Table of Contents
Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia triggered independence movements to overthrow colonial powers. It all started after world war 1 and the breakdown of the Ottoman empire. At that time the British Empire which was controlling India started to weaken which encouraged the nationalists in India, Turkey and other south east countries.
Nationalism in India
The British promised reforms in return for service during WWI, but Britain did not fulfill its promise. Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence due to which British passed the Rowlett Act in 1919 allowing the government to jail protestors without trial for as long as two years.
Amritsar Massacre
In protest of Rowlett Acts 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar in 1919 where they fasted, prayed, and listened to political speeches. The British had banned public meetings. The British commander of Amritsar ordered British troops to fire on the crown without warning for 10 minutes.
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400 Indians were killed and 1,200 were wounded. Almost overnight the Amritsar Massacre changed millions of Indians from loyal British subjects into Indian nationalists. Charles Freer, who was an English priest, favored the Indian independence and called the massacre a cold-blooded massacre. The priest was close to Ghandi.
Mohandas K. Gandhi emerged as the leader of the independence movement. Gandhi’s strategy involved his deeply religious approach to political activity and he blended ideas of all the major world’s religions. He came to be called Mahatma (meaning “great soul”).
Gandhi urged the Indian National Congress to follow a policy of noncooperation with the British government. Gandhi launched his civil disobedience campaign to weaken British authority and economic power.
Gandhi asks Indians to refuse to buy British goods, attend government schools, pay British taxes, or vote in elections. Gandhi also staged a boycott of British cloth and encouraged Indians to make their own cloths. The sale of British cloth in India dropped sharply.
Strikes and Demonstrations
1920 British arrest thousands of Indians who took part in strikes and demonstrations.
In spite of please for nonviolence, protests led to riots.
In 1930, Gandhi organized the Salt March in protest of the Salt Acts. Indians could only buy salt from the government which was taxed. Gandhi and followers marched 240 miles to the sea where the people made their own salt.
Some demonstrators marched to a British salt processing plant but were met with violence.
About 60,000 people, including Gandhi, were arrested during demonstrations against the salt tax.
Limited self-rule
In 1935, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. This provided a local self-government and granted limited democratic elections. However, it was not a total independence.
In addition to the limited independence, this act also caused tensions between Muslims and Hindus due to different visions of independence. Muslims also feared being out numbered.
Nationalism in southwest Asia
The breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the growing Western political and economic interest urged the rise of nationalism.
Turkey
1919 Greek soldiers invaded Turkey where the sultan was powerless to stop them. In 1922 Mustafa Kemal, a nationalist leader successfully fought back the Greeks and their British backers. After winning a peace, overthrew the last Ottoman sultan.
1923 Kemal became president of the new Republic of Turkey and ushered in reforms. Kemal separated laws of Islam from the laws of the nation, stopped religious courts and created a new legal system, granted women the right to vote and launched government funded programs to industrialize Turkey.
Kemal died in 1938, but left a legacy of a new national identity. He is called the “father of the Turks.”
Persia
After WWI, when Russia was still stumbling from the Bolshevik Revolution, the British tried to take over all of Persia which triggered a nationalist revolt.
Reza Shah Pahlavi seized power in 1921, and in 1925 deposed the ruling shah. He set out to modernize the country; established public schools, built roads and railroads, promoted industrial growth, extended women’s rights. However, he kept all power in his own hands and changed the country name from Persia to Iran.
Saudi Arabia
In 1902, Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud began a successful campaign to unify Arabia. In 1932 the new kingdom was called Saudi Arabia.
Ibn Saud carried on Arab and Islamic traditions. Loyalty was based on custom, religion, and family ties. Ibn Saud brought modern technology to the country, but limited to what was religiously acceptable. No democracy was practiced.
Rising demand for petroleum products brought new oil explorations to Southwest Asia.
European and American companies discovered oil in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait
Geologists discovered nearly two-thirds of the world’s oil supply was in the Persian Gulf region. Western nations then began to try to dominate this region.
