Indian Independence Movement

1. Indian Independence Movement What methods did Gandhi use and were his methods successful?

2. Rise of Indian Nationalism • Despite helping Britain in WWI, Indians were once again treated as 2nd class citizens after the war • Groups like the Indian National Congress (Hindu) and Muslim League (Islam) began a campaign for Indian independence • Many Indian radicals began to violently protest British rule • 1919: British pass the Rowlatt bills, which jailed people w/o a trial • Mohandas Gandhi protests unfair laws • Gandhi believed in an approach called non-violent resistance & non-cooperation • Gandhi organized peaceful marches and public refusal to obey unfair British laws “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” “Victory attainted by violence is actually defeat”

3. However, Rowlatt Bills ban public gatherings • 4/13/1919: Hindu & Muslim Indians gather in Amritsar to protest • A British Commander felt Indians were openly defying the ban and ordered his troops to open fire on the crowd • 400 people were killed and 1,200 wounded in the Amritsar Massacre • Despite British violence, Gandhi urges followers to continue nonviolence • Gandhi begins to organize a boycott of British goods & taxes • The boycott on cloth is successful & British are losing money! • Gandhi organizes the Salt March 1930 • Police officers beat the marchers. American media reports the event • Independence is gained in 1947 but British partition country based on religion (India, East & West Pakistan)