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By this time the British control most of India’s subcontinent.
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Gossip spreads among the Indian Soldiers that the cartridges of their new Enfield rifles were greased with beef and pork fat. To use these cartridges, soldiers had to bite off the ends. Both Hindus, who considered the cow sacred and Muslims who did not eat pork were outraged. March 10, 1857: the Sepoy Mutiny. Indian soldiers marched to the city of Delhi. They captured the city and from Delhi the rebellion spread to northern and central India.
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Raj: British rule after India came under the British crown during the reign of Queen Victoria
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The Indian National Congress is formed due to growing nationalism.
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Nationalists inflamed by the partition of Bengal.
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The Muslim League is formed with the purpose of protecting Muslim interests.
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The Indian province was too large for administration so the British divided it into a Muslim and a separate Hindu section to make it difficult for all Indian to join together for independance. But, in 1911 the British took this back and divided it differently.
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A hero’s welcome awaited Gandhi in Bombay, India after returning from South Africa where he defied laws including the burning of colored identifications.
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Indian troops return home from the war. Millions of Indian enlisted in the British army to fight in WW1. In return they were promised reforms leading to independence. But, they were once again treated as second class citizens.
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The British passed the Rowlatt Acts. These laws allowed the government to jail protesters without trial for as long as two years. Amritsar Massacre: In protest, 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar in the spring. In an enclosed square they intended to fast and pray and to listen to political speeches. This alarmed the British as a nationalist outburst. A British commander called for open fire which lasted 10 minutes that killed 400 Indians and wounded about 1,200.
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The Congress Party endorses civil disobedience (the deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law and nonviolence as the means to achieve independence). So, Gandhi launches his campaign of civil disobedience to weaken the British.
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A demonstration organized by Gandhi to defy the Salt Acts. According to the British, Indians could only buy salt from them and had to pay taxes on it. So, Gandhi and followers walked to the seacoast and there they began to make their own salt by collecting seawater and letting it evaporate.
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The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. This act provided local self-government and limited democratic elections while not granting total independance.
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Indians resistance to Britain intensifies when Britain commits India’s armed forced to WWII without first consulting the colony’s elected representatives.
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British try to gain the support of Indian nationalists by promising governmental changes after the war. But, the offer doesn’t include independance.
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In August, four days of clashes in Calcutta due to Muslim and Hindu conflicts left more than 5,000 people dead and more than 15,000 hurt.
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he British House of Commons passed an act that granted two nations, a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan.
Summer: 10 million people were on the move in India. As people scrambled to move, violence amongst the religious groups erupted. -
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United Nations arranged a cease fire after Hindu’s and Muslims began battling each other for control of the Kashmir region which was ruled by a Hindu but had a Muslim population.
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A Hindu extremist who thought Gandhi was too protective of Muslims shot and killed him.
