A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIA

THE INDUS VALLEY

The first Indian civilisation arose in the Indus valley about 2,600 BC. It actually straddled
modern India and Pakistan. By 6,500 BC the people of the area had begun farming. By 5,500 BC
they had invented pottery. By about 2,600 BC a prosperous farming society had grown up. The
farmers used bronze tools. They grew wheat, barley and peas. They also raised cattle, goats and
sheep. Water buffalo were used to pull carts. The people spun cotton and they traded with
other cultures such as modern day Iraq. Some of the people of the Indus Valley began to live in
towns. The two largest were at Mohenjo-daro and Harrapa.

Mohenjo-daro probably had a population of 35-50,000. By the standards of the ancient world it
was very large. It consisted of two parts. One part was a citadel. It contained a public bath and
assembly halls. It also held a granary where grain was stored. The lower part of the town had
streets laid out in a grid pattern. The houses were 2 or even 3 stories and were made of brick as
stone was uncommon in the area. Bricks were of a standard size and the Indus Valley
civilisation had standard weights and measures. The streets had networks of drains.

Life in Mohenjo-daro was obviously highly civilised and ordered although most of the people of
the Indus Valley civilisation were farmers outside the towns. The Indus Valley civilisation had a
form of writing but unfortunately it has not been deciphered so nothing is known of their
political system or their religion. However many engraved seals and terracotta figurines have
been found. The Indus Valley civilisation was at its peak in the years 2,300-1,700 BC. Then after
1,700 BC it declined.

The reasons for this are not clear. Perhaps there was a climatic changed and the area grew
cooler and drier. It has also been suggested that rivers changed course. In those days less
rainfall or a changed in the course of a river would have had severe consequences for farming
and of course, like all early civilisations the Indus Valley depended on farming. Civilisation was
only possible if the farmers made a surplus. They could exchange their surplus with craftsmen
for manufactured goods. They could also exchange some for goods from far away. However if
the farmers no longer made a surplus they could no longer support the craftsmen who lived in
the towns. The populations of the towns would drift away to the countryside. Trade and
commerce would decline.

As society grew less prosperous people would return to a simpler way of life and the invention
of writing would disappear. The Indus Valley civilisation vanished and it was forgotten. It was
not rediscovered until the 1920s.
THE INDIAN MUTINY

The East India Company had long employed Indians as soldiers. There were supposed to be not
more than 4 Indian soldiers to every British one. However the British had withdrawn troops to
serve in conflicts elsewhere. By 1857 there were only 40,000 British troops in India and 311,000
Indians. The mutiny began on 10 May 1857. The spark that lit the fire was the fact that soldiers
were issued with a new rifle - the Enfield. It was said that the cartridge was greased with fat
from a cow (sacred to Hindus) or pigs (unclean to Muslims).

The mutiny began at Meerut or Mirat 60 miles from Delhi.The soldiers massacred the British
and the uprising spread rapidly. The rebels took Delhi and proclaimed the restoration of the old
Mughal Empire. The rebellion spread across Central and Northern India but the south did not
rise. Soldiers in Madras and Bombay stayed loyal to the British. Eventually the British were able
to re-establish control.

Rebels besieged the British in Cawnpore and Lucknow. The British in Cawnpore surrendered on
27 June 1857. They were then massacred. However the British quickly sent reinforcements to
India. Sir Henry Havelock led a force to relieve Lucknow. He defeated the rebel leader Hana
Sahib at Cawnpore on 16 July 1857. Havelock reached Lucknow on 25 September 1857.
However he then found himself besieged by the rebels. A relief force was sent under Sir Colin
Campbell (1792-1863). He reached Lucknow on 16 November and the garrison escaped.
Campbell decisively defeated a rebel force outside Cawnpore on 6 December.

Meanwhile the British recaptured Delhi in September. The British recaptured Lucknow in March
1858. Sir Hugh Rose took the rebel stronghold of Jahnsi on 3 April. He decisively defeated a
rebel leader, Tantia Topi, on 19 June 1858 at the battle of Gwalior. This blow broke the back of
the rebellion. The British then 'mopped up' the remaining rebels. By the end of 1858 the
rebellion was over. However the East India Company lost control of India. On 1 September 1858
control was transferred to the British government.

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE

By 1940 the Muslims demanded their own separate state made up of those provinces where
Muslims were the majority.
In 1942 the National Congress demanded that the British quit India. The British responded by
imprisoning their leaders, including Gandhi, who was released in 1944.

In 1946 the Viceroy appointed an interim cabinet with Jawaharlal Nehru as prime minister.
However the divide between Muslims and Hindus had become unbridgeable. The leader of the
Muslims, M A Jinnah declared a 'day of action' on 16 August 1946. In Calcutta the 'day of action'
led to violence between Muslims and Hindus. About 5,000 people were killed in what became
known as 'The Great Killing'.
Mountbatten was then made viceroy. He quickly realised the Muslims must be granted their
own state (modern Pakistan and Bangladesh). India became independent on 15 August 1947.
Mountbatten agreed to stay in India as Governor-general for an interim period.

Unfortunately some provinces had mixed populations of Muslims and Hindus and violence
broke out between them. Many Hindus fled to India and Muslims fled to Pakistan but about
half a million people died in the violence.

The violence threatened to overwhelm New Delhi but Gandhi managed to prevent it by fasting
and threatening to fast to death unless the violence stopped. It did but some extreme Hindus
became angry with Gandhi. One of them murdered Gandhi on 30 January 1948.

In December 1946 a Constituent Assembly met to draw up a constitution for India. The new
constitution came into force in January 1950. India became a secular state. Prime minister
Nehru made the economy a 'mixed economy' of some state owned industry and some private
enterprise. Industry was strictly regulated. Unfortunately this restricted free enterprise.

Nevertheless in the 1950s a series of 5 year plans were devised. The first increase irrigation and
boosted agriculture. The second and third plans boosted industry. On the other hand India's
population grew rapidly. Poverty and illiteracy remained common.

INDIA IN THE LATE 20th CENTURY

In the 1960s India fought two wars. In 1962 there was a conflict with China. There were clashes
along the border between India and Tibet in the late 1950s. Then on 20 October 1962 Chinese
troops attacked along the North-eastern border of India. They quickly captured key mountain
passes and redrew the border. On 21 November the Chinese declared a ceasefire.

India also fought a war with Pakistan in 1965. The two countries always disagreed over the
border. On 1 September 1965 Pakistani troops attempted to capture Kashmir. However the
Indians won a tank battle and drove them back. On 27 September both sides agreed to a
ceasefire.
Nehru died in 1964 and Indira Gandhi became prime minister in 1966. At first she proved to be
a popular politician.

In 1971 India fought another war with Pakistan. At that time Pakistan was divided into two
parts, West and East Pakistan (modern Bangladesh). Then in March 1971 East Pakistan broke
away and declared its independence. West Pakistan refused to accept the move and sent
troops to force the East to submit. Refugees flooded into India.

Then on 3 December 1971 the Pakistani air force attacked air bases in North West India.
Pakistani ground forces attacked but were unable to make much headway. Meanwhile on 4
December Indian troops entered East Pakistan. The Pakistani forces in the East, under General
Niazi surrendered on 16 December. Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on 17 December 1971.
Bangladesh then became independent.

In 1974 India exploded an atomic bomb.

However in 1973 oil prices rose sharply triggering rapid inflation in India. That harmed
agriculture by making fertiliser much more expensive. Indian industry also entered a recession.
Growing discontent in India led to strikes such as a railway strike in 1974.

Then a High Court declared that Mrs Gandhi's election in 1971 was invalid because of election
malpractice. However Mrs Gandhi persuaded the president to declare a state of emergency on
17 June 1975. Civil liberties were suspended and Mrs Gandhi's opponents were arrested. Her
son Sanjay led a mass sterilisation campaign in Northern India to combat the population
explosion. The emergency was lifted in January 1977. During it inflation was curbed and
industry revived.

Elections were due to be held in 1976 but they were delayed until March 1977. However Mrs
Gandhi lost anyway. The Janata party held power from 1977 to 1980 when Mrs Gandhi
returned.

In the early 1980s India, like the rest of the world, entered a recession. Worse was to come.
Sikhs in Punjab were demanding independence. A man named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
(1947-1984) and his supporters took over the Golden Temple in Amristar. Then in May 1984 the
Indian army surrounded the temple. They attacked the fundamentalists in the temple but in the
process they destroyed the holiest place in the Sikh religion. Two of Mrs Gandhi's Sikh
bodyguards killed her in revenge.

She was succeeded by her son Rajiv. He started to deregulate industry and the Indian economy
began to grow rapidly. However Rajiv was assassinated in 1991.

In the 1990s the Indian economy was deregulated further and today it is booming. There is still
considerable poverty in India but there is every reason to be optimistic and to believe that India
is becoming another 'tiger economy'. Between 1997 and 2007 the Indian economy grew at a
rate of over 7% a year

Today the population of India is 1.1 billion.