The Road to Independence, 1942-48 Flashcards

1
Q

When did Wavell serve as Viceroy of India?

A

1943-47

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2
Q

Why were the Allied powers in a poor position by the beginning of 1942?

A

Hitler controlled the Balkans and invaded Russia; Nazi’s were in striking distance of the Suez Canal and France had fallen to the Nazi onslaught

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3
Q

Where in Asia fell to the Japanese over the course of WWII?

A

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaya , Indonesia

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4
Q

Which Indian ports were attacked by Japanese ships and aircraft during WWII/in 1942?

A

Calcutta, Madras and other ports on the Bay of Bengal

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5
Q

What finally removed the sea-borne threat to India?

A

US Navy attack on the Japanese at the Battle of the Coral Sea

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6
Q

What was Sir Stafford Cripps’ title?

A

Lord privy seal

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7
Q

Who had been pressuring Churchill to make some concessions to the Indians?

A

Pressure from his war cabinet colleagues such as Clement Attlee and Leo Amery and from the Allies - USA, USSR, China

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8
Q

Why was Cripps arguably a good person to task with negotiating a deal with the Indians?

A

Labour party minister, friends with Nehru and Gandhi, and personally sympathetic to the Indian cause

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9
Q

What was included in the Cripps Offer of 1942?

A

the formation of an Indian Union with dominion status and the right to secede from the British Commonwealth

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9
Q

What were Indians asked to concede in exchange for what was offered in the Cripps Offer?

A

Invited to join an interim govt of national unity under the viceory and his Council until the war ended

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10
Q

How did Linlithgow respond to the failure of the Cripps Offer?

A

Stepped up censorship and intercepts of Congress comms

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11
Q

What flawed plan did Linlithgow propose to deal with the threat posed by Congress?

A

Deport Congress leaders to Uganda

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12
Q

When did Congress launch their Quit India campaign?

A

8th of August 1942

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13
Q

How did the British immediately respond to the start of the Quit India campaign?

A

The day after Quit India was launched, the British rounded up and imprisoned the Congress leaders and within a fortnight thousands of local activists were imprisoned. Offices were raided and funds were frozen

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14
Q

What are some examples of what Indians did during the Quit India campaign?

A

Attacked revenue offices, police stations along with signal boxes and railway tracks which impacted the war effort considerably.

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15
Q

What was the impact of a lack of strong leadership from above during the Quit India campaign?

A

horrific round of riots, killings, attacks on Europeans and on govt property

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16
Q

How many soldiers went absent without leave during the Quit India campaign?

A

Only 216

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17
Q

What did Wavell do upon being appointed Viceroy?

A

Toured the subcontinent

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18
Q

What areas did he Wavell focus on and why?

A

Troubled areas such as the Punjab, Bengal and the United Provinces. Did this in order to settle dispures, allay fears and boost morale

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19
Q

What did Wavell do - which in Linlithgow’s 7 years as viceroy - had never done?

A

Reinstated meetings of the 11 governors of the provinces of British India

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20
Q

When was the Bengal Famine?

A

1943-44

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21
Q

What was the annual death rate in 1943 in Bengal?

A

1.9 in 1943

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22
Q

How many died in Bengal during the famine?

A

1-3 million

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22
Q

What diseases became widespread in Bengal as a result of malnutrition?

A

smallpox, malaria , cholera and pneumonia

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23
Q

By what amount did the price of rice increase in 1943 in Bengal?

A

tenfold

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24
Q

What did Roosevelt refuse to do, which would have helped alleviate the famine in Bengal?

A

Refused to lend American ships to bring in wheat from Australia

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25
Q

Why did Jinnah reject the Cripps Offer?

A

He had to reject it for the ML to remain part of the constitution-making process

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26
Q

What should Churchill have done to avert such a serious famine in Bengal?

A

Should have diverted British merchant shipping to India

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27
Q

How many tons of grain did Wavell negotiate to be sent to India?

A

450,000 tonnes in 1944

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28
Q

When was the Simla Conference?

A

Spring of 1945

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29
Q

Why was the Simla Conference arranged by the British?

A
  1. Britain was millions of pounds in debt to India from the war effort
  2. There was increasing terrorist activity and unrest in India
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30
Q

What change to the Executive Council was proposed at Simla?

A

It would have balanced representation of the main communities incl equal proportions of Muslims and Hindus

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31
Q

How many Indian political leaders attended the Simla Conference?

A

21

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32
Q

Who was the Muslim president of Congress in 1945?

A

Azad

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33
Q

Over what issue did the Simla Conference of 1945 founder/fail?

A

Issues on how the Muslim members of the Exec council would be chosen - Jinnah wanted them to be of the ML only, Gandhi wanted it open to all

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34
Q

Indian imports of British goods fell from £83 million between 1928-29 to how much in the years 1935-6?

A

fallen to 39 mil

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35
Q

The imports of which British made product in particular collapsed?

A

Lancashire cotton

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36
Q

What changed with the creation of the Reserve Bank of India in 1931?

A

The Rupee was no longer tied to the Sterling

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37
Q

How much was paid each year by the British towards the running costs of the Indian army?

A

1.5 mil per year from 1933

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38
Q

What did the British government agree to pay for in 1939 for the Indian military?

A

Army modernisation programme

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39
Q

What was the Reserve Bank of India’s sterling balance by 1945?

A

1.3 Billion

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40
Q

What was Britain’s post-WWII debt owed mostly to America?

A

21 billion in national debt

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41
Q
A
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42
Q

How many Indian officers were there by 1945?

A

15,740

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43
Q

In what document did Roosevelt announce his support for self-determination?

A

Atlantic Charter in 1941

44
Q

Who was the President of the All-Hindu Mahasabha?

A

Vinayak Savarkar

45
Q

How many seats did Labour win in the July 1945 elections?

A

393

46
Q

Who was glad at the election of a Labour government in 1945?

A

Nehru - he was ideologically close to Attlee

47
Q

What had been loosely agreed between Congress and Labour in 1938?

A

They agreed to pass an independence bill as soon as they came to power

48
Q

Who was the Labour Prime Minister between 1945-51?

A

Clement Attlee

49
Q

Who was in Labour’s new India Committee?

A

Lord Pethwick-Lawrence (academic, not pragmatic) and Henderson a junior minister + Benn, former viceroy and education minister Wilkinson

50
Q

When was a Cabinet Mission sent to India? Who was it made up of?

A

March 1946 - 3 Labour MPs

51
Q

Where does the name ‘Pakistan’ come from?

A

Composed of letters taken from the names of all of the Muslim provinces

52
Q

When were the first post-WWII Indian elections held?

A

Spring of 1946

53
Q

How many Indians were being demobilised in 1945/6 after WWII?

A

7 million

54
Q

Who mutinied in February 1946? How many?

A

20,000 sailors and their officers in Karachi, Bombay and Calcutta

55
Q

1946 What percentage of Muslim votes did the Muslim League win in the elections?

A

75% of all Muslim votes

56
Q

1946 What percentage of seats were won by Congress?

A

90%

57
Q

1946 What percentage of seats reserved for Muslims were won by the Muslim League?

A

90% of all Muslim seats

58
Q

How many seats did the Muslim League win in the central assembly in 1946?

A

30 (all of the reserved seats for Muslims)

59
Q

1946 In what provinces did the Muslim League form its own government?

A

Bengal and Sind

60
Q

1946 Where were results fairly ambiguous, with a non-Muslim coalition taking hold?

A

Punjab

61
Q

What did the Cabinet Mission aim to achieve?

A

Resolve India’s constitutional problems

62
Q

What did Attlee want the Cabinet Mission to do?

A

Do everything possible to maintain a united India

63
Q

Who was notably ignored by the Cabinet Mission?

A

Sikhs and Princes

64
Q

When was the second Simla Conference held?

A

May 1946

65
Q

What had the Cabinet mission in 1946 proposed?

A

3 tiered federal structure

66
Q

What was meant to be responsible for defence, foreign policy and internal communication, along with the powers to raise finances?

A

The All India Union

67
Q

What were meant to be the Congress Hindu heartlands?

A

Madras,Bombay,Orissa and United and Central Provinces

68
Q

What were meant to be Muslim / predominantly Muslim areas?

A

North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Punjab + the Bengal and Assam were slightly in favour of Muslims

69
Q

Who refused to accept the Cabinet Proposal / May statement?

A

Congress

70
Q

What was stated in the June Statement?

A

The viceroy would select members of the interim government

71
Q

What did Jinnah announce in response to the failure of the June Statement?

A

Repudiated all agreements with Cabinet Mission and called for a universal hartal - he also told Muslims to prep for Direct Action

72
Q

How many were killed in Calcutta within 72 hours?

A

more than 5,000 dead

73
Q

How many were made homeless during Direct Action?

A

100,000

74
Q

Jinnah said Pakistan was worth the sacrifice of how many Muslim lives?

A

10 million Muslims

75
Q

Who did Congress try to remove?

A

Wavell

76
Q

What post did Jinnah reluctantly accept?

A

Finance minister

77
Q

Who was Prime Minister of the interim governments sworn in on 2nd September 1946?

A

Nehru

78
Q

Who did Jinnah send to join the Executive Council on his behalf?

A

Liaqut Ali-Khan

79
Q

What did Wavell propose, which was rejected by Attlee?

A

An evacuation plan

80
Q

When was Wavell removed from his post as Viceroy? Who was the final Viceroy?

A

Wavell was removed on the 31st of Jan 1947 and Mountbatten replaced him

81
Q

What was ‘Plan Balkan’?

A

Allowed the Indian states and provinces to decide their own future

81
Q

When did Attelee announce the transfer of power to ‘responsible Indian hands’? What was the deadline given?

A

Announced on 20th February, 1947, that the final deadline was 30th of June 1948

82
Q

Why did Attlee not want the partition of India?

A

Dividing a huge land mass on religious lines was a seriously retrograde step

83
Q

Where did riots break out in 1947?

A

Punjab

84
Q

What percentage of the population was Muslim in the Punjab in 1947?

A

56%

85
Q

Where was there a civil disobedience campaign launched by the League against Congress 1947?

A

North West Province

86
Q

Where did Hindus kill Muslims on a large scale?

A

Bihar

87
Q

What did Gandhi do as sectarian violence swept across India?

A

Began long-distance walks and spoke to the illiterate masses

88
Q

What was revealed to Nehru in a private meeting with Mountbatten?

A

Plan Balkan

89
Q

what did the final Mountbatten plan call for?

A

Complete separation of India and Pakistan

90
Q

Who designed the partition plan for India?

A

Sir Cyril Radcliffe

91
Q

What illness was slowly killing Jinnah?

A

Tuberculosis

92
Q

Why was Sir Cyril Radcliffe well suited for the job of partition?

A

Not biased - He had no previous experience in India whatsoever

93
Q

What was the impact of leaks regarding the Boundary Commission?

A

Pressure from political parties was applied on the Boundary commission to change its collective mind

94
Q

How many subjects of the Princes had volunteered for the Indian armed forces?

A

300,000

94
Q

What town swapped from being in Pakistan to India on the basis of Nehru/Congress lobbying?

A

Firozpur

94
Q

How much had the Princes bought in war bonds during WWII?

A

180 million rupees worth

95
Q

Who was the head of India’s Political Department, eventually removed from office by Mountbatten?

A

Conrad Corfield

96
Q

What had Corfield authorised before losing his position?

A

burning of 4 tons worth of documents listing the princes’ misdemeanours over the years

97
Q

What did Mountbatten insist the Princes had to do?

A

accede either to India or Pakistan

98
Q

What percentage of India’s assets were located to future India, post partition?

A

82.5%

99
Q

How many became refugees during partition?

A

10 million people

100
Q

How many lost their lives during partition?

A

around 1 million

100
Q

How many British soldiers were dispatched to bring order along the new frontiers?

A

50,000

101
Q

How did Jinnah describe the final Pakistan border?

A

moth eaten

102
Q

What was the basis for India and Pakistan’s constitutions?

A

The govt of India Act 1935 - 250 identical clauses

103
Q

Who killed Gandhi and when?

A

Nathuram Gose on 30th of Jan 1948 as he addressed a prayer meeting in Delhi

104
Q

Who was Pakistan’s first prime minister and what happened to him in 1951?

A

Ali Khan - assassinated

104
Q

How many Muslims remained in India?

A

30 million

105
Q

When did East Pakistan become the independent state of Bangladesh?

A

1971