Today we will discuss the British Raj.
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Watch Episode 6 of The Story of India ("Freedom"): Use the video to
develop a question that you would like to answer in a written essay at
the end of this unit. Use the questions below as a guide to the video.
1. Wood describes British colonization of India as “a chain of accidents”. Explain.
2. Initially, what was the reason for British interest in India ?
3. When the British arrived, who was the great power in the north of India, and who ruled in the south of India ?
4. Which other European power tussled with Britain for commercial interests in India ?
5. Initially, where was British influence centered ?
6. Wood describes the fighting as being between global corporations, not between national armies. Explain.
7. Geographically, in which part of India did this rivalry play out ?
8. Which Indian product of great value was shipped by the British to China ?
9. Britain gained its empire in India “in a fit of absent-mindedness” (sounds like Q1). What was not absent-minded about British interest in India ?
10. Explain the comment that the British gave India “a complete map”, physical & mental.
11. What role did the Asiatic Society have in the growth of Indian nationalism ?
12. Major-General Charles Stuart , or “Hindu Stuart”, went native. What if more British officials had gone native : would it have been preferable ?
13. Would you describe Stuart as “ethnocentric” ?
14. Which city in the 18th Century was a prime example of the fusion of Muslim-Hindu culture ?
15. What are the roots of “Urdu” language ?
16. What reasons does Michael Wood give for the deterioration in relations between Indians and the British in the 30 years prior to the 1857 rebellion ?
17. What was the catalyst that ignited the 1857 rebellion ?
18. The British refer to the fighting as the Sepoy Mutiny, while Indians refer to it as the Indian Rebellion (or as the First War of Independence). Which is the more appropriate title ?
19. Was the rebellion motivated by political or religious considerations ?
20. Which side was responsible for atrocities during the fighting ?
21. What role did the city of Lucknow have in the fighting ?
22. The rebellion brought an end to which two historic institutions ?
23. It’s sometimes said that the Mutiny/Rebellion united India. To what extent is this true ?
24. Why did some Indians support the British during the rebellion ?
25. Which political organization (later to become the leader of the Independence movement) grew out of the rebellion ?
26. What was the contribution of A.O. Hume to the independence movement ?
27. Why was a “vernacular” press so hard for the British to control ?
28. According to Wood, what factors acted as unifying agents to make India one ?
29. “Imperialism is never benign”. Explain, and is this statement true ?
30. IF initial British colonization of India had been “relatively benign”, why did it become more arrogant & insensitive over time ?
31. What change in British colonial rule does Dr Mukherjee see after the 1850s ?
32. In what way does Dr Mukherjee suggest that the British created future problems by the manner in which they classified people in the 1881 Census ?
33. What demographic statistic gave Hindus cause to be worried ?
34. How did Muslims use the 1909 Census to make political demands ?
35. How did India respond when Britain found itself at war from 1914-1918 ?
36. What did the Muslim League and the Congress Party expect at the end of WWI ?
37. What were the restrictions on individual liberties imposed by the Sedition Law ?
38. What happened at Jallianwala bagh, Amritsar, in 1919 ?
39. “On such moments, history can turn.” Explain.
40. Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, all had the same professional training ? What was it ?
41. Mohandas K Gandhi was called “Gandhiji”. Why the “ji” ?
42. How did the vision of independence shared by Nehru & Gandhi’s differ from that of Jinnah ?
43. What was the British attitude towards the Partition of India ?
44. Where is Simla, and why does the Viceroy have a “lodge” there ?
45. What was the date of Indian & Pakistani independence ?
46. Did Pakistan secede from India, or did Pakistan obtain its independence from Britain ? “Divorce before marriage.”
47. What immediate problem was created for Pakistan by Partition ?
48. Describe the migration in the Punjab that took place immediately Partition.
49. Was Partition, and the mass killing necessary ? Was a Confederation of India & Pakistan a possibility?
50. List the four political crises that the Indian Sub-Continent has faced since independence ?
Start reading Wolpert
Pages 43-67
Pages 188-209