SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis is divided into six chapters. The introductory chapter sets out the main trends in Indian and British politics which were effective factors at work in Indian politics from 1914 to 1922. The second chapter deals with the political and economic effects of the outbreak of the First World War on India, with the stimulus it gave to Indian nationalism and constitutional demands and with the reaction of the British Right to these new conditions. In the third chapter the nature of the Indian political demand is analysed, with its stress upon the reality rather than the form of self government, and the stiffening of British opposition is traced. The fourth chapter deals with the attempts of the Secretary of State and the Viceroy to carry a scheme of reforms; and the demands put forward by the various political organisations and groups, including the political and commercial organisations of the British community in India. How and why a rift was opened between the moderate and left-wing Indian politicians after the publication of the Montagu-Chelmsford report is the subject of the fifth chapter, and the shift by a section of the British Right towards support for the Indian moderates. The last chapter is largely concerned with a detailed study of the Khilafat-and-non-co-operation movement, a landmark in the history of Indian nationalism, with a final brief survey of the role of the British Right.