Summary HY113 Indian Independence Lecture/ Reading Notes
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Course
HY113
Institution
London School Of Economics (LSE)
Notes on the Indian Independence movement and Gandhi's leadership.
Ideal for exam and assessment preparation.
These notes have helped produce 1st class pieces of work.
Introductory Notes:
● India was the linchpin of the British Empire; spices and cloths from India were
good sources of business for the Imperial Crown
● 1.5m Indians fought for the British during WW1 reflecting the status of India
as Britain’s “barrack” in the East
● Before Gandhi rose to prominence, nationalism was a concept confined to the
elites and well-mannered; the members of the Indian National Congress (who
knew of and understood nationalism) were well-educated/ out of touch
● Those leading the nationalist movement before Gandhi were also
well-mannered; in being unwilling to demonstrate force, they would often turn
to soft forms of pressure to try and achieve their aims (e.g., writing letters)
● Gandhi was London-educated before moving to South Africa; in South Africa,
Gandhi organized campaigns with his fellow Indians to oppose discriminatory
legislation based on race
● Gandhi wrote and published his book Hind Swaraj in 1909-10
● Gandhi warned against the entire imitation of Western technology within India
● Satyagraha= Truth force (disobedience to existing laws was acceptable if
such laws were unjust)
Gandhi and the Terrorists (Durba Ghosh):
● Although traditional scholarship has stressed Gandhi’s strong disgust towards
political violence, his views were informed in dialogue over the course of his
lifetime with extremists and radicals
● Gandhi recognized how both violence and nonviolence reflected the ability to
sacrifice, to suffer and to gain the attention of the British
● Just law as an absolute truth was held by Gandhi as a standard both Indians
and Britons could judge themselves by; based on this, Gandhi maintained
that the prolonged detention of terrorists defied norms in a just society
● There were several assassination attempts before 1909 which reflected the
extent of the campaign undertaken by Indian extremists to push for
independence
● There were two attempts to kill the lieutenant-governor of Bengal (Andrew
Fraser) in 1907 and 1908
● 1 July 1909- British officer Curzon Wyllie was shot dead at close range by
Madanlal Dhingra; Dhingra was an extremist who had been inspired by the
works of Vinayak Savarkar
● Various accounts of Gandhi’s life suggest that upon hearing Savarkar speak
in London, Gandhi was motivated to write his now-famous work Hind Swaraj
in response
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