Navy Mutiny]] was a failed insurrection which encompassed a [[strike action|total strike]] and subsequent [[mutiny]] by Indian sailors of the Royal Indian Navy on board ship and shore establishments at Bombay ([[Mumbai]]) harbour on 18 February 1946. From the initial flashpoint in Bombay, the mutiny spread and found support throughout [[British India]], from [[Karachi]] to [[Calcutta]] and ultimately came to involve 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 sailors.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-ipOZf7y_B4C Notes on India]'' By Robert Bohm.pp213</ref>
 
The agitations, mass strikes, demonstrations and consequently support for the mutineers, therefore continued several days even after the mutiny had been called off. Along with this, the assessment may be made that it described in crystal clear terms to the government that the [[British Indian Armed forces]] could no longer be universally relied upon for support in crisis, and even more it was more likely itself to be the source of the sparks that would ignite trouble in a country fast slipping out of the scenario of political settlement.<ref>James L. ''Raj; Making and unmaking of British India. Abacus. 1997. p571, p598'' and; Unpublished, Public Relations Office, London. War Office. 208/819A 25C</ref>
 
The mutiny ended with the surrender of revolting the sailors to British officials. Congress and the Muslim League had convinced Indian sailors to surrender. They condemned the mutiny due to the political and military risks of unrest.
 
==Impact of World War II==
[[World War II]] was one of the most significant factors in accelerating Indian independence, and the independence of many British and non-British colonies. In the period 1945–1965, [[decolonization]] led to more than three dozen countries getting freedom from their colonial powers.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/asia-and-africa | title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian}}</ref> Many factors contributed to the downfall of the British Empire.
 
When Britain reached out to the US asking for help in the war, the US offered help contingent on Britain decolonizing post-WWII, and that agreement was codified in the [[Atlantic Charter]]. The decolonization of Britain (post-war) also meant that the US and other countries could possibly have access to markets to sell goods that were previously under the British Empire - which were not accessible to them then<ref>William Roger Louis, Imperialism at Bay: The United States and the Decolonization of the British Empire, 1941–1945 (1978).</ref><ref>Andrew N. Buchanan, "The War Crisis and the Decolonization of India, December 1941 – September 1942: A Political and Military Dilemma." Global War Studies 8#2 (2011): 5–31</ref> To bring about these changes, the establishment of the UN following WWII codified sovereignty for nations, and encouraged free trade. The war also forced the British to come to an agreement with Indian leaders to grant them independence if they helped with war efforts since India had one of the largest armies.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml | title=BBC – History – British History in depth: Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire}}</ref> Also, following WWII, it was untenable for Britain to raise capital on its own to keep its colonies. They needed to rely on America and did so via the [[Marshall Plan]] to rebuild their country.
 
==Sovereignty and partition of India==
{{Main|History of the Republic of India|Partition of India|Pakistan movement}}
[[File:Rare photograph of Hindustan Times Newspaper when India got its Independence from Britishers..!!.jpg|thumb|Rare photograph of Hindustan Times Newspaper when India got its Independence from the British.]]
[[File:Jnehru.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru]] became the first Prime Minister of India in 1947]]
On 3 June 1947, Viscount [[Louis Mountbatten]], the last British [[Governor-General of India]], announced the partitioning of British India into [[Dominion of India|India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]]. With the speedy passage of the [[Indian Independence Act 1947]], at 11:57 on [[Yom-e-Istiqlal|14 August 1947]] Pakistan was declared a separate nation. Then at 12:02 A.M., on [[Independence Day (India)|15 August 1947]] India became a sovereign and democratic nation. Eventually, 15 August became Independence Day for India marking the end of British India.  Also on 15 August, both Pakistan and India had the right to remain in or remove themselves from the British Commonwealth.  But in 1949, India took the decision to remain in the commonwealth.
 
Violent clashes between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims followed. Prime Minister [[Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru]] and deputy prime minister [[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]] had invited Mountbatten to continue as [[Governor General of India]] during the period of transition. He was replaced in June 1948 by [[Chakravarti Rajagopalachari]]. In May 1947, Nehru declared that any [[princely state]] which refused to join the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]] would be treated as an enemy state. Patel took on the responsibility for bringing princely states into the Union of India, steering efforts by his "iron fist in a velvet glove" policies. There was the use of military force to integrate [[Junagadh]], [[Hyderabad State]] ([[Operation Polo]]) and [[Kashmir]] ([[Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)|Instrument of Accession]]) to India.<ref>{{harvnb|Mitra|1997|pp=55–74}}</ref>
 
The [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]], headed by the prominent lawyer, reformer and Dalit leader, B.R. Ambedkar was tasked heading the creation of the constitution of independent India, and the constitution was drafted by [[B. N. Rau]]. The Constituent Assembly completed the work of drafting the constitution on 26 November 1949; on 26 January 1950, the [[Republic of India]] was officially proclaimed. The Constituent Assembly elected [[Rajendra Prasad]] was the first [[President of India]], taking over from Governor General Rajgopalachari.  Subsequently, the French ceded [[Chandernagore]] in 1951, and [[Pondicherry district|Pondichéry]] and its remaining Indian colonies by 1954.  Indian troops [[Indian annexation of Goa|annexed Goa]] and Portugal's other [[Portuguese India|Indian enclaves]] in 1961, and [[Sikkim]] [[1975 Sikkimese monarchy referendum|voted]] to join the Indian Union in 1975 after the [[Nathu La and Cho La clashes|Indian victory over China]] in Nathu La and Cho La.
 
Following self-rule in 1947, India remained in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], and [[India–United Kingdom relations|relations between the UK and India]] have since become friendly. There are many areas in which the two countries seek stronger ties for mutual benefit, and there are also strong cultural and social ties between the two nations. The UK has an ethnic Indian population of over 1.6 million. In 2010, Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] described Indian – British relations as a "New [[Special Relationship]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Ministers to build a new 'special relationship' with India |first= Dean |last= Nelson |newspaper= [[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=7 July 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/7877719/Ministers-to-build-a-new-special-relationship-with-India.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721012315/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/7877719/Ministers-to-build-a-new-special-relationship-with-India.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 July 2010 }}</ref>
 
==See also==
*
*
*
* [[Partition of India]]
* [[Partition of Bengal (1947)]]
* [[Independence Day (India)]]
* [[Independence Day (Pakistan)]]
* [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]
* [[Women of the Indian independence movement]]
*[[Communist involvement in Indian Independence movement]]
 
== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}
 
== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}
 
=== Sources and further reading ===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Amstutz |first1=Andrew |title=Review essay: Alternative histories of revolutionaries in modern South Asia: context, chronology, and archives |journal=India Review |date=27 May 2019 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=324–342 |doi=10.1080/14736489.2019.1616262|s2cid=199354334 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Bose |first=Nirmal |author-link=Nirmal Bose |date=October–December 1985 |title=Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Congress |journal=Indian Journal of Political Science |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=438–450 |jstor=41855198}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Giles |date=August 1948 |title=The Hindu Conspiracy, 1914–1917 |journal=The Pacific Historical Review |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=299–310 |doi=10.2307/3634258 |jstor=3634258}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chandra |first1=Bipan |author-link1=Bipan Chandra |last2=Mukherjee |first2=Mridula |last3=Mukherjee |first3=Aditya |last4=Mahajan |first4=Sucheta |last5=Panikkar |first5=K. N. |author-link5 = K. N. Panikkar |year=1989 |title=India's Struggle for Independence |location=New Delhi |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-010781-4 |page=600}}
* {{cite book |last=Chandra |first=Bipan |author-link=Bipan Chandra |year=2008 |title=Communalism in Modern India |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jlDjbnKqtHIC&pg=PA140 |publisher=Har-Anand |pages=140– |isbn=978-81-241-1416-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Collett |first=Nigel |author-link=Nigel Collett |year=2005 |title=The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |isbn=978-1-85285-457-7}}
* {{cite book |last=David |first=Saul |author-link=Saul David |year=2002 |title=The Indian Mutiny: 1857 |publisher=Viking |page=122 |isbn=978-0-670-91137-0}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Fischer-Tiné |editor-first1=Harald |editor1-link=Harald Fischer-Tiné |editor-last2=Tschurenev |editor-first2=Jana |year=2014 |title=A History of Alcohol and Drugs in Modern South Asia: Intoxicating Affairs |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=255–257 |isbn=978-1-317-91681-9}}
* {{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Thomas G. |date=April 1977 |title=Germany and Indian Revolution, 1914-18 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=255–272 |jstor=260216 |doi=10.1177/002200947701200203 |s2cid=161813088 }}
* Ghosh, Durba. ''Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947'' (Cambridge University Press, 2017.)
* {{cite journal |last=Gupta |first=Amit Kumar |date=September–October 1997 |title=Defying Death: Nationalist Revolutionism in India, 1897-1938 |journal=Social Scientist |volume=25 |issue=9/10 |pages=3–27 |jstor=3517678 |doi=10.2307/3517678 }}
* {{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |year=1998 |title=India's Freedom Struggle: A Short History |location=Delhi |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=199 |isbn=978-0-19-562798-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |year=2008 |title=The Lives of Sri Aurobindo |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-14098-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hoover |first=Karl |date=May 1985 |title=The Hindu Conspiracy in California, 1913–1918 |journal=German Studies Review |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=245–261 |doi=10.2307/1428642 |jstor=1428642}}
* {{cite book |last=Hopkirk |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Hopkirk |year=1994 |title=On Secret Service East of Constantinope |publisher=John Murray |isbn=978-0-7195-5017-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |author-link = Ayesha Jalal |year=1994 |title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=D63KMRN1SJ8C&pg=PA4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45850-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Lahiri |first=Shompa |year=2000 |title=Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880–1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuvRWlN_cQkC&pg=PA129 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7146-4986-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Lloyd (historian) |year=2011 |title=The Amritsar Massacre: The Untold Story of One Fateful Day |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6X3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-84885-723-0}}
* Maclean, Kama. '' A Revolutionary History of Interwar India: Violence, Image, Voice and Text'' (Oxford University Press, 2015.)
* {{cite book |last=Majumdar |first=Bimanbehari |year=1966 |title=Militant nationalism in India and its socio-religious background (1897-1917) |publisher=General Printers & Publishers |oclc=8793353}}
* {{cite book |last=Majumdar |first=Ramesh C |year=1975 |title=History of the Freedom Movement in India |volume=II |publisher=Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay |isbn=978-81-7102-099-7}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mitra |first=Subrata K. |author-link=Subrata K. Mitra |date=July 1997 |title=Nehru's policy towards Kashmir: Bringing politics back in again |journal=Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=55–74 |doi=10.1080/14662049708447745}}
* {{cite book |last=Mukherjee |first=Prithwindra |year=2010 |title=Les racines intellectuelles du mouvement d'indépendance de l'Inde (1893-1918) |publisher=Editions Codex |isbn=978-2-918783-02-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Patel |first=Hitendra |year=2008 |title=Khudiram Bose: Revolutionary Extraordinaire |url = https://archive.org/details/khudiramboserevo00hite |location=New Delhi |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India |isbn=978-81-230-2278-9}}
* {{cite journal |last=Plowman |first=Matthew |date=Autumn 2003 |title=Irish Republicans and the Indo-German Conspiracy of World War I |journal=New Hibernia Review |volume=7 |number=3 |pages=81–105 |doi=10.1353/nhr.2003.0069|s2cid=144632198 }}
* {{cite book |last=Popplewell |first=Richard James |year = 1995 |title=Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire, 1904-1924 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H44J2uDSE2cC&pg=PP1 |location=London, England |publisher=Frank Cass |isbn=978-0-7146-4580-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Puniyani |first=Ram |author-link=Ram Puniyani |year=2005 |title=Religion, Power and Violence: Expression of Politics in Contemporary Times |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdPipb-u21gC&pg=PA134 |publisher=SAGE Publications |pages=134– |isbn=978-0-7619-3338-0}}
{{refend}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
* History of the Freedom movement in India {{ISBN|0-8364-2376-3}} by R. C. Majumdar
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Judith M. |author-link=Judith M. Brown |year=1972 |title=Gandhi's Rise to Power: Indian Politics 1915–1922 |series=Cambridge South Asian Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08353-9 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Judith M. |author-link=Judith M. Brown |year=2009 |chapter=Gandhi and Civil Resistance in India, 1917–47 |editor1-last=Roberts |editor1-first=Adam |editor1-link = Adam Roberts (scholar) |editor2-last = Ash |editor2-first=Timothy Garton |editor2-link=Timothy Garton Ash |title = Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955201-6 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Theodore |date=January 2008 |title=Spinning for India's Independence |journal=Am J Public Health |volume=98 |issue = 1 |pages=39 |pmc=2156064 |pmid=18048775 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.120139 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gonsalves |first=Peter |year=2012 |title=Khadi: Gandhi's Mega Symbol of Subversion |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=9788132107354 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gopal |first=Sarvepalli |year=1975 |title=Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography |volume=One |publisher=Johnathan Cape |isbn = 978-0-224-01029-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Majumdar |first=R. C. |author-link=R. C. Majumdar |year=1988 |orig-year=First published 1962 |title=History of the Freedom movement in India |publisher=South Asia Books |isbn=978-0-8364-2376-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Sumit |author-link=Sumit Sarkar |year=1983 |title=Modern India: 1885–1947 |location=Madras |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark/page/486 486] |isbn=978-0-333-90425-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark/page/486 }}
* {{cite book |last=Seal |first=Anil |year=2007 |orig-year=First published 1968 |title=Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later Nineteenth Century |location=London, England |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-06274-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/emergenceofindia0000seal }}
* {{cite book |last=Singh |first=Jaswant |author-link=Jaswant Singh |year=2009 |title=Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence |publisher=Rupa & Co. |isbn=9788129113788 }}
* {{cite book |last=Sofri |first=Gianni |year=1995–1999 |title=Gandhi and India: A Century in Focus |edition=English edition translated from the Italian |others=Janet Sethre Paxia (translator) |location=Gloucestershire |publisher=The Windrush Press |isbn=978-1-900624-12-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley A. |author-link=Stanley A. Wolpert |year=1984 |title=Jinnah of Pakistan |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-503412-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley A. |author-link=Stanley A. Wolpert |year=2001 |title=Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi |url=https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-513060-7 }}
 
===Primary sources===
* {{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=Mohandas |author-link=Mohandas Gandhi |year=1993 |title=An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth |location=Boston |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-5909-8 |title-link=The Story of My Experiments with Truth }}
* Prasad, Bimal ed. ''Towards Freedom, 1945: Documents on the Movement for Independence in India'' (2008) [https://archive.org/details/towardsfreedomdo00bhat online]
* {{cite book |last=Yadav |first=B.D. |year=1992 |title=M.P.T. Acharya: Reminiscences of an Indian Revolutionary |location=New Delhi |publisher=Anmol |isbn=81-7041-470-9}}
 
{{refend}}
 
== External links ==
 
*
 
{{-}}
{{Indian independence movement}}
{{Bal Gangadhar Tilak}}
{{Azad Hind Fauj}}


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[[Category:History of social movements]]
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