4B. WW2 Flashcards
What was the Cripps Mission 1942?
- Delegation headed by Sir Stafford Cripps to secure full Indian cooperation and support for war effort
- Arrived in New Delhi on 23rd March 1942
Sir Stafford Cripps:
- Labour MP
- Friend of Gandhi / Nehru
- Personally sympathetic to Indian rule
Why did the Cripps Mission 1942 fail?
Nothing new offered
(all Indian parties invited to join in an interim government of national unity under Viceroy and his council, operating until the end of the war etc. )
Why did Congress and the ML both reject 1942 Cripps Mission?
- Congress rejects mission, but willing to join interim government on basis that it acted like that of Westminster
- Jinnah willing to accept Cripps because it implied feasibility of separate states, but had to reject it if ML was to remain part of constitution making process.
What were the effects of the Cripps Mission 1942?
- Both sides hardened attitudes to constitutional change afterwards
- Linlithgow increased press censorship and intercepted Congress communications via special branch - anticipated the start of the 1942 Quit India campaign?
What was Congress’s reaction to Gandhi’s pressure to partake in the 1942 Quit India campaign?
- Satyagraha in 1942 would set Congress against the Raj, making concilliation difficult if the allies won
- However, not acting might give an advantage to Jinnah or Bose
Congress eventually rallied supporters for another satyagraha, sanctioned on 8th August 1942
- Spent 3 months arguing whether to support satyagraha or not, which gave British plenty of time to prepare!
How did the British respond to the 8th August 1942 Quit India campaign?
- 9 August 1942 - Gandhi, Nehru and all of Congress leaders arrested and interned.
- Thousands of local activists arrested in following weeks - offices raided and funds frozen
- 35,000 British troops made available for use against Indians
- 14 August 1942 - RAF flies sorties against crowds on railway lines - dropped flares, used machine guns if crowds did not disperse
How was the 1942 Quit India campaign led, and what were the consequences?
Gandhi ordered every demonstrator to be their own leader - realised the satyagraha would be impossible to organise from above
This led to widespread riots, killings, attacks on Europeans and damage to / destruction of governmental property, wrecking communications
- 1000 dead and 3000 seriously injured as a result of the Quit India campaign
How successful was the 1942 Quit India campaign?
Unsuccessful - campaign over by November 1942
- Failed to paralyse British government in India
- Military remained loyal to the Raj - only 216 soldiers had gone absent without leave (AWOL)
How did Wavell change the proceedings of the Viceroy upon being instated in October 1943?
- Started time in office by touring Indian subcontinent on a fact-finding mission - travelled ~1500km / week, focusing on particularly troubled areas e.g. Punjab, Bengal and the United Provinces to allay fears and boost morale
- Reinstated regular meeings of the 11 governors of India - Linlithgow had not called a single one!
What factors increased the scale of the 1943-44 Bengal famine?
- Crop yield in Bengal 1943 the worst in a century
This was worsened by:
- Distribution failure
- Loss of imports (due to war)
- War time price inflation - by May 1943, the price of rice had risen tenfold
- Severe weather conditions
How severe was the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?
- Annual death rate rose above average 1.2 million to 1.9 million
- Estimated 3 million people died in the famine
What was the Allied first response to the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?
- Churchill orginally refused to divert British merchant shipping to take wheat to Bengal - Roosevelt also refused to divert ships from Australia
- Churchill’s response was due to advice from Lord Cherwell who claimed the Bengal famine was a statistical invention
Lord Cherwell - paymaster general and one of the government’s scientific advisors
How much grain did Wavell eventually recieve to alleviate the 1943-44 Bengal famine?
- Wavell’s request for a guaranteed million tonnes of grain throughout 1944 was instead met with an offer of 250,000 tonnes and a request for Indian rice
- June 1944 - Wavell had extracted 450,000 tonnes of grain from the British government
What was the Indian reaction to the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?
- Jinnah accused the British government of incompetence, arguing that the government wouldn’t last 5 minutes if people were starving in London like they were in Bengal
- Congress blamed the famine on the diversion of foodstuffs to British troops
Both parties made political capital from the crisis
What factors influenced the decision to host the June 1945 (first) Simla Conference?
- Britain was millions of pounds in debt to India for goods and services borrowed during the war
- Increased terrorist activity and unrest in India
