Topic 4: Road to Independence, 1942-8 Flashcards
What year was the Lahore Resolution?
March 1940
How many Muslims attended the Lahore Resolution?
100,000
What were the two main principles of the Resolution?
- The areas of the subcontinent where Muslims were in the majority should be grouped to form separate independent states.
- minorities should be protected in Hindu or Muslim dominated states.
What were Linlithgow’s proposals in the 1940 August Offer?
- Representative Indians would join his Executive Council.
- A War Advisory Council would be established that would include the princes and other interested parties..
- There was an assurance that the government would not adopt any new constitution without the prior approval of Muslim India,
What year did Bose leave Congress?
1939
What organisation did Bose form?
The Forward Bloc Party
When was Bose arrested?
Bose was suspected of treason and arrested on the 2nd of July but he escaped in January 1941 and went into exile.
What did Bose form when he moved to Japan?
The Indian National Army.
What happened to the 6,000 INA soldiers who invaded India with the Japanese?
600 deserted to the British, 400 were killed, 1500 died from dysentery and malaria and a further 1,400 were invalided out of the warzone
What impact did the Second World War have on Indian politics?
Indian Politicians were pressing their interests of their own communities in trying to work towards a satisfactory constitution .
Were the British worried about the threat of invasion?
The Viceroy confessed that he did not have sufficient armed forces in India to hold out against a Japanese landing.
What was the aim of the Cripps Mission?
The aim of the Cripps Mission was to lead a delegation to support India in order to secure full Indian cooperation and support for the war effort.
What was one of the results of the failure of the Cripps Mission?
Both sides hardened their approach and Linlithgow stepped up press censorship and intercepts.
What caused the Quit India Campaign?
Due to the failure of the Cripps mission, Gandhi encouraged Congress to support his new satyagraha and they did so on the 8 August 1942.
What places were targeted during the Quit India Campaign?
250 railway stations, 500 post offices, telegraph and phone lines were cut in 3,500 places, 70 police stations were burned. more than 85 government buildings were damaged.
Was the Quit India Campaign successful?
It failed to paralyse the government and the military remained loyal to the Raj
What were the causes of the Bengal Famine?
- poor run harvests. 2. distribution failures 3.loss of imports and wartime price inflation. 4.severe weather conditions.
How many people died in the Bengal Famine?
between one and three million people died and in some areas whole villages were wiped out.
What did Churchill do during the Bengal Famine?
Churchill refused to divert British merchant shipping in order to take grain to starving Bengal.
What caused the failure of the 1945 Simla Conference?
Wavell had to adjourned the Conference having been unable to break the deadlock between Congress and the Muslim League
What did the 1945 Simla Conference set out?
It was chosen in a way that would give balanced representation of the main communities including equal proportions of Muslims and Hindus.
When did Wavell become viceroy?
Wavell became viceroy in October 1943.
How did Wavell spend his time as viceroy?
Wavell focused particularly on troubled areas such as the Punjab Bengal and the United provinces trying to settle disputes and raise morale.
What did Wavell do during the Bengal Famine?
Wavell requested a guaranteed million tons of grain and was met with an offer of 250,000 tons but he managed to extract an extra 450,000 tons of grain from a reluctant government.
What was the British Raj’s priorities during WW2
To maintain the smooth functioning of the Raj.
What was the decrease in India importing from Britain between the years 1928 to 1935?
in 1928-29 it was 83 million to a fall of 39 million in 1935-36.
What year was the Reserve Bank of India established?
1931
What was the significance of the Reserve of India Bank?
This meant that India could set the value of. its own currency without reference to sterling. The rupee was no longer tied to the value of sterling in the world’s money markets.
How many Indian soldiers joined the armed forces during WW2
two and a half million Indian men and women had joined the armed forces.
Were Indian soldiers loyal to the raj?
Not all of them were loyal and were instead loyal to the concept of India as their army commander in chief.
