The Indian independence movement was a movement against the British who had ruled over India for over 200 years. They first came to India for their raw resources. India eventually wanted to be self-sufficient and independent. Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of the Indian Independence movement and led a nonviolent revolution. Gandhi’s independence movement is very significant because it changed the life of Indians drastically from being under British rule to becoming independent.
The British easily took over and controlled the Indians because of their superior army and weapons. According to Phillips & Gritzner (46), the British had a puppet ruler and drained the various regions of their resources. The East India Company is a British company that ruled many regions in India. The East India Company had its own army and made many trading posts. Britain just had taken the riches from India and didn’t force the Indians to assimilate, so Indians did not have a huge problem with them and made treaties that helped the British. The British were very helpful by making some changes in the government to reduce corruption and helped built canals, railways, and even a postal system (Philips & Gritzner, 47) These are some of the many things they did to modernize India.
Britain was convinced that their government was better than India’s and forced the British government upon the Indian Kingdoms. They also began to take away local political power, which made the Indians unhappy and let to a rebellion in 1857. The revolt was called the Indian Uprising, and for many, it was the start of the Indian Independence movement. After the uprising, new treaties were made so that there was no interference with Indians and new limits and Indians could hold hig...
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...lly passed on August 15, 1947. After the movement, Gandhi strived to have peace between the Hindu and Muslims. His strive for unity stopped much of the fighting and killing between the two religions. He was assassinated by a Hindu extremist in 1948. One of his followers, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was first on Britain’s side, was moved by Gandhi’s movement and switched sides. He became the prime minister of India and tried making solutions to the problems of the new independent nation. The problems in the future were that their government was British based and also to settle disputes between Hindus and Muslims. This independence movement is very significant because it is the end of Britain relying on India’s raw materials. This is a very rare movement because it takes a very strong country to be able to strive for nonviolence while revolting against another country.
The “Sepoy Rebellion”/the first Indian war of independence did not start from one crucial event that may have triggered it all. This rebellion/war was a product of many small and big situations adding up. When the British East India Company first took over, they started with restricting the Indian ocean trade, which was a heavily relied on, as a source of income and goods in India. This restriction largely impacted and made a new economic structure. With the Indian trade restricted, the British benefited. The British Production system was able to flourish because they were able to use the Indian trade routes to export their goods. Most people living in India, at
The mission of Gandhi’s life was to help the people of India free themselves from British rule. Many people have struggled for independence. They have fought bloody battles or used terrorism in an attempt to achieve their goals. Gandhi’s revolution was different. He succeeded as an independence leader with the use of nonviolent methods. The young Mohandas Gandhi did not seem as a boy that would become a great leader. He changed as he studied in Britain and practiced in South Africa. He fought for the rights of Indians in both South Africa and India. Gandhi believed that all people in the world are brothers and sisters. He didn’t hate the English. Actually, he saw a lot that was good about them. His nonviolent means of revolution was referred to as satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness. Many people were influenced by satyagraha.
After the French Indian War ended, the Britain was in debt, and they also wanted to have more control of the colonies, and the colonists. They passed different acts and procedures in order to collect money, and hold the control of the colonists, and the colonies. Yet the colonists were not given any representation, and they were losing their freedoms one by one; these caused a serious tension between Britain and the colonies, which eventually lead to the American revolution, followed by the Declaration of Independence. The colonies were justified for declaring independence from England, because the king of England caused “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the states”("The
They built roads and railroads. British rule brought peace and order to the countryside. They revised the legal system to promote justice for the Indians, regardless of class. Indian landowners and princes, who still owned territory, grew rich from exporting cash crops such as cotton and jute. The British introduced the telegraph and the postal system as a means of communication.
To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4). They established schools,newspapers and telegraphs for the people of the colonies.All blessings of civilization they could not create for themselves (Doc. 1). Furthermore, the British brought 30 million acres under cultivation with large scale irrigation works, began industrialization, improved sanitation and provided an overall higher standard of living (Doc. 4). With many new establishments and institutions to staff, job opportunities opened up left and right for Indian workers.Their contributions to Indian civilization made famine all but disappear throughout India. Without the British, it’s quite possible India could not achi...
In India the British colonization had more positive affects than negative. For Instance, When the British colonized India they built 40,000 miles of railroad and 70,000 miles of paved roadway. As a result the British made it much easier to travel across India. Another good affect that the British had on India was the jump in agriculture, through large scale irrigation works. About 30 million acres were put into cultivation. Industrialization had also begun. Because of all these reasons almost no famine existed in British colonial India. The English also built many institutions in India and setup a productive government. "They have framed wise laws and have established courts of justice"(The Economic History Of India Under Early British Rule). In addition to all these positive affects, Britain also linked India to the modern world through modern science and modern thought.
Two important sources that will be used during this investigation are Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelmann and Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World by Niall Ferguson. Summary of Evidence After the Battle of Plussey in 1757, Britain gained much control over India. The British East India Company exercised power in this region instead of the Queen of England. The Company brought British soldiers and missionaries to the foreign land. The military in India was comprised of European troops and Indian troops, resulting in a variety of weapons present.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” this were one of gandhi’s quote. Gandhi was the leader of the Indian independence movement when British was ruling India. Gandhi lead India to independence and lead civil right movements all across the world. Gandhi wanted everyone to be equal and live free of class, wealth, and educational distinctions.There were a lot of different reasons on why Gandhi’s nonviolent movement worked. Three reasons why Gandhi’s movement worked is because disciplined civil disobedience, accepting jail time, and embracing the enemy.
There is no doubt that British imperialism had a large impact on India. India, having previously been an group of independent and semi-independent princedoms and territories, underwent great change under British administration. Originally intended to consolidate their hold on India by establishing a population that spoke the same language as their rulers, the British decision in the 1830s to educate Indians in a Western fashion, with English as the language of instruction, was the beginning of a chain of events, including a rise in Indian nationalism, that led to Indian resentment of British imperialism and ultimately to the loss of British control over India.
Imperialism in India lasted 190 years, from 1757 to 1947. India was taken over by the British for their interests in the potential for power and goods that were available there. However, the British were pressured to take India by some of Europe, including the French and Dutch, because they all wanted to share the resources that could be removed. The overall effects on the British imperializing India were negative.
Now, you’re probably thinking, isn’t that Mahatma Ghandi? The guy who achieved independence for India? Yes, in fact it is. Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi, more commonly known as Mahatma Ghandi was an Indian philosopher who was born on October 2nd in Porbander, India. He was the primary leader for India’s independent movement, seeking to become independent from Britain’s control. He studied law and was an advocate
Gandhi is motivated by religious means; he believes that everyone is equal in God’s eyes. He gets involved in several movements for equality, and he stresses non-violence very strongly. The Indians are very mad because British rule continues to limit their rights. They are supposed to all get fingerprinted, and their marriage laws are invalid. Gandhi’s followers vow to fight their oppressors to the death, but he discourages them from violence.
Whilst the growth of Indian nationalism put considerable pressure on the Raj, historians offer many interpretations as to the fundamental cause of Independence. Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement and subsequent campaigns meant that nationalism began to appeal to the masses and helped establish a broad based movement for Independence. However, the British were always able to supress the nationalist movements, through reform or by using force, up to the Quit India movement of 1942. British involvement in the Great War and particularly the Second World War placed them in a weaker position economically, whilst the social and political expectations of the Indian people were changing, which strengthened nationalism and discontent.
The British administered India for a period of about two centuries and brought about revolutionary changes in
...tween the Hindus and Muslims, Jinnah felt that Muslims had no future in India (Overfield 216). With the end of British rule in 1947, not only did India gain its independence but also along with it was born an other country, Pakistan where Jinnah served as the first governor (Overfield 216). With the gain of India’s independence, Gandhi was shot the following year in 1948 by a Hindu zealot who resented his commitment to Hindu – Muslim harmony (Overfield 212).