AP World History POD #23 – Emerging Asia

1. AP World HistoryPOD #23 – Emerging Asia Crisis In the Subcontinent

2. Class Discussion Notes Bulliet – “The Indian Independence Movement, 1905-1947”, pp. 821-828

3. Historical Context • “Under British rule India acquired railroads, harbors, modern cities, and cotton and steel mills, as well as an active and worldly middle class. The economic transformation of the region awakened in this educated middle class a sense of national dignity that demanded political fulfillment. In response, the British gradually granted India a limited amount of political autonomy maintaining overall control. Religious and communal tensions among the Indian peoples were carefully papered over, and when the British withdrew in 1947, violent conflicts tore India apart.” (Bulliet, p. 821)

4. The Land & The People • Fertile Land – much of India is fertile, arable farmland • Deforestation – much of the tropical forest was used for timber to support construction, and railroad ties, as well as being cleared to make way for tea and rubber plantations • Population – in the first two decades of the 20th century, the population rose from 205 million to 319 million people • Population Pressure – as a result of the rapid population growth a large urban landless male demographic began to appear • Social Class – Peasants have always been the overwhelming majority, having to pay rent to landowners, and interest to village moneylenders, and government taxes – leaving little time or resource to improve their land or raise their standard of living • Protected Classes – the government protected property owners, from village moneylenders all the way up to the maharajahs or ruling princes, who owned huge tracts of land • Women – the burning of widows on the funeral pyre was banned by the British but very little changed in their lives under the British • Language – due to the wide variety of languages spoken, English became the common medium of communication

5. Religion • “The majority of Indians who practiced Hinduism were subdivided into hundreds of castes, each affiliated with a particular occupation. Hinduism, discouraged intermarriage and other social interactions among the castes and with non-Hindus. Until they were displaced by the British in the eighteenth century, Muslim rulers had dominated northern and central India, and Muslims not constituted one-quarter of the people of India but formed a majority in the northwest and in eastern Bengal. They felt discriminated against by both British and Hindus.” (Bulliet, p. 823)

6. “Jewel In the Crown” • The British administered the colony through a viceroy and an administration of a few thousand members of the Indian Civil Service • Most of these officials were from the English gentry and were motivated to protect the Indian people from the dangers of industrialization and defend their own positions from the dangers of industrialization • The British colonial administration encouraged and supported the construction of railroads, harbors, telegraphs, and other communications technologies, irrigation networks and plantations (cash crops) • Official British policy advocated programs that increased India’s foreign trade or strengthened British control • Discouraged cotton and steel industries as they would be competition with the British businesses at home, as well as limit the training of Indian engineer

7. White Man’s Burden • Europeans should and could “civilize” the more primitive non-white people • Europeans believed that it was their duty or “burden” to bring to these people the benefits of modern economics, cities, advanced medicine an higher standards of living so that in time they might be ready for self-government

8. Indian National Congress • 1885 – organized by a small group of English-speaking Hindu professionals • During the first 20 years of existence they peacefully petitioned the British government for access to higher administrative positions and a voice in colonial affairs • 1905 – Viceroy Lord Curzon unilaterally divided the province of Bengal under the argument of improving governmental efficiency (it also led to millions of uneducated Hindus being outnumbered by Muslims in East Bengal) – leading to massive demonstrations, violence and boycotts

9. All-India Muslim League • 1906 – Muslims fearful of Hindu dominance formed this organization • The government responded to the appeals of this organization by granting Indians a limited franchise based on wealth • Muslims were typically poorer than the Hindus and many untouchables had converted to Islam as a way to escape the caste system • The British would capitalize on this religious divide by implementing separate representation and voting requirements for each religion • 1911

10. Amritsar Massacre • “On April 13, 1919, in the city of Amritsar, General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire into a peaceful crowd of some 10,000 demonstrators, killing at least 379 and wounding 1,200. While waves of angry demonstrations swept over India, the British House of Lords voted to approve Dyer’s actions, and a fund was raised in appreciation of his service. Indians interpreted these gestures as showing British contempt for their colonial subjects. In the charged atmosphere of the time, the period of gradual accommodation between the British and the Indians came to a close.” (Bulliet, p. 825)

11. Mohandas K. Gandi • Satagraha – search for truth • Civil Disobedience – refusal to obey an unjust law (willingness to accept the punishment) • Passive Resistance – non-violence • Fast to protest British rule and end Indian violence • Homespun (boycott), Salt March • “Quit India” – the British offered full independence after WWII, but Gandhi demanded immediate independence – this campaign led to popular demonstrations, and his own arrest • Assassinated by a Hindu extremist refugee

12. Independence of India Religious Toleration Expanded rights and improved treatment for women and untouchables British grant independence August 15, 1947 Colonial India is partitioned upon independence to allow for a Muslim state of Pakistan The caste system is banned by official law, but its’ traditions still are in effect in many places Gandhi’s Goals vs. Actual Results

13. Historical Interpretation of the Mahatma • “Many times during the 1930s Gandhi threatened to fast “unto death,” and several times he came close to death, to protest the violence of both the police and his followers and to demand independence. He was repeatedly arrested and spent a total of six years in jail. But every arrest made him more popular. He became a cult figure not only in his own country but also in the Western media. In the words of historian Percival Spear, he made the British “uncomfortable in their cherished field of moral rectitude,” and he gave Indians the feeling that theirs was the ethically superior cause.” (Bulliet, p. 825)

14. India Hindu Jawaharlal Nehru – successor to Gandhi as leader of the Indian National Congress and first prime minister of free India – encouraged an economic agenda of modern industrialization Pakistan Muslim Muhammad Ali Jinnah – leader of the Muslim League, asked the British to establish an independent East & West Pakistan that would protect the rights of Muslims – first prime minister of free Pakistan Freedom & Partition

15. Migration & Violence • “The rejoicing over independence was marred by violent outbreaks between Muslims and Hindus. In protest against the mounting chaos, Gandhi refused to attend the independence day celebration. Through the land, Muslim and Hindu neighbors turned on one another, and armed members of one faith hunted down people of the other faith. Leaving most of their possessions behind, Hindus fled from predominantly Muslim areas, and Muslims fled from Hindu areas. Trainloads of desperate refugees on one faith were attacked and massacred by members of the other or were left stranded in the middle of deserts. Within a few months some 12 million people had abandoned their ancestral homes and a half-million lay dead. In January 1948 Gandhi died too, gunned down by an angry Hindu refugee.” (Bulliet, pp. 827-828)

16. Kashmir & A Nuclear Sub-Continent • Kashmir – this land at the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains controlled the headwaters of the rivers that irrigated millions of acres of farmland • India annexed because the local maharajah (prince) was Hindu • Most of the inhabitants were Muslim and therefore preferred to join Pakistan if they were allowed a referendum on the matter • India & Pakistan have fought numerous wars since independence over this region and these religious differences • 1998 – both India and Pakistan successfully tested nuclear weapons joining the ranks of international nuclear powers (United States, Russia, China, Great Britain, France, and a suspected Israel)