India During the 1900s
InIndia 1900 to 1947
* In 1900, India was part of the British Empire; but by the end of 1947, India had achieved independence. * For most of the Nineteenth Century, India was ruled by the British. India was considered the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been made Empress of India and the British had a major military presence in India. * After 1918, nationalism within India intensified. This was probably due to 2 reasons: 1. Many educated nationals in India were far from satisfied with the Morley-Minto reforms. White Englishmen still dominated India and there had been no real decrease in their power or increase in national power. The INC (Indian National Council) wanted a lot more. 2. Woodrow Wilson had stimulated the minds of many people with his belief in national self-determination – i.e. that people from a country had a right to govern themselves. The whole concept of national self-determination undermined the basic idea of the British Empire – that the British governed this empire (or people appointed by the British to do the same). For national self-determination to fully work, India would have to be governed by the Indians living there. * As early as 1917, Britain had toyed with the idea of giving India a measure of self-government: "the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire". * Many Tory MP’s in Britain were against the whole idea of giving anything whatsoever to India in terms of self-government. They had two complaints about the whole idea:
1. If you gave India some form of self-rule, where would it end?
2. Would it start the process that would lead to the break-up of the British
* In 1900, India was part of the British Empire; but by the end of 1947, India had achieved independence. * For most of the Nineteenth Century, India was ruled by the British. India was considered the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been made Empress of India and the British had a major military presence in India. * After 1918, nationalism within India intensified. This was probably due to 2 reasons: 1. Many educated nationals in India were far from satisfied with the Morley-Minto reforms. White Englishmen still dominated India and there had been no real decrease in their power or increase in national power. The INC (Indian National Council) wanted a lot more. 2. Woodrow Wilson had stimulated the minds of many people with his belief in national self-determination – i.e. that people from a country had a right to govern themselves. The whole concept of national self-determination undermined the basic idea of the British Empire – that the British governed this empire (or people appointed by the British to do the same). For national self-determination to fully work, India would have to be governed by the Indians living there. * As early as 1917, Britain had toyed with the idea of giving India a measure of self-government: "the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire". * Many Tory MP’s in Britain were against the whole idea of giving anything whatsoever to India in terms of self-government. They had two complaints about the whole idea:
1. If you gave India some form of self-rule, where would it end?
2. Would it start the process that would lead to the break-up of the British