5. The Bengal Famine Flashcards
When did the famine take place?
• 1943-44
What we’re the main causes of the famine?
- a run of poor harvests.
- distribution failures.
- loss of imports.
- war time price inflation.
- severe weather conditions.
- the crop yield in 1943- was the worst of that century.
What diseases did the famine cause men, women and children to die from?
- small pox.
- malaria.
- cholera.
- pneumonia.
How did the famine effect annual death rates in India?
• the rise from an average of 1.2 million per year to 1.9 million per year.
How did the starving try to take action during the famine?
- they crowded into Calcutta in their thousands.
- here they begged for relief.
- many died in the streets.
How did the fear of Japanese invasion worsen the situation?
- those who had money began to hoard food.
* fears grew that the famine would work as a recruiting agent for the Indian National Army.
By may 1943, what had happened to the price of rice?
• it had risen by ten times as much.
How did Wavell take action to try and stop the famine getting worse?
- he coordinated rationing.
- he tried to stop profiteering.
- he diverted troops from the war effort to do this.
How did Churchill and Roosevelt worsen the situation? Why did they do this?
- Churchill refused to divert British merchant shipping in order to take grain to starving Bengal.
- Roosevelt refused to lend American ships to bring in wheat form Australia.
- both leaders were afraid of damaging the own war effort.
How many people does over the 3 years of the famine?
- estimated say between 1 and 3 million.
* in some places whole villages were wiped out.
What did Jinnah think of the British governments handling of the famine?
- he thought they had been incompetent and irresponsible.
- he said that Churchill’s government wouldn’t have lasted if people had been dying of starvation in London the same way they had been in Calcutta.
What did Congress blame the famine on?
• the diversion of food stuffs to British troops.
How did Congress and the Muslim League use the famine in their favour?
• they used it as political capital.
What did Wavell try and battle for with Whitehall?
What was Churchill’s response to this?
- buying more grain for India.
- Churchill was still focused on the war effort, taking scientific advisory Lord Cherwell’s claim that the famine was a statistical intervention.
What was Wavells request for a million tons of grain to Whitehall in 1944 met with?
- an offer of 250,000 tons.
- a British request for Indian rice.
- by June 1944 however, Wavell had managed to extract 450,000 tons of grain from the reluctant government.
