300
parliament where power was
shared between Indians and British
officials. This did not satisfy Indian
nationalists, and the British
responded to their protests with
sometimes brutal repression.
The push for independence
from the 1920s to the 1940s
was galvanized by the work of
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Gandhi not only launched the
Satyagraha campaign, promoting
non-violent protest, but also became
an influential figure for millions of
followers. In 1942 Gandhi led the
“Quit India” campaign, calling
for civil disobedience to disrupt
Britain’s efforts in World War II. The
British immediately jailed Gandhi
and other nationalist leaders.
By the end of World War II, it
was clear that Britain lacked the
means to defeat the nationalist
campaign. Britain’s officials in India
were utterly exhausted, and Britain
itself was almost bankrupt. Britain
agreed to a fully independent India.
While Gandhi and Nehru advocated
Indian unity, the Muslim League,
founded in 1906 to safeguard therights of Muslims, demanded a
completely separate Muslim state.
Its leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah,
feared that Muslims could not
protect their minority rights if left
to live under Hindu rule. Congress
rejected the proposal and violence
on the streets between Hindus
and Muslims began to escalate.Pakistan is born
In 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten
flew into Delhi as Britain’s final
Viceroy of India. Faced with
irreconcilable differences over the
demand for a separate state for
India’s Muslims, he persuaded all
parties to agree to partitioning
the country into Hindu India and
Muslim Pakistan.
From its birth, Pakistan faced
many challenges. It had limited
resources and a huge refugee
problem. There were different
traditions, cultures, and languages,
and Jinnah, its first governor
general, died the following year.
In 1948, India and Pakistan fought
over Kashmir, the only Muslim-
majority area to remain within India.INDIAN INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION
India’s independence was finally
declared by Jawaharlal Nehru and
Lord Louis Mountbatten at Delhi’s
Constituent Assembly, just seconds
into August 15, 1947.Colonies gain freedom
After World War II, the European
colonial powers—mainly Britain,
France, the Netherlands, and
Portugal—recognized that change
was inevitable. Some colonies won
independence by peaceful means,
such as in Burma and Ceylon (1948),
but often, European powers tried to
hold on to their colonies.
During World War II, Japan, itself
a significant imperial power, drove
the European powers out of Asia.
After the Japanese surrender in
1945, nationalist movements in the
former Asian colonies campaigned
for independence rather than a
return to European colonial rule.
Dr. Ahmed Sukarno, leader of
Indonesia’s nationalist movement,
declared the Independent Republic
of Indonesia in 1945. The Dutch
sent troops to restore their authority,
and in two military campaigns that
followed, an estimated 150,000
Indonesians and 5,000 Dutch
soldiers died. International pressure
eventually forced the Dutch to
concede independence in 1949.Ours is not a drive for
power, but purely a
non-violent fight for
India’s independence.
Mohandas GandhiUS_298-301_Indian_Independence.indd 300 15/02/2016 16:45