By 1900, the Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, was campaigning for self-rule. Most members were educated middle-class Indians who admired British liberal ideas but wanted to govern themselves.

Gandhi and non-violence

The movement's most famous leader was Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma means "great soul"). Gandhi developed satyagraha - peaceful resistance based on truth and non-violence. He led many campaigns:

The Salt March of 1930 - a 240-mile walk to the sea to make salt and break the British monopoly.
The Quit India movement of 1942, demanding immediate independence during WWII.

Gandhi was jailed several times but kept the movement growing. Other leaders included Nehru, who became India's first prime minister, and the Muslim League leader Jinnah.

1947 - Independence and Partition

By 1947 Britain, exhausted by World War II, agreed to leave India. Muslim leaders feared being outnumbered in a Hindu-majority democracy. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, oversaw the split into two countries:

India - mostly Hindu.
Pakistan - mostly Muslim (in two parts; East Pakistan later became Bangladesh).

The new border was drawn hastily by a British lawyer (Cyril Radcliffe) who had never visited India. Around 15 million people moved across the new border, and up to 1 million died in communal violence. Gandhi himself was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who blamed him for partition.

Year 8 Power & Protest

Indian Independence and Partition