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Unlock This CourseBefore 1919, Indian nationalism was mostly a movement of educated men in the cities, such as lawyers and teachers, who made speeches in English and sent polite requests to the British. Within two years it had become a movement of millions. There were four main causes.
Key terms:
Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in Gujarat, in western India. He trained as a lawyer in London. In 1893 he went to South Africa to work for an Indian firm, and stayed for 21 years. Indians there faced unfair laws. Soon after he arrived, Gandhi was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg for refusing to leave a first-class carriage.
In 1906 the Transvaal brought in a law forcing Indians to register and carry passes. Gandhi's followers refused to obey it and went to prison in large numbers. This was where he worked out satyagraha.
He came home in 1915, aged 45. He travelled around India by third-class train to learn how the poor lived. Then he tested his methods in three local disputes.
Peasants in Bihar were forced to grow indigo (a plant used to make blue dye) for British planters. The British ordered Gandhi to leave the district. He refused. The case against him was dropped, an inquiry followed and the forced system was ended.
Crops failed in this part of Gujarat, but the land tax was still demanded. Gandhi organised peasants to refuse to pay. The government agreed to collect only from those who could afford it.
Cotton mill workers went on strike over pay. Gandhi fasted to support them. After three days the mill owners agreed to let an independent judge decide, and the workers were awarded a 35 per cent pay rise.
These were small victories, but they made him famous across India. Many called him 'Mahatma', which means 'great soul'.
Satyagraha rested on ahimsa. A satyagrahi (a person using satyagraha) refused to obey an unjust law or order, but never used force and never hit back. The aim was not to beat the opponent. It was to make the opponent see that he was in the wrong.
Refusing to help the British run India. This meant boycotts of British cloth, schools, law courts and elections, and giving up government jobs and titles. No law was broken. Gandhi argued that the Raj depended on Indian help, so it would fail if that help stopped.
A step further: breaking an unjust law on purpose, in public and without violence, then accepting arrest calmly. If thousands did this, the prisons would fill and the law could not work.
He also used the hartal, peaceful marches and fasting. Alongside protest came constructive work, such as spinning khadi each day. Britain's factory-made cloth had ruined many Indian weavers, so the spinning wheel became the symbol of the movement.
Non-violence was a strict rule. When his hartal of April 1919 led to riots, Gandhi called it off and said he had made a 'Himalayan miscalculation'. People had been asked to protest before they were trained to stay peaceful.
So the nature of nationalism changed. It became a mass movement that was non-violent and included every class and religion. Not everyone agreed with Gandhi. Some leaders, such as Jinnah, disliked mass law-breaking, as you will see in Congress, the Muslims, the Untouchables and Jinnah.
Extract A (a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history book)
Gandhi was no simple holy man. He was a shrewd politician who planned every move with care. His plain home-spun cloth and his spinning wheel were carefully chosen symbols that any villager could understand, and he picked his early battles only where he could win. Even arrest was turned into a weapon to shame the British. Behind the gentle manner was a master of tactics, who knew exactly how to turn the patience of millions into power.
What impression does the author give about Gandhi as a leader? You must use Extract A to explain your answer. [6 marks]
The author gives the impression that Gandhi was a clever, calculating leader, not just a saintly figure. This is shown by the author's choice of words. Gandhi is called a 'shrewd politician' and a 'master of tactics', which suggests great skill in gaining power. The phrases 'planned every move' and 'carefully chosen symbols' make even his clothes and spinning wheel sound like deliberate tools, not simple habits. Saying he 'knew exactly' how to use the 'patience of millions' suggests he was fully in control. The author has also selected only points about tactics: symbols, battles he 'could win' and arrest used as 'a weapon'. Nothing is said about his religious beliefs or his real concern for the poor, and the opening words 'no simple holy man' push that view aside. This makes Gandhi seem above all a skilful planner.
What lifts it to the top level: it names one clear impression, then explains how the author's loaded words and the choice to write only about tactics create it, instead of just repeating the extract.
Start by asking what kind of person the extract makes Gandhi seem. Words such as 'shrewd', 'tactics' and 'weapon' all point to a planner, so name that impression in your first sentence. Then finish with something the author has left out, such as his religious faith.