Independence History of India

2019-04-13

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Now before moving forward lets find out, how do British came to India and made their firm foothold. Historical documentary shows the presence of East India Company from 1612. They came in India for just trading of goods.

Battle of Plassey (1757)

battle of plassy

Exact 100 years before 1857 sepoy munity, East India company Had a war with Nawab of bengal, which are having support of french army. Actually this war is the indirect war between french and british . french and british had war 1756 to 1763, due to this war french sends a troops to defeat british and support nawab of bengal. french seek help of siral ud daula to defeat british , because siral ud duala had comparitively larger army than East India Company. Mir jafar who is the ex soldier in siraj ud daula helped east india company to defeat nawab of bengal. Siraj ud daula was killed in the war and mir jafar was made nawab by british, as now they have the control over bengal. This is the first large victory of east india company in India.

Battle of Buxar (1764)

battle of buxar

This battle is between East India company and nawab of awadh, Nawab of Bengal and Mughal empire. After the huge victory in the battle of Plassey mir, Jafar was made a Nawab of Bengal. Due to the heavy loss of treasure and sudden death of his son, Mir Jafar was now no use of British. mir Jafar is unsuccessful to fulfill east India company’s requirements. Mir Qasim who is the son in law of Mir Jafar is made a Nawab of Bengal by East India company. The smartness of mir Qasim shined in the eyes of East India company, hence they decided to take on Bengal. mir Qasim seeks the help of Nawab of awadh who is stronger in that era. In 1964 mir Qasim had a deal with awadh , shah alam also joined their group and had a war with East India company. Due to the doubtful nature of each other in awadh, Mir Qasim and shah Alam , east India company managed to win this battle too.

Anglo-Mysore War(1766-1799)

anglo mysore war

First Anglo-Mysore war happened between 1767-1769. In this era, there is only one expert warrior whose name is Haidar ali. He was just a soldier who is picked up by his king and made ahead of an army in very young age. Due to his excellence, he became the strong power in Mysore. In 1766 when Haider Ali was busy in the war with Maratha, British did handshake with nijam to conquer Mysore. haider ali got angry by the sudden interference of British and did a handshake with nijams and fought with east India company. During the war due to a sudden loss of nizam’s support Haider Ali had a treaty with British

second Anglo-Mysore war started in 1769. In the previous treaty, east India company promised Haider ali to help him in war. but when Peshwa Madhav Rao attacked him east India company had a handshake with nijam and Maratha. This thing made Haider ali more angry about British and he gathered 80000 soldiers with guns in the ground of Karnataka and defeated east India company. Newly appointed governor-general waren hestings succeeded to divide 80000 Haider ali troops and finally defeated Haider ali. Due to heavy loss haider, ali died in 1782, but his son tipu sultan carried on war and gave a tough fight to east India company. In the 1784 tipu sultan did treaty with British.

Anglo-Maratha War(1775-1819)

anglo maratha war

There are 3 wars between Maratha and British. The first war started in 1775 and ended in 1782. This war happened due to the Raghunath Rao Peshwa who had a treaty with East India company . in the value of 1 lakh rupees, Raghunath Rao will have 2500 British troops, who will fight against the Maratha empire and will make Raghunath Rao Peshwa.

The second war is started in the 1803 and ended in 1816. During this period second bajirao II had a treaty with east india company. british divided the group of Maratha family which are Holkar, Bhosle and mahadji shinde.
The third war started in the 1817 and ended in 1819. At last due to the decreasing power of Maratha and division of all families, Peshwa lost the war and British firmly started their empire.

Anglo-sikh war (1849)

anglo sikh war

there were two battles between East India company and Sikh. the first battle was in 1849 and this battle is so insane that, both sides were confident about their victory.

the second war 21st Feb 1849 at Gujrat. In this battle, Sikh lost very badly because east India company spread the myth about Ranjit Singh that he his no more alive. This myth spread in the battlefield like fire and Sikh army surrendered.

Anglo-Nepalese war(1814-1816)

anglow nepalese war

In the British – Nepal war from the 17th century the domination of Nepalese kings war stronger on east India company. In the 18 th century that is at 1814, Nepalese gave a strong fight to east India company. Amar singh thapa, balbhadra Kumar and 72 years old bhakti thapa showed a great bravery. nepalese lost this battle with east India company and in the treaty, they gave their one-third area to east India company.

Causes of 1857 Rebellion

Before the rebellion there were 50000 British army and 300000 Indian army, Indian troops are considered as low-level troops.
the salary of Indian troops are lesser than british troops.
there were 3 divisions of this army Bengal, Bombay and madras. these forces are more divided from their cast. Bengal army consists of high caste troops and Bombay and madras army consist of more localized troops.
due to the high caste troops in Bengal they did a munity with East India Company.
the Bengal army paid less by east India company than Bombay and Madras army.
the cartridge which is used in the gun and it should be bitten at every time while refilling the gun. That cartridge was made of pig and cow fat to soften that.
this leads to the reason behind Indian army’s anger. the cow is very respected in Hindu region and the pig is supposed to unclean in the muslim region. the hindu and Muslim army did munity with east India company.

The Rebellion

mangal pandey

This all Started with Mangal Pandey who attacked British sergeant. By this British army felt insecure and governer ordered an Indian soldier to arrest Mangal Pandey, but he refused. Mangal Pandey was arrested by British and killed both of them by hanging.

10th may 1857- The third regiment freed from British army and all Indian soldier came together by forgetting their castes and regions. They all headed to Delhi fort, where the Bahadur shah II (last mughal emperor ) was living. Army told bahadur shah II to become their leader, bahadur shah agreed unwillingly. This leads all over india’s great leaders started a battle with east India company.

Ahmed Ulla(advisor of the king of awadh), nanasaheb and raosaheb, tatya tope, azimullah khan, the queen of jhashi, kunwar singh(rajput of jagadishpur,bihar),firuz saha(relative of bahadur shah II).

british imported huge amount of British army from Crimean war and China to India. massacre at Kanpur and siege of Lucknow is the biggest evidence of 1857 rebellion. There is a huge battle between the queen of Jhansi and east India company. british somehow managed to defeat Jhansi. This battle is also known as the battle of Gwalior. The fire drops of this rebellion remained till 1859 but after captureing tatya tope and execution of him silents india for a long time.

Timeline Of 1857 Rebellion

jhasi ki rani

11th may 1857- The start of munity in Delhi, Ferozepur, Bombay, Aligarh, Manipuri, nasrabad, Bareilly, Moradabad, shahjahanpur. death of the general Anson.
June 1857 – munities at jhansi, sitapur, azamgarh, gorakhpur followed by the siege of europeans and massacre.
july 1857 – the siege of lucknow.
August 1857 – muntinies at kolhapur, madras, lahore.
september 1857- the siege of saugor begins, delhi captured by British.
october 1857- mutiny near bombay(15th oct)
november 1857- Defeat of general Windham outside of Kanpur.

1858

tatya tope

January 1858 – Central India Campaign begins.
february 1858 – General rose relieves Saugor.
March 1858- Lucknow is recaptured by British on 21st March.
April 1858- Battle of Betwa.
May 1858- Battle of Bareilly.
June – Tatya Tope and Rani of Jhansi conquered Gwalior.
July to december- Suppression of guerrilla forces

1859

Execution of Tatya tope by British. End of rebellion.

India After 1857 Rebellion

From the 1858 United kingdom started ruling India directly through a community called viceroy of India. British promised that they will treat everyone equally.The last Mughal emperor bahadur shah II sent to rangoon by British and he died there in 1862. In the 1877 queen victoria took the title of Empress of India.

Importance of Independence

This is the exact period when Indians cared about their own rights and injustice about them. due to the Lots of social movements, Indians middle and lower caste started becoming more curious about independence.

swami vivekananda

The Great leaders like swami Vivekananda, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Rabindranath Tagore and Dadabhai Nauroji inspired people. They taught self-confidence, social awareness and making India free from the domination of British. Lokmanya Tilak was one of the greatest leaders when it comes to leading huge amount of people. British arrested him for his aggression. Lokmanya Tilak declared in the court ” swarajya(independence) is my birthright”. The concept of swarajya highlighted till 1947.

In 1885 ,73 delegates met in Bombay and formed Indian national congress party to fight for justice of Indian people. Earlier Dadabhai Nauroji founded a party named Indian national association. Both of the party merged to form a bigger party. Indian national congress started informing to British rulers about rights of people of India.

Partition of Bengal

rabindranath tagore a

rabindranath tagore

In 1905, Lord Curzon who is the governor general of India at that time. He divided Bengal into two parts East Bengal and west Bengal. east Bengal has capital Dhaka and west bengal have capital of Calcutta. By doing this native person become angry and they knew British strategy about ” Divide and Rule”. The famous poet of Bengal named Rabindranath Tagore wrote an inspiring poem against British raj.

Contribution in World war I

nearly 1.3 million Indian soldiers went to many parts of the world such as Africa, Europe and the middle east to flight. many of the rich Indians of that time and princes contributed their money to help the United Kingdom for the world war I. The countless Indian soldiers died in the war. In India due to the heavy loss of world war, I British raj increased the taxation.

In the year 1919 British made a new low named Rowlatt Act. under this law, the government got power to arrest people and keep them in the prisons without any reason. They also got the power of stopping media like newspapers. Indian Leaders called this law as Black Act.

Using this law British will be able to stop any arrestation and their injustices news to spread in India. Its like they have full control over media and media should print only news, which is in benefit of the British raj.

13th April 1919 in Amritsar, about 10000 Indians had gathered to protest against Rowlatt Act. The Evil British General Reginald Dyer ordered his army to fire at civilians without any warning. in the 1650 firing, nearly 379 innocent people killed and wound about 1137. This incident became famous as Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. This event kept India on fire. People in India started to hate British.

Impact Of Gandhi

mahatma gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) Became a lawyer in London. In 1893 he went to south Africa. Once he was thrown out of the train in south Africa because he was colored person in the first class seat of train. He begins to fight again this kind of injustice about colored people and made the south African government change their law about colored people.

When he returned to India, under his leadership Indians began to use new ways to get free, because he is having experience of south Africa. Due to the advice and the way of Mahatma gandhi indians started to disobey and break the law of british. This leads jails filled out of Indians. in 26th January 1930 mahatma gandhi did the dandi yatra which is from ahemadabad to dandi . On the coast of Arabian sea at dandi, mahatma gandhi collected the salt. Mahatma gandhi made a salt from sea water and this is a breaking of British law of making salt without paying taxes. Due to this revolutionary event all over India people start breaking British different injustice laws.

Government Of India Act 1935

In 1935 British rulers made act which is named as the government of India act 1935. Under this act there are three major aims such as

To give self-ruling positions to provinces
to give Muslim minority protection by giving them some separate electrolytes.
only Muslims could stand for election in that electrolates.

in the 1937 election took place the members of Indian national congress won in 5 areas and held upper positions in two more areas.

In the second world war, British declared India as a part of a war without discussing with the leaders of India. By doing this Indian peoples and leaders divided in this matter. British wanted to grab Indian forces to fight in world war I , so Indian forces will get tired and they cant able to fight for independence.

Indian National Army(INA)

subhash chandra bose

Now, the two huge movements came in the focus, the first was Indian national army party of Subhash chandra bose and second was Quit India movement of Mahatma Gandhi.

Subhash chandra bose was the leader of Indian national congress twice in 1937 and 1939. There is much difference between the mentality of many leaders and subhash chandra bose. He decided to quit Indian national congress and formed a new party named India forward bloc. Subhash chandra bose was held in the house arrest by British in 1941, but he escaped from there and reached Germany. In Germany, he got the support of Germany and Japan to fight with British in India. He formed Indian national army and returned to India. Indian national army fought with british in north east India.In this huge battle, INA won a lot more than British. Due to the surrender of japan in 1945 INA war has been stopped and due to the plane crash, subhash chandra bose died. The death circumstances of subhash chandra bose are not cleared yet.

British arrested three soldiers INA on the red fort of delhi. one is Hindu , one is sikh and one is muslim. Due to this Indian in all religions got angry. By seeing peoples anger British set them free in public. After the independence of India, Indian government didn’t allow INA soldiers to take a part in Indian army. The Indian government gave them a good amount of pensions and facilities. INA soldiers received a lot of respect from Indian people. Subhash chandra bose is considered one of the biggest patriotic hero of the indian independence movement.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India

on 8thAugust 1942, the leaders of Indian national congress party decided to force British to leave India. Gandhi made a famous slogan “do or die” by this gandhi’s quit India mission caught on fire. Indian leaders offered help to British for second world war, but in exchange for that, they demanded British for total independence. British refused to give independence to Indian national congress.

In the second world war, British empire became very ill in terms of economy, and strength of the army. however, INA of Subhash chandra bose have defeated lots of British territories. During this period mahatma gandhi requested all over Indian people to stop violence. British prisoned nearly 100000 people and leaders and beat them with sticks very badly. Due to the increace in violence British decided to keep gandhi and other Indian national congress leaders in prison. There gandhi refused to eat and requested all over Indian people to stop violence again. This event stopped Indian violence, but the condition of mahatma gandhi was very poor, he started to get ill and weak.

If anything happens to gandhi then people will again start violence and destroy British empire. this thought of British sets gandhi free. Mahatma gandhi continued to oppose British and demanded to free the other leaders too. In early 1946 these leaders freed by British . Now the inspiration and dedication of Indian people became stronger and movements of independence improved.

In late 1946, along with the desires of independence, there was a tension between Hindus and Muslims. Hindu government made them wary of independence hence the mistrust hindu rule. Mahatma gandhi called for unity between hindu and muslims. The muslim League leader Muhammad ali Jinnah arranged direct action day in 1946 August. he had the aim of peacefully, demand for homes in British India. This leads to massive violence also known as Great Calcutta Killings Of August 1946.

muhammad jinnah

This violence spread to Bihar where Muslims attacked by Hindus, Noakhali where Hindus attacked by muslims, Garhmukteshwar where muslims attacked by Hindu and Rawalpindi Where hindus attacked and driven out by muslims. Due to this partition of India and Pakistan happened. pakistan as a majority of muslim country. on the matter of pre-partition of punjab and Bengal riot broke out between sikh, muslims and hindus. The outcome of this made 500000 people dead, this amount is greater than independence fight of India.

This period saw one of the largest mass migrations ever recorded in modern history, with a total of 12 million Hindus, Muslims , and sikhs moving between India and Pakistan.

Due to the heavy loss of strength and wealth and increasing movements and anger in Indian people about British. On 14th of August 1947 Pakistan gained independence and a day later on the 15th August India gained its Independence as well. In 1971 Bangladesh Formerly East Pakistan and east Bengal , seceded from Pakistan.