British Withdrawal From India Flashcards

Question

What happened in 1939?

Answer 1

In 1939 members of Congress-controlled ministries in the provinces resigned from office, in opposition to Indian participation in the war. The British therefore imposed a direct rule, and dealt with independence protests against the war with repression - especially the arrest of independence leaders.

Answer 2

In March 1942 Churchill, aware of the vulnerability of the British Empire in Asia, sent Sir Stafford Cripps, a Labour member of wartime coalition government, to promise the Indians full Dominion status. It conceded few changes to the government of India Act of 1935.

Answer 3

Gandhi and other Congress leaders wanted Britain to leave India entirely. In August 1942, they launched a ‘Quit India’ campaign.

Answer 4

During the 1930s, Britain increasingly retreated to their former policy of ‘divide and rule’, playing on the growing divisions within the nationalist movement.

Answer 5

- The All India Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted a separate, independent Muslim state: Pakistan. - The Hindu Congress movement, led by Gandhi, wanted a united Indian state. Although, Gandhi preached Hindu-Muslim unity, the Muslims viewed Hindu leaders with suspicion. The British favoured the Muslim league, arguing that there was a case for a Muslim ‘homeland’ within a federal India. They suggested the divisions between Hindu and Muslims provided the necessity of continued British rule, since the alternative was likely to be a bloody Hindu-Muslim civil war.

Answer 6

The Quit India 1942 campaign was where Gandhi seized upon the failure of the Cripps mission, the advances of the Japanese in south-east Asia and the general frustration with the British in India. On 7th to 8th August 1942, the All Indian Congress Committee met in Bombay and ratified the ‘Quit India’ resolution. Gandhi called for ‘Do or die’. The next day, on 9th August 1942, Gandhi, members of the Congress Working Committee and other Congress leaders were arrested by the British Government under the Defence of India Rules. The Working Committee, the All India Congress Committee and four Provincial Council Committees were declared unlawful associations. The arrest of Gandhi and the Congress leaders led to mass demonstrations throughout India.

Answer 7

The ‘Quit India’ movement was not particularly effective because the British swiftly suppressed many of the demonstrations by mass detentions; more than 100,000 people were imprisoned. However, it did unite the Indian people against British rule and, after Gandhi’s release in 1944, he continued resistance and went on a 21-day-fast.

Answer 8

Jawaharlal Nehru was a lawyer who returned to India in 1912 and joined the Indian National Congress in 1919, becoming a strong ally of Gandhi. He was elected as the INC President in 1928 and imprisoned during the anti-salt tax campaign. Re-elected as President in 1936, he supported Britain in 1939, although he gave reluctant support to Gandhi’s 1942 ‘Quit India’ campaign and was consequently imprisoned until 1945. He again became President in 1946 and India’s first Prime Minister in 1947 at independence. He died in office.

Answer 9

Nehru sought modernisation and industrialisation through state economic planning, Gandhi an agricultural, rural based society.

Answer 10

The ‘Untouchables’ leader, the British-educated lawyer Dr B.R. Ambedkar, for example, criticism Gandhi’s refusal to reject the caste system completely, even though Gandhi did call for equality between the castes.

Answer 11

There were divisions over strategies and tactics. Nehru’s rival for the leadership of the Congress Party in the 1930s, Subhas Chandra Bose, wanted the INC to adopt a more militant line. In 1939, Bose allied himself with Britain’s enemies, Germany and Japan, and in 1943, formed the Indian National Army. He died in a Japanese plane crash in August 1945.

Answer 12

The All Indian Muslim League, originally formed in 1906, worked in cooperation with Congress and had been the junior partner in the nationalist struggle. However, under Jinnah, it became more vociferous in its representation of India’s substantial Muslim minority. Jinnah disagreed with Gandhi’s tactics and campaigned for the establish,ent of safeguards for the Muslims in the movement for independence. Initially, he favoured Hindu-Muslim political cooperation, but he resigned from the Congress Party in 1920, disagreeing with the policy of non-violent protest, and by 1940 he had come to believe that there should be a separate Muslim state. Following his efforts to create Pakistan, he was appointed as the country’s first Governor-General in 1947.

Answer 13

Lord Linlithgow served as Viceroy of India from 1935 to 1943. Promoted the enfranchisement of Indians in the Government of India Act 1935. Believed that further reform would weaken the more radical elements of nationalism and give rise to ‘more responsible’ Indian politicians, who would see the wisdom of working with the British towards the longer term goal of self-government. His appeal for unity at the outbreak of WWII brought a promise of greater rights in the governance of India for the Indian people; but this was rejected by most Indian politicians. He hated Gandhi and resorted to suppression during the Indian civil disobedience campaign. Indians blames him for the division and lack of economic development in their country.

Answer 14

- the colonies led to new demands for greater autonomy in the aftermath of the war - Britain’s economic position had been severely weakened. None could really afford to fight a series of prolonged colonial wars, fighting against insurgent nationalist movements. - Japanese ended myth of ‘white invincibility’ - gave new confidence to independence movements across south east Asia - 30,000 Indian troops that had been captured by the Japanese in Singapore joined the Indian National Army which aimed to rid India and Asia of the British. They fought against them in Burma and elsewhere. Burma formed the Burma Independence Army. - the Germans came close to dislodging the British and were only driven back at the Battle of El Alamein in Nov 1942. Both the Egyptians and Palestinians saw the opportunity for exploiting British weaknesses. - Emergence of INA fighting British - Repressive policies increased Indian frustration - Cripps mission to promise full dominion status.

Answer 15

Singapore was the most important British naval base in Asia. It had been reinforced in the 1930s with massive guns to deter the Japanese or anyone else. In 1941 it was defended by 88,000 troops, British, Australian, Indian and Malaysian.

Answer 16

At the same time of Pearl Harbour in Dec 1941, General Yamashita, with a force of about 70,000, invaded Malaya. Expecting a Japanese offensive, Churchill had sent two of Britain’s most modern warships, the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse to deter the Japanese from invading. Without adequate air cover, both ships were sunk on 9 Dec 1941. Aided by their aid supremacy, the Japanese quickly conquered Malaya and attacked Singapore from the north, where the defences were at their weakest, and forced a demoralised British Army to surrender on 15 Feb 1942.

Answer 17

At the end of WWII, there were basically two schools of thought. One school - that of Winston Churchill - said keep it. As Churchill said, “India is the crown jewel of the British Empire”. However the majority of Britons accepted that it was time to give up India. Even before WWI, successive British governments had taken steps to allow for a transfer of power.

Answer 18

Gandhi’s contribution was not the techniques of civil disobedience, but understanding their larger significance. Their effort was not just to push the British out, but to bring the Indians in and bring them together. Gandhi was very careful to couch his anti-British stance in terms the British themselves would understand and sympathise with - namely that this was a question about rights; that the rights the British upheld as part of their own constitution, as part of their history, were being systematically denied to Indians.

Answer 19

Keeping order in the subcontinent required certain kinds of drastic action - police actions breaking up riots and demonstrations, throwing Gandhi into prison on a regular. The more this occurred the more it had a wearing effect on the British public, until the British became ashamed of themselves and of their empire in India. They saw a face of themselves they did not recognise. This was one one of the key reasons why the decision was made once the war was over that Britain must give up rule in India.

Answer 20

What led to Churchill’s defeat, even in the midst of the war, was an awareness that by re-electing Churchill, the British would go back to a pre-war, imperial past.

Answer 21

The Labour Government of 1945 concluded that it was no longer feasible or desirable to keep India and decided to grant India independence as soon as possible. This was for a number of reasons: - there would be widespread violent resistance which would stretch military resources to the limit if they tried to keep India. - activities of the INA and the strength of pro-independence feeling meant that the Indian army might not be reliable and large numbers of British troops might have to be deployed: a move that would be expensive and unpopular, at a time when the country was in deep economic trouble - India was no longer the great market for British cotton exports it had once been, so the cost of holding onto it would massively outstrip any economic benefits.

Answer 22

The task became how to withdraw from India while still maintaining law and order and how to work out the political element so the Indians could govern themselves without the British. The first task was left in the hands of Viceroy Archibald Wavell.

Answer 23

He developed a plan for a staged, gradual British withdrawal from India - first by withdrawing from the least violent areas, then by moving British troops and police into areas that were bound to be volatile as a result of the coming independence. Once law and order has been established there, then he would begin the process of complete withdrawal.

Answer 24

The new Labour government wanted Britain out of India, and those who fought the hardest to get British out of India were the least concerned with what would happen to India once the withdrawal was done. As a result, three crucial errors were made. First, they rejected the Wavell plan. Second, they decided to set a date for the transfer of power (15th August 1947) to assure the Indians that the British were really leaving. Third, they appointed as the last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Answer 25

In March 1947 the Government sent Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, with instructions to bring about Indian independence as soon as possible, and no later than June 1948. In April-May 1947 it was decided that India would be partitioned: independence for Pakistan as well as India would be granted by 15 August 1947.

Answer 26

- In April 1947 Mountbatten tried to persuade Jinnah that he would get a bigger Pakistan if he accepted a weak common center along with the rest of India, otherwise a sovereign Pakistan could include only Muslim majority regions. - Jinnah was determined not to accept a common center and insisted on being given the bigger Pakistan anyway, which would have had 45% non-Muslim population. - Jinnah’s unwillingness led to a divide in India being more likely. - ethnic regions worried about who would be in charge. Sikhs did not want to be ruled by Muslims. Some people took advantage of the divisions. - villages in Punjab were scarcely patrolled - Sikhs began to form bonds. Sikhs that were in the army still had weapons and training. - Mountbatten agreed that they would divide India in two; partitioned - Muslim majority moved to Pakistan - Mountbatten brings up when Britain would leave - there was no clear border. Once they gave a date, they needed to do it by then which added to the tension. - some British troops were left behind but they couldn’t do anything to stop the killing - two days before the partition people feared the city would be given to Pakistan - the boarder was decided but kept secret until the British left so they couldn’t be blamed for the violence

Answer 27

For decades the British only offered minor concessions to the publication of the Indian sub-continent and then when independence became inevitable they rushed through their withdrawal, drew up unsuitable boundaries and caused widespread violence and death. Britain was partially to blame for the partition of India following their withdrawal from the country in 1947. Many of the measures they introduced created the circumstances whereby partition became likely. However, some of the responsibility must also rest with the leaders of the Indian Congress and the Muslim League for creating a situation whereby the two communities could not live together in the one country. British withdrawal became inevitable after World War II. Despite the efforts made by the British to find an acceptable solution to all sides both the Congress Party and the Muslim League were intent on pursuing their own agencies. The failure to reach agreement led to widespread violence and division that led to partition.

Answer 28

- Role of the Congress Party: Opposed many attempts at appeasement by Britain. - Britain’s ruling authorities: Attempts at appeasement failed. Rowlatt/Amritsar massacre. Cripp’s visit. Lost will to rule after war? Viceroy Mupountbatten - ‘sped up’ withdrawal - The impact of war: Economic, political, no longer in a position to maintain Empire? -