SS11 (20th Century World History) 2018

The campaigns of civil disobedience led by Gandhi in India during the interwar years had worn  Great Britain out. India, a poor country but one with a large population, intended to play a role on the world stage by advocating for its independence. However, at the end of the Second World War the British Government did not have the means to face a new colonial war. It eventually decided to grant independence to the Indian subcontinent in August 1947, but the period was marked by violent clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities.

While Gandhi and Nehru, the main leaders of the Congress Party, advocated Indian unity, the Muslim League, directed by Ali Jinnah, called for the creation of an independent Muslim state. The violence between the two sides escalated and turned into a civil war. In February 1947, the British decided to evacuate the country, and on 15 August 1947 it was divided into two independent states: India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority. The Republic of India was proclaimed in January 1950, once the constitution had been drawn up, but it remained a member of the British Commonwealth.

Watch the video below which is a compilation of clips from the 1982 film Gandhi. The video illustrates how Gandhi used civil disobedience to force the British to leave India. You will need some context to understand this, however.

This clip covers the Salt March of 1930 which was an act of civil disobedience which Gandhi chose to protest British rule in India. Traditionally, the Indian people had made salt from seawater but the British had made this illegal in order to control and to tax the salt trade. Gandhi led a 300 km march from his ashram in northwestern India to the Indian Ocean. Along the way he spoke and picked up protesters. Upon reaching the ocean, he illegally gathered naturally crystallized salt. Eventually he was arrested along with 60,000 others.