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In 1857, gossip spread among the sepoys, the Indian soldiers, that the cartridges of their new Enfield rifles were greased with beef and pork fat. To use the cartridges, soldiers had to bite off the ends. On May 8, 1857 the soldiers rebelled.
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As a result of the mutiny, in 1858 the British government took direct command of India. The part of India that was under direct British rule was called the Raj.
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The growing nationalism led to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.
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The growing nationalism led to the founding of Muslim League that was founded in 1906.
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Founded home rule league by Annie Besant. Indian militant nationalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak and British social reformer and Indian independence leader Annie Besant. The term, borrowed from a similar movement in Ireland, referred to the efforts of Indian nationalists to achieve self-rule from the British Indian government.
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In 1918, Indian troops returned home from the war. They expected Britain to fulfill its promise. Instead, they were once again treated as second-class citizens. Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence to show their hatred of British rule
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To curb dissent, in 1919 the British passed the Rowlatt Acts. These laws allowed the government to jail protesters without trial for as long as two years. To protest the Rowlatt Acts, around 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar , a major city in the Punjab, in the spring of 1919. There many protesters got shot by a generals command, and many women and children died. This was huge and its the Amritsar Massacre when people were shot and had no way out.
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Throughout 1920, the British arrested thousands of Indians who had participated in strikes and demonstrations.
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On February 5, 1922 three people were killed as the police opened fire on protesters in Chauri Chaura. In retaliation, the mob set fire to a police station, in which 22 policemen were killed.
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On March 10, 1922 Gandhi was arrested and was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on a charge of sedition. He was released after two years and withdrew from politics.
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Lala Lajpat Rai is assassinated. He Founded the Indian Home League Society of America.
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The Indian National Congress declares 26 January 1930 as Independence Day, or the day for Poorna Swaraj.
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In 1930, Gandhi organized a demonstration to defy the hated Salt Acts. According to these British laws, Indians could buy salt from no other source but the government. They also had to pay sales tax on salt. To show their opposition, Gandhi and his followers walked about 240 miles to the seacoast. There they began to make their own salt by collecting seawater and letting it evaporate. This peaceful protest was called the Salt March.
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Second Round Table Conference, Gandhi-Irvin Pact, Revolution leader Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are hanged by the Birtish government on March 23.
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In 1935, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. It provided local self-government and limited democratic elections, but not total independence.
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Provincial Autonomy Begins with Congress winning power in many states. WWII breaks out and there is political deadlock in India
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The Quit India Movement, Rise of Subhas Chandra Bose. Quit India resolution was passed by the Bombay session of the AICC, which led to the start of a historical civil disobedience movement across India.
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Muslim League Adamant about Pakistan.
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The British House of Commons passed an act on July 16, 1947, that granted two nations, India and Pakistan, independence in one month’s time. In that short period, more than 500 independent native princes had to decide which nation they would join.
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A Hindu extremist who thought Gandhi too protective of Muslims shot and killed him on January 30, 1948.
