Consequences of World War II: Indian Independence
Introduction
India in World War II. During World War II, India was under British command. Being part of the allies, the crown government in India sent more than 2 million soldiers to fight under the command of the British army on several fronts, as in Europe against the Germans, in North Africa against the Germans and Italians,and in Asia del Sur and Burma against the Japanese. India also served as a basis for American forces. Indian aid was a crucial part for the military and political campaign against the third Reich of allied forces.
Developing
India’s participation in World War II divided the Indian population, since it was a decision made without the leaders of the Princely States. While some supported this participation, such as the Popular Political Party, the Indian Pan Muslim League, others thought that for India’s role in the conflict, England should grant its independence to the colony its independence. The main representative of this lawsuit was the greatest and popular political party in India at that time, the Indian National Congress, led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel and Abul Kalam Azad.
This demand was denied by the British government, and in response the Indian National Congress began the Indian Movement Quit in August 1942. This declared that the Indian people refused to participate in the war effort until they had independence. The British Government then declared the illegal Indian National Congress and arrested most of its leaders until 1945. The Indian Pan Muslim League took advantage of the lack of action of the Indian National Congress (caused by the lack of leadership), rejected the Indian Movement Quit, and worked with the British RAJ to participate in the war.
Although at the institutional level the RAJ and the Muslim League Indian Pan had their victory, the Indian war effort was not made up of the civilian population of India, since popular opinion was better represented by the National Indian Congress. Only Indian colonial military forces participated in the war effort, under the leadership of English officers. The Indian Army was formed in 1895 and included British and Indian units. Initially the Army was composed of three independent armies, which were unified in 1903 formed the Army of India that in turn was composed of the Indian army and the British army in India.
After World War I, the British Government decided to "locate" the Indian Army and began to promote Indian officers to higher ranges. Army numbers increased from 205.000 to 2.5 million during World War II. It was the greatest army of volunteers existing during the war. The formal and large -scale consolidation of an army was a great advance for the Indian population that sought independence, since it not only strengthened existing nationalism, but also gave Indian citizens access to new positions of power, non -existent before.
He also gave these military local figures contact many more people (the new volunteer soldiers), and therefore support and power not only military, but social. From 1940 to 1943, the province of British India Bengal, suffered from a devastating famine. This is partly due to the increase in lack of resources due to war, the mishandling of these by the local government, the increase in refugees, and therefore of necessary resources, of Burma (another province) and distant parts ofBengal, and mainly to the Japanese invasion of Burma, which resulted in a blockade of resources to the region.
The British government was aware of this famine, since both Secretary of State Leopold Amery and Viceroy Archibald Wavell asked for help to the crown formally. The response of the then prime minister, Winston Churchill, was to ask if, if the famine was so bad, because Gandhi had not already been hungry, and refuse to send cargoes of food to save the lives of Indian citizens, and deny the stepof American and Canadian aid, redirecting this to places where "she was more needy". Amery publicly compared Churchill actions with Hitler’s.
Churchill’s actions caused controversy and discontent between public officials, rulers, military and civilians. Although the British government has a history of ignoring the Indian people when it asks for help (such as in the Orssa famine of 1866), the political and social situation of the moment caused the 1943 Bengrun to famine to be an important historical milestoneIn the development of an official independence movement. After the end of the war, India had important technological developments. He became the fourth largest industrial power, and his political, economic, and military influence grew exponentially.
conclusion
World War II was not the reason why the desire for independence arose, but rather a phenomenon that fed the independent movement. India’s political situation at the time of prewar was a change, and nationalism began to emerge strongly. Consequences of Indian participation in World War II, such as the creation of a modern army that represented the masses, or the unbalance of resources that caused the effort of war, together with this antecedent and the development of India politically and economically,They accelerated the road from the colony to independence.
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