Challenges in India

History: AQA A Level The British Empire, topic 2.5.1

Challenges in India, 1890-1914

The nature of the challenge against British rule changed in this period. In India, nationalist campaigns became more political and organised.

In 1898, the Kaal newspaper was founded. This newspaper supported Indian nationalism.
In 1908, two young boys tried to assassinate the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford of Calcutta. However, they accidentally killed two women instead.
Bal Tilak used his paper to defend the boys and was arrested on 24 June 1908.
Tilak was released from prison in the year 1916. He then tried to unite Indian Hindus and Muslims to strengthen Indian nationalism. Tilak was supported by a British lady called Annie Besant in this quest.

In 1903, the Young India Society (also known as the Abhinav Bharat Society) was formed.
It was founded by Vinaya Damodar Savarkar and his brother.
The organisation became home to revolutionaries and activists.

Lord Curzon's attempt to partition Bengal, forming a Muslim East and a Hindu West, was a disaster.
It prompted a six-year uprising against the British Raj.
The Bengali activism was successful as the regions were reunited in 1911.

In 1909, Arthur Jackson and Curzon Wyllie (British officials) were assassinated by Indian revolutionaries.
Kitchen (1996) states "Indian nationalists threw bombs and assassinated their opponents. The British authorities responded with more repression, which in turn, led to more bombs & further assassinations".

The British Empire clamped down on Indian nationalism.
Revolutionary writers were imprisoned and newspapers were shut down.
However, the Empire did concede to Indian demands by allowing Bengal to be reunited.

By 1914, education was far too widespread. This meant that it would be nearly impossible for the British to stop independence movements.
In India, the swadeshi (self-sufficiency) movement emerged after the partition of Bengal. The swadeshi movement encouraged buying only goods produced locally in India, instead of goods produced by foreign countries or companies. This movement inspired Gandhi's thinking many years later.