30.4 Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia

flag if India (right)
flags of Turkey, Iran,
and Saudi Arabia
(below)
30.4 NATIONALISM IN INDIA AND
SOUTHWEST ASIA
INDIAN NATIONALISM GROWS

Two groups rid India of foreign rule:
 Indian
National Congress (Hindus-see symbol below left)
 Muslim League (Muslims-see symbol below right)
WORLD WAR I INCREASES NATIONALIST
ACTIVITY
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Until WWI, the vast majority
of Indians had little interest
in independence.
The British promised
reforms in return for service
during WWI, but Britain did
not fulfill its promise.
Radical nationalists carried
out acts of violence.
British passed the Rowlett
Act in 1919 allowing the
government to jail
protestors without trial for
as long as two years.
Sir Sidney Arthur Taylor Rowlatt (20 July
1862 - 1 March 1945) was an English
lawyer and judge, best remembered for his
controversial presidency of the Rowlatt
committee, The committee gave rise to the
Rowlatt Act, an extension of the Defense of
India Act 1915.
AMRITSAR MASSACRE
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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.
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.
Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer
nicknamed “The Butcher of Amritsar” was
the commander responsible for ordering
the firing on civilians, including women
children.
.303 LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE

The troops who fired on the unarmed civilian
crowd were armed with .303 Lee-Enfield rifles.
CHARLES FREER ANDREWS

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He was a Church of
England priest who
favored Indian
independence and
became a close friend of
Mohandas Gandhi.
He called the Amritsar
Massacre a “coldblooded massacre and
inhumane.”
GANDHI'S TACTICS OF NONVIOLENCE
•
Mohandas K. Gandhi
emerged as the leader of
the independence
movement.

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Gandhi’s strategy involved his
deeply religious approach to
political activity.
He blended ideas of all the
major world’s religions.
He came to be called
Mahatma (meaning “great
soul”).
NONCOOPERATION
Gandhi urged the Indian National Congress to
follow a policy of noncooperation with the
British government.
 In 1920, the Congress Party endorsed civil
disobedience (the deliberate and public refusal
to obey an unjust law).
 Gandhi launched his civil disobedience
campaign to weaken British authority and
economic power.

BOYCOTTS
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

 He
urged all Indians to weave their own cloth
 He himself spent two hours a day spinning his own
yarn.
 The sale of British cloth in India dropped sharply.
STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS
Civil disobedience took economic toll on the
British
 1920 British arrest thousands of Indians who
took part in strikes and demonstrations.
 In spite of please for nonviolence, protests led
to riots.

THE SALT MARCH
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In 1930, Gandhi organized the
Salt March in protest of the Salt
Acts.
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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.
BRITAIN GRANTS LIMITED SELF-RULE

In 1935, the British Parliament passed the
Government of India Act.
 Provisions:
 local
self-government
 granted limited democratic elections
 Limits:
It did not grant total independence.
BRITAIN GRANTS LIMITED SELF-RULE

The Government of India Act fueled tensions
between Muslims and Hindus.
 Two
groups had different visions for independence.
 Indian Muslims feared being outnumbered by
Indian Hindus.
NATIONALISM IN SOUTHWEST ASIA
•
Breakup of the Ottoman
Empire and growing Western
political and economic
interest spurred the rise of
nationalism.
TURKEY BECOMES A REPUBLIC

Turkey kept its homelands
 Anatolia
 small
strip of land around Istanbul
TURKEY BECOMES A REPUBLIC

1919 Greek soldiers
invade Turkey

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Turkish sultan powerless
to stop the Greeks.
1922 Mustafa Kemal, a
nationalist leader
successfully fought back
the Greeks and their
British backers.
 after winning a peace,
overthrew the last
Ottoman sultan.

TURKEY BECOMES A REPUBLIC

1923 Kemal became president of the new
Republic of Turkey and ushered in reforms.
separated laws of Islam from the laws of the nation
 abolished religious courts and created a new legal
system
 granted women the right to vote
 launched government funded programs to industrialize
Turkey
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Kemal died in 1938, but left a legacy of a new
national identity. He is called the “father of the
Turks.”
PERSIA BECOMES IRAN
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After WWI, when Russia
was still reeling from the
Bolshevik Revolution,
the British tried to take
over all of Persia.
A nationalist revolt was
triggered.
PERSIA BECOMES IRAN

Reza Shah Pahlavi seized
power in 1921, and in 1925
deposed the ruling shah.

He set out to modernize the
country
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established public schools
built roads and railroads
promoted industrial growth
extended women’s rights
He kept all power in his own
hands
He changed the name of the
country from Persia to Iran
SAUDI ARABIA KEEPS ISLAMIC TRADITIONS
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In 1902, Abd al-Azis 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.
Oil Drives Development
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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.