1. A2 Historical enquiry: India and the British Empire, 1757-1947

2. Independence arrives
Midnight 14th August 1947 the British Raj came to an end and the two nations of India and Pakistan came into existence
The division was based on religious lines – Muslim majority in Pakistan a Hindu majority in India
Historian Ayesha Jalal – ‘it was rather an arbitrary line, which in some instances cut villages in two.’
This is the moment you are working towards in your essay. But what did independence look like?

3. Nehru declares…
“At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom…This is no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.”

4. Aftermath? Migration – 18 million Refugees Civil unrest
Massacres – estimated at around 1 million
Punjab and Kashmir
Assassination
Independence had been achieved but the British left a bloody legacy. It was an achievement but it came at a cost

5. Days that shook the world
This 30min documentary looks at one view of the partition of India
Note that it portrays Jinnah in a particularly unsympathetic light – he and the Muslims in India did have genuine fears