History - Indian Nationalism and the Road to 1947
Domain 1 - History
The History component tests the Indian national movement from the founding of the Congress to Independence, with questions on colonial policy, mass mobilisation and the causes and consequences of key events.
Nationalism before Gandhi
- The Indian National Congress was founded in Bombay in December 1885; first president W. C. Bonnerjee, with A. O. Hume as a moving force.
- Moderates relied on petitions and resolutions; the Extremists emerged after Curzon's Partition of Bengal (1905), which triggered the Swadeshi and Boycott movement.
- Congress split at Surat (1907) and reunited at Lucknow (1916), where it also concluded a pact with the Muslim League.
Gandhian mass movements
- Rowlatt Act (1919) → Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919) → Non-Cooperation and Khilafat agitation (1920–22), withdrawn after Chauri Chaura.
- Civil Disobedience opened with the Dandi March (12 March–6 April 1930), was paused by the Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931) and resumed in 1932.
- Quit India (8 August 1942), with the slogan 'Do or Die', became a mass anti-colonial upsurge; the INA trials and the naval mutiny followed.
Road to 1947
Cabinet Mission (1946), the Interim Government, the Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) and the Indian Independence Act produced freedom with Partition.
Worked example
'Why was the Non-Cooperation Movement withdrawn?' Reason in steps: on 4 February 1922 a crowd burnt a police station at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, killing policemen; Gandhi held that non-violence was the condition of mass satyagraha; the Working Committee therefore withdrew the movement at Bardoli on 12 February 1922. Marks lie in linking event → principle → consequence, not merely naming Chauri Chaura.
Traps
Confusing Swadeshi (1905) with Non-Cooperation (1920); mixing the Rowlatt Satyagraha with Jallianwala Bagh; wrong dates for the Dandi March; writing 'Gandhi–Irwin Pact 1932' instead of 1931.