BRITISH INVASION OF INDIA
The british landed in India on 24 august 1608 at the port of surat and started gaining control of the indian kingdoms by force earlier the british which came in india where the east india company which had the plans to do trading but as they saw the wealth of the indian people they started negotiating with the local kings for the collection of taxes from the local people and after that they also started invading small kingdoms with the help of the companies forces deployed in india
and since the EIC had deployed their forces in collaboration with a majority of the Indian soldiers in the indian subcontinent they would have to bring in the ammunition in india and the ammunition which they brought from britain was made up of BEEF and PORK which was highly unacceptable for both the Hindus and Muslims soldiers which where deployed in the EIC as to use these kind of bullets they would have to be opened by mouth and this was one of the things that lead to the FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE or THE SEPOY MUTINY in various parts of india
The first war of independence began on 10 MAY 1857 and lasted till 1 November 1858 , in this war 6000 British got killed but in the result 800,000 INDIANS also got martyred and
British soldiers also committed SEXUAL VIOLENCE against Indian women as a form of retaliation against the rebellion. As towns and cities were captured from the sepoys, the British soldiers took their revenge on Indian civilians by committing atrocities and rapes against Indian women
Edward Vibart, a 19-year-old officer whose parents, younger brothers, and two of his sisters had died in the Cawnpore massacre, recorded his experience:
The orders went out to shoot every soul.... It was literally murder... I have seen many bloody and awful sights lately but such a one as I witnessed yesterday I pray I never see again. The women were all spared but their screams on seeing their husbands and sons butchered, were most painful... Heaven knows I feel no pity, but when some old grey bearded man is brought and shot before your very eyes, hard must be that man's heart I think who can look on with indifference ...
Some British troops adopted a policy of "no prisoners". One officer, Thomas Lowe, remembered how on one occasion his unit had taken 76 prisoners – they were just too tired to carry on killing and needed a rest, he recalled. Later, after a quick trial, the prisoners were lined up with a British soldier standing a couple of yards in front of them. On the order "fire", they were all simultaneously shot, "swept... from their earthly existence".
And seeing this In August, by the Government of India Act 1858, the company was formally dissolved and its ruling powers8 over India were transferred to the British Crown. A new British government department, the India Office, was created to handle the governance of India, and its head, the Secretary of State for India, was entrusted with formulating Indian policy. The Governor-General of India gained a new title, Viceroy of India, and implemented the policies devised by the India Office
and after the implementation of the british raj in india they started committing various kinds of atrocities in the name of making the people civilised various taxes where imposed on the indians and they where forced to pay for their own job
and to maintain law and order in the subcontinent the british formed the INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS which was founded by AO HUME on 28 DECEMBER 1885 . It was initially a party for the rich and the powerful and the common civilian was denied entry in the party and resembled as much as a british gymkhana where these kind of bards where placed on the doors of the institutions
which stated that DOGS AND INDIANS NOT ALLOWED
IT`S 1915
Well the time was 1915 when a young lawyer entered india his name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and after his role in the champaran satyagraha he became much more popular among the indians and with all the name and fame he entered the Congress and their the main work done by him was that he allowed the participation of common indians in the congress
Seeing this A 24 year young boy arrived ashore in India at Bombay on the morning of 16 July 1921 and immediately set about arranging an interview with 51 year Gandhi . Gandhi happened to be in Bombay and agreed to see Bose that afternoon
Gandhi and Bose differed in this first meeting on the question of means—for Gandhi non-violent means to any end were non-negotiable; in Bose's thought, all means were acceptable in the service of anti-colonial ends . Gandhi, however, set Bose on to the leader of the Congress and Indian nationalism in Bengal, C. R. Das, and in him Bose found the leader whom he sought. Das was more flexible than Gandhi, more sympathetic to the extremism that had attracted idealistic young men such as Bose in Bengal. Das launched Bose into nationalist politics. Bose would work within the ambit of the Indian National Congress politics for nearly 20 years even as he tried to change its course.
He started the newspaper SWARAJ and took charge of publicity for the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His mentor was Chittaranjan Das who was a spokesman for aggressive nationalism in Bengal. In the year 1923, Bose was elected the President of All India Youth Congress and also the Secretary of Bengal State Congress. He was also the editor of the newspaper "FORWARD", founded by Chittaranjan Das.Bose worked as the CEO of the Calcutta municipal corporation for Das when the latter was elected mayor of Calcutta in 1924.
In 1927 Bose was released from the prison and Bose became the general; secretary of the Congress and In 1938 Bose stated his opinion that the INC "should be organised on the broadest anti-imperialist front with the two-fold objective of winning political freedom and the establishment of a socialist regime." By 1938 Bose had become a leader of national stature and agreed to accept nomination as Congress President. He stood for SWARAJ (elf-governance), including the use of force against the British.
But due to the ideological differences between Bose and Gandhi their was a fear that party would be divided into two but bose decided to respect all the ways through which independence would be gained from the imperialistic powers .
In 1939 there where another general secretary elections and bose again stood up inhe elections but was facing Pattabhi Sitaramayya who had a strong backing of gandhi .
BOSE going for the 1939 party elections
During these elections gandhi clearly ordered all the party members to vote for Sitaramayya
and consider as if they where voting
Gandhi himself but this attempt of gandhi failed to kick Bose out of the congress and approximately all the people in the indian national congress voted for SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE and in 1939 again he was elected as the general secretary of the indian national congress
However, due to the manoeuvrings of the Gandhi-led clique in the Congress Working Committee, Bose found himself forced to resign from the Congress presidency and he resigned of the post of general secretary of indian national congress because he followed the ideology of gaining independence through violence and he believed that
And after the exit of bose as the general secretary in july 1940 he was sometimes thrown in jail by the British, . On 5 DECEMBER 1940 Bose was moved to his house and was kept under house arrest because he had gone for a 7 days hunger strike
and his house was kept under constant surveillance by the CID . The british planted agents in his house and also used some of his relatives as the informers to the british government .
just after his exit from the congress he formed a political party known as the All India Forward Bloc
which consisted of the members who followed the ideology of BOSE
During his house arrest he contacted MIA AKBAR SHAH secretly with a telegram who was at the North West frontier province which is in modern day Pakistan which was situated along the Afghan border and the telegram read
" REACH CALCUTTA
- BOSE "
Mia akbar shah boarded a train from peshawar and reach calcutta and Bose told him that since the second World War had already started .
MIA AKBAR SHAH
So Bose made a plan to escape from India via Afghanistan and reach Germany as at that time in europe Germany was the only force which had declared war on Britain and only they had the capacity to invade both British mainland and British India .
On cold night of 17 jan 1941 at 1:30 am Bose decides to go with the plan and with the help of his cousin he manages to escape from his house in a car
Car of netaji which is used in his escape
and all the way from Afghanistan he drove to Moscow in Russia and from their he maid his visit to Berlin , Germany . on MAY 1942 bose met Adolf Hitler and asked him to help the Indians win independence from the british with the help of force but since Germany was both too much far away from India and also it was clear the the germans will not be able to sustain the war on all the fronts with the british , USSR and the americans
since the convincing power of bose was very powerful hitler himself advised Bose to reach Japan as it was also one of the axis powers and is much more closer to india then germany and in order to travel to japan hitler ordered his naval fleet to take one of the submarine from the western command of the german navy and reach to the Sumatra Islands which was invaded by the japanese and which is the todays part of indonesia
7
Bose at the german submarine And from sumatra he took a flight to tokyo in japan and he directly arranged a meeting with the prime minister of JAPAN HIDEKI TOJO
and their also he was able to convince him at that time the japanese where unable to conquer singapore because it was heavily defended by the british amy of 85000 soldiers out of which 40000 to 50000 where indian nationals so he adviced the japanese PM to throw ballots which would contain the message for the indians that this is not your war and mother india is crying for the independence from the cruelty of the british . Seeing these pamphlets a revolt happened in the british indian army which was deployed in singapore and it became very easy for the japanese to concour the malaya aslo called as singapore ⁷
Seeing this te japanese prime minister released the indian prisoners of was which where arrested during the various wars fought in the pacific and they volentirely joined BOSE in his attempt to free India from the imperial rule and then a new Indian Force was born in AUGUST 1942 which was caled as the AZAD HIOND FAUJ or the INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY
All the indian POW which where arrested by the japanese army where admitted in the INA and it became a force of 60,000 active soldiers which was heavily backed by the japanese airforce and with the help of the INA the japanese where able to liberate malasya , and myanmar from the britiah imperial rule and till 18 MARCH 1944 and when the INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY was on door steps of the British indian the locals named him NETAJI SHUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE and with great tactics and speedy advancements the indian national army ( INA ) liberated the north east india and where on the door steps of Calcutta which was the erstwhile capital of the EIC
But as the world War came to an end and with the surrender of the Nazi Germany their was only one axis power which was left in the world which was the Japanese and all the allied powers focused on the destruction of the Japanese Japan during WW2
Japan after WW2
While the soviet union had a plan for the naval invasion of the Japanese
mainland the United States have had developed a new bomb its which they wanted to end the war in days instead of spending months as they have had already losted more than hundred thousand soldiers in the european war front. So on 5 may 1945 a American Bomber nuked Hiroshima and after 4 days on 9 may 1945 the americans again nuked Nagasaki and with this the Japanese declared surrender and with this the Japanese had to vacate all the occupied territories which it gained in the war
With the Japanese the Indian national army had no supplies coming and the INA army lost its war against the imperialistic British forces
The total count of the martyrs where 25000 which means out of the total 60000 strength of the indian national army 40 % of the soldiers served the nation and died for the independence of INDIA and the soldiers which survived the war where captured as Prisoners of war and where deported to India and where tortured in the british jails
But when the World War was going on the Indian didn't came to knew about the INA and Netaji but when the allied forces where victorious over the axis then the British decided to name and shame the Indians and they started describing the freedom fighter of INA as the traitors of the British raj and they started carrying out mass executions (public hangings) of those soldiers
Netaji's INS was able to capture only a 10 to 11 % of the British India but the impact which it laid on the Indian citizens was immense as during the war the British did not let the indians know that their is a force on the Indian border which is of India and is fighting for the independence of India but when the British decided to publicize the trials it was the last nail in the coffin of imperialistic rule in india
The most famous was the RED FORT TRIALS when the top 3 commanders of the INA these was the trials of Colonel Prem sahgal , Colonel Gurbaksh singh Dhillon and Major-General Shah Nawaz Khan and after the trials
When the locals came to hear about this they felt so ashamed that the force which they considered to be militants did actually waged war against the crown where actually their heroes who fought for the freedom for their nation
After the trials huge crowds gathered in the cities of India destroying anything which came in their way and this was the emotion which reflected from the actions of the British. People of India used to beat every British who tried to even pass by the crowds
But this was not that much concerning for the british because they could easily crush the freedom struggle with the help of the machines guns , grenades , artillery , armored cars , tanks wtc
the biggest strength of the british in india was that used the indians as their soldiers to do a crack down om the indian citizens and it was correctly said that the British made india slaves with help the indians as the british recruited the indians in the british indian army , air force , navy and the police
Initially the strength of the british indian army was 300,000 but as the WW2 waged out the british where completely outnumbered by the germans so they gave the indians a proposal that if the indians would help the british in the war efforts then soon after the end of the war they would give independence to India and in the name of independence to mother india the youth in india stood up and within a record time of months a volunteer army 2.5 million ( 25 lakh) was raised and they where used by the british to fight on the war fronts of europe , africa , pacific fronts and what not
But when the war ended the british instead of liberating indian they brought 57 regiments of white soldiers which consisted of canadians , australians , new zealanders to crush the indian population . seeing this indians all around the subcontinent stood up and violence against the british started in India and the british where killed and slaughtered in every street of india
and since the british have had also started the INA trials mutiny also started spreading in the british indian army , navy , airforce . In the british indian army the soldiers started disobeying their british commanders and started killing their commanders and the same was done in the royal indian air force
and this rebellion was much different then the 1857 first war of independence as that time no military person had the training of modern war fare and also their was a lack of leadership and they also didn't knew about the tactics of the british
but this time the army was much larger which hd a strength of 2.5 million (25 lakh) there was no lack of leadership as the indian soldiers even reached the ranks of brigadier in the british indian army during the second world war and more over this was a battle hardened army which was ready to take up any task and is they where ordered to kill even one british around them them in a matter of half an hour india would be free of the british rule as at any given point of time the numbers of british in india was not more than 100.000 which had to face a battle hardened army of 2.5 million (25 lakh)
but the game chander was the mutiny the Royal indian navy when the indian sailors deployed on the british naval war ships killed their british commanders and they brought down the Union Jack ( british flag) and hoisted the indian flags .
In this mutiny 70 warships where captured and the sailors went on he streets of the BOMBAY , KARACHI , DHAKA with the posters of NETAJI SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE and demanded freedom from the british and if any british would try try to pass by the mob they would pull them out of their car and forced them to chant the slogan of INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY which was JAI HIND
The Governor general of india Archibald Wavell
wrote a letter to the british prime minister Clement Attlee that whenever they would try to stop the mobs coming at them they would open fiore but the crowds would not stop and with the mutiny in the forces they are left with just two choices either start a new full scale crack down on indian citizens or leave India the first choice was quite impossible because this would require minimum 500.000 british troops cause they could not truist the indian soldiers any more and also due to the WW2 the british economy was crippled and their men where also tired of fighting the war since 7 years
LONDON DURING WW2
Seeing this violence Attlee decided to give independence to india because if they had been thrown of India it would had been the biggest shame for the british that even after winning the second World War they would have to retreat and surrender out of the colony which they considered to be the most poor and backward people on earth
WHAT DID GANDHI DO
When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose reached Germany . In 1942 he started broadcasting his speeches on radio to unite the indians within india and outside india when these speeches reached india , indians felt ashamed that a person outside india was trying to make india free and they where just sitting in their homes doing nothing , when these tapes reached the congress in a utter rush the congress launched the quit india movement
as they wanted the faith of the people of india to be with them because the faith of the people for the congress started getting weak because the same proposal of independence was given by the british to the indians in the first world war but after the WW1 the british gifted the indians with JallianWala bagh and the congress did nothing regarding that
And when this Quit India Movement was launched by the congress and gandhi it was destroyed by the british within week and the entire Congress leadership of 60,000 including Gandhi , Nehru where thrown in jails and the movement was crushed . And the british brutally killed any person who would support the protests in 1942 .
Seeing the Gandhi called of the movement and the saint of nonviolence gave his resignation from all the posts in the congress and agreed to support the british in their war efforts against the Germans
And when the then prime minister of Britain of 1947 who gave indeopendence to india visited indian the the isd 50`s he stayed at the residence of the house of JUSTICE PV CHAKRABORTY and when he asked him that when the british have had won the second world war what forced you to withdrow from india within a period of just 25 months from the great war
CLEMENT ATTLEE
Atlee replied three words INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY / SHUBHAS CHNDRA BOSE
Chakraborty again asked him that what was the role of Gandhi and Nehru in the indian freedom struggle
Attlee replied with a smile on his face : MINIMAL or ZERO
CONCLUSION
Independence of India came because of the Inspiration of the works and efforts of NETAJI SUBHASH CHANDRA BOSE and was executed by the officers and the soldiers of the INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY and then carried forward by the mutiny of the soldiers of ROYAL INDIAN ARMY , ROYAL INDIAN AIR FORCE , ROYAL INDIAN NAVY
Out of the total strength of 60,000 soldiers of the INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY 23,000 lost their lives fighting directly against the imperialistic rule of the britishers in the second world war
Royal Indian Army
Royal Indian Air Force
Comments