Topic 4: Road to Independence, 1942-8

Question 1

What year was the Lahore Resolution?

Answer 1

March 1940

Question 2

How many Muslims attended the Lahore Resolution?

Answer 2

100,000

Question 3

What were the two main principles of the Resolution?

Answer 3

1. The areas of the subcontinent where Muslims were in the majority should be grouped to form separate independent states.
2. minorities should be protected in Hindu or Muslim dominated states.

Question 4

What were Linlithgow’s proposals in the 1940 August Offer?

Answer 4

1. Representative Indians would join his Executive Council.
2. A War Advisory Council would be established that would include the princes and other interested parties..
3. There was an assurance that the government would not adopt any new constitution without the prior approval of Muslim India,

Question 5

What year did Bose leave Congress?

Answer 5

1939

Question 6

What organisation did Bose form?

Answer 6

The Forward Bloc Party

Question 7

When was Bose arrested?

Answer 7

Bose was suspected of treason and arrested on the 2nd of July but he escaped in January 1941 and went into exile.

Question 8

What did Bose form when he moved to Japan?

Answer 8

The Indian National Army.

Question 9

What happened to the 6,000 INA soldiers who invaded India with the Japanese?

Answer 9

600 deserted to the British, 400 were killed, 1500 died from dysentery and malaria and a further 1,400 were invalided out of the warzone

Question 10

What impact did the Second World War have on Indian politics?

Answer 10

Indian Politicians were pressing their interests of their own communities in trying to work towards a satisfactory constitution .

Question 11

Were the British worried about the threat of invasion?

Answer 11

The Viceroy confessed that he did not have sufficient armed forces in India to hold out against a Japanese landing.

Question 12

What was the aim of the Cripps Mission?

Answer 12

The aim of the Cripps Mission was to lead a delegation to support India in order to secure full Indian cooperation and support for the war effort.

Question 13

What was one of the results of the failure of the Cripps Mission?

Answer 13

Both sides hardened their approach and Linlithgow stepped up press censorship and intercepts.

Question 14

What caused the Quit India Campaign?

Answer 14

Due to the failure of the Cripps mission, Gandhi encouraged Congress to support his new satyagraha and they did so on the 8 August 1942.

Question 15

What places were targeted during the Quit India Campaign?

Answer 15

250 railway stations, 500 post offices, telegraph and phone lines were cut in 3,500 places, 70 police stations were burned. more than 85 government buildings were damaged.

Question 16

Was the Quit India Campaign successful?

Answer 16

It failed to paralyse the government and the military remained loyal to the Raj

Question 17

What were the causes of the Bengal Famine?

Answer 17

1. poor run harvests. 2. distribution failures 3.loss of imports and wartime price inflation. 4.severe weather conditions.

Question 18

How many people died in the Bengal Famine?

Answer 18

between one and three million people died and in some areas whole villages were wiped out.

Question 19

What did Churchill do during the Bengal Famine?

Answer 19

Churchill refused to divert British merchant shipping in order to take grain to starving Bengal.

Question 20

What caused the failure of the 1945 Simla Conference?

Answer 20

Wavell had to adjourned the Conference having been unable to break the deadlock between Congress and the Muslim League

Question 21

What did the 1945 Simla Conference set out?

Answer 21

It was chosen in a way that would give balanced representation of the main communities including equal proportions of Muslims and Hindus.

Question 22

When did Wavell become viceroy?

Answer 22

Wavell became viceroy in October 1943.

Question 23

How did Wavell spend his time as viceroy?

Answer 23

Wavell focused particularly on troubled areas such as the Punjab Bengal and the United provinces trying to settle disputes and raise morale.

Question 24

What did Wavell do during the Bengal Famine?

Answer 24

Wavell requested a guaranteed million tons of grain and was met with an offer of 250,000 tons but he managed to extract an extra 450,000 tons of grain from a reluctant government.

Question 25

What was the British Raj’s priorities during WW2

Answer 25

To maintain the smooth functioning of the Raj.

Question 26

What was the decrease in India importing from Britain between the years 1928 to 1935?

Answer 26

in 1928-29 it was 83 million to a fall of 39 million in 1935-36.

Question 27

What year was the Reserve Bank of India established?

Answer 27

1931

Question 28

What was the significance of the Reserve of India Bank?

Answer 28

This meant that India could set the value of. its own currency without reference to sterling. The rupee was no longer tied to the value of sterling in the world’s money markets.

Question 29

How many Indian soldiers joined the armed forces during WW2

Answer 29

two and a half million Indian men and women had joined the armed forces.

Question 30

Were Indian soldiers loyal to the raj?

Answer 30

Not all of them were loyal and were instead loyal to the concept of India as their army commander in chief.