1 The First World War and its impact on British India,1914-20

Question 1

What are the 3 institutions which provided the ‘top down’ structure of the governance of India and were intended to ensure British Control of the subcontinent in the 1914’s?

Answer 1

1) The Viceroy
2) The Secretary of State
3) The Council of India

Question 2

What was the role of the Viceroy (1914)?

Answer 2

• He was a political appointment made in Westminster
• represented the British Crown in India.
• he worked from Delhi
• had a staff of 700 and a salary twice as much as the British Prime Minister.

Question 3

What was the role of the Secretary of State?

Answer 3

• A political appointment
• responsible for the development of government policy towards India and answerable to parliament
• He was guided by the Council of India, based in London

Question 4

What was the role of the Council of India?

Answer 4

• He guided and advised the secretary of state

- Based in London

Question 5

Why was the role of the Council of India unreliable?

Answer 5

• Based in London
• Consisted of 15 men, none of them were Indian, but most of them had some sort of experience of living and working in India.
• As a result this meant that their experience was often alarmingly out-of-date and occasionally dangerously inappropriate.

Question 6

What was the Indian Civil Service ?

Answer 6

• It ensured that British laws,rules and regulations were implemented in India.
• It was hierarchical in structure, with power filtering down from the Crown to the humblest local official.

Question 7

What was the process of young men wanting to get into the Indian Civil Service?

Answer 7

• They first had to pass a competitive examination

- And then spend time in India working with a district officer.

Question 8

What were the activities the Indian Civil Service had to do?

Answer 8

From Tax assessments to dealing with rogue elephants

Question 9

Were Indians allowed to be apart of the Indian Civil Service?

Answer 9

• While it was possible, the route of acceptance, involving exams in the London and higher education at British University, made this virtually impossible.
• It wasn’t until 1919 that the examinations for the Indian civil service were held in Delhi and Rangoon as well as London.

Question 10

What percentage of India was ruled by the Princes?

Answer 10

35% , consisting of 562 separate states

Question 11

What were the princely states?

Answer 11

• Hyderabad
• Kathiwar
• Rulers of the states had in theory, complete authority over those whom they ruled
• Patrice was somewhat different as they all had treaty arrangements with Britain and these treaties allowed a certain degree of local autonomy.
  
  • each state kept its own languages,laws,holidays,minister and rulers.
    - but each state was under the ‘protection’; of Britain

Question 12

What was the Hindu Caste system?

Answer 12

-Your Caste was ascribed at birth and it was pre-determined and there was no movement from castes.

1) Brahmin (priests)
2) Kshatriya (Warriors)
3) Vaishya (Traders)
4) Shudras (Labourers/cultivators)
5) Untouchables/Dalits (Sweepers/washers)

Question 13

Which minority group formed the largest in India and what about the rest?

Answer 13

1) Muslims formed about 20%

2) Sikhs and Christians were the smallest minority religious groups.

Question 14

What was the 2 main importance of India to Britain?

Answer 14

1) Importance of trade

2) Trade and investment

Question 15

How was Indian’s economic role vital to Britain’s position in the world?

Answer 15

1) As a provider of raw materials for Britain industry
2) market for British manufactured good (at first it was cotton but after iron, steel,engineering products)
3) India supplied Britain with raw cotton,rice,tea,oil-seed,wheat)

-The opening of the ‘Suez-canal’ 1809 (running between Mediterranean and the Red Sea), greatly reduced travelling time between both countries,reducing cost of transportation.

Question 16

What were the tariffs and investments which Britain imposed on India?

Answer 16

1) Towards the end of the 19th century British government unashamedly made India subordinate to the needs of the Lancashire cotton industry . In 1879, all import duties on Lancashire cotton cloth were removed, following the Indian Cotton Industry desperately needed support and famine stalked the land.
- 3 years later tariffs on all British goods were removed
- Tariff control was one factor fastened on by Indian nationalists as 20th century progressed.

2) Investment in India came in the form of people too:
- India provided employment for the British people who worked for Indian Civil Service ,education, medicine…
- Colonial employees received pensions paid for by India
- Indian army had the biggest man power commitment was needed enabling Britain to have a secure presence in Asia.

Question 17

What were the British and Indian attitudes towards each other?

Answer 17

• Wealth Raj officials, as well people in high-earning professions (bankers/lawyers) lived in the great 18th century houses built for the East India company merchants: lesser officials occupied newly built bungalows in India an cities (Bombay, Calcutta,Madras)
• In India, the British did their best trying to establish the sort of houses they would have in Britain (e.g. by furniture, china were all shipped out) making the separation from Indian society even more obvious.

Question 18

What happened to the British who ere living ‘close to the edge’?

Answer 18

1) Missionaries-whose poverty and desire to live among the Indians made them deeply suspect to the ruling classes.
2) Anglo-Indians were equally suspect (110,000 at beginning of the 20th century), they were accepted by neither the British nor the Indians
- dressed in European clothes
- Women wore lighter makeup

Question 19

What were the 3 factors which led to Indian National Congress?

Answer 19

1) The Indian National Congress
2) The Muslim League
3) The Indian Councils Act 1909

Question 20

What was the Indian National Congress?

Answer 20

• Delegates at the first meeting of the Indian National Congress in 1885 were mainly high-caste Hindus, all of whom spoke English (Lawyers/journalists)
• There were also British delegates too
  
  • 2 Muslims attended;3 years later 83/600 attended.
• The Indian National Congress met every year util the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 and became a powerful voice for Indian Nationalism.
• At this stage congress was a discussion on forum not a political party.

Question 21

What was the Muslim League?

Answer 21

• Initially formed in 1906 in Dhaka and was the voice of the Muslims
• Muslims main problem was that they were in the minority in every state .
• The situation changed radically once the Raj began to move tentatively towards a more democratic situation.
  
  • Muslims were always outvoted.

Question 22

What the Indian Councils Act 1909?

Answer 22

Indian Councils Act of 1909, also called Morley-Minto Reforms, series of reform measures enacted in 1909 by the British Parliament, the main component of which directly introduced the elective principle to membership in the imperial and local legislative councils in India. The act was formulated by John Morley, secretary of state for India (1905–10).

1) 60 Indian representatives were to be elected to serve on the Viceroys Executive Council:27 of these were to be elected from territorial constituencies and special interests groups. However, officials remained in the majority.
2) The provincial councils were to be enlarged so as to create non-official majorities.
3) Separate electorates were provided for Muslims and Hindus in order to allow the minority Muslims to have a voice in the various councils.

Question 23

What was India’s response to the outbreak of WW1?(1914-1918)

Answer 23

1) Deceleration of loyalty and support for Britain came from all sections of Indian Society:
- 27 of the largest princely states put their armies at the disposal of Britain and commissioned , fitted and provisioned a hospital ship.
- Even Bal Tilak the leader of the extremists factions n congress, declared his loyalty.
- Gandhi, urged Indians to give such service, as they felt capable of performing in order to show their desire to share in responsibilities of membership of the British Empire.

2) By November 1918 some 827,000 Indians had enlisted as combinations in addition to those already serving in 1914 when the first world war began.
- Around 64,500 Indian Soldiers died in the war.

Question 24

What were the Indian attitudes to fighting for WW1?

Answer 24

1) For most Indian soldier going to war was part of their well-established ancestral tradition of obligation to whoever was their emperor.
2) Few claimed to be fighting for India

Question 25

What military contribution did India give during WW1?

Answer 25

1)The fist Indian expeditionary force made up of some 16,000 British and 28,500 Indian troops of the Lahore and Meerut divisions.
2) The Seanderbad Calvary, embarked from Karachi on 24 August 1914, reaching Marseilles on 26 September.
-They got to the Western Front in time for the Battle of Ypres (19 Oct-22 Nov 1914).
-Heavy losses : 764 fighting men and by early November the 47th Sikhs were down to 385 fit soldiers.
3)In early 1915, the Indian regiments were restored,but were soon back in the trenches.
-They provided half of the allied fighting force and the Lahore division was thrown into the counter-attack out the Second Batty of Ypres in April 1915.
4)In December 1915, 2 infantry divisions were withdrawn from France and sent to the Middle East, due to:
1-Climate changes
2-Easier for transport for goods
-Indians were badly equipped in Iraq
5)In December 1915, the British force was besieged at Kut-Al-Amara and eventually surrendered to the Turks on 29 April 1916.
-Thousands of British/Indian troops had to take part in a forced march across the desert to Turkish prisoner of war camps.
-Hundreds died on the way
6)By the end of the war in November 1918, 1.5 million Indians had been recruited into combatant and non-combatant rules and nearly all of them together with 184,350 animals ha been sent overseas where over 60,000 Indian troops died.

Question 26

What were the economic contribution did India give during WW1?

Answer 26

1) India revenues had contributed over £146 million to the allied war effort.
- About half of this amount made up of war loans, which in 1917 raised £35.5 million and in 1918 a further £38 million.
2) Military expenditure had risen dramatically too, and revenue demands in India were raised by 16% in the years 1916-17 and 10% in the years 1918-19.

Question 27

What were the negative economic impact in India after WW1?

Answer 27

1) Civilians felt the effects were :increased taxation, shortages of fuel , rising prices, safety of loved ones fighting.
2) Disrupted trading, creating exchange rate problems and imposed the demands of the military. As a result:
- prices of food grains rose by 93%
- Indian made goods=60%
- imported goods=190%
- the situation was worsened due to monsoon rains.

Question 28

What are the positive economic impact in India after WW1?

Answer 28

1) Indian manufacturing industries particularly cotton, iron, steel,sugar expanded in order to replace goods normally imported.
2) Shareholders saw their dividends increase.
3) By 1918, the Viceroy’s office was receiving regular reports from provincial legislatures of food riots, petty violence and rioting.
4) By March 1915, there was not a single British battalion left in India.

Question 29

What was the Montagu Deceleration? (August 1917)

Answer 29

Edwin Montagu(the secretary of state for India) announced in the House of Commons a fresh approach to the governance of India.
-On 20th August 1917, Montagu presented the historic Montagu Declaration (August Declaration) in the British Parliament. This declaration proposed the increased participation of Indians in the administration and the development of self-governing institutions in India.
-In 1917, Montagu visited India and held talks with the various representatives of Indian polity including Mahatma Gandhi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He, along with the Governor-General of India Lord Chelmsford, brought out a detailed report titled Constitutional Reforms in India, also called the Montagu-Chelmsford Report. This report was published on 8th July 1918.
-In particular he was critical o Michael O’Dwyer (governor of Punjab) who opposed to anymore Indian participation in government.
-This report became the basis for the Government of India Act 1919 (alternatively called the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms or Montford Reforms).
-The report was rejected by most Indian leaders. Annie Besant (Born on October 1st, 1847) referred to it as ‘unworthy to be offered by England or to be accepted by India’.

Question 30

When was the Montagu Decleration published?

Answer 30

20 August 1917

Question 31

What was the Defence of India Act?(1915)

Answer 31

It was a temporary measure fr the duration of the war and for 6 months afterwards . It was intended to stop to activities. Protests was forbidden: there was a war to be won. The Act gave the viceroy the power to issue regulations in order to secure public safety and to ensure India was appropriately defended . Most Indians expected this Act to be early in 1919, but the British government had other ideas.

Question 32

Which act was similar to the Defence of India Act?

Answer 32

Defence of Realm Act , which applied to the United Kingdom.

Question 33

What was the Rowlatt Act?

Answer 33

Based on the report produced by the Rowlatt Commission, which recommended the continuation of repressive measures such as limiting the right to a jury trial in the case of certain political offenses and the suspension of habeas corpus through a provision that suspects might be detained because they were suspected of sedition. The provisions of the Rowlatt Act developed from measures in the Defence of India Act of 1915 to detain those who were defined as a threat to the security of the state while it was involved in fighting a war. The Defence of India Act was considered a temporary and “emergency” piece of legislation that was to deal with the extraordinary context of war. Intended as a “preventive” measure that authorized the internment and detention of those who were politically subversive, it was used to detain revolutionaries, terrorists, members of opposition political parties, Germans, and others of suspicious political affiliation.

Question 34

What were the consequences to the the Rowlatt Acts?

Answer 34

1) Indian Legislative Council
2) Jinnah resigned
3) The Raj was seen as duplicitous supporting on one hand the Montague deceleration and the other recession .
4) Opposition fared up
- Amritsar Hartals were organised for 30 March and 6 April 1919
5) The attack on 2 doctors caused rioting, initially in their support but quickly becoming a general anti-raj protest.
6) By 11 April, over 100 terrified and exhausted European women had taken refuge in the Gobindargh Fort, trying to find safety.
- The British has lost control over Amritsar

Question 35

When did the Rowlatt Acts become a law?

Answer 35

March 1919

Question 36

What/who triggered the Amritsar Massacre?

Answer 36

Th governor of the Punjab: Michael O’Dwyer was convinced that the rioting in Amritsar was part of a carefully planned uprising , luring Indian soldiers into mutiny. So, his reaction to the situation in Amritsar was to treat it as the first in a general insurrection aimed at overthrowing the Raj. He then sent in troops

Question 37

What are the main events of the Amritsar Massacre?

Answer 37

1) 12 April- General Rex Dyer led a force of some 1,000 soldiers into Amritsar.
- He was met with jeering crowds who found out about his arrival.
2) 13 April- ‘Baisakhi Day’(one of the most important religious festivals in Punjab) . Thousands of pilgrims flocked into Amritsar to worship at the Golden Temple; horses and cattle fairs joined
3) Arrangements were also made for political meeting in part of Jawallia Bagh so that people could voice their opinions on the Rowlatt Acts.
4) Fearing trouble Dyer ordered proclamations to be read out , warning against the upholding of meetings and establishing a curfew.
- However, 10,000-20,000 Punjabi’s ignored the curfew.
5) Without any warning Dyer ordered his troops to shoot.- General William Beyhan approved of his decisions.
6) Following on from Mutiny, Dyer’s actions towards Indians did not improve as he declared the martial law. This was aimed at ‘humiliating the Indians who lived in Amritsar’and stated that any Indian who passed Dyer or any other European had to salaam, if they failed to do so they were ‘flogged or arrested and made to suffer indignities.’This was massively embarrassing for the people of Amritsar and showed further disgrace on the part of the British, demonstrating the lack of remorse from General Dyer for his careless actions. Not only this but in a testimony Dyer admitted that he had intended to teach the people of the Punjab a lesson and that ‘there could be no question of undue severity.’

Question 38

How many Indians were wounded and killed during the Amritsar Massacre?

Answer 38

1) 1,650 rounds of live ammunition in 10-15 minutes.
2) 400 Killed
3) 1,500 wounded

Question 39

What was the impact of the Amritsar Massacre in Britain?

Answer 39

1) Opinions were divided as on one hand Dyer was seen as brave and courageous. On the other hand, Dyer had destroyed all possibility of Indian nationalist and the Raj working together to create a secure sub-continent.
2) Furious debates in the Houses of Commons ended with a motion to censure Dyer being carried also in the Lords ended in support for Dyer.

Question 40

What was the impact of the Amritsar Massacre in India?

Answer 40

1) The Punjab sub-committee of the Indian National Congress set up its own enquiry.
- Examined 1,700 witnesses and published 650 verified statements.
- Included photographs
- Created anger and resentment among the Indian subjects of the Raj.

Question 41

What was the report which was a committee set up in search of the truth behind Amritsar Massacre?

Answer 41

Hunter Report:
Which was initiated by Montague who was angered by the massacre report, led by Hunter the chairman of the Hunter Committee.
-This report led to the resignation of Dyer

Question 42

What were the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms?

Answer 42

The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more briefly known as Mont-Ford Reforms were reforms introduced by the colonial government in British India to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in India. … The provinces were to follow the Dual Government System or Dyarchy.

Question 43

What were the problems to the Government of India Act?

Answer 43

1) Monatagu saw this as a step towards Indian Self-government
2) Right-wing members of parliament thought they would soon lose India.

Question 44

How did Indian Nationalism develop in India?

Answer 44

1) The Indian National Congress and the emergence of Gandhi.
2) The Lucknow Pact and the role of Jinnah
3) Home Rule Leagues

Question 45

How did Congress change during 1914?

Answer 45

The role of the Congress changed due to the emergence of Gandhi:

• lawyer
• He worked on developing connections with 2 important communities : Muslims and businessmen

Question 46

What term did Gandhi believe in?

Answer 46

‘Satyagraha’-truth which he applied to his non-cooperation with the British officials

Question 47

How did the Lucknow Pact come about?

Answer 47

An agreement between congress and the Muslim League to pressure the British government to adopt a more liberal approach in India. This was because:
1-Muslim League thought that the British were no longer sympathetic to separate electorates
2-The deceleration of war against Turkey in November 1914 caused resentment amongst the Muslims as they regarded the Sultan of Turkey as their Caliph/
3-Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a member of the congress and League and he himself never liked the idea of separate electorates.

Question 48

What did the Lucknow Pact of 1916 state?

Answer 48

1) Separate electorates for all communities

2) Number of Muslims in the provincial legislatures should be laid down province by province.

Question 49

What were the 2 Home Rule Leagues?

Answer 49

1) Bal Tilak’s Home rule leagues operated in Western India and rapidly gained 32,000 members.
2) The All Indian home rule leagues started by Anne Besant, grew more slowly but soon had a network of committees that covered most of India.

Question 50

What did the Home rule leagues do?

Answer 50

1) Focused on domestic affairs
2) Besant and Tilak toured widely giving lectures using pamphlets, rallies and etc.. to generate interest.
- attracted congress and Jinnah who joined Besant’s home rule league in 1917.
3) Their way of attracting awareness was favoured by Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’.
4) Tilak was arrested for sedition and required to put 40,000 drupes as surety of good behaviour.
5) Besant was interned in June 1917.

Question 51

What was the reaction to the Government of India Act of 1919?

Answer 51

1) Many people, mainly Hindu’s hated the idea of ‘reserved’ seats. As it was seen as anti’democratic.
2) Rowlatt Act was nearly wrecked the Government of India Act.
3) Indian National Congress rejected the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and boycotted the first elections held under the 919 Act.

Question 52

What was the significance of the Amritsar Massacre 1919?

Answer 52

1) Official response was the Hunter Commission and the Report by Indian National Congress.
2) Gandhi tried to use his idea of ‘Satyagraha’ in April 1919 which worked in previous occasions.
- his idea was to hold a series of hartals throughout India,using the form of direct, non-violent action to break the impulse between provinces.
- Erupted in violence
3) Gandhi called a stop to the Rowlatt Satyagraha
- A lesson that Satyagraha would only work if everyone involved understood its basic tenets and did not use it as a pretext to follow other agendas.
4) By the end of 1919, Amritsar and its aftermath had turned thousands of loyal Indians against the Raj.
- This revealed British rule and the independence was looking non-existent.