Why did India become independent? Indian Mutiny Gandhi WW2 Read the information about each‘factor’. How did each factor help India to become independent?

The Indian Rebellion After the rebellion, the British Government decided that the East India Company was not suitable for ruling India, and so the Government took direct control of India. From then until 1948, India would be ruled from London. Many of the Indian leaders were captured and executed. Some were hanged, while others suffered the fate of being “blown from cannon”, where they were attached to the front of a cannon before it was set off. For years after the Rebellion, many Indians held a poor view of the British, prompting people to start thinking about Indian Independence (freedom) . However it was not until the 20th century that India began demanding independence from Britain.

Gandhi’s campaigns Gandhi is often known an ‘Mahatma’, which means ‘great soul’. He was the leading figure of the Indian Independence movement in the 1930s and 1940s. He protested against the British by using non-violent marches and attracting media attention. One of his famous sayings which sums up his peaceful approach was: “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”In 1930 Gandhi famously led the march to the sea, in protest of the unfair British salt tax. As well as leading the Indian independence movement, Gandhi inspired other countries to demand independence from their colonial ‘mother’ countries.

World War Two The Second World War had an important influence on the British policy towards India. Britain needed India's manpower to fight the war and, to secure Indian support, was willing to offer to hand over its political power after it won the war. The British government found it difficult to say it was fighting a war for ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ when it was controlling other countries like India (this made Britain look very hypocritical) . So in 1942 the British Government offered India their independence after the war in exchange for their cooperation. At the height of the war, there were over 2.5 million Indian soldiers fighting for the British. Their effort in the war really helped India to negotiate its freedom from Britain, which they eventually got in 1947.

Firstly the Indian Mutiny helped because… Secondly Ghandi helped because… Finally WWII helped because… Indian Independence granted 1947