4B. WW2

Question 1

What was the Cripps Mission 1942?

Answer 1

• Delegation headed by Sir Stafford Cripps to secure full Indian cooperation and support for war effort
• Arrived in New Delhi on 23rd March 1942

Sir Stafford Cripps:

• Labour MP
• Friend of Gandhi / Nehru
• Personally sympathetic to Indian rule

Question 2

Why did the Cripps Mission 1942 fail?

Answer 2

Nothing new offered

(all Indian parties invited to join in an interim government of national unity under Viceroy and his council, operating until the end of the war etc. )

Question 3

Why did Congress and the ML both reject 1942 Cripps Mission?

Answer 3

• Congress rejects mission, but willing to join interim government on basis that it acted like that of Westminster
• Jinnah willing to accept Cripps because it implied feasibility of separate states, but had to reject it if ML was to remain part of constitution making process.

Question 4

What were the effects of the Cripps Mission 1942?

Answer 4

• Both sides hardened attitudes to constitutional change afterwards
• Linlithgow increased press censorship and intercepted Congress communications via special branch - anticipated the start of the 1942 Quit India campaign?

Question 5

What was Congress’s reaction to Gandhi’s pressure to partake in the 1942 Quit India campaign?

Answer 5

• Satyagraha in 1942 would set Congress against the Raj, making concilliation difficult if the allies won
• However, not acting might give an advantage to Jinnah or Bose

Congress eventually rallied supporters for another satyagraha, sanctioned on 8th August 1942

• Spent 3 months arguing whether to support satyagraha or not, which gave British plenty of time to prepare!

Question 6

How did the British respond to the 8th August 1942 Quit India campaign?

Answer 6

• 9 August 1942 - Gandhi, Nehru and all of Congress leaders arrested and interned.
• Thousands of local activists arrested in following weeks - offices raided and funds frozen
• 35,000 British troops made available for use against Indians
• 14 August 1942 - RAF flies sorties against crowds on railway lines - dropped flares, used machine guns if crowds did not disperse

Question 7

How was the 1942 Quit India campaign led, and what were the consequences?

Answer 7

Gandhi ordered every demonstrator to be their own leader - realised the satyagraha would be impossible to organise from above

This led to widespread riots, killings, attacks on Europeans and damage to / destruction of governmental property, wrecking communications

• 1000 dead and 3000 seriously injured as a result of the Quit India campaign

Question 7

How successful was the 1942 Quit India campaign?

Answer 7

Unsuccessful - campaign over by November 1942

• Failed to paralyse British government in India
• Military remained loyal to the Raj - only 216 soldiers had gone absent without leave (AWOL)

Question 8

How did Wavell change the proceedings of the Viceroy upon being instated in October 1943?

Answer 8

• Started time in office by touring Indian subcontinent on a fact-finding mission - travelled ~1500km / week, focusing on particularly troubled areas e.g. Punjab, Bengal and the United Provinces to allay fears and boost morale
• Reinstated regular meeings of the 11 governors of India - Linlithgow had not called a single one!

Question 9

What factors increased the scale of the 1943-44 Bengal famine?

Answer 9

• Crop yield in Bengal 1943 the worst in a century

This was worsened by:

• Distribution failure
• Loss of imports (due to war)
• War time price inflation - by May 1943, the price of rice had risen tenfold
• Severe weather conditions

Question 10

How severe was the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?

Answer 10

• Annual death rate rose above average 1.2 million to 1.9 million
• Estimated 3 million people died in the famine

Question 11

What was the Allied first response to the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?

Answer 11

• Churchill orginally refused to divert British merchant shipping to take wheat to Bengal - Roosevelt also refused to divert ships from Australia
• Churchill’s response was due to advice from Lord Cherwell who claimed the Bengal famine was a statistical invention

Lord Cherwell - paymaster general and one of the government’s scientific advisors

Question 12

How much grain did Wavell eventually recieve to alleviate the 1943-44 Bengal famine?

Answer 12

• Wavell’s request for a guaranteed million tonnes of grain throughout 1944 was instead met with an offer of 250,000 tonnes and a request for Indian rice
• June 1944 - Wavell had extracted 450,000 tonnes of grain from the British government

Question 13

What was the Indian reaction to the 1943-44 Bengal Famine?

Answer 13

• Jinnah accused the British government of incompetence, arguing that the government wouldn’t last 5 minutes if people were starving in London like they were in Bengal
• Congress blamed the famine on the diversion of foodstuffs to British troops

Both parties made political capital from the crisis

Question 14

What factors influenced the decision to host the June 1945 (first) Simla Conference?

Answer 14

• Britain was millions of pounds in debt to India for goods and services borrowed during the war
• Increased terrorist activity and unrest in India

Question 15

What was the June 1945 (first) Simla Conference?

Answer 15

• Conference held in Simla on 25 June 1945
• 21 Indian political leaders attended, including Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru and Azad, the Muslim president of Congress

Question 16

What was discussed at the June 1945 (first) Simla Conference?

Answer 16

Major changes to composition of Executive Council:

• All members to be Indian except Viceroy and commander-in-chief
• Members to be chosen in a way to give a balanced representation of main communities, including equal proportions of Muslims and Hindus

Question 17

What was the outcome of the June 1945 (first) Simla Conference?

Answer 17

Stalemate:

• Jinnah argued that all Muslim members must be chosen by ML
• Congress disagreed, arguing that Muslims should be able to represent Congress as well.

Question 18

How was India gaining economic independence from Britain throughout the 1930s?

This is a key factor influencing post-WW2 nationalist sentiment

Answer 18

• British investment into India fell during the 1930s - Indian capitalists and entrepreneurs were taking the lead in investing into their own country
• India was importing less from Britain - India spend £83 million on importing British goods between 1928-9, but only £39 million between 1935-6
• 1931 - Reserve Bank of India established - Rupee no longer tied to value of sterling (£)

Question 19

How did investment into the military boost Indian self-confidence after WW2?

Answer 19

• From 1933 onwards, Britain paid £1.5 million a year towards running of Indian army and agreed to pay for an army modernisation programme
• Britain shouldered most of the costs of Indian mobilisation in WW2, allowing the Reserve Bank of India to build a sterling balance of £1.3bn, providing capital for Indian enterprises and build national pride

Question 20

How did Britain’s dire financial situation after WW2 increase possibility for Indian independence?

Answer 20

• Britain was broke. Wartime debts had run at £70 million a day towards the end of 1945, and Britain owed a total £2.73 billion, mainly to the USA
• Britain also required a large-scale economic and social rebuilding project after WW2, and could not finance this and maintain a role in India

Question 20

How did weak British administrative power in India increase possibility for Indian independence?

Answer 20

Indian fores and ICS only loosely controlled by British

• 2.5 million Indian men and women had joined armed forces, and there were 15,740 Indian officers
• ICS was undermined by a need for able-bodied men in armed forces, leaving a total 512 Indian and 429 British administrative persons.

Question 21

How did the USA influence Britain towards granting independece to Britain’s colonies?

Answer 21

• August 1941 - Churchill and Roosevelt met onboard US Cruiser Augusta - Roosevelt wanted an affirmation that all peoples should enjoy the right of self-determination when war was over
• Cripps Mission 1942 sent under pressure of Roosevelt, who wanted self-governmance for India

Question 22

How did the Labour Party come into power after WW2?

Answer 22

• 26 July 1945 - Labour party won with a 12% swing and 393 seats in Commons (Conservatives = 213)

Question 23

How did the Labour Government's India policy influence direction of Indian independence?

Answer 23

- Labour prepared to honour promise for Indian independence - Congress had strong links to Labour party - ideologically similar - ML had no links to Labour - increases suspicion that Labour was anti-Muslim