India's Path to Independence: From Colonial Rule to Republic

Introduction and Comparative Context

In Chapter 3 of Daniel Brower's book The World in the Twentieth Century: From Empires to Nations, the author examines the post-World War I histories of three countries: Turkey, India, and China. Each nation, struggling under the oppressive weight of monarchies and colonial forces, found a national voice for unification and self-governance. This essay places special emphasis on the history of India—formerly a collection of princely states with the largest number of simultaneously existing cultures, languages, and religions. This cultural mosaic still exists today, yet India has become the world's largest democracy, truly a "Universe in Diversity."

Turkey's Nationalist Transformation

In his book, Professor Brower identifies a similarity in the nationalist movements of the three countries. In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal (later Kemal Atatürk) initially convinced the Sultan to accept a constitutional monarchy with shared powers. When the Sultan decided to align with the losing Central Powers (Germany, Austria, and Hungary) during World War I, Atatürk led Turkish armies against them. After the Central Powers' defeat, the Allies annexed large portions of Turkish territory, reducing the Sultan to a figurehead under Allied occupation. Atatürk recognized that true freedom required internal reform. He systematically dismantled the remnants of the Ottoman Empire and, through several military campaigns, expelled all foreign influences and defended Turkey's borders against those seeking territorial expansion, particularly the Greeks.

Atatürk became the "Father of Modern Turkey," establishing a republic in a nation where Islam and Islamic law had long dominated. He instituted civil, democratic rule of law grounded in secular ideals rather than religious doctrine. In contemporary geopolitics, Turkey is often regarded as a crucial—and perhaps the only true—ally of Western nations in the Middle East.

China's Revolutionary Path

China possessed a glorious historical legacy grounded in Confucian philosophy and cultural heritage, still studied and admired worldwide. However, the hierarchical nature of the monarchy meant that those at the lowest ranks endured miserable existences. In 1911, Sun Yat Sen led the Nationalist movement that removed the last vestiges of monarchy in China. At this juncture, China was fragmented into provinces ruled by warlords. The Nationalist movement aimed at unifying China and freeing it from foreign influence. Japan had long enjoyed territorial rights in certain Chinese provinces. After Sun's death in 1923, Chiang Kai Shek assumed leadership of the Nationalist movement. The ensuing two and a half decades—until the Communist revolution of 1949—were marked by violent conflict between Shek's Nationalists and Mao Tse Dong's Communists.

The Soviet Union played a major role in Chinese history and politics during this period, offering the Communist party ammunition, technology, and strategic support as part of its ideological struggle against capitalist powers. Initially weakened, Mao rebuilt his forces by focusing on specific regions and establishing Marxist social ideals among peasants. His movement gained strength as more of China became sympathetic to his cause. Mao's Communists participated actively in China's defense against Japanese invaders, thereby usurping the power that Shek's Nationalist movement had held. During World War II, when China received little aid from nations preoccupied with global conflict, Mao consolidated power. This circumstances paved the way for the Communist Revolution that swept China in the late 1940s.

India's path to nationhood stands in marked contrast to both Turkey and China. The latter two nations were relatively homogeneous in culture. Historically, India was a collection of princely states, often at war with one another, each adopting its own languages and customs. Today, India recognizes more than 100 languages, with several hundred dialects spoken across the nation. The Aryan invasion thousands of years ago established Hinduism as a dominant religion; more than 85 percent of India remains Hindu today. As Daniel Brower notes, "Hinduism is a complex religion with reverence for numerous deities without any specific hierarchy." Invaders from the Middle East and Persia brought radically different cultures and Islam, making India home to more practicing Muslims than any nation except Indonesia. Portuguese traders arrived first; Vasco da Gama landed in Cochin in southwestern India and established colonies in Goa, where Catholicism was introduced. Christianity had already been brought to South India by St. Thomas the Apostle. In Punjab, Sikhism emerged, drawing from the best aspects of both Hinduism and Islam. Zoroastrianism was practiced on the west coast by Farsis fleeing Persian persecution. Buddhism and Jainism, established thousands of years earlier, continued to be practiced by smaller populations. This religious and cultural diversity made the emergence of India as a unified nation seemingly improbable.

India's Unique Diversity and Colonial Experience

Yet the most significant and lasting legacy of British rule was precisely this: the metamorphosis of India from a colony into a nation. Today, India is a democratic republic with a written constitution, fundamental rights similar to America's Constitutional Amendments, and an established structure for self-governance and sovereignty.

Like the Portuguese, the British arrived in India in the late 1500s as traders seeking the region's riches and abundant natural resources. They established open trade routes and gradually curried favor with princely rulers through bribery, pandering, and threats, slowly consolidating control over governance. In the 1850s, Queen Victoria declared India a British colony, making all Indians subjects of the British Crown. The minority colonialist British government required the placement of natives in civil service positions, inadvertently creating an educated Indian intelligentsia—people wealthy or talented enough to receive Western education. These educated men and women studied the American and French revolutions, German and Italian unification, and other freedom movements. They became convinced that it was time to establish rule by Indians for Indians.

The British Colonization and Rise of Nationalist Movements

The Indian National Congress was established in 1886. One of its leaders, Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister), declared that the movement would work toward eventual independence. The movement gained strength, uniting most Indians except those who benefited from British patronage. As independence became a real possibility, Islamic leaders realized they would be a minority in a Hindu-majority nation. The British exploited this divide with the infamous "Divide and Rule" strategy.

The "Divide and Rule" policy set back the freedom movement as religious ideology came to dominate political discourse. Tragically, major nationalist leaders could never overcome this schism. This division ultimately led to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan, which itself was split into West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East Pakistan later gained independence from West Pakistan in 1971 and is now known as Bangladesh.

Religious Division and the Partition Question

During both world wars, India fought on the side of the Allies under the British flag. The international consequences of World War I, combined with the October Revolution in the Soviet Union, further energized the nationalist movement. Most Indian leaders came to identify with Soviet socialism, viewing British capitalism—bolstered by the Industrial Revolution—as a system that depleted India's resources and impoverished its people by eliminating their livelihoods. After independence, India pursued a stagnating socialist economy for several decades until opening its markets in the 1990s.

Gandhi's Nonviolent Leadership and Independence

The central motivating force of the Indian independence movement was Mohandas "Mahatma (Great Soul)" Gandhi, who in 2000 was named Asia's man of the millennium. Here lies a stark contrast to China and Turkey, where leaders pursued bloodshed for personal gain. Gandhi exemplified a different path, achieving results without resorting to violence in thought or deed. The partition riots between India and Pakistan during independence would have been far worse had Gandhi not undertaken his hunger strikes. Gandhi initiated three major movements: Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, and Quit India—each designed to mobilize resistance while maintaining moral principles.