1. Nationalism in India and Southwest Asia
“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”
-Gandhi

3. The effect of World War I
WWI signaled the end of Imperialism
The British Empire began to crumble
Stirred nationalist movements in
India
Turkey
Persia (Iran)
Saudi Arabia

4. Indian Nationalism
Upper class Indians who had attended British schools learned European views of nationalism and democracy and began to resent British rule
Two groups formed
Indian National Congress (Congress Party)
Muslim League
Although Hindus and Muslims have a rocky history they could find common ground in resisting foreign rule

5. The WWI Effect
Indians fighting in the British armies in Europe were offered government promises of reforms in exchange for their service
The ultimate goal of these reforms was eventual independence
In 1918 Indian troops returned home expecting the promises to be fulfilled
Instead they were again treated as second class citizens

6. The British React to Indian Resentment
Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence against the British in India
The British government pass the Rowlatt Act (1919)
Allowed the government to jail protestors without trail for as long as two years
Denial of Trial by Jury was a serious offense to western educated Indians who had learned from the British the importance of individual rights
What is it that allows the British to pass laws against Indians they wouldn’t pass in Britain?

7. Resistance and Oppression
Amritsar Massacre – protest to the Rowlatt Act
10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to the Amritsar (capital of Punjab) spring 1919
Intended to fast and pray and listen to political speeches
The demonstration and alliance between Hindus and Muslims terrified the British
The British had banned public meetings therefore the entire festival was “illegal”

8. Resistance and Oppression
British General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire on the crowd without warning
The shooting lasted 10 minutes
British troops killed 400 Indians and injured 1200
News of the slaughter sparked fury across India
Overnight millions of Indians changed from loyal British subjects to revolutionaries
How did the British reaction to the festival change minds and heart?
What examples of extreme reaction can you think of from today?

9. The Role of Gandhi WATCH GANDHI
Gandhi’s philosophies blended ideas from all of the major world religions – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity
Gandhi attracted millions of followers
He was soon called “Mahatma” meaning Great Soul

10. Noncooperation
After the Amritsar Massacres and British failure to punish the offending officers Gandhi proposed his policy of “noncooperation”
Who else used/uses noncooperation as a form of protest?

20. The demands of conscience are higher than the demands of the law
Civil Disobedience
“It is not desirable,” he said, “to cultivate a respect for the law, so much for the right…Law never made men a whit more just; and by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”
  Henry David Thoreau
The demands of conscience are higher than the demands of the law

21. “This is in essence the principle of nonviolent noncooperation
“This is in essence the principle of nonviolent noncooperation. Its object should not be to punish the opponent or to inflict injury upon him. Even while noncooperating with him, we must make him feel that in us he has a friend and we should try to reach his heart by rendering him humanitarian services wherever possible”
How does this differ from Mao’s view of revolution against oppression?
Which path to change is more effective? Why?

22. Civil Disobedience Passive Resistance – Satyagraha – “Truth-force”
Deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law
“Complete Civil Disobedience is a rebellion without the element of violence…one perfect resister is enough to win the battle of Right and Wrong”
In 1920 the Indian National Congress Party adopted this policy of civil disobedience and nonviolence

23. Civil Disobedience
Name a law you find to be unjust that you are obligated to obey (school or government law)
How could you protest the law without violence?

24. Applying Civil Disobedience
Gandhi urged the people to refuse to buy British goods, attend government schools, pay British taxes and vote in elections
Throughout 1920 the British
arrested thousands of Indians
who had
participated in strikes and
demonstrations

25. Applying Civil Disobedience
Gandhi’s civil disobedience took a heavy economic toll on the British
Struggled to keep
Trains running
Factories open
And overcrowded jails from bursting
Despite Gandhi’s pleas for nonviolence, riots often broke out

26. Salt March
1930 the Indian National Congress and Gandhi declared India independent of British rule
Obviously the British ignored this so Gandhi decided to take his protests to another level
He organized a salt protest
According to British law, Indians could only buy salt from the government AND they had to pay a tax on salt
To show their opposition, Gandhi and his followers walked 240 miles to the seacoast and collected their own salt by letting ocean water evaporate
Why is a salt protest so important?

31. Civil Disobedience
Soon after the Salt March to Dandi demonstrators planned to march to a factory where the British processed salt
Police officers with steel tipped clubs attacked the demonstrators
An American journalist on the scene described the “sickening whacks of clubs on unprotected skulls and people writhing in pain with fractured skulls or broken shoulders”

32. Salt Marches Effect
The salt march gained worldwide attention and sympathy
Indians throughout the country took up the protest and began illegally processing their own salt
Eventually 60,000 people as well as Gandhi himself were arrested

33. Great Britain Grants India Self Rule
Eventually the protests and international pressure were too much for the British to ignore
In 1935 they passed the Government of India Act – giving limited self rule to the Indians
The Hindu Indian National Congress was the party in control and this quickly offended the Muslim league

34. Fight for Power
Over the next few decades the Muslim League conflicted with the Indian National Congress in the ruling of the country
The Hindus outnumbered the Muslims and they feared lack of representation in the government
They fought the Indian National Congress’ control of the government on every front

35. Stay Tuned!!
The rest of the Indian Independence story doesn’t pick up again until after World War II when the British finally lose the ability to control India from abroad and give up in 1947… opening a whole new can of worms with the creation of Muslim Pakistan

36. Nationalism Spreads to Southwest Asia
The people of the Middle East also launched independence movements during this time of weakening European Imperialism
-Turkey
Iran
Saudi Arabia

37. Turkey
At the end of World War I, all that remained of the Ottoman Empire was Turkey
The Greeks were eager to expand and rebuild their ancient empire at the expense of the weakening Ottomans
The Sultan was ineffectual in stopping the invading Greeks

39. Turkish Nationalism
Mustafa Kemal led Turkish nationalists in overthrowing the Sultan in 1922
1923 – Kemal became the president of the new Republic of Turkey
Kemal introduced many reforms, transforming Turkey into a modern state

40. The New Turkey
He separated the laws of Islam from the laws of the nation
Abolished religious courts, created a new legal system based on European law
Women were given more freedom, the right to vote and to hold public office
Launched government programs to industrialize Turkey

41. Persia Becomes Iran
Great Britain and Russia fought over influence over the ancient empire of Persia
After WWI the Russians were wrapped up in their Bolshevik revolution and the British tried to seize the opportunity to expand in Persia
1921 – Persians revolted against the ruling Shah who had allowed the “invasion” of foreign powers

42. Iran
A Persian Army Officer – Reza Shah Pahlavi overthrew the Shah in 1925 and established himself the ruler of Iran
Set up public schools, built roads, railroads, promoted industrial growth and extended women’s rights
Unlike his revolutionary counterpart in Turkey, Pahlavi gathered all power into his hands

43. Saudi Arabia
Going in the opposite direction the Saud family led by Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud began a successful campaign to unify Arabia under strict Islamic law
In 1932 he established Saudi Arabia (named after his family)
Ibn Saud carried on many Arabic and Islamic traditions, alcoholic drinks were outlawed
Ibn Saud brought some modernization to his new country but not as much as Reza Shah and Kemal

44. OIL
In the midst of nationalist awakenings in the middle east a new economic advantage was being discovered
During the 1920’s and 1930’s western powers began oil explorations throughout the region and discovered huge reserves in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Foreign business invested Huge sums of money into the oil field

45. Eventually it would be realized that the Persian Gulf region held 2/3 of the world’s oil reserve
This new economic power of natural resource would shape the coming century
Western powers would find the resource too tempting to leave in native control without their influence in the politics and economics of the region