IMPERIALISM
Q1. Explain why industrial revolution encouraged western imperialism in Asia and Africa during the 19th century?
Ans. : Industrial Revolution created a new trend of society where the goods were manufactured at a faster rate. With new inventions this was made easy enough. The capitalists who had invested in these new machines wanted to earn more and more profits and they did it by maximum sale of the products produced and at the cost of the wages of the workers. When the purchasing power of the whole of middle class was brought down, it created a new problem for the capitalist i.e. to find new markets for his finished products and that he did not find it in his own country. He had to export the goods but every country had the same problem and they tried to protect their goods by levying huge taxes on the goods imported.
Another problem which the capitalists faced was the finding of the raw materials for the hungry machines and without the supply of raw materials these machines would be idle and thus increase the production cost for the capitalist. The capitalist started looking for areas where he could find ready markets and have areas where there would be a continuous supply of raw materials. This could be done only if they could politically dominate any country so that they could control the export of finished goods to the dominated country and import raw material from that same country at a price which would be profitable to the capitalists.
The reasons why the European countries started looking towards Asia and Africa was that Industrial Revolution had not yet taken place in these countries and they were still backwards when it came to new types of warfare and industry when compared to Europe. Political domination would be easier and would also be beneficial for these imperialist countries.
Q2. Why were Asian and African countries so easily dominated by the western powers?
Ans : The most important condition favoring the imperialist conquest of Asia and Africa was that the industrial revolution had not come to this part of the world. The craftsmen produced goods of the fine quality that westerners admired and desired. But they relied entirely on hand tools which meant production on a small scale. In comparison with the production of western countries in the 19th century, the Asian and African methods were backward. Also, because of the lack of knowledge that the industrial revolution had brought to the west, the two continents were weak militarily and unable to stand up to the armed might and power of Europe.
The governments of the countries of asia and Africa were weak in the 19th century. In ancient and medieval times powerful empires had existed there. Asian and African civilizations had also contributed to the developments in the western world. In the 19th century the old ways of governing were still followed even though they had outlived their usefulness. Strong nation-states in the modern sense had not developed. The people’s loyalties were still to local princes as in the feudal times, or to tribal chieftans. These rulers cared little for the welfare of the people as a whole. These conditions help to explain how small bands of westerners succeeded in gaining power and finally with the backing of their governments in conquering the entire countries.
Q 3. Describe the steps by which the imperialist countries took over most of Africa.
Ans. : The interior of Africa was almost unknown territory to the Europeans. Any trade that was carried out was on the coastal areas. The demands of industrialization led the capitalists sponsor the discovery of new lands. The explorers, traders and mainly the missionaries helped in discovering the new lands. The governments too wanting to have a share in the pie sponsored and encouraged these explorations.
For e.g., King Leopold II of Belgium gave financial assistance to H M Stanly to take over Congo who cheated the chieftains in signing away large tracks of land for cloth and other articles of no real value. In South Africa the English adventurer came to South Africa in 1870 and made several fortunes in the diamond and gold mines in the region gave his name and formed Rodhesia and also started the Rhodes scholarship. Though he is known as a philanthropist, he always said that philanthrophy with 5 % was better.
Through these means the explorers cheated the locals away from their rich deposits of minerals and made huge fortunes at the cost of the continent of Africa. They steadily drained the rich natural resources to feed their factories in their mother countries and also made the mother countries prosperous. The missionaries worked relentlessly to convert the African to Christianity and openly proclaimed that their main duty was to show the right path to these barbarians through Christianity.
Another step these explorers took in conquering Africa was through slave trade. The Americas had been discovered and slaves were needed to work in the plantations in the southern part of America. The Europeans raided the African settlements and transported these slaves to Europe where they were sold for profits and then taken over to south or North America. The inhuman conditions in which these slaves traveled killed many of them even before they reached their destinations. The European monarchs too had a share in the slave trade profits for e.g., Sir John Hawkins on his first voyage of Africa shared a part of his profits of slave trade with the reigning monarch at that time Queen Elizabeth I
Thus through many means the European trades’ men took over the whole of Africa and ultimately Africa was divided in many number of colonies to suit the greed of the European capitalists.
Q4. How did nationalism help to make imperialism popular in Europe?
Ans. The late 19th century after the revolutions led to the formation of nation states, where the nations united by joining their separate states. Nationalism encouraged pride for their motherland, culture and tradition. It also encouraged chauvinism. Many Nations developed the myths that they were superior when compared to the other nations and the literature too at that time encouraged this myth. In the second half of the 19th century imperialism became a fashion with the nations and they felt it fashionable to call their territories empires. Getting control of overseas land generally became a desirable aim in the western world.
Imperialist countries started taking over areas in Asia and Africa not only for their strategic importance but also to fill in their nationalist egos. Having overseas possessions became a matter of showing off their prosperity to their neighbouring nations and building up huge amounts of wealth. The overseas possessions also added to the manpower of the imperialist nations like recruiting the people of the colonized countries into army, to work on plantations and mines for a specified number of years.
Q 5. Describe the total impact of the imperialist conquest of Asia and Africa.
Ans: Imperialism is a story of deception, brutality and armed might. The imperialist powers justified their enslavement of other nations and peoples in the name of spreading civilization. Getting possession of new markets and raw materials and establishing industries to be worked by cheap labour created many conflicts. Despite many agreements to pacify those colonized the western powers made continuous efforts to re-divide the world as between themselves but never with any consideration for the welfare of the people to whom had the territory belonged. The empires acquired by the European powers were the largest in the world. The imperialist conquests had many effects which still figure on the life of the people even today.
Some of the effects are discussed as under:
Draining of the wealth. : The imperialist rule multiplied the problems and prevented the progress in Asia and Africa as the European countries were only interested in profiting from their colonies. They obtained raw materials to feed their industries at a very cheap rate and pushed the finished products of their industries into the markets of these colonies at double the rate and with low quality. They took steps to destroy any sort of competition from local industries and in every step of the way provided better business facilities to their European fellow people like no taxes or low taxes, better business deals etc. The import of raw material which was more than that needed added to the draining away of the wealth which was already being done by the European countries. Exploitation led to greater poverty and which in turn led to backwardness from which these colonized countries are yet to recover.
Racial discrimination: The Europeans believed that they belonged to a race superior than those of Asians and Africans and that they were destined to rule made them to remain aloof from the locals. They barred the Asians and African from high posts in the government and in some cases were forbidden to enter into hotels and clubs and had to live like untouchables. Though the Europeans preached equality, democracy and equal rights to all, they followed them in their own countries and not in the countries which they colonized. They practiced segregation and dictatorial rule and denied even the most basic rights to the locals.
These acts of imperialism have had a deep impact on the countries that the imperialist European countries ruled and some of the countries of Asia and Africa are yet to recover from these impacts.
Q 6. Explain the meaning of the following terms with examples :
Sphere of influence: Region of dominance – a geographical region or area of activity in which a particular state, organization or person is dominant.
Exploitation: Unfair treatment – use of somebody or something usually for personal gain for e.g., Draining of wealth in the colonies by imperialist countries.
Extra territorial rights: Situated outside the territorial limits of a jurisdiction or the jurisdiction of local tribunals.
Protectorate: A country or region that is defended and controlled by a more powerful state or the relationship between the two.
Friday, March 20, 2009
India's Struggle For Independence - unedited
INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
The revolt of 1857.
On 10th Mat 1857, there arose in Meerut the first war of independence of the Indians which was given the name of a revolt or a mutiny by the britishers. The Indians all over the country were dissatisfied by the following policies of the british namely the Doctrine of Lapse and the Subsidiary alliance. According to the first policy any ruler who died without a male heir could not retain his territory and it would be passed on to the british. The Rani of Jhansi lost a four month old male child and as a result the kingdom was taken over by the british after her husband’s death.
Under the subsidiary alliance, the weak rulers had to maintain an army and horses for the british in return for the protection given by the british. All this infuriated the rulers of northern India.
The actual revolt was planned for 31st March 1857 but somehow it could not get underway because of the roti incident. In many barracks of the britishers rotis were circulated among the soldiers which contained small slips of papers that accused the british of hurting the sentiments of the hindus and the muslims.
In all this confusion on 10th May 1857, at Barrackpur, near Meerut an incident took place. Word went around that the cartridges that were to be used were covered with the paper, semared with cow’s and pig’s fat and had to be bitten off before using the cartridge. This went totally against the religious sentiments of the hindus and the muslims and under the leadership of Mangal Pandey, they refused to bite off that paper and a revolt started.
The revolt soon spread all over northern India . Rani Lakshmi Bai fought the british forces at Jhansi, she was joined by Nana sahib and his general Tantia Tope from Kanpur. Bakht Khan led the forces at Delhi and Bahadurshah II was made the Mughal ruler at Delhi. Kanwar singh led the movement in Bihar. In Bundelkhand and Rohilkhand many uprising took place. For some time the revolt was successful.
FAILURE OF THE REVOLT.
Before the end of 1858, the revolt had been crushed. Most of the revolutionary leaders were either killed, captured or had to go into exile. Since it failed it is called a revolt and the reasons for failure are as under:
1, Lack of proper communication and transportation.
2. Absence of the support of the middle class.
3. No support from the kingdoms of the south.
4. Lack of organization.
5. No unified leadership.
6. The british were well trained and superior in army tactics.
The power passed from the East India company to the British crown and Queen Victoria became the empress of India.
The following are the main causes which led to the revolt.
1. Dalhousie’s doctrine of lapse.: According to this Doctrine if a ruler of a kingdom died without leaving a male heir, his kingdom would be annexed by the British. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi was a victim of this doctrine.
2.Subsidiary Alliance : The British heads asked the rulers of the small kingdoms to maintain an army for them and to pay the British for protection from their enemies.
3. Destruction of peasats and the artisans.
The British changed agriculture for the growing of crops of subsistence to the growing of cash crops. As a result most of the farmers were ruined. They were paid very little for the cash crops. Due to the heavy taxation, the farmers took loans from money lenders when they were unable to repay these loans, their land was taken away.
The artisans produced hand made things. The same things were produced in England on machines at a very cheap rate. There was no taxation on imported goods. As a result, the artisans were destroyed.
4. Loss of Religion. The natives feared that the British wee going to convert them to Christianity . The british did not care for the sentiments of either the hindus or the muslims.
5. Puppet rulers: The weak rulers of the small kingdoms had to accept the interference of the british. They were like puppets in their hands and could easily be removed by the british.
6. The immediate cause of the revolt : The incident of the greased cartridge sparked off the revolt. The enfield rifle had been introduced in the army and it was expected that the greased wrapping on the cartridge had to be torn away with one hand and mouth while the other hand held the rifle. The sepoys suspected that the cartridges had been smeared with the fat of the pigs and cows and that hurt the sentiments of both the hindus and muslims and they requested the british government to withdraw the rifle which was duly rejected. Mangal Pandey was the first sepoy who sparked off the revolt though he was caught and hanged, his martyr’s death sparked off the nation wide revolt which is termed as first war of India’s independence.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLT OF 1857.
1. The power passed from the east India company to the british crown. Queen Victoria became the empress of India.
2. The british government promised not to annex any more states in India.
3. The Indian states accepted the paramountcy of the british and promised their loyal support.
4. An awakening arose amongst the people and they realized the importance of independence.
5. Social reform movement spread as they were the doors to independence.
6. The old rulers like the princes of the kingdoms did not matter any more. The people realized they had to look for a new leadership.
7. The hindus and the muslims came very close as they had fought shoulder to shoulder in the revolt.
RISE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM ( EARLY PHASE 1858 – 1905)
The factors that led to the birth of nationalism are as follows:-
Nationalism is a term which inculcates the feeling of pride and patriotism towards one’s country. Any country that had suffered under imperialism wanted to seek self rule or independence and India was no exception.
There are a number of factors which are responsible for the rise of nationalism in the 19th century.
1. End of feudalism in the world. Feudalism in most parts of world had been ended by the imperialist powers, thus changing the socio-economic order. As a result, a need was felt by the people to come together as a nation. Fuedalism had separated man from man and the exploitation was so much that the people could not raise their voice.
2. Formation of nation states. Nationalism can only prosper if the countries have fixed boundaries and the permanent indentity. Once the nation states were born, they defined what they wanted in the name of freedom. People of a nation fought for certain principles which became the basis of their nationalism.
3. Uniformity of administration: Each nation had a political system, an economic system and unified laws. This means all the people living in a country had a same opportunity and were governed by the same rule. This equality brought in nationalism.
4. Birth of a middle class : With industrial revolution, the middle class was born in England which included doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. Slowly this concept spread to the colonies since they were the most educated class they were sure to load the nationalist movement.
5. The French and the American revolution. These two great revolutions changed the entire history of the world. They were two great examples of what nationalism could achieve. Both these revolutions were conducted by ordinary people against the rich and the powerful.
These are the general factors that were responsible for sowing the seeds of nationalism throughout the world.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BIRTH OF NATIONALISM IN INDIA.
In the 19th century in India, social reforms were at their peak. As a result, an awakening developed which encouraged the people to start the nationalist movement. Certain factors played a major role in this. They are as follows:
1. Political unification of India : The British united India into one nation. Before they came to India, India was a land to 500 odd kingdoms. Nationalism could not have prospered in this situation since they had nothing in common. The political unity of India was responsible for sowing the first seeds of nationalism.
2. Destruction of the old socio-economic system.
The british showed a disregard for the sentiments of the natives and wanted to convert them to Christianity. In the economic field, the farmers and the artisans had been completely destroyed. Cash crops were being grown and manufactured goods were been sent from England. The import duties on cotton were removed in 1883 thus destroying the Indian textile industry.
3. Social reform movements : With Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the Deoband movement, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan a lot of changes had come in the society. People were now aware of their rights and these movements exposed the social evils in the society and also how the british were exploiting the natives. This awakening developed the nationalist movement.
4. The dual policies of british: The british pretended to be concerned about the natives and to develop their lot. In reality they encouraged only that class of people who would serve their interests and run their administration. The farmers, the artisans, the common people, the educated people and even the industrialists were fed up by the policies of the british. All the people realized that they could only progress if they attain independence.
5. Racial discrimination: The british were very conscious of their skin colour. After the revolt of 1857, they showed this openly. They had special clubs and coaches for the Europeans where the entry for Indians was barred. Anything Indian was looked down upon. In 1883, the Ilbert bill was passed which tried to bring the European and the Indians at the same level in the eyes of justice. This was opposed by the Europeans in India and the bill was scrapped.
6. Famines : During the british rule, there were many famines in the country in which millions of people died. This happened because of the growing of cash crops, heavy taxation, poor facilities for the farmers and no emergency provisions when the monsoons failed.
7. The viceroy and his council : They were all british and no Indians were included. The viceroy could do as he felt like in India because communications with the kind or the queen of England took a very long time. The viceroy tried to be more powerful than the king and nobody could stop him. Since there were no Indians around, the problems of the natives could not be understood.
8. The Indian civil service : It had mainly English men and if an Indian wanted to compete he had a slim chance because for competing was 17 years and very few Indians at this age were well versed with English and the customs of the british. Besides the examinations were only held in England and very few people had the money to go there.
9. Policies of repression after 1857: The vernacular press act of 1878 put severe restrictions on the press that wrote in the local languages. The editors and the reporters were frequently jailed and were not allwed to express themselves freely. The arms act of 1879 forbade the possession of arms by the Indians especially the Indian sepoys in the british army.
All these factors contributed to the development of nationalist movements in India which finally was able to achieve independence in 1947.
EARLY POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, RISE OF INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND THE ROLE OF THE MODERATES.
In the second half of the 19th century, many association were formed in Bengal to represent the problems of the Indians to the british. In 1851 was formed the british Indian association and in 1875 Surendranath Banerjee founded the Indian association in Bengal. At the same time Dadabhai Naoroji started the Bombay association at Bombay. In 1883 a need was felt for a national organization and Surendranath Banerjee founded an All India National Conference.
All these associations were the first step towards nationalism and they inspired the formation of Indian National Congress(INC) . Allen Octavian Hume was a retired civil servant who played a very important part in founding the INC. He came to know that a revolt was in the offing and to prevent such a revolt, he started the INC in December 1885. He called the congress a safety valvue for the escape of great and growing forces. At this point the british felt that the INC was going to be a link between them and the Indian masses and they were convinced that through INC they could govern the masses easily. In this situation Lord Diffoin blessed the congress.
The first session of the congress was held at Bombqay under the president ship of W C Banerjee. At this session members from all religions, castes , creeds etc participated. A secular movement had started that represented the country rather than a particular community. The great leaders that attended this session were Dadabhai Naroaji, Badruddin Tyabji, WC Banerjee, Subramanyam Iyer, Vijayaraghavachar, Behramji Malbari and Chandavarkar.
THE MODERATE PHASE (1885 – 1905)
The INC had two phases the first being the moderate phase and the second being the extremist phase . By the moderate phase we mean following certain policies which are based on requests within the purview of the british administration. The moderate program wanted to bring people together and pass resolutions requesting the british government to increase the seats for Indians in the executive council and the legislature. They did not demand independence but more representation. They felt that as soon as the british government understood their request they would be granted. They wanted to be a part of the british empire. The following demands were made by the moderates.
1. Elected representatives in the provincial and central legislature council.
2. Holding of the ICS in India.
3. Raising the minimum age of entry into the ICS Exam.
4. Reduction of military expenditure.
5. Spread of education.
6. Industrial development of India.
7. Relief in agriculture indebtedness.
8. Amendment of the arms act.
The main leaders who promoted these demands were Surendranath Banerjee, M J Ranaday, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Feroz Shah Mehta. The moderates promoted the demands of the middle classes and these demands were very just. The british government ignored these demands and as a result the moderate phase grew into the extremist phase.
THE EXTREMIST PHASE (1905 – 1919)
The word extremism means putting a lot of pressure to get one’s demand met. In the congress it meant using the public opinion, the media, the festivals and organizing the masses to put so much pressure on the government which they could not refuse. In case of a disagreement the extremists were ready to go to jail. The following factors gave birth of extremism.
1. Failure of the moderates:- The appeals of the moderates fell on the deaf ears and the british did nothing about it. The moderates’ demands were not sufficient many new demands had to be added that were more serious.
2. Viceroy Curzon:- He came to India in December 1898 and introduced very harsh measures. He wanted the peaceful demise of the congress. In 1905 he divided Bengal into 2 parts, east Bengal and west Bengal. East Bengal was supposed to be a muslim majority area and west Bengal a hindu majority area. His motive was to create disharmony between the hindus and muslims and to weaken the nationalist movement. The public outcry was so much that he had to cancel the partition.
3. International events:- In 1905 Japan an asian country defeated Russia and this sent a strong message to the world that it was possible for a backward country to defeat a mighty power. Japan was also fighting wars with China and trying to become a imperialist power. In 1905 again there was the first revolution in Russia. In this revolution the common people fought against the czarist regime. This gave lots of confidence to the people struggling in Asia and Africa.
MAIN FEATURES OF EXTREMISTS:
1. Policy :- The extremists felt that serious measures had to be taken to shake the foundations of the british empire. A political fight had to be started which included demonstration, strikes, organization of meetings aimed against the british government, expression of strong public opinion in the newspapers and using the festivals to collect mass support. They did not believe in sending appeal to the british government.
2. Leaders :- The most prominent leaders were Lal, Bal and Pal. They were Lala Lajpath Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. They used the glorious past of the country to inspire the extremist movement.
Tilak went to prison many times for seditious writing and speeches. He started ‘Kesari’ a marathi paper in which he wrote without fear against the british government. He referred to the Gita and told people that inaction against injustice was the biggest crime. In Bengal goddess kali was adopted as a symbol for inspiring this movement.
Lala Lajpath Rai was beaten to death by the Lathis of the british when he was protesting against the Simon commission.
3. Effectiveness of extremisim:- It was a great change from the views of the moderates. For the first time the true nature of the british was exposed and an open fight had stated. They were much more successful than the moderates because they really shook the foundations of the british empire and even managed to get the support of the british citizens. This was a stepping stone for the birth of the revolutionary movement.
SWADESHI AND BOYCOTT MOVEMENT:
The word boycott means refusal to co-operate or comply with someone’s demands or requests. It is a weapon on a non violent protest which is very effective. The word swadeshi translates to ‘of one’s own country’. This means all that is foreign would be rejected by the people. These two weapons together were so strong that the british were woken up from their sleep the first time.
In 1905, Bengal had been partitioned on communal lines. The protest of the people was so strong that the partition had to be cancelled. In this fervent atmosphere the boycott and swadeshi movements were launched. Under the boycott movements the students left the government run school ad colleges, people resigned from their jobs, government jobs were discarded, meetings were held against the british. Associations were formed and everything promoted by the british was boycotted.
Under the swadeshi movement huge bonfires of british cloth were lit up, foreign liquor shops were picketed, people started wearing khadi, small scale industries started producing small things, foreign books were discarded, british etiquettes were discarded and people stopped buying anything and everything that was british.
The british reaction was violent. Meetings were banned, the chanting of Bande-Mataram was banned or prohibited, schools were derecognized, grants were stopped to the schools, protestionists were lathi charged and many other terrorizing measures were taken. Nationalist newspapers were banned, their editors were prosecuted and many leaders were imprisoned. In 1907, the seditious meetings act was passed which prevented the holding of meetings. In 1910 the Indian press act was passed according to which any editor could be punished without any reason. Many people were deported without trail, Tilak was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment and deported to Mandalay for two articles that he wrote in Kesari.
Lala Lajpath Rai felt that that these two movements would make us financially and socially independent. In 1906 Dadabhai Naoroji declared that the attainment of swaraj as the aim of the congress. In 1907 at the Surat session of the congress, the moderates and extremists fought bitterly because the moderates wanted to modify the resolution on the swadeshi and boycott and wanted self government to be achieved through constitional means. After ugly scenes the two groups parted . Tilak led the extremists while the moderates controlled the congress and they finally patched up in 1916.
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE
After the revolt of 1857, the power passed to the british crown and very strict policies were adopted to prevent the outbreak of another revolt. One of these policies was the policy of divide and rule. According to this policy a rift had to be developed between the hindus and the muslims. First the british discriminated against the muslims keeping them out of the army and other services. Later when the unity was seen in the congress between the hindu and the muslim leaders, their policy underwent a change and they started favouring the muslims. They promoted the upper class muslims and encouraged them to form organizations against the congress.
In the beginning the hindus and muslims together opposed the partition of Bengal. Both the communities realized that the british were trying to divide them. In east Bengal the muslims were in majority where as in west Bengal it was the hindus but none of them wanted to partition Bengal. At the Calcutta session of congress that is 1906, Mohammad Ali Jinnah alongwith many muslim leaders participated and opposed the reservation of seats in the legislatures that were based on religion. As time passed many muslim leaders felt that they needed concessions from the british government to promote their economic interest. They felt if they opposed the british their interests would suffer. Besides this the extremist movement in the congress was reviving Hinduism and this alienated the muslims.
The british desperately needed an organization to counter the acitivites of the congress. They gave full encouragement to the muslim community to form a separate organisationa. On 1st October 1906, a muslim delegation led by Aga Khan the religious leader the muslim sect met Governor General Minto at Shimla. He was accompanied by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca with the Governor General Support on 30th December 1906, the Muslim League was formed.
The main objectives of the Muslim League were:-
1. To promote amongst the Musalmaans of India feelings of loyalty to the british government and to remove any misconceptions that may arise as to the intentions of the government with regard to any of its measures.
2. To protect and advance, the political rights and interests of the musalmaans of India and respectfully represent their needs and aspirations to the government.
3. To prevent the rise of the muslmaans of India if any feelings of hostility towards other communities without prejudice to the other objects of the league.
Though the muslim league represented the muslim community, many muslim leaders joined the general stream of the nationalist movements. In 1912, Abul Kalam Azad founded the Al-Hilal and Moulana Mohammad Ali started the Comrade in English and Hamdard in Urdu. In 1913, the muslim league adopted the resolution of self government for India and Jinnah joined the muslim league. He was asked by the nationalists to do so, so that the league could work side by side with the congress. Jinnah was able lawyer who went to England in 1914to represent the views of the Indian nationalist movement over a bill regarding political reforms in India.
THE MASSACARE AT JALLIANWALA BAGH.
In march 1919, the Rowlatt Act was enforced. As a result there were protests all over the country. On 6th april they took a serious form when strikes, hartals, demonstrations were seen everywhere. The state of Pujab reacted very strongly to these acts. As a reaction, the British gave orders of lathicharges and firing. On 10th april 1919, during these protests two great leaders of the congress were arrested. They were taken to an unknown destination. Their names were Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
The public was outraged in Punjab and on 13th april a meeting was called at Jallian Wala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the high handedness of british. This was a small park surrounded by the buildings and had one small lane which was the point of entry leading to the park. Out of nowhere General Dyer came and with his british troops closed the only exit, surrounded the people and in less than 10 minutes fired 1600 rounds. About a 1000 people died and 2000 were injured. Those who tried to escape were shot dead. Men, women, children and old people were killed and many jumped into the well that was located there. The meeting had been no provocation therefore the General fired without a warning and sealed the only exit.
This outrageous act shook the entire nation and most of the English men in England condemned with their heart and soul. The british government let loose a reign of terror and government law was clamped over the state. General Dyer had hoped to kill the nationalist movement but this incident added fuel to the fire and gave birth to the Khilafat and the non – cooperation movement.
THE KHILAFAT AND THE NON – COOPERATION MOVEMENT.
The Khilafat and the non-cooperation movement wer two movements combined into one. The Khilafat movement was launched by the muslims of India to pressurize the british government to relax the terms imposed on the Sultan of Turkey after the world war I. The alies had defeated Turkey in the World war I and as a punishment, they put these severe restrictions on the Sultan who was the religious head of the muslim community. The famous Ali brothers Mohammad Ali and Showkat Ali started this movement in India. Gandhiji established contact with the Ali brothers and found that their demands were just and so he along with the congress supported this movement. It was the time to show Hindu Muslim Unity.
Gandhiji launched the non cooperation movement in 1920. Moti lal Nehru also led this movement. The aim of this movement was to redress the wrongs done to Punjab and Turkey and the attainment of Swaraj. Titles were rejected, legislatures were boycotted, law courts and educational institutions were boycotted and a campaign was started for the non payment of taxes. A group of 1,50,000 people was launched to make this movement a success.
The following points indicate the success of these movements:-
1. 2/3rd of the voters did not vote in the elections to the legislature.
2. schools and colleges run by the british remained empty.
3. a new program of national education was started.
4. Jamia Millia and Kashi Vidya Peeth were established which were run by Indians.
5. many people resigned from the government jobs.
6. foreign cloth as burnt in huge bon-fires.
7. there were strikes all over the country.
Besides all this in Malabar, the Moplah Rebellion broke out in which the hindus and the muslims participated. In the sikh community a movement was launched to dislodge the corrupt and arrogant mahants from their position of authority. Thousands of volunteers came forward to participate in these movements.
On 17th November 1921 the Prince of wales came to India and he was met with strikes and demonstrations. The police resorted to firing at the demonstrators and leaders like the Ali brothers, Moti lal Nehru, C R Das and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested. By the beginning of 1922, 30,000 people were in jail.
The congress under the presidentship of Hakim Ajmal Khan decided to continue the movement until the Punjab and Khilafat grievances were redressed and Swaraj attained. Moulana Masrat Mohani an eminent leader and an urdu poet proposed that swaraj should be defined as complete independence free from all foreign control. Though this was not accepted but the winds of change could be seen. In February 1922, Gandhiji launched a no tax campaign in the Bardoli District of Gujarat. At the same time in U P at Chauri Chaura a mob of people turned violent setting fire to a police station killing 22 policemen. When Gandhiji came to know about it, he was shocked as he was a follower of non violence. Immediately, the movement was called off. The leaders who were in jail were disappointed as they knew that the suspension of the movement would kill its momentum. Gandhiji was arrested for 6 years but realeased after 2 years. Certain leaders like Moti lal Nehru and C R Das decided to participate in the various legislature elections to disrupt the working of the british government from inside. The working committee of the congress met on 12th February 1922 and decided to concentrate on the popularization of the Charkha. The promotion of hindu muslim unity and the combating of untouchability.
FROM SWARAJ TO INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT.
After the non cooperation movement was called off, for some time there was no activity in the congress. At its Lahore session the congress adopted the policy of complete independence and in view of this, the civil disobedience movement was launched in 1930.
Next to Gandhiji was Jawaharlal Nehru who came to India in 1910 after completing his education in England. He came into contact with the peasants of U P in 1912 and their sad plight opened his eyes. In December 1921 he was arrested alongwith with his father and other nationalist leaders, and released within a week and rearrested again and finally releasedin 1923. at Nablia in Punjab he saw how the Akali Sikhs were demonstrating against the corrupt Mahants. He was arrested and sentenced after the pretence of a trail. The next prominent leader was Subhash Chandra Bose. He was educated in Calcutta and Cambridge and was selected for the ICS or the Indian Civil Service. He organized the youths to strengthen the nationalist movement and was arrested in 1924. Later he escapted and formed the Azad Hind Fauj at Japan.
LAHORE CONGRESS AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT.
In view of the turmoil at the 1929 session of the congress under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the congress launched the Civil Disobedience movement as they had declared at this session the complete independence was their final aim. Gandhiji was made the leader of civil disobedience movement and it was decided to celebrate 26th January as the independence day for the whole country. At the 1930 meeting of the working committee of the congress a resolution was passed which stated that the british had completely ruined India socially, economically and politically. It was a crime against man and god and through the civil disobedience movement, non violence means would be adopted and congress would protest.
The first thing that happened under the civil disobedience movement was the celebration of the independence day on 26th January. After independence this day is celebrated as the republic day in India. The next step was the Dandi march in which Gandhiji along with his supporters marched 300 kms in Gujarath from his sabarmati ashram to Dandi ( a coastal town). Indians could not produce their own salt as per the rules of the british. Gandhiji and his followers produced the salt themselves under the civil disobedience movement. He asked every village to produce salt, picket liquor shops, opium dens, and shops selling foreign cloth. Gandhiji said that foreign cloth should be burnt, hindus should give up untouchability, students must leave schools and colleges and the government servants must resign from their services. Gandhiji felt that by doing so ‘purna swaraj’ or complete independence would knock at our doors.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE CIVIL DISOBEDIECE MOVEMENT.
1. Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru and many other important leaders were arrested by the beginning of 1931, 90,000 people were in jail and 67 papers had been baned. At Peshawar, the Indian soldiers refused to fire at the demonstrators.
2. With the public outcry, Gandhiji was released in 1931 and in March he and Viceroy Irwin signed the Gandhi – Irwin pact under which the movement was called off. Under this pact the government promised to release all the political prisoners except the ones who were involved in violence. Another clause of the pact was that the congress will participate in the II round table conference in England which had been called to consider a scheme for a new constitution of India.
3. At the Karachi Session of the congress in 1931 the Gandhi-Irwin pact was accepted. A resolution was passed on the fundamental rights and economic policy. According to these two plans, a reconstruction of the Indian society after independence was to be discussed, aims of the constitution of India to be framed and a socio economic policy of the Indian Republic had to be made.
4. Lord Wellington the new viceroy refused to give an appointment to Gandhiji when he returned from the round table conference. Gandhiji was arrested. The movement was again started for 2 years and in May 1934 it was finally called off. By April 1933, 1,20,000 persons were imprisoned.
QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT.
After the withdrawal of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to start a mass movement against the british. He felt that the british were responsible for the hindu – muslim tensions. The congress was impressed by the views and its working committee passed a resolution on 14th July 1942 at Wardha where Gandhiji gave the slogan of ‘Quit India’. It was the final struggle against the british and the nationalist leaders could feel the foundations of the british raj shaking.
Once this movement was launched, Mahatma Gandhi and the top leaders were arrested. The congress was banned, a period of oppression started, strikes, processions and meetings were seen everywhere. The government resorted to frequent lathi charges and firing on peaceful demonstrators. The violent mobs damaged railway stations, cut off telegraph wires and set a number of government buildings on fire. As a result 940 people were killed by the britishers, 1630 persons were injured, 60,000 people were arrested. Even the women and children were not spared.
The government suppressed this movement within 2 months. This movement had become the biggest mass movement. When all the leaders were in jail, the people themselves organized this movement and resisted the british. It was the basis of the revolutionary movements that followed.
INDEPENDENCE AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA.
In 1940, at the Lahore session of the Muslim League, the demand for a separate state of Pakistan was made. This was based on the two nation theory where it was felt that the eastern and the western areas in the north should become one state where the muslims were in majority. The rest of the country would become another state where the hindus were in majority. Many muslim leaders, congress men and other leaders opposed this ‘two nation theory’. The british encouraged the muslim league to press their demand for a separate state.
In February 1946, the british sent the cabinet mission to India for the purpose for holding discussions with the Indian leaders. These discussions were going to focus around the granting of independence by the british to the Indians. Under the plan of the cabinet mission, India would be called a ‘Union of India’. It would be divided into 4 zones, each zone being independent with respect to its foreign policy, defence and communication. In these matters the british would intervene.
Another proposal was to make a constitution making body that would not be elected by the people but only by the provincial legislatures that would be based on the communal electorates i.e. separate votes cast by the hindus and the muslims. In this constitution making body, the names would be proposed not by the people or their representatives but by the petty rulers of the states. In May 1946, for the transition of power, an interim government would be formed that would have 40% seats for the hindus nominated by the congress, 40% for the muslims nominated by the muslim league and 20% for the other religious groups. Out of all these proposals, the congress accepted the constitution body making the proposal. The congress wanted the election of the constituent body on the basis of adult franchise but they agreed to the proposal of the cabinet mission to get independence at the earliest. The muslim league refused to participate in the constituent assembly.
In June 1946, as per the proposal of the cabinet mission, the elections to the constituent assembly were completed. The congress won 192 seats, the muslim league 70, the communist party 1 and the others 11. t this point the muslim league as per their policy did not join the constituent assembly. They demanded a separate state of Pakistan. The princes also boycotted the assembly and the states started a people’s movement to form India into a single nation.
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten was sent to India as a viceroy and the british promised to transfer power to the Indians definitely or before June 1948. In June 1947 he presented a plan whereby India would become two separate states – the Indian union and Pakistan. The states that was not a part of british. Indians were given the right to choose their future. Under the british, work started on fixing the boundaries of the two countries. On 14th August 1947, Pakistan gained her independence and on 15th August 1947, India became free. Pakistan comprised of west Punjab and east Bengal, Sindh and north western frontier province(NWFP).
When India was partitioned the people in Pakistan as well as in India were given the choice to join either India or Pakistan. At this time mass migration took place on both sides but unfortunately it was marked by riots and bloodshed. Hundreds of people lost their lives that left bitter memories in both countries at the time of their independence.
SIMON COMMISSION.
According to the government of India act of 1919, further constitutional changes were to be reviewed in the next 10 years. In November 1927, the british sent the Simon commission for this purpose. The commission had only Englishmen and no Indians and whatever they were trying to propose did not remotely relate to swaraj.
In February 1928, the commission came to India and there was country wide hartal. All the legislated members boycotted the commission. Anti-simon committee were formed, peaceful demonstrators were lathi charged, one such lathi blow killed Lala Lajpath Rai and Govind Vallabh Panth was disabled for life. Two conspiracy cases came to the light. The first was known as the Meerut conspiracy that involved a number of labour leaders and 3 english men. The people protested against these arrests. Some of them were acquitted while some were convicted. In the Lahore conspiracy on 8th April 1929, Bhagath Singh and Butakeshwar Dutt went to the central legislature assembly and threw a bomb at the government benches, followed by shouts of ‘long live the revolution’. No casualties were intended, it was done to scare the british. For this Bhagath Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged.
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The revolt of 1857.
On 10th Mat 1857, there arose in Meerut the first war of independence of the Indians which was given the name of a revolt or a mutiny by the britishers. The Indians all over the country were dissatisfied by the following policies of the british namely the Doctrine of Lapse and the Subsidiary alliance. According to the first policy any ruler who died without a male heir could not retain his territory and it would be passed on to the british. The Rani of Jhansi lost a four month old male child and as a result the kingdom was taken over by the british after her husband’s death.
Under the subsidiary alliance, the weak rulers had to maintain an army and horses for the british in return for the protection given by the british. All this infuriated the rulers of northern India.
The actual revolt was planned for 31st March 1857 but somehow it could not get underway because of the roti incident. In many barracks of the britishers rotis were circulated among the soldiers which contained small slips of papers that accused the british of hurting the sentiments of the hindus and the muslims.
In all this confusion on 10th May 1857, at Barrackpur, near Meerut an incident took place. Word went around that the cartridges that were to be used were covered with the paper, semared with cow’s and pig’s fat and had to be bitten off before using the cartridge. This went totally against the religious sentiments of the hindus and the muslims and under the leadership of Mangal Pandey, they refused to bite off that paper and a revolt started.
The revolt soon spread all over northern India . Rani Lakshmi Bai fought the british forces at Jhansi, she was joined by Nana sahib and his general Tantia Tope from Kanpur. Bakht Khan led the forces at Delhi and Bahadurshah II was made the Mughal ruler at Delhi. Kanwar singh led the movement in Bihar. In Bundelkhand and Rohilkhand many uprising took place. For some time the revolt was successful.
FAILURE OF THE REVOLT.
Before the end of 1858, the revolt had been crushed. Most of the revolutionary leaders were either killed, captured or had to go into exile. Since it failed it is called a revolt and the reasons for failure are as under:
1, Lack of proper communication and transportation.
2. Absence of the support of the middle class.
3. No support from the kingdoms of the south.
4. Lack of organization.
5. No unified leadership.
6. The british were well trained and superior in army tactics.
The power passed from the East India company to the British crown and Queen Victoria became the empress of India.
The following are the main causes which led to the revolt.
1. Dalhousie’s doctrine of lapse.: According to this Doctrine if a ruler of a kingdom died without leaving a male heir, his kingdom would be annexed by the British. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi was a victim of this doctrine.
2.Subsidiary Alliance : The British heads asked the rulers of the small kingdoms to maintain an army for them and to pay the British for protection from their enemies.
3. Destruction of peasats and the artisans.
The British changed agriculture for the growing of crops of subsistence to the growing of cash crops. As a result most of the farmers were ruined. They were paid very little for the cash crops. Due to the heavy taxation, the farmers took loans from money lenders when they were unable to repay these loans, their land was taken away.
The artisans produced hand made things. The same things were produced in England on machines at a very cheap rate. There was no taxation on imported goods. As a result, the artisans were destroyed.
4. Loss of Religion. The natives feared that the British wee going to convert them to Christianity . The british did not care for the sentiments of either the hindus or the muslims.
5. Puppet rulers: The weak rulers of the small kingdoms had to accept the interference of the british. They were like puppets in their hands and could easily be removed by the british.
6. The immediate cause of the revolt : The incident of the greased cartridge sparked off the revolt. The enfield rifle had been introduced in the army and it was expected that the greased wrapping on the cartridge had to be torn away with one hand and mouth while the other hand held the rifle. The sepoys suspected that the cartridges had been smeared with the fat of the pigs and cows and that hurt the sentiments of both the hindus and muslims and they requested the british government to withdraw the rifle which was duly rejected. Mangal Pandey was the first sepoy who sparked off the revolt though he was caught and hanged, his martyr’s death sparked off the nation wide revolt which is termed as first war of India’s independence.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLT OF 1857.
1. The power passed from the east India company to the british crown. Queen Victoria became the empress of India.
2. The british government promised not to annex any more states in India.
3. The Indian states accepted the paramountcy of the british and promised their loyal support.
4. An awakening arose amongst the people and they realized the importance of independence.
5. Social reform movement spread as they were the doors to independence.
6. The old rulers like the princes of the kingdoms did not matter any more. The people realized they had to look for a new leadership.
7. The hindus and the muslims came very close as they had fought shoulder to shoulder in the revolt.
RISE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM ( EARLY PHASE 1858 – 1905)
The factors that led to the birth of nationalism are as follows:-
Nationalism is a term which inculcates the feeling of pride and patriotism towards one’s country. Any country that had suffered under imperialism wanted to seek self rule or independence and India was no exception.
There are a number of factors which are responsible for the rise of nationalism in the 19th century.
1. End of feudalism in the world. Feudalism in most parts of world had been ended by the imperialist powers, thus changing the socio-economic order. As a result, a need was felt by the people to come together as a nation. Fuedalism had separated man from man and the exploitation was so much that the people could not raise their voice.
2. Formation of nation states. Nationalism can only prosper if the countries have fixed boundaries and the permanent indentity. Once the nation states were born, they defined what they wanted in the name of freedom. People of a nation fought for certain principles which became the basis of their nationalism.
3. Uniformity of administration: Each nation had a political system, an economic system and unified laws. This means all the people living in a country had a same opportunity and were governed by the same rule. This equality brought in nationalism.
4. Birth of a middle class : With industrial revolution, the middle class was born in England which included doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. Slowly this concept spread to the colonies since they were the most educated class they were sure to load the nationalist movement.
5. The French and the American revolution. These two great revolutions changed the entire history of the world. They were two great examples of what nationalism could achieve. Both these revolutions were conducted by ordinary people against the rich and the powerful.
These are the general factors that were responsible for sowing the seeds of nationalism throughout the world.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BIRTH OF NATIONALISM IN INDIA.
In the 19th century in India, social reforms were at their peak. As a result, an awakening developed which encouraged the people to start the nationalist movement. Certain factors played a major role in this. They are as follows:
1. Political unification of India : The British united India into one nation. Before they came to India, India was a land to 500 odd kingdoms. Nationalism could not have prospered in this situation since they had nothing in common. The political unity of India was responsible for sowing the first seeds of nationalism.
2. Destruction of the old socio-economic system.
The british showed a disregard for the sentiments of the natives and wanted to convert them to Christianity. In the economic field, the farmers and the artisans had been completely destroyed. Cash crops were being grown and manufactured goods were been sent from England. The import duties on cotton were removed in 1883 thus destroying the Indian textile industry.
3. Social reform movements : With Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the Deoband movement, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan a lot of changes had come in the society. People were now aware of their rights and these movements exposed the social evils in the society and also how the british were exploiting the natives. This awakening developed the nationalist movement.
4. The dual policies of british: The british pretended to be concerned about the natives and to develop their lot. In reality they encouraged only that class of people who would serve their interests and run their administration. The farmers, the artisans, the common people, the educated people and even the industrialists were fed up by the policies of the british. All the people realized that they could only progress if they attain independence.
5. Racial discrimination: The british were very conscious of their skin colour. After the revolt of 1857, they showed this openly. They had special clubs and coaches for the Europeans where the entry for Indians was barred. Anything Indian was looked down upon. In 1883, the Ilbert bill was passed which tried to bring the European and the Indians at the same level in the eyes of justice. This was opposed by the Europeans in India and the bill was scrapped.
6. Famines : During the british rule, there were many famines in the country in which millions of people died. This happened because of the growing of cash crops, heavy taxation, poor facilities for the farmers and no emergency provisions when the monsoons failed.
7. The viceroy and his council : They were all british and no Indians were included. The viceroy could do as he felt like in India because communications with the kind or the queen of England took a very long time. The viceroy tried to be more powerful than the king and nobody could stop him. Since there were no Indians around, the problems of the natives could not be understood.
8. The Indian civil service : It had mainly English men and if an Indian wanted to compete he had a slim chance because for competing was 17 years and very few Indians at this age were well versed with English and the customs of the british. Besides the examinations were only held in England and very few people had the money to go there.
9. Policies of repression after 1857: The vernacular press act of 1878 put severe restrictions on the press that wrote in the local languages. The editors and the reporters were frequently jailed and were not allwed to express themselves freely. The arms act of 1879 forbade the possession of arms by the Indians especially the Indian sepoys in the british army.
All these factors contributed to the development of nationalist movements in India which finally was able to achieve independence in 1947.
EARLY POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, RISE OF INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND THE ROLE OF THE MODERATES.
In the second half of the 19th century, many association were formed in Bengal to represent the problems of the Indians to the british. In 1851 was formed the british Indian association and in 1875 Surendranath Banerjee founded the Indian association in Bengal. At the same time Dadabhai Naoroji started the Bombay association at Bombay. In 1883 a need was felt for a national organization and Surendranath Banerjee founded an All India National Conference.
All these associations were the first step towards nationalism and they inspired the formation of Indian National Congress(INC) . Allen Octavian Hume was a retired civil servant who played a very important part in founding the INC. He came to know that a revolt was in the offing and to prevent such a revolt, he started the INC in December 1885. He called the congress a safety valvue for the escape of great and growing forces. At this point the british felt that the INC was going to be a link between them and the Indian masses and they were convinced that through INC they could govern the masses easily. In this situation Lord Diffoin blessed the congress.
The first session of the congress was held at Bombqay under the president ship of W C Banerjee. At this session members from all religions, castes , creeds etc participated. A secular movement had started that represented the country rather than a particular community. The great leaders that attended this session were Dadabhai Naroaji, Badruddin Tyabji, WC Banerjee, Subramanyam Iyer, Vijayaraghavachar, Behramji Malbari and Chandavarkar.
THE MODERATE PHASE (1885 – 1905)
The INC had two phases the first being the moderate phase and the second being the extremist phase . By the moderate phase we mean following certain policies which are based on requests within the purview of the british administration. The moderate program wanted to bring people together and pass resolutions requesting the british government to increase the seats for Indians in the executive council and the legislature. They did not demand independence but more representation. They felt that as soon as the british government understood their request they would be granted. They wanted to be a part of the british empire. The following demands were made by the moderates.
1. Elected representatives in the provincial and central legislature council.
2. Holding of the ICS in India.
3. Raising the minimum age of entry into the ICS Exam.
4. Reduction of military expenditure.
5. Spread of education.
6. Industrial development of India.
7. Relief in agriculture indebtedness.
8. Amendment of the arms act.
The main leaders who promoted these demands were Surendranath Banerjee, M J Ranaday, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Feroz Shah Mehta. The moderates promoted the demands of the middle classes and these demands were very just. The british government ignored these demands and as a result the moderate phase grew into the extremist phase.
THE EXTREMIST PHASE (1905 – 1919)
The word extremism means putting a lot of pressure to get one’s demand met. In the congress it meant using the public opinion, the media, the festivals and organizing the masses to put so much pressure on the government which they could not refuse. In case of a disagreement the extremists were ready to go to jail. The following factors gave birth of extremism.
1. Failure of the moderates:- The appeals of the moderates fell on the deaf ears and the british did nothing about it. The moderates’ demands were not sufficient many new demands had to be added that were more serious.
2. Viceroy Curzon:- He came to India in December 1898 and introduced very harsh measures. He wanted the peaceful demise of the congress. In 1905 he divided Bengal into 2 parts, east Bengal and west Bengal. East Bengal was supposed to be a muslim majority area and west Bengal a hindu majority area. His motive was to create disharmony between the hindus and muslims and to weaken the nationalist movement. The public outcry was so much that he had to cancel the partition.
3. International events:- In 1905 Japan an asian country defeated Russia and this sent a strong message to the world that it was possible for a backward country to defeat a mighty power. Japan was also fighting wars with China and trying to become a imperialist power. In 1905 again there was the first revolution in Russia. In this revolution the common people fought against the czarist regime. This gave lots of confidence to the people struggling in Asia and Africa.
MAIN FEATURES OF EXTREMISTS:
1. Policy :- The extremists felt that serious measures had to be taken to shake the foundations of the british empire. A political fight had to be started which included demonstration, strikes, organization of meetings aimed against the british government, expression of strong public opinion in the newspapers and using the festivals to collect mass support. They did not believe in sending appeal to the british government.
2. Leaders :- The most prominent leaders were Lal, Bal and Pal. They were Lala Lajpath Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. They used the glorious past of the country to inspire the extremist movement.
Tilak went to prison many times for seditious writing and speeches. He started ‘Kesari’ a marathi paper in which he wrote without fear against the british government. He referred to the Gita and told people that inaction against injustice was the biggest crime. In Bengal goddess kali was adopted as a symbol for inspiring this movement.
Lala Lajpath Rai was beaten to death by the Lathis of the british when he was protesting against the Simon commission.
3. Effectiveness of extremisim:- It was a great change from the views of the moderates. For the first time the true nature of the british was exposed and an open fight had stated. They were much more successful than the moderates because they really shook the foundations of the british empire and even managed to get the support of the british citizens. This was a stepping stone for the birth of the revolutionary movement.
SWADESHI AND BOYCOTT MOVEMENT:
The word boycott means refusal to co-operate or comply with someone’s demands or requests. It is a weapon on a non violent protest which is very effective. The word swadeshi translates to ‘of one’s own country’. This means all that is foreign would be rejected by the people. These two weapons together were so strong that the british were woken up from their sleep the first time.
In 1905, Bengal had been partitioned on communal lines. The protest of the people was so strong that the partition had to be cancelled. In this fervent atmosphere the boycott and swadeshi movements were launched. Under the boycott movements the students left the government run school ad colleges, people resigned from their jobs, government jobs were discarded, meetings were held against the british. Associations were formed and everything promoted by the british was boycotted.
Under the swadeshi movement huge bonfires of british cloth were lit up, foreign liquor shops were picketed, people started wearing khadi, small scale industries started producing small things, foreign books were discarded, british etiquettes were discarded and people stopped buying anything and everything that was british.
The british reaction was violent. Meetings were banned, the chanting of Bande-Mataram was banned or prohibited, schools were derecognized, grants were stopped to the schools, protestionists were lathi charged and many other terrorizing measures were taken. Nationalist newspapers were banned, their editors were prosecuted and many leaders were imprisoned. In 1907, the seditious meetings act was passed which prevented the holding of meetings. In 1910 the Indian press act was passed according to which any editor could be punished without any reason. Many people were deported without trail, Tilak was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment and deported to Mandalay for two articles that he wrote in Kesari.
Lala Lajpath Rai felt that that these two movements would make us financially and socially independent. In 1906 Dadabhai Naoroji declared that the attainment of swaraj as the aim of the congress. In 1907 at the Surat session of the congress, the moderates and extremists fought bitterly because the moderates wanted to modify the resolution on the swadeshi and boycott and wanted self government to be achieved through constitional means. After ugly scenes the two groups parted . Tilak led the extremists while the moderates controlled the congress and they finally patched up in 1916.
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE
After the revolt of 1857, the power passed to the british crown and very strict policies were adopted to prevent the outbreak of another revolt. One of these policies was the policy of divide and rule. According to this policy a rift had to be developed between the hindus and the muslims. First the british discriminated against the muslims keeping them out of the army and other services. Later when the unity was seen in the congress between the hindu and the muslim leaders, their policy underwent a change and they started favouring the muslims. They promoted the upper class muslims and encouraged them to form organizations against the congress.
In the beginning the hindus and muslims together opposed the partition of Bengal. Both the communities realized that the british were trying to divide them. In east Bengal the muslims were in majority where as in west Bengal it was the hindus but none of them wanted to partition Bengal. At the Calcutta session of congress that is 1906, Mohammad Ali Jinnah alongwith many muslim leaders participated and opposed the reservation of seats in the legislatures that were based on religion. As time passed many muslim leaders felt that they needed concessions from the british government to promote their economic interest. They felt if they opposed the british their interests would suffer. Besides this the extremist movement in the congress was reviving Hinduism and this alienated the muslims.
The british desperately needed an organization to counter the acitivites of the congress. They gave full encouragement to the muslim community to form a separate organisationa. On 1st October 1906, a muslim delegation led by Aga Khan the religious leader the muslim sect met Governor General Minto at Shimla. He was accompanied by Nawab Salimullah of Dacca with the Governor General Support on 30th December 1906, the Muslim League was formed.
The main objectives of the Muslim League were:-
1. To promote amongst the Musalmaans of India feelings of loyalty to the british government and to remove any misconceptions that may arise as to the intentions of the government with regard to any of its measures.
2. To protect and advance, the political rights and interests of the musalmaans of India and respectfully represent their needs and aspirations to the government.
3. To prevent the rise of the muslmaans of India if any feelings of hostility towards other communities without prejudice to the other objects of the league.
Though the muslim league represented the muslim community, many muslim leaders joined the general stream of the nationalist movements. In 1912, Abul Kalam Azad founded the Al-Hilal and Moulana Mohammad Ali started the Comrade in English and Hamdard in Urdu. In 1913, the muslim league adopted the resolution of self government for India and Jinnah joined the muslim league. He was asked by the nationalists to do so, so that the league could work side by side with the congress. Jinnah was able lawyer who went to England in 1914to represent the views of the Indian nationalist movement over a bill regarding political reforms in India.
THE MASSACARE AT JALLIANWALA BAGH.
In march 1919, the Rowlatt Act was enforced. As a result there were protests all over the country. On 6th april they took a serious form when strikes, hartals, demonstrations were seen everywhere. The state of Pujab reacted very strongly to these acts. As a reaction, the British gave orders of lathicharges and firing. On 10th april 1919, during these protests two great leaders of the congress were arrested. They were taken to an unknown destination. Their names were Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
The public was outraged in Punjab and on 13th april a meeting was called at Jallian Wala Bagh in Amritsar to protest against the high handedness of british. This was a small park surrounded by the buildings and had one small lane which was the point of entry leading to the park. Out of nowhere General Dyer came and with his british troops closed the only exit, surrounded the people and in less than 10 minutes fired 1600 rounds. About a 1000 people died and 2000 were injured. Those who tried to escape were shot dead. Men, women, children and old people were killed and many jumped into the well that was located there. The meeting had been no provocation therefore the General fired without a warning and sealed the only exit.
This outrageous act shook the entire nation and most of the English men in England condemned with their heart and soul. The british government let loose a reign of terror and government law was clamped over the state. General Dyer had hoped to kill the nationalist movement but this incident added fuel to the fire and gave birth to the Khilafat and the non – cooperation movement.
THE KHILAFAT AND THE NON – COOPERATION MOVEMENT.
The Khilafat and the non-cooperation movement wer two movements combined into one. The Khilafat movement was launched by the muslims of India to pressurize the british government to relax the terms imposed on the Sultan of Turkey after the world war I. The alies had defeated Turkey in the World war I and as a punishment, they put these severe restrictions on the Sultan who was the religious head of the muslim community. The famous Ali brothers Mohammad Ali and Showkat Ali started this movement in India. Gandhiji established contact with the Ali brothers and found that their demands were just and so he along with the congress supported this movement. It was the time to show Hindu Muslim Unity.
Gandhiji launched the non cooperation movement in 1920. Moti lal Nehru also led this movement. The aim of this movement was to redress the wrongs done to Punjab and Turkey and the attainment of Swaraj. Titles were rejected, legislatures were boycotted, law courts and educational institutions were boycotted and a campaign was started for the non payment of taxes. A group of 1,50,000 people was launched to make this movement a success.
The following points indicate the success of these movements:-
1. 2/3rd of the voters did not vote in the elections to the legislature.
2. schools and colleges run by the british remained empty.
3. a new program of national education was started.
4. Jamia Millia and Kashi Vidya Peeth were established which were run by Indians.
5. many people resigned from the government jobs.
6. foreign cloth as burnt in huge bon-fires.
7. there were strikes all over the country.
Besides all this in Malabar, the Moplah Rebellion broke out in which the hindus and the muslims participated. In the sikh community a movement was launched to dislodge the corrupt and arrogant mahants from their position of authority. Thousands of volunteers came forward to participate in these movements.
On 17th November 1921 the Prince of wales came to India and he was met with strikes and demonstrations. The police resorted to firing at the demonstrators and leaders like the Ali brothers, Moti lal Nehru, C R Das and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested. By the beginning of 1922, 30,000 people were in jail.
The congress under the presidentship of Hakim Ajmal Khan decided to continue the movement until the Punjab and Khilafat grievances were redressed and Swaraj attained. Moulana Masrat Mohani an eminent leader and an urdu poet proposed that swaraj should be defined as complete independence free from all foreign control. Though this was not accepted but the winds of change could be seen. In February 1922, Gandhiji launched a no tax campaign in the Bardoli District of Gujarat. At the same time in U P at Chauri Chaura a mob of people turned violent setting fire to a police station killing 22 policemen. When Gandhiji came to know about it, he was shocked as he was a follower of non violence. Immediately, the movement was called off. The leaders who were in jail were disappointed as they knew that the suspension of the movement would kill its momentum. Gandhiji was arrested for 6 years but realeased after 2 years. Certain leaders like Moti lal Nehru and C R Das decided to participate in the various legislature elections to disrupt the working of the british government from inside. The working committee of the congress met on 12th February 1922 and decided to concentrate on the popularization of the Charkha. The promotion of hindu muslim unity and the combating of untouchability.
FROM SWARAJ TO INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT.
After the non cooperation movement was called off, for some time there was no activity in the congress. At its Lahore session the congress adopted the policy of complete independence and in view of this, the civil disobedience movement was launched in 1930.
Next to Gandhiji was Jawaharlal Nehru who came to India in 1910 after completing his education in England. He came into contact with the peasants of U P in 1912 and their sad plight opened his eyes. In December 1921 he was arrested alongwith with his father and other nationalist leaders, and released within a week and rearrested again and finally releasedin 1923. at Nablia in Punjab he saw how the Akali Sikhs were demonstrating against the corrupt Mahants. He was arrested and sentenced after the pretence of a trail. The next prominent leader was Subhash Chandra Bose. He was educated in Calcutta and Cambridge and was selected for the ICS or the Indian Civil Service. He organized the youths to strengthen the nationalist movement and was arrested in 1924. Later he escapted and formed the Azad Hind Fauj at Japan.
LAHORE CONGRESS AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT.
In view of the turmoil at the 1929 session of the congress under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the congress launched the Civil Disobedience movement as they had declared at this session the complete independence was their final aim. Gandhiji was made the leader of civil disobedience movement and it was decided to celebrate 26th January as the independence day for the whole country. At the 1930 meeting of the working committee of the congress a resolution was passed which stated that the british had completely ruined India socially, economically and politically. It was a crime against man and god and through the civil disobedience movement, non violence means would be adopted and congress would protest.
The first thing that happened under the civil disobedience movement was the celebration of the independence day on 26th January. After independence this day is celebrated as the republic day in India. The next step was the Dandi march in which Gandhiji along with his supporters marched 300 kms in Gujarath from his sabarmati ashram to Dandi ( a coastal town). Indians could not produce their own salt as per the rules of the british. Gandhiji and his followers produced the salt themselves under the civil disobedience movement. He asked every village to produce salt, picket liquor shops, opium dens, and shops selling foreign cloth. Gandhiji said that foreign cloth should be burnt, hindus should give up untouchability, students must leave schools and colleges and the government servants must resign from their services. Gandhiji felt that by doing so ‘purna swaraj’ or complete independence would knock at our doors.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE CIVIL DISOBEDIECE MOVEMENT.
1. Gandhiji, Jawaharlal Nehru and many other important leaders were arrested by the beginning of 1931, 90,000 people were in jail and 67 papers had been baned. At Peshawar, the Indian soldiers refused to fire at the demonstrators.
2. With the public outcry, Gandhiji was released in 1931 and in March he and Viceroy Irwin signed the Gandhi – Irwin pact under which the movement was called off. Under this pact the government promised to release all the political prisoners except the ones who were involved in violence. Another clause of the pact was that the congress will participate in the II round table conference in England which had been called to consider a scheme for a new constitution of India.
3. At the Karachi Session of the congress in 1931 the Gandhi-Irwin pact was accepted. A resolution was passed on the fundamental rights and economic policy. According to these two plans, a reconstruction of the Indian society after independence was to be discussed, aims of the constitution of India to be framed and a socio economic policy of the Indian Republic had to be made.
4. Lord Wellington the new viceroy refused to give an appointment to Gandhiji when he returned from the round table conference. Gandhiji was arrested. The movement was again started for 2 years and in May 1934 it was finally called off. By April 1933, 1,20,000 persons were imprisoned.
QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT.
After the withdrawal of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to start a mass movement against the british. He felt that the british were responsible for the hindu – muslim tensions. The congress was impressed by the views and its working committee passed a resolution on 14th July 1942 at Wardha where Gandhiji gave the slogan of ‘Quit India’. It was the final struggle against the british and the nationalist leaders could feel the foundations of the british raj shaking.
Once this movement was launched, Mahatma Gandhi and the top leaders were arrested. The congress was banned, a period of oppression started, strikes, processions and meetings were seen everywhere. The government resorted to frequent lathi charges and firing on peaceful demonstrators. The violent mobs damaged railway stations, cut off telegraph wires and set a number of government buildings on fire. As a result 940 people were killed by the britishers, 1630 persons were injured, 60,000 people were arrested. Even the women and children were not spared.
The government suppressed this movement within 2 months. This movement had become the biggest mass movement. When all the leaders were in jail, the people themselves organized this movement and resisted the british. It was the basis of the revolutionary movements that followed.
INDEPENDENCE AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA.
In 1940, at the Lahore session of the Muslim League, the demand for a separate state of Pakistan was made. This was based on the two nation theory where it was felt that the eastern and the western areas in the north should become one state where the muslims were in majority. The rest of the country would become another state where the hindus were in majority. Many muslim leaders, congress men and other leaders opposed this ‘two nation theory’. The british encouraged the muslim league to press their demand for a separate state.
In February 1946, the british sent the cabinet mission to India for the purpose for holding discussions with the Indian leaders. These discussions were going to focus around the granting of independence by the british to the Indians. Under the plan of the cabinet mission, India would be called a ‘Union of India’. It would be divided into 4 zones, each zone being independent with respect to its foreign policy, defence and communication. In these matters the british would intervene.
Another proposal was to make a constitution making body that would not be elected by the people but only by the provincial legislatures that would be based on the communal electorates i.e. separate votes cast by the hindus and the muslims. In this constitution making body, the names would be proposed not by the people or their representatives but by the petty rulers of the states. In May 1946, for the transition of power, an interim government would be formed that would have 40% seats for the hindus nominated by the congress, 40% for the muslims nominated by the muslim league and 20% for the other religious groups. Out of all these proposals, the congress accepted the constitution body making the proposal. The congress wanted the election of the constituent body on the basis of adult franchise but they agreed to the proposal of the cabinet mission to get independence at the earliest. The muslim league refused to participate in the constituent assembly.
In June 1946, as per the proposal of the cabinet mission, the elections to the constituent assembly were completed. The congress won 192 seats, the muslim league 70, the communist party 1 and the others 11. t this point the muslim league as per their policy did not join the constituent assembly. They demanded a separate state of Pakistan. The princes also boycotted the assembly and the states started a people’s movement to form India into a single nation.
In 1947, Lord Mountbatten was sent to India as a viceroy and the british promised to transfer power to the Indians definitely or before June 1948. In June 1947 he presented a plan whereby India would become two separate states – the Indian union and Pakistan. The states that was not a part of british. Indians were given the right to choose their future. Under the british, work started on fixing the boundaries of the two countries. On 14th August 1947, Pakistan gained her independence and on 15th August 1947, India became free. Pakistan comprised of west Punjab and east Bengal, Sindh and north western frontier province(NWFP).
When India was partitioned the people in Pakistan as well as in India were given the choice to join either India or Pakistan. At this time mass migration took place on both sides but unfortunately it was marked by riots and bloodshed. Hundreds of people lost their lives that left bitter memories in both countries at the time of their independence.
SIMON COMMISSION.
According to the government of India act of 1919, further constitutional changes were to be reviewed in the next 10 years. In November 1927, the british sent the Simon commission for this purpose. The commission had only Englishmen and no Indians and whatever they were trying to propose did not remotely relate to swaraj.
In February 1928, the commission came to India and there was country wide hartal. All the legislated members boycotted the commission. Anti-simon committee were formed, peaceful demonstrators were lathi charged, one such lathi blow killed Lala Lajpath Rai and Govind Vallabh Panth was disabled for life. Two conspiracy cases came to the light. The first was known as the Meerut conspiracy that involved a number of labour leaders and 3 english men. The people protested against these arrests. Some of them were acquitted while some were convicted. In the Lahore conspiracy on 8th April 1929, Bhagath Singh and Butakeshwar Dutt went to the central legislature assembly and threw a bomb at the government benches, followed by shouts of ‘long live the revolution’. No casualties were intended, it was done to scare the british. For this Bhagath Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged.
-=o0o=-
Social and Religious Reforms - unedited
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS REFORM MOVEMENTS IN INDIA
IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Q1. What were the new social classes that arose in India after the British conquest?
Ans. The Hindu society was predominantly divided into castes and sub castes. Though during the vedic times there was not rigidity in the class structure, over a period of time, rigidity had crept in and some classes were dubbed as untouchable.
The impact of the British rule was such that new social classes arose which were totally different from those existing before the British Rule. The result of permanent land settlement led to the creation of a new class of rish land lords who regarded the land as their private property and their main aim was gaining maximum monetary profits. They gave the work of cultivating the land to the tenants who had no total rights over the produce. Even where a peasant was a owner of a land, he was heavily in debt and always in the clutches of the money lender.
Another class which grew as a result of these types of land lords was a middle class which was only interested in the profits of the land and lived in cities. They had jobs in Public services and the industry. This group did not come up because of their family lineage but because of their education and they formed a very important group in the society. This group played a leading role in the demand for modernization and also development of the Indian society.
Other classes like landless peasants who shifted to the cities in search of jobs as they had lost their lands to the new land tenure systems became responsible for the peasant movements later on. They formed the class of unskilled labourers who lived in the cities in slums near the industry with no job security and harsh living conditions leading to death and disease.
The British conquest thus had far reaching impact on the Indian society. It was result of this impact and as a reaction to it that the people of our country started examining their society in order to reform it and lay the foundation for modernization.
Q2. Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed. Describe three of these in detail? (The answer has been edited and is re-posted at the end of the chapter.)
Ans . The impact of British rule in our country was such that it paved the way for modernization of the Indian Society and also for social reconstruction. The 19th century saw the rise of a series of social and religious reform movements and these movements ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately the independence of the country.
The social and religious reform movements was not confined to one social class or community it arose among all the communities and they attacked the misinterpretation of the holy texts to suit the needs of the priests and the ulemas. They also aimed at abolition of the rigid caste system, sati, child marriage and other inequalities. They also tried to encourage widow remarriage, education of women and total upliftment of the status of women in India.
BRAMHO SAMAJ AND RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy known as “The father of Modern India” came from a rich aristrocratic Brahmin family. Well versed in various languages like Sanskrit, English, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic and after studying the various philosophies and ancient texts combined in himself the best philosophies of east and the west. He was the first to take a lead towards social reform on rational and scientific approach. He founded the Bramho Samaj in 1828.
Through the Samaj he propogated the oneness and brotherhood of all religions and gave scientific reasoning to all texts. He encouraged the fact that one should study and understand the holy scriptures themselves and not through the intermediatary priests. The samaj attacked the caste system and he tried to legalise the abolition of sati and encourage widow remarriage. He worked and supported the British in the introduction of English Education in our country as he felt that he Indians have to go with the changing tide of the changing society and ultimately will be ready to handle the country after independence.
The samaj did signal work in the field of removal of caste distinctions and improving the conditions of women like education of women and widow remarriage. The step taken by the samaj was followed every where and slowly and steadily spread to other parts of the country and communities.
ARYA SAMAJ AND DAYANAND SARASWATI.
Mul Shankar or Dayanand Saraswati as he came to be known, belonged to a Brahmin family at Kathaiwar. He rebelled against idol worship and at the age of 22 ran away from home and tried to find truth through the Vedas. He propogated the reformation of Hinduism through the studying and right interpretation of Vedas. He propogated the hindu society should purify itself by turning to Vedas.
In his book Sathyartha Prakash published in 1979, he denounced other religions, child marriages. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. He samaj condemned idol worship and many of the religious rights in the religion. The samaj had revitalist rendencies and infact was not so forward looking as the other reform movements. But has credible workd in the field of women’s education in Punjab. Many schools were started for girls and boys and the medius of instruction was Hindi and English.
VIVEKANANDA AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a temple priest of kali temple at Dakshineshwar. Highly respected though being illiterate, he had a huge following even among his contemporary reforms. His solutions to every problem was simple and was easily understood.
His greatest disciple was Narendranath, who took the name of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda traveled the whole of the country in search of truth and reason. He found the reason we were being ruled by a foreign nation was we ourselves as our society was divided because of caste and religion. He took up the cause of reforming the society and founded the mission under the name of his mentor Ramakrishna and named it Ramakrishna mission.
Being impressed of the economic prosperity of the west and also the status enjoyed by the women there, tried to reform our society and through his writings and speeches brought about a sense of pride in our past which till then was made to be understood as barbaric by the British. He combined in him dynamism and nationalism and greatly influenced the younger generation to take pride in their country.
Q3. What were the points of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists?
Ans. The British Government was the chief aganecy in the spread of modern education. The chief reason being that after the consolidation of the empire, the people for minor posts like clerical and others could not be brought from England. So the work of training the Indians was taken and English education was introduced in our country.
When the british took up the cause of English education, there arose a point of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists. The anglicists led by Lord Macualay advocated the introduction of education of English and the medium of instruction also English. But the orientalists want the encouragement of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic learning and also the encouragement of modern learning through local languages. But ultimately the anglicists won and English education was introduced in the country but primary education suffered a lot because of this introduction.
Q4. Describe the main phases in the spread of modern education in India in the 19th century? What were the agencies which helped in the spread of English education in the same period?
Ans. In the early years of the 19th century, the government had shown indifference towards the growth of education in India but with the expansion and consolidation of the british empire, the need was felt in the introduction of English education and modern education.
The first efforts were made by the Christian missionaries and individual officers of the company. Though their main aim was spreading of Christianity but still their efforts played a pivotal role in laying the foundation of English and modern education in the country. With the growth of education among the Indians, some of the resourceful Indians started taking the cause of spread of modern education in the country. One of the most important achievements was the founding of the Hindu college at Calcutta in 1817. Ram Mohan Roy and David Hare played an important role in the opening of this college. The starting of Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 at Aligarh which later became Aligarh Muslim University too played an important role in the spread of English education. Many Indians too started opening schools and colleges.
The zeal of the bristish government in the spread of western culture and the support of Indians in the spread of education played an important role in making the government take interest in the spread of English education, it in 1813 decided to keep aside a sum of one lac in the encouragement of modern education and at the instance of Macualay introduced English as the medium of instruction. But Wood’s Despatch in 1854 brought about the introduction of local languages along with English brought about the encouragement of modern education in leaps and bounds.
Towards the end of the 19th century significant advances were made in the field of education not only by missionaries but also by the pioneering Indians themselves and thus the spread of modern education paved the way for nationalist movements in the country.
Q5. Name some newspapers which were started in the 19th century and which are coming out even today.
Take the answer from the book
Q6. What do you understand by the term ‘modernization’? In what respects was Indian society not modern in the early 19th century.
Ans: By the term modernization we mean the changes that have taken place from the past to the present where changes have occurred for the better standard of living of the people of the society.
With respect to modernization, our country was not modern in the early 19th century because in every respect the society was backward. Education was the privilege of the rich few and there was caste distinction in the society with untouchability was being followed. The rights were denied to the ordinary citizens and the aristocracy enjoyed all the rights and the king was the power and there was no one to oppose him in the kingdom. The country was divided in small kingdoms and every kingdom had its own king with his own set of laws and taxes and not uniformity in the laws that were governed.
The village was a self sufficient unit and though foreign trade and commerce did flourish and was the main stay the products were produced at the local level with the artisan and his family being involved in the production of the goods and not at a fast rate. Women did not enjoy the rights that the women of today enjoy and education was a dream to many of them.
Thus our country in the early 19th century was not modern as compared to the society of today and the industries, society and government was not as it is today.
Q 7. Did modern education help in the awakening of India ? Discuss.
The answer is on page 332 the whole paragraph under the heading ‘influence of education’
Question: - Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed? Describe three of these in detail?
Answer: - The social reform movements rose among all communities of the Indian people. In religion they attacked bigotry, superstition and the hold of the priestly clan. In social life, they aimed at the abolition of castes, child marriage and other legal and social inequalities. The social reforms tried to eradiate inequalities heaped on women, tried to do away with caste divide by education and tried to build a mind set of the Indian people that was completely different from the one that existed at that time. These social reforms were educated and had seen the advantages that education brought about in the society. These were many social ills that the social reforms worked to eradicate. They were abolition of Sati, abolition of child marriage, encouragement of widow remarriage, doing away with the caste system and the right to property for women.
Abolition of Sati:- Sati was an inhuman practice in which the widow was burnt on the pyre of her husband. Previously it was practiced to protect the honor of the widow but later it was forced on the widow but later t was forced on the widow to take over the property. Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked and succeeded in making the abolition of Sati legal. A law was passed in 1872 abolishing Sati.
Caste Discrimination: - Caste had been the sole legal and social determinant to one’s total life. A person who belonged to a high caste would have nothing to do with the lower caste. The Shudras or the un-touchable as they were called were not allowed inside the village temple or allowed in any functions. The social reform movements brought about a change on the mind set of the Indian society that now caste no longer remained the sole legal discriminant.
Widow Remarriage: - Widow like the untouchables were considered a bad omen in the society. A widow was ill treated both in her in-laws place and all in her parents place. She was not allowed to take part in auspicious functions also. The reformers worked for the widow remarriage where by women would have a respectable place in the society.
IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Q1. What were the new social classes that arose in India after the British conquest?
Ans. The Hindu society was predominantly divided into castes and sub castes. Though during the vedic times there was not rigidity in the class structure, over a period of time, rigidity had crept in and some classes were dubbed as untouchable.
The impact of the British rule was such that new social classes arose which were totally different from those existing before the British Rule. The result of permanent land settlement led to the creation of a new class of rish land lords who regarded the land as their private property and their main aim was gaining maximum monetary profits. They gave the work of cultivating the land to the tenants who had no total rights over the produce. Even where a peasant was a owner of a land, he was heavily in debt and always in the clutches of the money lender.
Another class which grew as a result of these types of land lords was a middle class which was only interested in the profits of the land and lived in cities. They had jobs in Public services and the industry. This group did not come up because of their family lineage but because of their education and they formed a very important group in the society. This group played a leading role in the demand for modernization and also development of the Indian society.
Other classes like landless peasants who shifted to the cities in search of jobs as they had lost their lands to the new land tenure systems became responsible for the peasant movements later on. They formed the class of unskilled labourers who lived in the cities in slums near the industry with no job security and harsh living conditions leading to death and disease.
The British conquest thus had far reaching impact on the Indian society. It was result of this impact and as a reaction to it that the people of our country started examining their society in order to reform it and lay the foundation for modernization.
Q2. Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed. Describe three of these in detail? (The answer has been edited and is re-posted at the end of the chapter.)
Ans . The impact of British rule in our country was such that it paved the way for modernization of the Indian Society and also for social reconstruction. The 19th century saw the rise of a series of social and religious reform movements and these movements ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately paved the way for national movement and ultimately the independence of the country.
The social and religious reform movements was not confined to one social class or community it arose among all the communities and they attacked the misinterpretation of the holy texts to suit the needs of the priests and the ulemas. They also aimed at abolition of the rigid caste system, sati, child marriage and other inequalities. They also tried to encourage widow remarriage, education of women and total upliftment of the status of women in India.
BRAMHO SAMAJ AND RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy known as “The father of Modern India” came from a rich aristrocratic Brahmin family. Well versed in various languages like Sanskrit, English, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic and after studying the various philosophies and ancient texts combined in himself the best philosophies of east and the west. He was the first to take a lead towards social reform on rational and scientific approach. He founded the Bramho Samaj in 1828.
Through the Samaj he propogated the oneness and brotherhood of all religions and gave scientific reasoning to all texts. He encouraged the fact that one should study and understand the holy scriptures themselves and not through the intermediatary priests. The samaj attacked the caste system and he tried to legalise the abolition of sati and encourage widow remarriage. He worked and supported the British in the introduction of English Education in our country as he felt that he Indians have to go with the changing tide of the changing society and ultimately will be ready to handle the country after independence.
The samaj did signal work in the field of removal of caste distinctions and improving the conditions of women like education of women and widow remarriage. The step taken by the samaj was followed every where and slowly and steadily spread to other parts of the country and communities.
ARYA SAMAJ AND DAYANAND SARASWATI.
Mul Shankar or Dayanand Saraswati as he came to be known, belonged to a Brahmin family at Kathaiwar. He rebelled against idol worship and at the age of 22 ran away from home and tried to find truth through the Vedas. He propogated the reformation of Hinduism through the studying and right interpretation of Vedas. He propogated the hindu society should purify itself by turning to Vedas.
In his book Sathyartha Prakash published in 1979, he denounced other religions, child marriages. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. He samaj condemned idol worship and many of the religious rights in the religion. The samaj had revitalist rendencies and infact was not so forward looking as the other reform movements. But has credible workd in the field of women’s education in Punjab. Many schools were started for girls and boys and the medius of instruction was Hindi and English.
VIVEKANANDA AND RAMAKRISHNA MISSION
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a temple priest of kali temple at Dakshineshwar. Highly respected though being illiterate, he had a huge following even among his contemporary reforms. His solutions to every problem was simple and was easily understood.
His greatest disciple was Narendranath, who took the name of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda traveled the whole of the country in search of truth and reason. He found the reason we were being ruled by a foreign nation was we ourselves as our society was divided because of caste and religion. He took up the cause of reforming the society and founded the mission under the name of his mentor Ramakrishna and named it Ramakrishna mission.
Being impressed of the economic prosperity of the west and also the status enjoyed by the women there, tried to reform our society and through his writings and speeches brought about a sense of pride in our past which till then was made to be understood as barbaric by the British. He combined in him dynamism and nationalism and greatly influenced the younger generation to take pride in their country.
Q3. What were the points of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists?
Ans. The British Government was the chief aganecy in the spread of modern education. The chief reason being that after the consolidation of the empire, the people for minor posts like clerical and others could not be brought from England. So the work of training the Indians was taken and English education was introduced in our country.
When the british took up the cause of English education, there arose a point of controversy between the anglicists and the orientalists. The anglicists led by Lord Macualay advocated the introduction of education of English and the medium of instruction also English. But the orientalists want the encouragement of Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic learning and also the encouragement of modern learning through local languages. But ultimately the anglicists won and English education was introduced in the country but primary education suffered a lot because of this introduction.
Q4. Describe the main phases in the spread of modern education in India in the 19th century? What were the agencies which helped in the spread of English education in the same period?
Ans. In the early years of the 19th century, the government had shown indifference towards the growth of education in India but with the expansion and consolidation of the british empire, the need was felt in the introduction of English education and modern education.
The first efforts were made by the Christian missionaries and individual officers of the company. Though their main aim was spreading of Christianity but still their efforts played a pivotal role in laying the foundation of English and modern education in the country. With the growth of education among the Indians, some of the resourceful Indians started taking the cause of spread of modern education in the country. One of the most important achievements was the founding of the Hindu college at Calcutta in 1817. Ram Mohan Roy and David Hare played an important role in the opening of this college. The starting of Mohammaden Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 at Aligarh which later became Aligarh Muslim University too played an important role in the spread of English education. Many Indians too started opening schools and colleges.
The zeal of the bristish government in the spread of western culture and the support of Indians in the spread of education played an important role in making the government take interest in the spread of English education, it in 1813 decided to keep aside a sum of one lac in the encouragement of modern education and at the instance of Macualay introduced English as the medium of instruction. But Wood’s Despatch in 1854 brought about the introduction of local languages along with English brought about the encouragement of modern education in leaps and bounds.
Towards the end of the 19th century significant advances were made in the field of education not only by missionaries but also by the pioneering Indians themselves and thus the spread of modern education paved the way for nationalist movements in the country.
Q5. Name some newspapers which were started in the 19th century and which are coming out even today.
Take the answer from the book
Q6. What do you understand by the term ‘modernization’? In what respects was Indian society not modern in the early 19th century.
Ans: By the term modernization we mean the changes that have taken place from the past to the present where changes have occurred for the better standard of living of the people of the society.
With respect to modernization, our country was not modern in the early 19th century because in every respect the society was backward. Education was the privilege of the rich few and there was caste distinction in the society with untouchability was being followed. The rights were denied to the ordinary citizens and the aristocracy enjoyed all the rights and the king was the power and there was no one to oppose him in the kingdom. The country was divided in small kingdoms and every kingdom had its own king with his own set of laws and taxes and not uniformity in the laws that were governed.
The village was a self sufficient unit and though foreign trade and commerce did flourish and was the main stay the products were produced at the local level with the artisan and his family being involved in the production of the goods and not at a fast rate. Women did not enjoy the rights that the women of today enjoy and education was a dream to many of them.
Thus our country in the early 19th century was not modern as compared to the society of today and the industries, society and government was not as it is today.
Q 7. Did modern education help in the awakening of India ? Discuss.
The answer is on page 332 the whole paragraph under the heading ‘influence of education’
Question: - Describe the social ills against which the social reform movements were directed? Describe three of these in detail?
Answer: - The social reform movements rose among all communities of the Indian people. In religion they attacked bigotry, superstition and the hold of the priestly clan. In social life, they aimed at the abolition of castes, child marriage and other legal and social inequalities. The social reforms tried to eradiate inequalities heaped on women, tried to do away with caste divide by education and tried to build a mind set of the Indian people that was completely different from the one that existed at that time. These social reforms were educated and had seen the advantages that education brought about in the society. These were many social ills that the social reforms worked to eradicate. They were abolition of Sati, abolition of child marriage, encouragement of widow remarriage, doing away with the caste system and the right to property for women.
Abolition of Sati:- Sati was an inhuman practice in which the widow was burnt on the pyre of her husband. Previously it was practiced to protect the honor of the widow but later it was forced on the widow but later t was forced on the widow to take over the property. Raja Ram Mohan Roy worked and succeeded in making the abolition of Sati legal. A law was passed in 1872 abolishing Sati.
Caste Discrimination: - Caste had been the sole legal and social determinant to one’s total life. A person who belonged to a high caste would have nothing to do with the lower caste. The Shudras or the un-touchable as they were called were not allowed inside the village temple or allowed in any functions. The social reform movements brought about a change on the mind set of the Indian society that now caste no longer remained the sole legal discriminant.
Widow Remarriage: - Widow like the untouchables were considered a bad omen in the society. A widow was ill treated both in her in-laws place and all in her parents place. She was not allowed to take part in auspicious functions also. The reformers worked for the widow remarriage where by women would have a respectable place in the society.
World After Second World War
HISTORY CHAPTER 13 - WORLD AFTER SECOND WORLD WAR
1) What were the main consequences of the Second World War on Europe? How was the political map of Europe after the war different from the pre war days?
The two wars fought during a brief period of 30 years resulted in the loss of millions of human lives and there was an impending danger that the whole of human race may be destroyed if there was another world war because the type of arsenal that was used during the Second World War had the power to wipe out the entire human race at one stroke. In the context steps were taken by the imperialist powers to be the first ones to stop any further war.
The three super powers Britain, USA and USSR came together at Teheran and decided to take steps to banish the terror and scourge of war and that the new organization was formed called the united nations organization just like the league of nations that was formed after the I world war. On 26th June 1945, 26 nations came together and adopted the United Nations charter based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace loving states. To carry out these objectives 6 principle organs of UN were formed.
Another major consequence of Second World War was the Potsdam conference where the super powers decided to partition off Germany and thus Germany was divided into four equal parts. Three parts were going to Britain, USA and France and the fourth part was going to Soviet Union. The development in these areas too went on the lines of type of Government enjoyed by the mother countries.
Another most important consequence of the Second World War was the start of the cold war. After the end of Second World War, USA was the only power that was economically stable and plus the possession of the atomic bomb which was destructive also increased her power. The socialist government in Soviet Union was able to emerge as another super power though she had suffered more than any other country because of the planned development that took place. The countries of Europe were aware of the changing scenario as many countries which gained independence after the Second World War from the imperialist powers took to socialist forms of government. This led to insecurities among the capitalist government of Europe and they started alienating the socialist nations and starting using methods as to gain more and more support against Soviet Union and the other communist countries and thus this led to the cold war and formation of the two blocs.
The Asian and African countries seeing the economic debacle of the imperialist countries started gaining independence. Some through non violent means but some had to gain independence through years of war. The support of some of the developed countries too speeded up the process of gaining independence. The another consequence of these emergences was the non alignment movement were the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs and thus brought down to a considerable extent the tension of the cold war.
After the Second World War where the political map of Europe on pre Second World War days was dominated by capitalist and imperialist powers now came to be dominated by new countries like Albania and Yugoslavia and these newly independent countries started having communist forms of government. The government of Soviet Union too helped for the independence of these countries and the development of Soviet Union in a planned way led to the most of the independent nations taking a communist form of government.
Thus where the world scenario before the Second World War was that of imperialism, fascism and that of formation of alliances the scene in the world was totally different with the super powers instead of having colonies were working for the development of the third world countries and trying to bring about peace among the nations.
2) What is meant by cold war? What were the factors which gave rise to it?
During the Second World War the governments of Russia, Britain and USA had fought together to bring down the fascist governments. They had assured to the world at large that there would be durable peace and international brotherhood but the war was hardly over when the conflicts began to emerge between the nations that is Britain and USA on one side and Russia on the other. The relations between these nations began to deteriorate and came to be termed as cold war. Over a period of years cold war became more intense and the world was now divided into two blocs one with Britain and USA and western European countries and another with Russia and all eastern European countries. Though sometimes tensions did arise between these two blocs but thanks to the presence of certain nations discouraging the war, the hostilities remained confined only to certain areas.
The most important reason for the outbreak of the cold war was the American and British fear for communism. With increase in the might of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of governments ruled by communist parties in many parts of the world including Europe and to top it all the 1949 end of civil war led to the emergence of communist party in China created a sense of fear among the countries of western Europe that people of their countries too would demand a socialist type of government and thus the countries of western Europe and USA started denouncing communism and started taking steps in order to see to it that communism does not emerge in their countries.
3) What is meant by non-alignment? Why did most of the newly independent countries follow this policy?
After the end of Second World War, most of the countries of Asia and Africa gained independence. Some gained it through years of struggle non-violent or violent. Thus when these countries became independent cold war had emerged in the world and some of the newly independent countries of Asia did align themselves with either of the blocs. But most of the Afro-Asian countries refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs. They felt that after struggling for years to gain independence why should they again give it up by joining any of the blocs. Thus this led to the non alignment meaning not aligning themselves with any of the forward blocs.
The newly independent countries of Asia and Africa had common problems of development and moving forward. They were aware of the danger that would pose for them if they aligned with any of the forward blocs. Their primary aim had been liquidation of colonialism, strengthening of independence and promoting world peace. The policy of non alignment was not just non involvement with military blocs but also a policy for creating a better world.
The non alignment movement for which our Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in ending colonialism and promoting peace is one of the most remarkable movements the world has seen. It also worked against economic exploitation of one nation by another and thus reduced the economic disparities between nations.
4) Discuss the factors which led to the weakening of imperialism after the Second World War?
The Second World War other than trying to wipe out half of the human race also played havoc with the economies of the imperialist countries of Western Europe. The economic debacle made it very difficult for these countries like Britain and France to maintain colonies in Asia and Africa. The struggle for freedom in these colonies coupled with support from the people of the imperialist countr8is too led to the weakening of imperialist powers after the Second World War. For e.g. After the Second World War in 1945 the conservative party of England lost the elections and labour party came to power. Thus Indian independence was imminent as it had support for independence in the labour party and thus in 1947 we gained our independence.
Some of the developed countries like Soviet Union too supported the cause of independence in the colonies. With growing demands for independence in the colonies and also the support from some of the developed nations led to the weakening of the imperialism after the Second World War.
5) Discuss the impact of emergence of Asian and African countries as independent nations on the world.
The most significant impact of the emergence of independent nations in Asia and Africa was the emergence of non-alignment movement where these countries refused to be aligned to any of the military blocs but worked for all-round development of the newly independent nations and world peace. This brought down to a great extent the impact of cold war.
After the Second World War, the super powers had been promising world peace and development but in practice had not been able to do so because of their fears of rise of communism and infighting. The world after Second World War became a place of two military blocs with atomic arsenal being piled up by every nation in show of strength. This could have led to a Second World War had it not been for the strong stance taken by the Afro-Asian countries refusing to be aligned to any of the military blocs and be totally independent and in turn work for world peace and mutual development. Work for bringing down economic disparities and work against economic exploitation between nations.
For the first time every nation began to create its own destiny and the creation of one world became a possibility where all people would co-operate with one another and would contribute their best to enrich their own lives and the entire mankind.
6) Describe Afro Asian Unity and Non Alignment.
Due to the cold war, the world had been divided into two blocs, one led by the USA and another by the USSR. At this time after the Second World War imperialism had declined and many countries of Asia and Africa got their independence. These nations were called the third world countries as they had to go a long way to establish them. Joining either of the blocs would have again resulted in a different kind of imperialism where they would have no freedom to their own decisions.
In 1955, 23 Asian and 6 African countries attended the Afro Asian conference at Bandung in Indonesia. The leaders of India, China and Indonesia played a prominent role at this conference. This was the basis of Afro Asian unity which resulted in the non-aligned movement.
Non-alignment means not to be associated with any power bloc. In case there is a conflict between the 2 power blocs the non aligned countries are free not to take sides. They could criticize colonialism and imperialism without the fear of facing serious consequences.
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Sugarno of Indonesia and President Tito of Yugoslavia were the main people to launch this movement. The first major conference of NAM was held at Belgrade in Yugoslavia in 1961. It was attended by the heads of states of 25 countries. 3 other countries attended as observers. The following are the principles of NAM.
v Stabilization of peace.
v Liquidation of colonialism and imperialism in all their forms.
v Peaceful co existence between nations.
v Condemnation of racial discrimination.
v Opposition to military alliances.
v Disarmament.
v Respect for human rights.
v Establishment of economic relations between nations based on equality and freedom from exploitation.
There are now 95 member countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Due to the presence of NAM, cold war has come to an end and the newly independent nations have found their identity.
7) Describe the Chinese Revolution.
In China there were two parties the Kuomintang and the Communists party of China. The Kuomintang was led by Chiang-Kai-shek. The leader of the communist party was Dr.Sun Yat Sen. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen was alive the two parties had a common understanding in spite of the fact that Kuomintang party was the capitalist party while the communist party followed communism. After Dr.Sun Yat Sen’s death this unity started decreasing but still both the parties fought against the Japanese invasion of China.
As time passed the gap widened between their philosophies. The Kuomintang supported the landlords while the communists supported the workers and the peasants. In the areas where the communists were strong they took away all the property of land lords. This made the majority happy that basically consisted of peasants and workers.
The communist’s party organized people’s liberation army to drive out the Japanese forces. At this time a civil war started once again between the supporters of two parties. Chiang-Kai-Shek was supported by America but he was defeated by the communist’s forces. After his defeat he went to Formosa an island which had been occupied by Japan after she defeated China in 1895.
On 1st October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed by the communist party of China under the leadership of Mao-Tse-Tsung. America refused to accept the communist China for 20 years and kept on supporting Ching-Kai-Shek. India had friendly relations with China till the end of 1950s but when in 1962 China invaded India, the relations became bitter. Now China is one of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations.
1) What were the main consequences of the Second World War on Europe? How was the political map of Europe after the war different from the pre war days?
The two wars fought during a brief period of 30 years resulted in the loss of millions of human lives and there was an impending danger that the whole of human race may be destroyed if there was another world war because the type of arsenal that was used during the Second World War had the power to wipe out the entire human race at one stroke. In the context steps were taken by the imperialist powers to be the first ones to stop any further war.
The three super powers Britain, USA and USSR came together at Teheran and decided to take steps to banish the terror and scourge of war and that the new organization was formed called the united nations organization just like the league of nations that was formed after the I world war. On 26th June 1945, 26 nations came together and adopted the United Nations charter based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace loving states. To carry out these objectives 6 principle organs of UN were formed.
Another major consequence of Second World War was the Potsdam conference where the super powers decided to partition off Germany and thus Germany was divided into four equal parts. Three parts were going to Britain, USA and France and the fourth part was going to Soviet Union. The development in these areas too went on the lines of type of Government enjoyed by the mother countries.
Another most important consequence of the Second World War was the start of the cold war. After the end of Second World War, USA was the only power that was economically stable and plus the possession of the atomic bomb which was destructive also increased her power. The socialist government in Soviet Union was able to emerge as another super power though she had suffered more than any other country because of the planned development that took place. The countries of Europe were aware of the changing scenario as many countries which gained independence after the Second World War from the imperialist powers took to socialist forms of government. This led to insecurities among the capitalist government of Europe and they started alienating the socialist nations and starting using methods as to gain more and more support against Soviet Union and the other communist countries and thus this led to the cold war and formation of the two blocs.
The Asian and African countries seeing the economic debacle of the imperialist countries started gaining independence. Some through non violent means but some had to gain independence through years of war. The support of some of the developed countries too speeded up the process of gaining independence. The another consequence of these emergences was the non alignment movement were the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs and thus brought down to a considerable extent the tension of the cold war.
After the Second World War where the political map of Europe on pre Second World War days was dominated by capitalist and imperialist powers now came to be dominated by new countries like Albania and Yugoslavia and these newly independent countries started having communist forms of government. The government of Soviet Union too helped for the independence of these countries and the development of Soviet Union in a planned way led to the most of the independent nations taking a communist form of government.
Thus where the world scenario before the Second World War was that of imperialism, fascism and that of formation of alliances the scene in the world was totally different with the super powers instead of having colonies were working for the development of the third world countries and trying to bring about peace among the nations.
2) What is meant by cold war? What were the factors which gave rise to it?
During the Second World War the governments of Russia, Britain and USA had fought together to bring down the fascist governments. They had assured to the world at large that there would be durable peace and international brotherhood but the war was hardly over when the conflicts began to emerge between the nations that is Britain and USA on one side and Russia on the other. The relations between these nations began to deteriorate and came to be termed as cold war. Over a period of years cold war became more intense and the world was now divided into two blocs one with Britain and USA and western European countries and another with Russia and all eastern European countries. Though sometimes tensions did arise between these two blocs but thanks to the presence of certain nations discouraging the war, the hostilities remained confined only to certain areas.
The most important reason for the outbreak of the cold war was the American and British fear for communism. With increase in the might of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of governments ruled by communist parties in many parts of the world including Europe and to top it all the 1949 end of civil war led to the emergence of communist party in China created a sense of fear among the countries of western Europe that people of their countries too would demand a socialist type of government and thus the countries of western Europe and USA started denouncing communism and started taking steps in order to see to it that communism does not emerge in their countries.
3) What is meant by non-alignment? Why did most of the newly independent countries follow this policy?
After the end of Second World War, most of the countries of Asia and Africa gained independence. Some gained it through years of struggle non-violent or violent. Thus when these countries became independent cold war had emerged in the world and some of the newly independent countries of Asia did align themselves with either of the blocs. But most of the Afro-Asian countries refused to be aligned to any of the forward blocs. They felt that after struggling for years to gain independence why should they again give it up by joining any of the blocs. Thus this led to the non alignment meaning not aligning themselves with any of the forward blocs.
The newly independent countries of Asia and Africa had common problems of development and moving forward. They were aware of the danger that would pose for them if they aligned with any of the forward blocs. Their primary aim had been liquidation of colonialism, strengthening of independence and promoting world peace. The policy of non alignment was not just non involvement with military blocs but also a policy for creating a better world.
The non alignment movement for which our Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in ending colonialism and promoting peace is one of the most remarkable movements the world has seen. It also worked against economic exploitation of one nation by another and thus reduced the economic disparities between nations.
4) Discuss the factors which led to the weakening of imperialism after the Second World War?
The Second World War other than trying to wipe out half of the human race also played havoc with the economies of the imperialist countries of Western Europe. The economic debacle made it very difficult for these countries like Britain and France to maintain colonies in Asia and Africa. The struggle for freedom in these colonies coupled with support from the people of the imperialist countr8is too led to the weakening of imperialist powers after the Second World War. For e.g. After the Second World War in 1945 the conservative party of England lost the elections and labour party came to power. Thus Indian independence was imminent as it had support for independence in the labour party and thus in 1947 we gained our independence.
Some of the developed countries like Soviet Union too supported the cause of independence in the colonies. With growing demands for independence in the colonies and also the support from some of the developed nations led to the weakening of the imperialism after the Second World War.
5) Discuss the impact of emergence of Asian and African countries as independent nations on the world.
The most significant impact of the emergence of independent nations in Asia and Africa was the emergence of non-alignment movement where these countries refused to be aligned to any of the military blocs but worked for all-round development of the newly independent nations and world peace. This brought down to a great extent the impact of cold war.
After the Second World War, the super powers had been promising world peace and development but in practice had not been able to do so because of their fears of rise of communism and infighting. The world after Second World War became a place of two military blocs with atomic arsenal being piled up by every nation in show of strength. This could have led to a Second World War had it not been for the strong stance taken by the Afro-Asian countries refusing to be aligned to any of the military blocs and be totally independent and in turn work for world peace and mutual development. Work for bringing down economic disparities and work against economic exploitation between nations.
For the first time every nation began to create its own destiny and the creation of one world became a possibility where all people would co-operate with one another and would contribute their best to enrich their own lives and the entire mankind.
6) Describe Afro Asian Unity and Non Alignment.
Due to the cold war, the world had been divided into two blocs, one led by the USA and another by the USSR. At this time after the Second World War imperialism had declined and many countries of Asia and Africa got their independence. These nations were called the third world countries as they had to go a long way to establish them. Joining either of the blocs would have again resulted in a different kind of imperialism where they would have no freedom to their own decisions.
In 1955, 23 Asian and 6 African countries attended the Afro Asian conference at Bandung in Indonesia. The leaders of India, China and Indonesia played a prominent role at this conference. This was the basis of Afro Asian unity which resulted in the non-aligned movement.
Non-alignment means not to be associated with any power bloc. In case there is a conflict between the 2 power blocs the non aligned countries are free not to take sides. They could criticize colonialism and imperialism without the fear of facing serious consequences.
Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Sugarno of Indonesia and President Tito of Yugoslavia were the main people to launch this movement. The first major conference of NAM was held at Belgrade in Yugoslavia in 1961. It was attended by the heads of states of 25 countries. 3 other countries attended as observers. The following are the principles of NAM.
v Stabilization of peace.
v Liquidation of colonialism and imperialism in all their forms.
v Peaceful co existence between nations.
v Condemnation of racial discrimination.
v Opposition to military alliances.
v Disarmament.
v Respect for human rights.
v Establishment of economic relations between nations based on equality and freedom from exploitation.
There are now 95 member countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Due to the presence of NAM, cold war has come to an end and the newly independent nations have found their identity.
7) Describe the Chinese Revolution.
In China there were two parties the Kuomintang and the Communists party of China. The Kuomintang was led by Chiang-Kai-shek. The leader of the communist party was Dr.Sun Yat Sen. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen was alive the two parties had a common understanding in spite of the fact that Kuomintang party was the capitalist party while the communist party followed communism. After Dr.Sun Yat Sen’s death this unity started decreasing but still both the parties fought against the Japanese invasion of China.
As time passed the gap widened between their philosophies. The Kuomintang supported the landlords while the communists supported the workers and the peasants. In the areas where the communists were strong they took away all the property of land lords. This made the majority happy that basically consisted of peasants and workers.
The communist’s party organized people’s liberation army to drive out the Japanese forces. At this time a civil war started once again between the supporters of two parties. Chiang-Kai-Shek was supported by America but he was defeated by the communist’s forces. After his defeat he went to Formosa an island which had been occupied by Japan after she defeated China in 1895.
On 1st October 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed by the communist party of China under the leadership of Mao-Tse-Tsung. America refused to accept the communist China for 20 years and kept on supporting Ching-Kai-Shek. India had friendly relations with China till the end of 1950s but when in 1962 China invaded India, the relations became bitter. Now China is one of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations.
The World From 1919 to 2nd World War
HISTORY CHAPTER 12 - THE WORLD FROM 1919 TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
1) What were the main features of the fascist and Nazi movements?
The world scenario after the First World War led to far reaching changes all over the world. The situation was tense and though after the First World War there had been treaties which had been signed, but the building up of war fare and ignoring of treaties ultimately led to the First World War. The countries of Asia and Africa started to fight for their independence and it culminated in their achieving their independence after the First World War. Another important factor was the rise of fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany.
The main features of fascist and Nazi movements were they were both hostile towards democracy and socialism and had a dictatorship type of government. They influenced many countries and occupied many countries of Europe. Fascism succeeded because of the bad economy and due to the death of the workers, soldiers and farmers in World War I but Nazism succeeded because of the 1929 crisis. They had the support of the capitalists and the landlords and they thrived on terror and murder. In the countries of Italy and Germany, elections were held but not party could gain majority. While Mussolini was invited by the king to form the government, Hitler through intrigues, became the chancellor of Germany. In both the countries as soon as the dictators took over the power, terror was let loose. Both glorified war and the unification that took place in both the countries led to the glorification of war. Mussolini’s party was called the Fascist party and Hitler’s party in Germany was called the Nazi party.
2) Explain the consequences of the economic crisis of 1929-33?
The Great depression was a time of economic down turn, which started after the crash of New York’s stock marked on 29th October 1929 known as the “Black Tuesday”. It began in the US and quickly spread to Europe and every part or the world in the industrialized countries and those which exported the raw materials. In short all the countries of the world were affected by the Great Depression. The consequences were as follows:-
International trade declined sharply.
Personal incomes crashed drastically.
Revenue from taxes reduced significantly affecting the economy of the countries.
The prices and the profits also reduced considerably. Millions of tones of wheat were burnt to prevent its price from falling further.
Many business establishments and factories had to shut down.
Construction in many countries was halted.
Farmers suffered in rural areas as crop prices fell by 40 – 60%
Mining and logging was the worst affected as the demand for coal, minerals, logs of wood declined dramatically. These people had not many alternatives in terms of job.
Democracy weakened and leaders like Hitler and Mussolini took advantage of this situation to spread their propaganda.
The Great Depression finally ended with the reform programme started by President Roosevelt called the NEW DEAL.
3) What is meant by the term axis power?
The Second World War had two sides fighting against each other one was the Allies and the other was the Axis. The major fascist powers like Italy and Germany and their ally, the military regime of Japan by 1930 were completely opposed to socialism and communism. Due to this similarity of ideology and forms of Governments, was the reason that they came together. Basically they were dictators and fascists at heart. Their main policies were aggression and imperialism in Asia, Africa and Europe and were united in 1937 under the Anti-Co intern Pact. They were the deadliest of enemies of the Allies. It was their vested interest of expansion and exploitation that created the conditions for the start of the wars of conquest which ultimately led to the First World War. Thus Germany, Italy, and Japan came to be known as Axis powers.
4) Describe the consequences of the victory of fascism on Italy and Germany?
The success of fascism in Italy and Germany and military regime in Japan led to a series of conquests in Asia, Africa and Europe. All the three countries claimed that they were fighting against communism and became united under the Anti-co intern pact. Under the proclamation that they were trying to end communism in the world these fascist countries started aggressing the countries of Asia Africa and Europe. The west European countries followed a policy of appeasement though Soviet Union and the other aggressed countries demanded that all the countries unite and put an end to the policy of aggression by these fascist countries.
The west European countries were fearful of the rise of communism in Russia and other east European countries and thus did not try to heartily stop the policy of aggression by these fascist countries and only passed resolutions and followed a policy of appeasement. Hitler used this excuse that is stopping of communism to expand the empire of Germany. The capitalists, landowners, bankers, churchmen etc. of western Europe were also fearful of the fact that their workers would ultimately demand a communist type of government and thus did not want a spread of communism. All these reasons led to the free hand given to Italy, Germany and Japan to follow a policy of aggression.
Thus as a consequence, the victory of fascism in Italy and Germany, led to the scene to be set for the start of the First World War barely thirty years after the end of the First World War.
5) What were the main aims of the foreign policy of Italy and Germany & of Japan?
The fascist government of Italy and Germany and the military government of Japan followed a foreign policy which in today’s’ world would be unthinkable. Their foreign policy consisted of re dividing the world through acts of aggression on other countries. These countries had entered the race for colonies late and at the end of First World War had had to pay a huge war indemnity and were thus waiting to become the most powerful countries of the world. The success of fascism in these countries made the dreams of these countries come true.
Their foreign policy mainly proclaimed that they were trying to stop the spread of communism but in reality they were using this method of expansion and aggression and the western countries, fearful of the rise of communism in their own countries followed a policy of appeasement which helped these fascist countries to become more powerful. Through treaties, through wars, they started expanding their countries and thus over a period of time, the fascist government of Italy and Germany and the Military regime of Japan were able to give a new map to the world and thus set the stage for the start of the First World War.
6) Describe the main events between 1936 and 1939 which created conditions for another world war?
Ø Japanese Invasion of China: A small incident involving a railway line in Manchuria led to the invasion of Japan into China. Soon Japan which was militarily more progressive when compared to China was able to occupy Manchuria and install a puppet government there. The western powers followed a policy of appeasement though China demanded helps the stop the Japanese aggression. The main reason being, that the west European countries did not want to loose the trade colonies in China.
Ø German Militarization: Germany, after the success of Nazism quit the League of Nations and started extensive militarization. Children as young as the age of 10 were groomed to be future soldiers. The act of German re-militarization created insecurities among the west European countries especially France. The area of Rhineland had been demilitarized after the First World War but Germany which had to keep strength of 1 lakh troops ignored the treaty of Versailles and increased the strength to 8 lacs. Germany with the consent of Britain started building a strong navy.
Ø Italian invasion to Ethiopia: In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia; the western powers instead of stopping the aggression issued economic sanctions against Italy including the ban of arms. By 1936, the annexation of Ethiopia was complete.
Ø The Spanish civil war: In 1931 Spain became a republic and by 1936, a popular front government comprising of Socialists, communists, and other anti-fascist powers came to power. A section of army headed by General Franco with the support of Germany and Italy revolted and thus resulted in the Spanish Civil war. This war is a unique example of internationalism where people from different parts of the world came to save the government of Spain from the fascist aggression. The civil war raged for nearly three years and finally General Franco was able to crush the popular front government of Spain. He was able to do so because of the armed support of Germany and Italy and Hitler used the latest warfare that he was to use in the event of First World War.
Ø The Munich Pact: The final act of appeasement by the west European countries towards fascist countries can be seen in the Munich Pact. Hitler claimed Sudetenland because of the majority of the German population but in reality it contained one of the largest ammunition factories. The Prime Ministers of Britain and France without consulting Czechoslovakia met Hitler and Mussolini at Munich and gave away Sudetenland, soon after Hitler took over the whole of Czechoslovakia. This final act made Soviet Union aware that the western powers were not interested in crushing the growing fascist powers and thus signed a non aggression treaty with Germany and Britain and France promised to help Poland, Greece, Romania and Turkey if their independence was threatened.
Besides the above, there other factors that contributed to the start of the First World War and they are as follows:
· There was no effective organization that could control the countries and prevent the outbreak of another war.
· The European countries were still hankering for more colonies to get raw materials and sell their finished goods.
· Strong feelings of nationalism were also responsible for starting the war.
· The immediate cause for the start of the First World War was with the invasion of Poland by Germany on 1st September 1939. Though Poland request Britain and France for help, help arrived late and the annexation of Poland was complete within 3 weeks and thus led to the start of the First World War.
7) What did the western powers do to counter the aggressive acts of Japan, Italy and Germany between 1931 and 1938?
The western powers did nothing to stop the growing acts of aggression by the fascist governments of Japan, Italy and Germany. The incidents are clear enough that though these countries invaded the neighboring countries and formed colonies and built up warfare and went in for extensive military programmes, the western powers went in only for a policy of appeasement. Even when Italy aggressed Ethiopia, the Western powers just imposed economic and arms sanctions on Italy and did nothing to stop the growing power of the fascist government. When Hitler demanded Sudetenland, the Prime Ministers of Britain and France did not consult Czechoslovakia and gave away Sudetenland to Germany.
The west European countries were feeling insecure with the growing powers of the communist countries especially Soviet Union and China and felt that if they would let the fascist powers to grow then they could break the growing powers of the communism and another factor was that they wanted communism to be a failure for the fear that they did not want the workers of their countries to demand a communist type of government. Though Soviet Union and China demanded that they be united against the fascist powers and create a check for the growing powers of Hitler and Mussolini, the west European powers turned a deaf ear to the call and went in for a policy of appeasement that is at the cost of other countries trying to satisfy the fascist powers.
8) What was the basic reason for the policy of appeasement? The answer is same as that of Q: 7.
9) What were the consequences of the Second World War?
The consequences of the Second World War are as follows:
Ø Resistance movements: In all those countries where fascists had spread their rule, resistance movements started. For e.g., In France, when the government surrendered, the people protested against the German soldiers. General De-Gauble organized an army outside France to get rid of German soldiers. In Yugoslavakia and Greece, Guerilla warfare had started. In Poland, the polish people revolted in Warsaw. In Italy, and Germany, Resistance movements were organized. Marshall Tito led the movement in Yugoslavakia.
Ø The most destructive war: This war converted a large part of Europe into a vast graveyard and a slave camp. Millions of Jews were exterminated and millions more died in the concentration camps. Buchenwald and Dechan were two such hostile camps. People were burnt in gas chambers, massacres were conducted and goods were made from human skin and bones.
Ø Unprecedented loss of human life: More than 50 million people lost their lives out of which 22 million were soldiers and the rest were civilians. Poland lost 6 million people which were 20% of its population. Soviet Union and Germany both lost 10% of their population.
Ø The economy of the world was shattered: The Second World War destroyed the economy of many countries of the world. Instability crept in and the nations that were once rich became paupers. A lot of cities were destroyed.
Ø New weapons of mass destruction: The atom bomb was used over Japan at the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This happened after Germany had already surrendered in a few months time. Thousands of people were killed, millions became handicapped and millions are still suffering genetically due to the effects of radiation.
Ø Birth of more communist countries: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Yugoslavia all became communist countries. Earlier only the Soviet Union was a communist country.
Ø Division of Germany into two parts: After four years of war, the allies who had occupied Germany realized that there was a lot of confusion as to how each area had to be governed. In September 1949 the capitalist countries among the allies formed western Germany into one nation and gave it the name Federal Republic of Germany and eastern Germany was under the Soviet Union and in October 1949, it became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Thus Germany was divided into two countries and the Berlin wall separated them.
In 1946 monarchy was abolished and Italy became a republic. In England, Winston Churchill lost the election and the Labour Party came to power.
10) Explain the terms:
Ø Phoney war: On 1st September 1939, Germany declared war on Poland. Poland appealed to Britain and France for help and on 3rd September they declared war on Germany. The German armies finished the annexation of Poland within 3 weeks before help could reach Poland and thus Poland was taken over by Germans without even firing a shot and this war is called a Phoney war and is also the start of the First World War because after the annexation of Poland, Britain and France became wary of Germany and tension started building up in Europe.
Ø The Battle of Britain: After the fall of France and Poland, Germany now turned her attention towards Britain and Britain was the only major power which could resist Germany. In August 1940, Germany started bombing Britain in a view of terrorizing her into surrender but the Royal Air force of Britain played a heroic role in the defense against the air raids and conducted counter air raids on German territories. Under the leadership of Winston Churchill the then prime minister of Britain, the people of Britain were able to successfully ward off the attacks of Germans.The Second Front: During the First World War, Soviet Union had put in great resistance against German troops and had lost lots of property and lives in this war. Soviet Union had been demanding that Britain and USA attack Germany from the other side which would weaken the Germans. On 6th June 1944, British and American troops landed on the coast of Normandy in France and they numbered nearly one lakh and by September the number had reached 2 lacs. This attack on Germany from other ends is called as opening of the Second Front as now the Germans had to ward off their enemies from all sides and this turned the tide of the First World War.
1) What were the main features of the fascist and Nazi movements?
The world scenario after the First World War led to far reaching changes all over the world. The situation was tense and though after the First World War there had been treaties which had been signed, but the building up of war fare and ignoring of treaties ultimately led to the First World War. The countries of Asia and Africa started to fight for their independence and it culminated in their achieving their independence after the First World War. Another important factor was the rise of fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany.
The main features of fascist and Nazi movements were they were both hostile towards democracy and socialism and had a dictatorship type of government. They influenced many countries and occupied many countries of Europe. Fascism succeeded because of the bad economy and due to the death of the workers, soldiers and farmers in World War I but Nazism succeeded because of the 1929 crisis. They had the support of the capitalists and the landlords and they thrived on terror and murder. In the countries of Italy and Germany, elections were held but not party could gain majority. While Mussolini was invited by the king to form the government, Hitler through intrigues, became the chancellor of Germany. In both the countries as soon as the dictators took over the power, terror was let loose. Both glorified war and the unification that took place in both the countries led to the glorification of war. Mussolini’s party was called the Fascist party and Hitler’s party in Germany was called the Nazi party.
2) Explain the consequences of the economic crisis of 1929-33?
The Great depression was a time of economic down turn, which started after the crash of New York’s stock marked on 29th October 1929 known as the “Black Tuesday”. It began in the US and quickly spread to Europe and every part or the world in the industrialized countries and those which exported the raw materials. In short all the countries of the world were affected by the Great Depression. The consequences were as follows:-
International trade declined sharply.
Personal incomes crashed drastically.
Revenue from taxes reduced significantly affecting the economy of the countries.
The prices and the profits also reduced considerably. Millions of tones of wheat were burnt to prevent its price from falling further.
Many business establishments and factories had to shut down.
Construction in many countries was halted.
Farmers suffered in rural areas as crop prices fell by 40 – 60%
Mining and logging was the worst affected as the demand for coal, minerals, logs of wood declined dramatically. These people had not many alternatives in terms of job.
Democracy weakened and leaders like Hitler and Mussolini took advantage of this situation to spread their propaganda.
The Great Depression finally ended with the reform programme started by President Roosevelt called the NEW DEAL.
3) What is meant by the term axis power?
The Second World War had two sides fighting against each other one was the Allies and the other was the Axis. The major fascist powers like Italy and Germany and their ally, the military regime of Japan by 1930 were completely opposed to socialism and communism. Due to this similarity of ideology and forms of Governments, was the reason that they came together. Basically they were dictators and fascists at heart. Their main policies were aggression and imperialism in Asia, Africa and Europe and were united in 1937 under the Anti-Co intern Pact. They were the deadliest of enemies of the Allies. It was their vested interest of expansion and exploitation that created the conditions for the start of the wars of conquest which ultimately led to the First World War. Thus Germany, Italy, and Japan came to be known as Axis powers.
4) Describe the consequences of the victory of fascism on Italy and Germany?
The success of fascism in Italy and Germany and military regime in Japan led to a series of conquests in Asia, Africa and Europe. All the three countries claimed that they were fighting against communism and became united under the Anti-co intern pact. Under the proclamation that they were trying to end communism in the world these fascist countries started aggressing the countries of Asia Africa and Europe. The west European countries followed a policy of appeasement though Soviet Union and the other aggressed countries demanded that all the countries unite and put an end to the policy of aggression by these fascist countries.
The west European countries were fearful of the rise of communism in Russia and other east European countries and thus did not try to heartily stop the policy of aggression by these fascist countries and only passed resolutions and followed a policy of appeasement. Hitler used this excuse that is stopping of communism to expand the empire of Germany. The capitalists, landowners, bankers, churchmen etc. of western Europe were also fearful of the fact that their workers would ultimately demand a communist type of government and thus did not want a spread of communism. All these reasons led to the free hand given to Italy, Germany and Japan to follow a policy of aggression.
Thus as a consequence, the victory of fascism in Italy and Germany, led to the scene to be set for the start of the First World War barely thirty years after the end of the First World War.
5) What were the main aims of the foreign policy of Italy and Germany & of Japan?
The fascist government of Italy and Germany and the military government of Japan followed a foreign policy which in today’s’ world would be unthinkable. Their foreign policy consisted of re dividing the world through acts of aggression on other countries. These countries had entered the race for colonies late and at the end of First World War had had to pay a huge war indemnity and were thus waiting to become the most powerful countries of the world. The success of fascism in these countries made the dreams of these countries come true.
Their foreign policy mainly proclaimed that they were trying to stop the spread of communism but in reality they were using this method of expansion and aggression and the western countries, fearful of the rise of communism in their own countries followed a policy of appeasement which helped these fascist countries to become more powerful. Through treaties, through wars, they started expanding their countries and thus over a period of time, the fascist government of Italy and Germany and the Military regime of Japan were able to give a new map to the world and thus set the stage for the start of the First World War.
6) Describe the main events between 1936 and 1939 which created conditions for another world war?
Ø Japanese Invasion of China: A small incident involving a railway line in Manchuria led to the invasion of Japan into China. Soon Japan which was militarily more progressive when compared to China was able to occupy Manchuria and install a puppet government there. The western powers followed a policy of appeasement though China demanded helps the stop the Japanese aggression. The main reason being, that the west European countries did not want to loose the trade colonies in China.
Ø German Militarization: Germany, after the success of Nazism quit the League of Nations and started extensive militarization. Children as young as the age of 10 were groomed to be future soldiers. The act of German re-militarization created insecurities among the west European countries especially France. The area of Rhineland had been demilitarized after the First World War but Germany which had to keep strength of 1 lakh troops ignored the treaty of Versailles and increased the strength to 8 lacs. Germany with the consent of Britain started building a strong navy.
Ø Italian invasion to Ethiopia: In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia; the western powers instead of stopping the aggression issued economic sanctions against Italy including the ban of arms. By 1936, the annexation of Ethiopia was complete.
Ø The Spanish civil war: In 1931 Spain became a republic and by 1936, a popular front government comprising of Socialists, communists, and other anti-fascist powers came to power. A section of army headed by General Franco with the support of Germany and Italy revolted and thus resulted in the Spanish Civil war. This war is a unique example of internationalism where people from different parts of the world came to save the government of Spain from the fascist aggression. The civil war raged for nearly three years and finally General Franco was able to crush the popular front government of Spain. He was able to do so because of the armed support of Germany and Italy and Hitler used the latest warfare that he was to use in the event of First World War.
Ø The Munich Pact: The final act of appeasement by the west European countries towards fascist countries can be seen in the Munich Pact. Hitler claimed Sudetenland because of the majority of the German population but in reality it contained one of the largest ammunition factories. The Prime Ministers of Britain and France without consulting Czechoslovakia met Hitler and Mussolini at Munich and gave away Sudetenland, soon after Hitler took over the whole of Czechoslovakia. This final act made Soviet Union aware that the western powers were not interested in crushing the growing fascist powers and thus signed a non aggression treaty with Germany and Britain and France promised to help Poland, Greece, Romania and Turkey if their independence was threatened.
Besides the above, there other factors that contributed to the start of the First World War and they are as follows:
· There was no effective organization that could control the countries and prevent the outbreak of another war.
· The European countries were still hankering for more colonies to get raw materials and sell their finished goods.
· Strong feelings of nationalism were also responsible for starting the war.
· The immediate cause for the start of the First World War was with the invasion of Poland by Germany on 1st September 1939. Though Poland request Britain and France for help, help arrived late and the annexation of Poland was complete within 3 weeks and thus led to the start of the First World War.
7) What did the western powers do to counter the aggressive acts of Japan, Italy and Germany between 1931 and 1938?
The western powers did nothing to stop the growing acts of aggression by the fascist governments of Japan, Italy and Germany. The incidents are clear enough that though these countries invaded the neighboring countries and formed colonies and built up warfare and went in for extensive military programmes, the western powers went in only for a policy of appeasement. Even when Italy aggressed Ethiopia, the Western powers just imposed economic and arms sanctions on Italy and did nothing to stop the growing power of the fascist government. When Hitler demanded Sudetenland, the Prime Ministers of Britain and France did not consult Czechoslovakia and gave away Sudetenland to Germany.
The west European countries were feeling insecure with the growing powers of the communist countries especially Soviet Union and China and felt that if they would let the fascist powers to grow then they could break the growing powers of the communism and another factor was that they wanted communism to be a failure for the fear that they did not want the workers of their countries to demand a communist type of government. Though Soviet Union and China demanded that they be united against the fascist powers and create a check for the growing powers of Hitler and Mussolini, the west European powers turned a deaf ear to the call and went in for a policy of appeasement that is at the cost of other countries trying to satisfy the fascist powers.
8) What was the basic reason for the policy of appeasement? The answer is same as that of Q: 7.
9) What were the consequences of the Second World War?
The consequences of the Second World War are as follows:
Ø Resistance movements: In all those countries where fascists had spread their rule, resistance movements started. For e.g., In France, when the government surrendered, the people protested against the German soldiers. General De-Gauble organized an army outside France to get rid of German soldiers. In Yugoslavakia and Greece, Guerilla warfare had started. In Poland, the polish people revolted in Warsaw. In Italy, and Germany, Resistance movements were organized. Marshall Tito led the movement in Yugoslavakia.
Ø The most destructive war: This war converted a large part of Europe into a vast graveyard and a slave camp. Millions of Jews were exterminated and millions more died in the concentration camps. Buchenwald and Dechan were two such hostile camps. People were burnt in gas chambers, massacres were conducted and goods were made from human skin and bones.
Ø Unprecedented loss of human life: More than 50 million people lost their lives out of which 22 million were soldiers and the rest were civilians. Poland lost 6 million people which were 20% of its population. Soviet Union and Germany both lost 10% of their population.
Ø The economy of the world was shattered: The Second World War destroyed the economy of many countries of the world. Instability crept in and the nations that were once rich became paupers. A lot of cities were destroyed.
Ø New weapons of mass destruction: The atom bomb was used over Japan at the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This happened after Germany had already surrendered in a few months time. Thousands of people were killed, millions became handicapped and millions are still suffering genetically due to the effects of radiation.
Ø Birth of more communist countries: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Yugoslavia all became communist countries. Earlier only the Soviet Union was a communist country.
Ø Division of Germany into two parts: After four years of war, the allies who had occupied Germany realized that there was a lot of confusion as to how each area had to be governed. In September 1949 the capitalist countries among the allies formed western Germany into one nation and gave it the name Federal Republic of Germany and eastern Germany was under the Soviet Union and in October 1949, it became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Thus Germany was divided into two countries and the Berlin wall separated them.
In 1946 monarchy was abolished and Italy became a republic. In England, Winston Churchill lost the election and the Labour Party came to power.
10) Explain the terms:
Ø Phoney war: On 1st September 1939, Germany declared war on Poland. Poland appealed to Britain and France for help and on 3rd September they declared war on Germany. The German armies finished the annexation of Poland within 3 weeks before help could reach Poland and thus Poland was taken over by Germans without even firing a shot and this war is called a Phoney war and is also the start of the First World War because after the annexation of Poland, Britain and France became wary of Germany and tension started building up in Europe.
Ø The Battle of Britain: After the fall of France and Poland, Germany now turned her attention towards Britain and Britain was the only major power which could resist Germany. In August 1940, Germany started bombing Britain in a view of terrorizing her into surrender but the Royal Air force of Britain played a heroic role in the defense against the air raids and conducted counter air raids on German territories. Under the leadership of Winston Churchill the then prime minister of Britain, the people of Britain were able to successfully ward off the attacks of Germans.The Second Front: During the First World War, Soviet Union had put in great resistance against German troops and had lost lots of property and lives in this war. Soviet Union had been demanding that Britain and USA attack Germany from the other side which would weaken the Germans. On 6th June 1944, British and American troops landed on the coast of Normandy in France and they numbered nearly one lakh and by September the number had reached 2 lacs. This attack on Germany from other ends is called as opening of the Second Front as now the Germans had to ward off their enemies from all sides and this turned the tide of the First World War.
The First World War
HISTORY CHAPTER 11 – FIRST WORLD WAR
1) Explain the basic reasons for the conflicts between European nations from nineteenth century to the early years of the twentieth century.
OR
1) How far were the imperialist rivalries the basic cause of the First World War?
Industrialization led to increase of trade activity as never before. The capitalists had invested huge amounts in the means of production and wanted profits to make good these investment. Profits meant sale of goods, low wages to the workers and getting the raw materials at a rate much lower than that available in the local markets. This led to forming of colonies in Asia and Africa. The continents of Asia and Africa still had not come under the influence of industrial revolution and it was easy for the European powers to subjugate these continents with colonies every where.
The race for colonies meant gaining of raw material at a very low rate, ready market for finished goods and fulfillment of imperialist ambitions. By the late 19th century, every country of Europe wanted a share in the pie, i.e., they wanted to have a colony in the said two continents. By this time all of Asia and Africa had been taken over by the European countries and forming more of colonies meant dislodging some other European imperialist power through treaties. Sometimes treaties were signed and the colonies were further divided but some times there was war which caused destruction and mistrust among the European powers.
These imperialist rivalries and mistrust led to piling up huge warfare and the countries which had never before thought of the most modern warfare, started piling up the warfare not only to keep itself secure but also to show strength and power to its rivals. Piling up of the latest warfare also added to the egos of the imperialist powers and this was the scenario in the late 19th century and early 20th century which added the tension which ultimately led to the First World War.
2) What were the countries comprising the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente? What were the main aims of these groupings?
The conflicts within Europe in the race for colonies created a very tense situation and war seemed imminent. The socialist parties, though loosely connected, tried to discourage war arguing that it would economically hurt the nations involved in the war. But the situation at that time was that to project one’s own country as superior than that of others and glorified war and encouraged piling up of war fare.
In the midst of this alliances were also formed just to protect oneself from the other countries and furthering one’s own interest. Among many alliances formed was the Triple Alliance. This alliance was formed in 1882 and comprised of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Italy’s loyalty to this alliance lay in furthering her own imperialist ambitions in Europe from Austria-Hungary and winning Tripoli. As against to this Triple Alliance, Triple Entente was formed comprising of Russia, Britain and France in1907. In theory it was only a loose group based on mutual understanding as the word Entente meant.
The emergence of these two hostile groups made it inevitable that a conflict which would involve any of the two groups would lead to an all European war. All European war meant involving the colonies of these European countries in a bid to win the war. The hostility of these two groups led to building of larger armies and navies and the latest possible warfare.
3) What is meant by Pan-Slav movement? Why did it add to the conflict between Russia and Austria?
The Balkan countries had been under the Ottoman Empire. By 19th century the empire started disintegrating and there were revolts by various nationalities for independence. The Russian czars hoped that these areas would come under their control once the Ottomans were ousted from there. They encouraged a movement called the Pan Slav Movement which was based on the theory that all the Slavs of Eastern Europe were one. Many areas in Austria- Hungary were also inhabited by the Slavs. Russia therefore encouraged movements both against Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The major Balkan country – Serbia led the movement for uniting the areas inhabited by the Slavs in the Ottoman Empire as well as in Austria-Hungary.
As Russia was supporting Serbia in its mission to unite all the Slavs and especially in the areas of Austria, and Austria had its own plans of expansion in the Balkan countries, it ultimately led to the conflict between Russia and Austria. When eventually the situation came to a head, the first firing shot came from Austria towards Serbia. Serbia which had been supported by Russia ultimately led to war between Austria and Russia.
4) Explain the reasons for the entry of United States in the First World War?
The war started in Europe between the triple alliance and triple entente countries. The triple alliance countries consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the triple entente countries consisted of Britain, France and Russia. The hostilities came to such a stead that the war broke out in Europe between the two groups. Because of the alliances signed, many countries were directly drawn into the war. Many countries which were colonies too were pulled into the war with their manpower and resources.
USA on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean was not involved in the war directly but supplied arms and ammunition to the triple entente countries. The Government of Germany in order to cut off the supplies of arms and ammunition to the triple entente countries sank some of the ships of USA. Some of the ships that were sunk by the German U Boats and Submarines were not only ships of arms but also civilian ships which forced USA to enter the war on the side of the triple entente.
The entry of USA in the First World War on the side of triple entente decided the end result of the war. Though Russia did withdraw from the war in 1917 due to the revolution but the entry of USA changed the end result in favor of the triple entente and Germany and other countries of triple alliance had to sign peace treaties after being defeated in the war.
5) Why is the war that broke out in the year 1914 called the First World War?
Many wars have been fought in the history of the world before and after 1914. Some of the wars have changed the course of history and some others have changed the society itself. Some of the wars though worst than the 1914 war did not affect the world at large as the 1914 war had done.
This war engulfed the entire Europe and was a total war in which all the resources of the warring states were mobilized. Previously any wars that were fought affected only the warring countries. But the 1914 war affected the economy of the entire world. The casualties suffered by the civilian population from bombing of the civilian areas the famines and epidemics caused by the war far exceeded those suffered by the armies. In its impact also, the war had no precedent. It marked the turning point in the world history. Countries from all the continents were involved in this war. The battles were fought not only in the countries of Europe but also their colonies in Asia and Africa.
Because of the extent of the war and the damage that it caused to the world it is called world war and because it is one of the first wars to involve the whole world, it is called First World War.
6) Explain the consequences of the First World War on Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
After Germany’s debacle in the war, a treaty was signed with her on 28th June 1919 and it was called the Treaty of Versailles. It declared Germany and her allies guilty of aggression. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France. The coal mines at Saar were ceded to France for 15 years and the area was to be governed by the League of Nations. The area of Rhine Valley was demilitarized and she had to cede parts of her pre war territory to Denmark, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The strength of her army was to one lakh and she had to do away with her air force and submarines. She was dispossessed of her colonies including those in China. She was also required to pay for the damages and loss suffered by the Allies in the war.
Austria and Hungary were broken up and Austria was forced to recognize the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. She had to cede many of her territories to them and to Italy. Many states were created in the Balkan area and exchange of territories took place.
The treaty with Turkey stipulated the complete dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Most of the Turkish territories were distributed as mandates to Britain and France and actually they were ruled as colonies and Turkey was reduced to a small state. A revolution in Turkey led by Mustafa Kemal deposed the Sultan and Turkey became a republic in 1922. Turkey regained control on Asia Minor and Istanbul and allies were forced to abandon the earlier treaty.
7) What were the purposes for which the League of Nations was established?
The most important consequence of First World War was the formation of League of Nations. The 16 point programme formulated by Wilson included the formation of an International organization which would promote peace and guarantee the independence of all states. It was also intended to encourage the nations towards settling disputes through peaceful methods and not through war. Another important point in the League of Nations was with regard to sanctions. Any country which would resort to war, economic and military action would be taken against that country. Every member country had to work for the development of its labour and social conditions. International labour organization was formed to help the countries to realize the motto of improving the cause of labour in the respective countries.
But the League of Nations did not prove to be truly international though it proclaimed to be. Soviet Union and Germany were not made its members and India though had not gained independence was made one of its members. In 1930s when many countries committed acts of aggression on other nations, League of Nations could not stop them and it was totally ignored and defied.
8) Why did Russia withdraw from the war after 1917 revolution?
One of the major developments during the war was the withdrawal of Russia after the October revolution. The Russian revolutionaries had opposed the war from the beginning and when Russia suffered heavy damages during the war and the revolutionaries under the leadership of Lenin decided to transform the war into a revolutionary war and use it to overthrow autocracy and seize power. The day after the Bolshevik government came to power it issued a Decree of peace with proposals to end the war and signed peace treaties with Germany in 1918. When Germany realized that Russia was withdrawing from the war, it imposed very harsh terms on Russia which was duly accepted by the new government.
The Entente powers such as Britain and France which were opposed to the revolution in Russia and its withdrawal from the war started armed intervention and supported those elements in Russia which were opposed to the revolution. Thus, it started the civil war which lasted for three years and ultimately the revolutionaries won.
9) Do you think the peace treaties laid the foundations of a just and stable peace? Discuss.
Peace treaties were signed to end all war and to bring about peace, harmony and independence to all the states in the world. But in reality it failed to ensure this. On major setback was that the peace treaties contained harsh terms imposed on the defeated nations and thus sowed seeds for further conflicts. Some of the victorious countries felt that though they had played an important part in the war, their hopes had been belied. Though League of Nations had been formed to end imperialism but in reality it did not end imperialism but instead the imperialist countries expanded their holding. The reasons for the start of the First World War had not been solved and remained and thus sowed the seeds of further conflict. Soviet Union which had emerged as a super power with result to the change of government was looked upon with suspicion by the west European countries lest their countries too may end up with the type of government that of soviet Russia. Thus peace treaties did not do justice to world peace but instead laid the foundation stone for further conflicts which after a span of nearly 30 years culminated into First World War.
10) How is that an otherwise minor incident led to the outbreak of a world war? Discuss.
The rush for colonies in Asia and Africa and also the need to amass more and more wealth by the imperialist countries ultimately led to the formation of hostile groups and by the middle of 19th century the whole of Europe was divided into two hostile camps. The old empires were crumbling and the imperialist countries of west Europe were not loosing any opportunity to form colonies or to please friendly countries even went to the extent of dividing the colonies into small fragments.
For example, the ottoman provinces were annexed by Austria and Serbia coveted these provinces. Russia supported the cause of Serbia hoping that in the end it would benefit from these colonies. Germany supported the cause of Austria. The situation was already tense in Europe and when ultimately the four Balkan countries annexed the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the tension grew on the issue as to how to share the spoils of the war. In the midst of all this Albania secured her independence and Serbia held Austria responsible for the Albanian independence. Thus such incidents came to such a head that the situation was tense in Europe and it was on the brink of war with almost all the countries piling up war fare to have security from its neighbour. The small incident of assassination of the arch duke would have been ignored but for the already tense situation which ultimately led to the First World War.
11) Explain in detail the causes of the First World War.
Before 1914, many wars had been fought but no war was fought on such a large scale where countries were involved directly and indirectly. The wars before First World War were confide to the few countries and were fought in a particular region and civilian population was least affected. Things would not have reached this extent if the simmering causes and the immediate causes for the First World War had been amicably settled. The causes for the First World War were:
Ø Imperial causes: Imperialism had started in the 18th and 19th centuries and the entire continents of Asia and Africa had become colonies of countries like England, France, Portugal, Holland, Spain, Italy and Germany. Each country wanted more territories and this was possible either through wars, peaceful settlements or through treachery. Germany, Italy, and Japan came very late into imperialism. Germany and Italy badly needed the fragments of the Ottoman Empire and Japan coveted Far East. Austria also needed the Ottoman Empire and the US joined the scene by starting with Philippines.
Ø Conflicts within Europe: The second major cause was the division of the world into two informal groups. On one side were the capitalist countries like Britain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary etc. and on the other side was Russia under the czarist rule. Both these groups wanted to increase their influence in the areas of the Balkans which were under the Ottoman rule. Russia started a movement known as the pan Slav movement which aimed at uniting all the Slav communities. It was spread in the Balkans and Austria-Hungary. It would serve the proposal of getting the territories of the Ottoman Empire and destroying the power of Austria and Hungary. Serbia was used by Russia to spread this movement.
Germany to counter the effect of the pan Slav movement started the pan German movement in the same area of the Balkans to create a powerful base for herself. The pan German movement aimed at uniting the people of the German origin in the Balkans and in Europe. Italy wanted certain areas of Austria and France and hoped to recover Alsace-Lorraine from the Germans as it was a region rich in natural resources.
Ø Formation of alliances: At this time Europe was full of deadly weapons of warfare and each imperialist country glorified colonization and war. In view of this a war was inevitable. These powers got divided into two groups. In 1882, was formed the triple alliance comprising of Germany, Austria – Hungary and Italy. Italy was a half hearted partner as she wanted some of the territories from Austria-Hungary and hoped to win Tripoli with French support. As opposed to this alliance, the triple entente (an understanding) was formed in 1907 comprising of France, Russia and Britain. Since the aim of both the camps was gaining more territory, war was the only option.
Ø Incidents preceding the wars: Three incidents just before the First World War contributed directly to the increase in tension. In 1904, Britain and France signed an agreement according to which Britain could do whatever it liked in Egypt and France would take over Morocco. Germany came to know of this and promised the sultan of Morocco its full support for her independence. Suddenly France occupied Morocco and to pacify Germany gave her a large part of the French Congo.
In 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina which were the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia wanted this area with Russia’s help and Austria had the support of Germany. Things got heated up but war was averted.
As a result of the above mentioned incident, in 1912, four Balkan countries fought wars with Turkey over the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey lost but the Balkans started fighting over the issue who get what area.
Ø Other contributing factors :
a) Militarism: Each country had a standing army, efficient spy system, trade officers and latest weapons creating a situation for war.
b) Economic imperialism: The need for raw material, manpower and markets made it necessary to re divide the world leading up to the war.
c) Narrow nationalism: The love of one’s country was so extreme that it resulted in the hatred of all other countries.
d) Poisoning of public opinion: The newspapers of each country twisted events in their favors misrepresenting information.
e) Charter of William II the emperor of Germany: He was an arrogant ruler and wanted to have his own way in everything and considered England a weak nation.
f) Lack of an international organization: There was no common power that could maintain peace in the world.
12) Mention the immediate causes that led to the start of the First World War?
Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of Austria. Serbia and Austria were great enemies. Many secret societies had planned to kill the governor of Bosnia just to take revenge on Austria as Austria had annexed Bosnia. Suddenly it was found that the Archduke was coming to Bosnia with his wife. The Serbian government helped the actual murderers to carry out their plans. According to the plan, they were to be murdered on 28th June 1914 when they were visiting Sarajevo. Unfortunately that day was the day of mourning as the Serbians remembered the heroes of Kosovo. When the official party was going towards the town hall, the conspirators threw a bomb on the automobile but the official party escaped unhurt. The accused were captured. After finishing the ceremonies at the town hall, the party proceeded to visit the city museum. Their automobile went into the wrong street and while the driver was backing the assassin came forward and fired two shots point blank. As a result both the archduke and his wife were killed. Austria saw the hand of Serbia behind the assassination and served her with an ultimatum of 7 demands. Serbia refused to accept the following demand:
“The representative of Austria-Hungary government should participate in the inquiry which the Serbs were to carry out regarding the plot of the murder of archduke and his wife.”
13) Explain the consequences of the First World War?
The war which was fought for the first time on such a large scale had far reaching effects. The whole world started witnessing changes which it had never witnessed before and some of them were advantageous to the world history and some were not advantageous to the world history.
a) The human loss: 53-70million people fought in the war and out of these 9 million died or were killed. This comes to 1/7th of those who fought in the war. Several millions became handicapped. Due to the war there were air raids, epidemics and famines that killed millions among the civilian population.
b) The world economy was shattered: The allies as well as the central powers were badly shaken economically. The economy of each country suffered a major setback. The Allies could hope to recover but the central powers were completely destroyed.
c) The world maps changed: New boundaries were drawn after the war not only in Europe but in Asia and Africa as well. The Ottoman Empire came to an end and its territories were distributed. Austria and Hungary became two separate states and so did Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. The colonies of the defeated powers were divided by the victorious powers.
d) Responsibility after the war: Article 23 of the peace treaties put the entire responsibility of the war on Germany. This forced responsibility made the Germans bitter and it became one of the causes of the First World War. Serbia was guilty of murdering Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria. She also encouraged the secret societies to function on her soil. She was the first country to have started the preparations for war. Austria-Hungary was guilty of aggression against Serbia in the provocation of Russia.
e) Europe lost its supremacy: The USA emerged as a world power in terms of the economy and weapons of warfare. It surpassed Europe. With the weakening of Europe, the colonies in Asia and Africa started demanding freedom. Many imperialist powers had earlier promised independence to their colonies if they supported them in the First World War. The British had made this promise to the Indians.
f) Formation of the League of Nations: It was regarded necessary that a world body should be formed that maintains peace and order in the world preventing an outbreak of another world war.
14) Explain the Peace Settlements and the other treaties signed at the end of the First World War.
Ø Paris Settlement (1919-1920): After the overthrow of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, the allied statesmen met at Paris to decide the future map of Europe. Paris was a poor choice because the war had hit them hard and any conference would have been prejudice. President Wilson of US, Lloyd George of Britain, Clemenogue of France and Orlando played a crucial role. The work of negotiations was not easy because the lots of things had to be adjusted based on the 14 points of President Wilson. There was the problem of the Secret treaties of the allies and it was difficult to adjust them in the 14 points. So the settlement of Paris was unsatisfactory in many ways.
Ø Treaty of Versailles (1919): On 28th June 1919, the Allies signed a treaty with Germany laying the entire responsibility of the war on her shoulders. The allies asked Germany to send some officials to take this treaty from France to Germany. The Germans decided to send some junior officials which were regarded as an insult by the allies. Finally a German delegation led by its foreign minister went to Versailles. The Germans were treated as prisoners, kept in a hotel behind barbed wires. They were not allowed to communicate with anybody and were insulted by not being given the guard of honour.
Ø Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles:
· Germany had to give Alsace-Lorraine to France, Futon and Malmedy to Belgium, Mendel and Lithuania and a large part of Posen and western Prussia to Poland.
· Danzig was taken away from Germany and set up as a free city under the League of Nations.
· Rhineland was demilitarized. No fortifications were allowed and Germany could not keep any army there.
· As a payment for the damages of the war, Saar Valley was taken away and given to the League of Nations.
· Germany promised to respect the independence of Austria and removed the fortifications from certain islands.
· Germany gave up all her colonies, rights, titles etc over her overseas possession which was then divided by the allies amongst themselves.
· The independence of Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia was accepted by Germany.
· The German military strength was destroyed. Its general staff was abolished. It could keep an army of one lakh soldiers and that army could only maintain law and order in Germany and in the frontiers.
· The German navy could keep only six battleships, 6 light cruises, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines were allowed.
· The King of Germany, William II was to be tried by a special tribunal for his responsibility of starting the war.
· Germany had to admit that she was responsible for the war. She had to pay for 10 categories of losses and damages. She was to compensate Belgium for all the money she had taken and pay an interest of 5%.
· Repatriation commission was appointed to ensure that Germany pays the amount that she is supposed to, to the allies.
· Germany had to return trophies, works of art, flags, holy books etc which she had taken during the war from other countries.
· The Elb, Danube, Oder and Niemen rivers were internationalized.
· The German territory west of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied troops for 15 years and only to be given back to Germany if she met the demands of the Treaty of Versailles.
1) Explain the basic reasons for the conflicts between European nations from nineteenth century to the early years of the twentieth century.
OR
1) How far were the imperialist rivalries the basic cause of the First World War?
Industrialization led to increase of trade activity as never before. The capitalists had invested huge amounts in the means of production and wanted profits to make good these investment. Profits meant sale of goods, low wages to the workers and getting the raw materials at a rate much lower than that available in the local markets. This led to forming of colonies in Asia and Africa. The continents of Asia and Africa still had not come under the influence of industrial revolution and it was easy for the European powers to subjugate these continents with colonies every where.
The race for colonies meant gaining of raw material at a very low rate, ready market for finished goods and fulfillment of imperialist ambitions. By the late 19th century, every country of Europe wanted a share in the pie, i.e., they wanted to have a colony in the said two continents. By this time all of Asia and Africa had been taken over by the European countries and forming more of colonies meant dislodging some other European imperialist power through treaties. Sometimes treaties were signed and the colonies were further divided but some times there was war which caused destruction and mistrust among the European powers.
These imperialist rivalries and mistrust led to piling up huge warfare and the countries which had never before thought of the most modern warfare, started piling up the warfare not only to keep itself secure but also to show strength and power to its rivals. Piling up of the latest warfare also added to the egos of the imperialist powers and this was the scenario in the late 19th century and early 20th century which added the tension which ultimately led to the First World War.
2) What were the countries comprising the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente? What were the main aims of these groupings?
The conflicts within Europe in the race for colonies created a very tense situation and war seemed imminent. The socialist parties, though loosely connected, tried to discourage war arguing that it would economically hurt the nations involved in the war. But the situation at that time was that to project one’s own country as superior than that of others and glorified war and encouraged piling up of war fare.
In the midst of this alliances were also formed just to protect oneself from the other countries and furthering one’s own interest. Among many alliances formed was the Triple Alliance. This alliance was formed in 1882 and comprised of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Italy’s loyalty to this alliance lay in furthering her own imperialist ambitions in Europe from Austria-Hungary and winning Tripoli. As against to this Triple Alliance, Triple Entente was formed comprising of Russia, Britain and France in1907. In theory it was only a loose group based on mutual understanding as the word Entente meant.
The emergence of these two hostile groups made it inevitable that a conflict which would involve any of the two groups would lead to an all European war. All European war meant involving the colonies of these European countries in a bid to win the war. The hostility of these two groups led to building of larger armies and navies and the latest possible warfare.
3) What is meant by Pan-Slav movement? Why did it add to the conflict between Russia and Austria?
The Balkan countries had been under the Ottoman Empire. By 19th century the empire started disintegrating and there were revolts by various nationalities for independence. The Russian czars hoped that these areas would come under their control once the Ottomans were ousted from there. They encouraged a movement called the Pan Slav Movement which was based on the theory that all the Slavs of Eastern Europe were one. Many areas in Austria- Hungary were also inhabited by the Slavs. Russia therefore encouraged movements both against Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. The major Balkan country – Serbia led the movement for uniting the areas inhabited by the Slavs in the Ottoman Empire as well as in Austria-Hungary.
As Russia was supporting Serbia in its mission to unite all the Slavs and especially in the areas of Austria, and Austria had its own plans of expansion in the Balkan countries, it ultimately led to the conflict between Russia and Austria. When eventually the situation came to a head, the first firing shot came from Austria towards Serbia. Serbia which had been supported by Russia ultimately led to war between Austria and Russia.
4) Explain the reasons for the entry of United States in the First World War?
The war started in Europe between the triple alliance and triple entente countries. The triple alliance countries consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the triple entente countries consisted of Britain, France and Russia. The hostilities came to such a stead that the war broke out in Europe between the two groups. Because of the alliances signed, many countries were directly drawn into the war. Many countries which were colonies too were pulled into the war with their manpower and resources.
USA on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean was not involved in the war directly but supplied arms and ammunition to the triple entente countries. The Government of Germany in order to cut off the supplies of arms and ammunition to the triple entente countries sank some of the ships of USA. Some of the ships that were sunk by the German U Boats and Submarines were not only ships of arms but also civilian ships which forced USA to enter the war on the side of the triple entente.
The entry of USA in the First World War on the side of triple entente decided the end result of the war. Though Russia did withdraw from the war in 1917 due to the revolution but the entry of USA changed the end result in favor of the triple entente and Germany and other countries of triple alliance had to sign peace treaties after being defeated in the war.
5) Why is the war that broke out in the year 1914 called the First World War?
Many wars have been fought in the history of the world before and after 1914. Some of the wars have changed the course of history and some others have changed the society itself. Some of the wars though worst than the 1914 war did not affect the world at large as the 1914 war had done.
This war engulfed the entire Europe and was a total war in which all the resources of the warring states were mobilized. Previously any wars that were fought affected only the warring countries. But the 1914 war affected the economy of the entire world. The casualties suffered by the civilian population from bombing of the civilian areas the famines and epidemics caused by the war far exceeded those suffered by the armies. In its impact also, the war had no precedent. It marked the turning point in the world history. Countries from all the continents were involved in this war. The battles were fought not only in the countries of Europe but also their colonies in Asia and Africa.
Because of the extent of the war and the damage that it caused to the world it is called world war and because it is one of the first wars to involve the whole world, it is called First World War.
6) Explain the consequences of the First World War on Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.
After Germany’s debacle in the war, a treaty was signed with her on 28th June 1919 and it was called the Treaty of Versailles. It declared Germany and her allies guilty of aggression. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France. The coal mines at Saar were ceded to France for 15 years and the area was to be governed by the League of Nations. The area of Rhine Valley was demilitarized and she had to cede parts of her pre war territory to Denmark, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The strength of her army was to one lakh and she had to do away with her air force and submarines. She was dispossessed of her colonies including those in China. She was also required to pay for the damages and loss suffered by the Allies in the war.
Austria and Hungary were broken up and Austria was forced to recognize the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. She had to cede many of her territories to them and to Italy. Many states were created in the Balkan area and exchange of territories took place.
The treaty with Turkey stipulated the complete dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Most of the Turkish territories were distributed as mandates to Britain and France and actually they were ruled as colonies and Turkey was reduced to a small state. A revolution in Turkey led by Mustafa Kemal deposed the Sultan and Turkey became a republic in 1922. Turkey regained control on Asia Minor and Istanbul and allies were forced to abandon the earlier treaty.
7) What were the purposes for which the League of Nations was established?
The most important consequence of First World War was the formation of League of Nations. The 16 point programme formulated by Wilson included the formation of an International organization which would promote peace and guarantee the independence of all states. It was also intended to encourage the nations towards settling disputes through peaceful methods and not through war. Another important point in the League of Nations was with regard to sanctions. Any country which would resort to war, economic and military action would be taken against that country. Every member country had to work for the development of its labour and social conditions. International labour organization was formed to help the countries to realize the motto of improving the cause of labour in the respective countries.
But the League of Nations did not prove to be truly international though it proclaimed to be. Soviet Union and Germany were not made its members and India though had not gained independence was made one of its members. In 1930s when many countries committed acts of aggression on other nations, League of Nations could not stop them and it was totally ignored and defied.
8) Why did Russia withdraw from the war after 1917 revolution?
One of the major developments during the war was the withdrawal of Russia after the October revolution. The Russian revolutionaries had opposed the war from the beginning and when Russia suffered heavy damages during the war and the revolutionaries under the leadership of Lenin decided to transform the war into a revolutionary war and use it to overthrow autocracy and seize power. The day after the Bolshevik government came to power it issued a Decree of peace with proposals to end the war and signed peace treaties with Germany in 1918. When Germany realized that Russia was withdrawing from the war, it imposed very harsh terms on Russia which was duly accepted by the new government.
The Entente powers such as Britain and France which were opposed to the revolution in Russia and its withdrawal from the war started armed intervention and supported those elements in Russia which were opposed to the revolution. Thus, it started the civil war which lasted for three years and ultimately the revolutionaries won.
9) Do you think the peace treaties laid the foundations of a just and stable peace? Discuss.
Peace treaties were signed to end all war and to bring about peace, harmony and independence to all the states in the world. But in reality it failed to ensure this. On major setback was that the peace treaties contained harsh terms imposed on the defeated nations and thus sowed seeds for further conflicts. Some of the victorious countries felt that though they had played an important part in the war, their hopes had been belied. Though League of Nations had been formed to end imperialism but in reality it did not end imperialism but instead the imperialist countries expanded their holding. The reasons for the start of the First World War had not been solved and remained and thus sowed the seeds of further conflict. Soviet Union which had emerged as a super power with result to the change of government was looked upon with suspicion by the west European countries lest their countries too may end up with the type of government that of soviet Russia. Thus peace treaties did not do justice to world peace but instead laid the foundation stone for further conflicts which after a span of nearly 30 years culminated into First World War.
10) How is that an otherwise minor incident led to the outbreak of a world war? Discuss.
The rush for colonies in Asia and Africa and also the need to amass more and more wealth by the imperialist countries ultimately led to the formation of hostile groups and by the middle of 19th century the whole of Europe was divided into two hostile camps. The old empires were crumbling and the imperialist countries of west Europe were not loosing any opportunity to form colonies or to please friendly countries even went to the extent of dividing the colonies into small fragments.
For example, the ottoman provinces were annexed by Austria and Serbia coveted these provinces. Russia supported the cause of Serbia hoping that in the end it would benefit from these colonies. Germany supported the cause of Austria. The situation was already tense in Europe and when ultimately the four Balkan countries annexed the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the tension grew on the issue as to how to share the spoils of the war. In the midst of all this Albania secured her independence and Serbia held Austria responsible for the Albanian independence. Thus such incidents came to such a head that the situation was tense in Europe and it was on the brink of war with almost all the countries piling up war fare to have security from its neighbour. The small incident of assassination of the arch duke would have been ignored but for the already tense situation which ultimately led to the First World War.
11) Explain in detail the causes of the First World War.
Before 1914, many wars had been fought but no war was fought on such a large scale where countries were involved directly and indirectly. The wars before First World War were confide to the few countries and were fought in a particular region and civilian population was least affected. Things would not have reached this extent if the simmering causes and the immediate causes for the First World War had been amicably settled. The causes for the First World War were:
Ø Imperial causes: Imperialism had started in the 18th and 19th centuries and the entire continents of Asia and Africa had become colonies of countries like England, France, Portugal, Holland, Spain, Italy and Germany. Each country wanted more territories and this was possible either through wars, peaceful settlements or through treachery. Germany, Italy, and Japan came very late into imperialism. Germany and Italy badly needed the fragments of the Ottoman Empire and Japan coveted Far East. Austria also needed the Ottoman Empire and the US joined the scene by starting with Philippines.
Ø Conflicts within Europe: The second major cause was the division of the world into two informal groups. On one side were the capitalist countries like Britain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary etc. and on the other side was Russia under the czarist rule. Both these groups wanted to increase their influence in the areas of the Balkans which were under the Ottoman rule. Russia started a movement known as the pan Slav movement which aimed at uniting all the Slav communities. It was spread in the Balkans and Austria-Hungary. It would serve the proposal of getting the territories of the Ottoman Empire and destroying the power of Austria and Hungary. Serbia was used by Russia to spread this movement.
Germany to counter the effect of the pan Slav movement started the pan German movement in the same area of the Balkans to create a powerful base for herself. The pan German movement aimed at uniting the people of the German origin in the Balkans and in Europe. Italy wanted certain areas of Austria and France and hoped to recover Alsace-Lorraine from the Germans as it was a region rich in natural resources.
Ø Formation of alliances: At this time Europe was full of deadly weapons of warfare and each imperialist country glorified colonization and war. In view of this a war was inevitable. These powers got divided into two groups. In 1882, was formed the triple alliance comprising of Germany, Austria – Hungary and Italy. Italy was a half hearted partner as she wanted some of the territories from Austria-Hungary and hoped to win Tripoli with French support. As opposed to this alliance, the triple entente (an understanding) was formed in 1907 comprising of France, Russia and Britain. Since the aim of both the camps was gaining more territory, war was the only option.
Ø Incidents preceding the wars: Three incidents just before the First World War contributed directly to the increase in tension. In 1904, Britain and France signed an agreement according to which Britain could do whatever it liked in Egypt and France would take over Morocco. Germany came to know of this and promised the sultan of Morocco its full support for her independence. Suddenly France occupied Morocco and to pacify Germany gave her a large part of the French Congo.
In 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina which were the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia wanted this area with Russia’s help and Austria had the support of Germany. Things got heated up but war was averted.
As a result of the above mentioned incident, in 1912, four Balkan countries fought wars with Turkey over the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey lost but the Balkans started fighting over the issue who get what area.
Ø Other contributing factors :
a) Militarism: Each country had a standing army, efficient spy system, trade officers and latest weapons creating a situation for war.
b) Economic imperialism: The need for raw material, manpower and markets made it necessary to re divide the world leading up to the war.
c) Narrow nationalism: The love of one’s country was so extreme that it resulted in the hatred of all other countries.
d) Poisoning of public opinion: The newspapers of each country twisted events in their favors misrepresenting information.
e) Charter of William II the emperor of Germany: He was an arrogant ruler and wanted to have his own way in everything and considered England a weak nation.
f) Lack of an international organization: There was no common power that could maintain peace in the world.
12) Mention the immediate causes that led to the start of the First World War?
Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of Austria. Serbia and Austria were great enemies. Many secret societies had planned to kill the governor of Bosnia just to take revenge on Austria as Austria had annexed Bosnia. Suddenly it was found that the Archduke was coming to Bosnia with his wife. The Serbian government helped the actual murderers to carry out their plans. According to the plan, they were to be murdered on 28th June 1914 when they were visiting Sarajevo. Unfortunately that day was the day of mourning as the Serbians remembered the heroes of Kosovo. When the official party was going towards the town hall, the conspirators threw a bomb on the automobile but the official party escaped unhurt. The accused were captured. After finishing the ceremonies at the town hall, the party proceeded to visit the city museum. Their automobile went into the wrong street and while the driver was backing the assassin came forward and fired two shots point blank. As a result both the archduke and his wife were killed. Austria saw the hand of Serbia behind the assassination and served her with an ultimatum of 7 demands. Serbia refused to accept the following demand:
“The representative of Austria-Hungary government should participate in the inquiry which the Serbs were to carry out regarding the plot of the murder of archduke and his wife.”
13) Explain the consequences of the First World War?
The war which was fought for the first time on such a large scale had far reaching effects. The whole world started witnessing changes which it had never witnessed before and some of them were advantageous to the world history and some were not advantageous to the world history.
a) The human loss: 53-70million people fought in the war and out of these 9 million died or were killed. This comes to 1/7th of those who fought in the war. Several millions became handicapped. Due to the war there were air raids, epidemics and famines that killed millions among the civilian population.
b) The world economy was shattered: The allies as well as the central powers were badly shaken economically. The economy of each country suffered a major setback. The Allies could hope to recover but the central powers were completely destroyed.
c) The world maps changed: New boundaries were drawn after the war not only in Europe but in Asia and Africa as well. The Ottoman Empire came to an end and its territories were distributed. Austria and Hungary became two separate states and so did Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. The colonies of the defeated powers were divided by the victorious powers.
d) Responsibility after the war: Article 23 of the peace treaties put the entire responsibility of the war on Germany. This forced responsibility made the Germans bitter and it became one of the causes of the First World War. Serbia was guilty of murdering Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria. She also encouraged the secret societies to function on her soil. She was the first country to have started the preparations for war. Austria-Hungary was guilty of aggression against Serbia in the provocation of Russia.
e) Europe lost its supremacy: The USA emerged as a world power in terms of the economy and weapons of warfare. It surpassed Europe. With the weakening of Europe, the colonies in Asia and Africa started demanding freedom. Many imperialist powers had earlier promised independence to their colonies if they supported them in the First World War. The British had made this promise to the Indians.
f) Formation of the League of Nations: It was regarded necessary that a world body should be formed that maintains peace and order in the world preventing an outbreak of another world war.
14) Explain the Peace Settlements and the other treaties signed at the end of the First World War.
Ø Paris Settlement (1919-1920): After the overthrow of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, the allied statesmen met at Paris to decide the future map of Europe. Paris was a poor choice because the war had hit them hard and any conference would have been prejudice. President Wilson of US, Lloyd George of Britain, Clemenogue of France and Orlando played a crucial role. The work of negotiations was not easy because the lots of things had to be adjusted based on the 14 points of President Wilson. There was the problem of the Secret treaties of the allies and it was difficult to adjust them in the 14 points. So the settlement of Paris was unsatisfactory in many ways.
Ø Treaty of Versailles (1919): On 28th June 1919, the Allies signed a treaty with Germany laying the entire responsibility of the war on her shoulders. The allies asked Germany to send some officials to take this treaty from France to Germany. The Germans decided to send some junior officials which were regarded as an insult by the allies. Finally a German delegation led by its foreign minister went to Versailles. The Germans were treated as prisoners, kept in a hotel behind barbed wires. They were not allowed to communicate with anybody and were insulted by not being given the guard of honour.
Ø Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles:
· Germany had to give Alsace-Lorraine to France, Futon and Malmedy to Belgium, Mendel and Lithuania and a large part of Posen and western Prussia to Poland.
· Danzig was taken away from Germany and set up as a free city under the League of Nations.
· Rhineland was demilitarized. No fortifications were allowed and Germany could not keep any army there.
· As a payment for the damages of the war, Saar Valley was taken away and given to the League of Nations.
· Germany promised to respect the independence of Austria and removed the fortifications from certain islands.
· Germany gave up all her colonies, rights, titles etc over her overseas possession which was then divided by the allies amongst themselves.
· The independence of Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia was accepted by Germany.
· The German military strength was destroyed. Its general staff was abolished. It could keep an army of one lakh soldiers and that army could only maintain law and order in Germany and in the frontiers.
· The German navy could keep only six battleships, 6 light cruises, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats. No submarines were allowed.
· The King of Germany, William II was to be tried by a special tribunal for his responsibility of starting the war.
· Germany had to admit that she was responsible for the war. She had to pay for 10 categories of losses and damages. She was to compensate Belgium for all the money she had taken and pay an interest of 5%.
· Repatriation commission was appointed to ensure that Germany pays the amount that she is supposed to, to the allies.
· Germany had to return trophies, works of art, flags, holy books etc which she had taken during the war from other countries.
· The Elb, Danube, Oder and Niemen rivers were internationalized.
· The German territory west of the Rhine was to be occupied by Allied troops for 15 years and only to be given back to Germany if she met the demands of the Treaty of Versailles.
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