nationalism in india and southwest asia “i have nothing new to teach the world. truth and...
TRANSCRIPT
Nationalism in Indiaand Southwest Asia
“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”-Gandhi
The effect of World War I
WWI signaled the end of Imperialism The British Empire began to crumble
Stirred nationalist movements in India Turkey Persia (Iran) Saudi Arabia
Indian Nationalism Upper class Indians who had attended
British schools learned European views of nationalism and democracy and began to resent British rule
Two groups formed Indian National Congress (Congress Party) Muslim LeagueAlthough Hindus and Muslims have a rocky
history they could find common ground in resisting foreign rule
The WWI Effect
Indians fighting in the British armies in Europe were offered government promises of reforms in exchange for their service
The ultimate goal of these reforms was eventual independence
In 1918 Indian troops returned home expecting the promises to be fulfilled
Instead they were again treated as second class citizens
The British React to Indian Resentment
Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence against the British in India
The British government pass the Rowlatt Act (1919) Allowed the government to jail protestors without trail
for as long as two years Denial of Trial by Jury was a serious offense to
western educated Indians who had learned from the British the importance of individual rights
What is it that allows the British to pass laws against Indians they wouldn’t pass in Britain?
Resistance and Oppression
Amritsar Massacre – protest to the Rowlatt Act 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to the
Amritsar (capital of Punjab) spring 1919 Intended to fast and pray and listen to
political speeches The demonstration and alliance between
Hindus and Muslims terrified the British The British had banned public meetings
therefore the entire festival was “illegal”
Resistance and Oppression British General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops
to fire on the crowd without warning The shooting lasted 10 minutes British troops killed 400 Indians and injured 1200 News of the slaughter sparked fury across India Overnight millions of Indians changed from loyal
British subjects to revolutionariesHow did the British reaction to the festival change
minds and heart?What examples of extreme reaction can you think
of from today?
The Role of Gandhi WATCH GANDHI Gandhi’s philosophies
blended ideas from all of the major world religions – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity
Gandhi attracted millions of followers
He was soon called “Mahatma” meaning Great Soul
Noncooperation
After the Amritsar Massacres and British failure to punish the offending officers Gandhi proposed his policy of “noncooperation”
Who else used/uses noncooperation as a form of protest?
Civil Disobedience
“It is not desirable,” he said, “to cultivate a respect for the law, so much for the right…Law never made men a whit more just; and by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”
Henry David Thoreau
The demands of conscience are higher than the demands of the law
“This is in essence the principle of nonviolent noncooperation. Its object should not be to punish the opponent or to inflict injury upon him. Even while noncooperating with him, we must make him feel that in us he has a friend and we should try to reach his heart by rendering him humanitarian services wherever possible”
How does this differ from Mao’s view of revolution against oppression?
Which path to change is more effective? Why?
Civil Disobedience Passive Resistance – Satyagraha –
“Truth-force” Deliberate and public refusal to obey an
unjust law “Complete Civil Disobedience is a rebellion
without the element of violence…one perfect resister is enough to win the battle of Right and Wrong”
In 1920 the Indian National Congress Party adopted this policy of civil disobedience and nonviolence
Civil Disobedience
Name a law you find to be unjust that you are obligated to obey (school or government law)
How could you protest the law without violence?
Applying Civil Disobedience
Gandhi urged the people to refuse to buy British goods, attend government schools, pay British taxes and vote in elections
Throughout 1920 the British arrested thousands of Indians
who had participated in strikes and demonstrations
Applying Civil Disobedience
Gandhi’s civil disobedience took a heavy economic toll on the British
Struggled to keep Trains running Factories open And overcrowded jails from bursting
Despite Gandhi’s pleas for nonviolence, riots often broke out
Salt March 1930 the Indian National Congress and Gandhi
declared India independent of British rule Obviously the British ignored this so Gandhi decided to
take his protests to another level He organized a salt protest According to British law, Indians could only buy salt
from the government AND they had to pay a tax on salt To show their opposition, Gandhi and his followers
walked 240 miles to the seacoast and collected their own salt by letting ocean water evaporate
Why is a salt protest so important?
Civil Disobedience
Soon after the Salt March to Dandi demonstrators planned to march to a factory where the British processed salt
Police officers with steel tipped clubs attacked the demonstrators
An American journalist on the scene described the “sickening whacks of clubs on unprotected skulls and people writhing in pain with fractured skulls or broken shoulders”
Salt Marches Effect
The salt march gained worldwide attention and sympathy
Indians throughout the country took up the protest and began illegally processing their own salt
Eventually 60,000 people as well as Gandhi himself were arrested
Great Britain Grants India Self Rule
Eventually the protests and international pressure were too much for the British to ignore
In 1935 they passed the Government of India Act – giving limited self rule to the Indians The Hindu Indian National Congress was
the party in control and this quickly offended the Muslim league
Fight for Power
Over the next few decades the Muslim League conflicted with the Indian National Congress in the ruling of the country
The Hindus outnumbered the Muslims and they feared lack of representation in the government
They fought the Indian National Congress’ control of the government on every front
Stay Tuned!!
The rest of the Indian Independence story doesn’t pick up again until after World War II when the British finally lose the ability to control India from abroad and give up in 1947… opening a whole new can of worms with the creation of Muslim Pakistan
Nationalism Spreads to Southwest Asia The people of the Middle East also launched
independence movements during this time of weakening European Imperialism
-Turkey- Iran- Saudi Arabia
Turkey At the end of World War I, all that remained
of the Ottoman Empire was Turkey The Greeks were eager to expand and rebuild
their ancient empire at the expense of the weakening Ottomans
The Sultan was ineffectual in stopping the invading Greeks
Turkish Nationalism Mustafa Kemal led Turkish nationalists in
overthrowing the Sultan in 1922 1923 – Kemal became the president of the
new Republic of Turkey Kemal introduced many reforms,
transforming Turkey into a modern state
The New Turkey He separated the laws of Islam from the laws
of the nation Abolished religious courts, created a new
legal system based on European law Women were given more freedom, the right to
vote and to hold public office Launched government programs to
industrialize Turkey
Persia Becomes Iran Great Britain and Russia fought over
influence over the ancient empire of Persia After WWI the Russians were wrapped up in
their Bolshevik revolution and the British tried to seize the opportunity to expand in Persia
1921 – Persians revolted against the ruling Shah who had allowed the “invasion” of foreign powers
Iran A Persian Army Officer – Reza Shah Pahlavi
overthrew the Shah in 1925 and established himself the ruler of Iran
Set up public schools, built roads, railroads, promoted industrial growth and extended women’s rights
Unlike his revolutionary counterpart in Turkey, Pahlavi gathered all power into his hands
Saudi Arabia Going in the opposite direction the Saud family led
by Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud began a successful campaign to unify Arabia under strict Islamic law
In 1932 he established Saudi Arabia (named after his family)
Ibn Saud carried on many Arabic and Islamic traditions, alcoholic drinks were outlawed
Ibn Saud brought some modernization to his new country but not as much as Reza Shah and Kemal
OIL In the midst of nationalist awakenings in the
middle east a new economic advantage was being discovered
During the 1920’s and 1930’s western powers began oil explorations throughout the region and discovered huge reserves in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Foreign business invested Huge sums of money into the oil field
Eventually it would be realized that the Persian Gulf region held 2/3 of the world’s oil reserve
This new economic power of natural resource would shape the coming century Western powers would find the resource too
tempting to leave in native control without their influence in the politics and economics of the region