Indian Nationalism Dbq

Nationalism proved to be very effective for the colonized people as it sparked up, in India, with the start of World War 1, and in Southeast Asia with the growth of Western political and economic interest. We hear about nationalism all the time, but I feel like not a lot of people know what it means. Britannica defines it as “An ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests.” (Kohn). Nationalism helps a group of people form a sense of unity with each other, however, I think that nationalism could be a possible pathway to war and violence. Nationalism played a large part amongst the colonized people in India and Southeast Asia, and I hope to explore its impact on the freedom of their homelands.
Let us begin by discussing the development of nationalism in India. Nationalism can be lightly traced back to a rebellion called the Indian Mutiny in 1857. This mostly sparked from the Sepoys refusing to use cartridges greased from pork or beef. According to our document “The Indian Revolt”, “The overt ground of the general mutiny was offence to caste feelings, given by the

introduction into the army of certain cartridges said to have been prepared with hog's lard and cow's fat. The men must bite off the ends of these cartridges; so the Mahometans are defiled by the unclean animal, and the Hindus by the contact of the dead cow.” (Hazewell). Many argue if this was truly an act of rebellion, but I think that this was a nationalist rebellion because the Sepoys rebelled because they were responding to an ignorance to their culture and cultural values.
However, Indian nationalism truly rose to prominence with the beginning of the first World War. Many Indians decided to enroll in the British Army with the British promising that they would allow India to self-govern itself. However, the British had no intention of keeping this promise towards the Indians so when the Indians returned home from war and didn’t see their promise fulfilled, things did not go so smoothly. This led the Indians to react with violence, and the British to create something called the Rowlatt Act which allowed protesters to be jailed. Unified by this unlawful Act, many Indians gathered to protest, where the British Army was given the order to open fire on the crowd, killing hundreds of Indians. The gathering of Indians is viewed as an act of nationalism. The British were not prepared for the unity of the Indians during this protest. “News of the slaughter, called the Amritsar Massacre, sparked an explosion of anger across India. Almost overnight, millions of Indians changed from loyal British subjects into nationalists.” (Beck 454). This massacre truly made Indians realize that they were fighting for their beliefs and their homeland.
Now the stage has been set for Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was an incredibly figure for the nationalist movement in India. He unified Indian men and women to stand for what they believe in without shedding a single drop of blood. Gandhi preached that non-violent protesting is the only way to get your point across. He stated, “I wanted to avoid violence. Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. But I had to make my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I considered had done an irreparable harm to my country, or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips.” (Statement). His ideology amassed him millions of believers and followers. Gandhi had a plan to weaken the British’s control over India. “Gandhi called on Indians to refuse to buy British goods, attend government schools, pay British taxes, or vote in elections. Gandhi staged a successful boycott of British cloth, a source of wealth for the British." (Beck 455). His boycotts weakened the British economy tremendously. In addition to boycotts, he also promoted strikes and demonstrations. These also delivered a blow to the British economy as well because it prevented trains and other means of supplies from running. The British arrested many protesters, which only led to a bigger response from the nationalist Indians.
Arguably one of the largest displays of Indian nationalism was at Salt March in 1930.

Gandhi sent a letter with a wide-range of demands and the idea that everyone in Indian society could identify with them and become unified. (Kumar). Gandhi and his followers marched hundreds of miles in unity as a sign of devotion to their cause and beliefs. Those in the march were brutally beaten yet they kept marching. The world watched the Salt March, and as a result, Gandhi won worldwide support for his cause. Before his march, Gandhi had this to say, “I have faith in the righteousness of our cause and the purity of our weapons. And where the means are clean, there God is undoubtedly present with His blessings.” (Gandhi). This statement perfectly embodies the nationalist movement and what he was trying to convey with his

march.
The last big push by the Indian nationalists was the Quit India Movement. This was a movement that began in 1942 during World War 2. The Indian Congress Committee, under the urging of Gandhi, called for a British withdrawal. (Pariona). “Formed in 1885, the Indian National Congress dominated the Indian movement for independence from Great Britain.” (Britannica). This committee played a strong part in the nationalist movement to get rid of British control of India. In one of his speeches, Gandhi outlines his intentions for this movement. “Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a nonviolent fight for India’s independence. In a violent struggle, a successful general has been often known to effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship. But under the Congress scheme of things, essentially nonviolent as it is, there can be no room for dictatorship.” (Quit India). At this point, the Indian nationalists are finally ready to make the push for complete independence from Britain. British officials arrested nearly everyone in the Indian National Congress, and this set Indian into mass civil disobedience again. “‘The Quit India’ movement, more than anything, united the Indian people against British rule. Although most demonstrations had been suppressed by 1944, upon his release in 1944 Gandhi continued his resistance and went on a 21-day fast. By the end of the Second World War, Britain's place in the world had changed dramatically and the demand for independence could no longer be ignored.” (Making Britain). The world had finally recognized India and at last, India finally gained Independence from Britain.
Let us not forget that Southeast Asia also developed nationalism, and it was developed for a lot of the same reasons as Indian nationalism was developed. Like India, a big colonizer was the British, but there were also the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese. These European powers wanted to expand, explore new markets and trading routes, get raw material, and spread their culture and politics. “The rise of modern nationalism in the region can be credited to capitalist development, the availability of Western education, the adoption of vernacular languages and the spread of the vernacular press.” (Vu). A lot of Southeast Asian states were transformed into a modern nation state. A lot of small nationalist groups formed a wanted to gain independence from their colonizing power. We see this occur first in the Philippines and Burma. Due to the size of Southeast Asia, it is hard to follow a specific nationalist movement, but one could say that there were different types of movements such as communist, political, or religious. The communists formed as a nationalist movement to gain independence. “During this time, the Americans feared the expansion of communism and thus, provided military assistance to the French in Vietnam, However, in 1954, the French lost and they had to come to terms with the communists. Indonesia is another country, which fought for its national identity and gained independence from western imperialists.” (Development). This movement helped the French realize that they really couldn’t maintain Vietnam, just like the British finally realized they couldn’t maintain the Indians. There were many other small nationalism movements and groups that were used in order to push for the freedom of their homelands. Overall, you can draw a lot of similarities between nationalism in India and Southeast Asia.