Ch. 14.4
Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia
Many upper class Indians who attended British schools began to apply the
nationalism and democracy that they had learned
I. Indian Nationalism grows
A. World War I Increases Nationalist Activity
1. The two groups in India (Muslim and Hindu) shared the same goal of
independence from the British
2. Upon return from WW I, Indian troops expected reforms that were
promised for their participation in the war; unfortunately this did not
happen
I. Indian Nationalism grows
A. World War I Increases Nationalist Activity
3. Indians protested forcing the British to enact the Rowlatt Act
which allowed the British to jail any protestor
B. Amritsar Massacre
1. 10,000 Hindu and Muslim flocked to Amritsar to protest the Rowlatt
act and a British commander fired on the protestors killing 400 and
wounded 1,200
2. The Amritsar Massacre sparked outrage and millions of Indians went
from being loyal subjects to nationalists
II. Gandhi’s Tactics of Nonviolence
A. Noncooperation
1. Mohandas K. Gandhi strategy to fight British rule evolved
from all of the major religions of the world; Christianity,
Islam, and Hinduism
II. Gandhi’s Tactics of Nonviolence
A. Noncooperation
2. Gandhi urged the National Congress to defy British rule; so in 1920
the Congress Party endorsed civil disobedience-refusal to obey any
unjust law and non-violence as the means to achieve independence
B. Boycotts
1. Gandhi staged a successful boycott on British cloth which was a
source of wealth for the British
C. Strikes and Demonstrations
1. Gandhi’s civil disobedience took an economic toll on the British as it
affected the running of trains, the operation of factories and over
crowded jails
D. Salt March
1. To protest the hated Salt Acts which forced Indians to only buy salt
from the British, Gandhi marched to the sea with other protestors
and began making their own salt; this was called the Salt March
D. Salt March
2. Protestors then marched on a British salt processing plant where they
were beaten savagely with steel tipped clubs; this won world wide
support for Gandhi
III. Britain Grants Limited Self Rule
A. Govt of India Act of 1935
1. This provided local self govt. and limited democratic elections but not
total independence; tensions would grow between Muslim and
Hindu’s
2. Outnumbered Muslim Indians feared Hindu rule