Withdrawal, Partition And Independence, 1947-48 Flashcards
(30 cards)
When did Mountbatten become viceroy
March 1947
When did congress agree to Pakistan demand
March 1947
Events of May 1947
Plan Balkan drawn up and shared by Mountbatten to Nehru
Plan Balkan Abandoned
18th: Final plan, with partition, taken to London by Mountbatten for government approval
Events of June 1947
15th June: Announcement of final plan for independence and partition, for one months time
Events of July 1947
Indian independence act receives royal assent
Boundary commission begins work
Events of August 1947
14th: independent state of Pakistan comes into being
15th: independent state of India comes into being
How did the British government want to free India
Attlee and British government briefed Mountbatten:
- partition to be avoided
- if Congress and the League couldn’t agree terms by deadline, power devolved to existing central and provincial governments
What was Mountbatten like
Reason he was selected was because he was different to previous viceroys:
- left-wing tendencies
- flamboyant
- determined to be and be seen as a man of action
What did Mountbatten do initially
Spent first 4 weeks consulting with Indian ministers, politicians, and his own staff
- ‘charm offensive’
- achieved a good relationship with Ghandi, Nehru, and other congress leaders
- didn’t charm Jinnah
- concluded that Partition was the only solution (because otherwise violence would ensue)
Response of the Punjab to Mountbatten
Riots broke out whilst Mountbatten was talking in Delhi
- administered by alliance of Hindus, Sikhs, and non-League Muslims
- Punjab under Khizar Hayat Khan, resigned in March 1947
- attempt by League to form its own administration led to militant Sikhs calling for direct action against the League and violence
- centres were Amritsar and Lahore
- murder, arson, looting common
- League launched civil disobedience campaign against congress in north west frontier
Ghandi’s response to the violence in the Punjab
Began a long-distance walk, walked through the Noakhali and Tiperah districts of East Bengal
- as an act of love, trying to stop mass killings
Aimed to communicate with illiterate masses, explained what politicians were doing
In Bihar, Hindus killing Muslims on large scale, ghandi put his attention towards this
- futile gesture
What was plan Balkan
Allowed Indian states and provinces to decide their own future
- nehru disproved, said it would cause anarchy in a private meeting with Mountbatten when he was shown this plan unofficially
- Jinnah not given the same opportunity
Why was plan Balkan rejected
- Nehru said congress would reject it because it would weaken India and the congress party
- if Pakistan were to be viable, it would need an undivided Punjab and Bengal, if these states could decide their own fates, it would lead to their partition
- meant Jinnah and the League would reject it too
What was the Mountbatten plan
Two seperate dominions of India and Pakistan would be created
Under dominion status
Princely states had to join one of them
Why did the British need to leave swiftly
Raj was losing control of the domestic situation
Mountbatten worried the British would be overwhelmed with events they couldn’t control
Needed to get out before the subcontinent went into a civil war
When was the British deadline
Attlee declared the British would be out by July 1948
Why was partition needed by 1947
Vast areas of north west India in riot and rebellion
ICS depleted, made up of mainly Indians, their friends and family looked to them for patronage
Attlee’s deadline led to contests for supremacy in mixed areas like the Punjab
Jinnah had been diagnosed with TB, wanted to progress events so that he could see a separate Pakistan
Why had the authorities lost control of the situation prior to partition
Only authority that could control was the army, Partition meant it would be split and not a national body
Mountbatten asked Auchinleck how long it would take to split army, guessed 2-5 years, was given 4 weeks
What was the Boundary commission
To draw boundary between India and Pakistan to accommodate Hindus and Muslims in seperate states
Contained equal numbers of Hindu and Muslim judges, chosen by Congress and the League
Chairman: Sir Cyril Radcliffe, legal expert, impartial due to not having previous experience in India
Given 5 weeks
Used out-of-date maps, anecdotal stories of land ownership, old boundary charts
How was the boundary commission made corrupt
Decisions leaked, pressure applied to change the commissions mind
- Mountbatten would bring a leak to Nehru, Nehru would pressure Mountbatten who tried to influence the boundary commission
- happened in Firozpur, a town that controlled the only bridge over the river Sutlej, played strategic part in irrigation system of the area
- Radcliffe’s first draft of boundary (flown to Lahore on August 10) had Firozpur in Pakistan, Nehru and Congress lobbied to have boundary moved
- 11 August, Radcliffe had dinner with Mountbatten, next day, Firozpur on other side of the boundary
- Mountbatten didn’t act fairly due to dislike of Jinnah and relationship of his wife with Nehru and didn’t believe Pakistan would last
The princes contribution to WW2
Invested by buying 180 million rupees worth of war bonds
300,000 of their subjects joined the armed forces
Supported the raj
- maharaja of travancore bought royal Indian navy an armed patrol boat
- nawab of Bhopal bought fighter aircrafts, so did Nizam of Hyderabad (bought whole squadron of aeroplanes)
- maharajah of Kashmir contributed 18 field ambulances
How did the princes feel during partition
Felt ignored and threatened by congress
Wanted to remain autonomous in their own lands, keep congress out
What did Corfield do
Conrad corfield: head of India’s political department
- supported princes desires
- persuaded new SOS for India (lord listowel) to agree that neither Pakistan nor India would inherit princely states when raj ended
- princes would become independent rulers
- corfield authorised burning of four tons of documents listing the princes misdemeanours over the years, preventing papers falling into hands of congress, thought they would use them for political blackmail
Response to corfield
Nehru furious: would mean disintegration of India, reverse for congress
Mountbatten dismissed him
