Indian History & Freedom Struggle

The Indus Valley (Harappan) Civilization (c. 2500-1750 BCE) was a Bronze Age urban culture. Key sites and their rivers/discoverers: Harappa (Ravi, 1921, Daya Ram Sahni), Mohenjodaro (Indus, 1922, R.D. Banerji), Lothal (dockyard, Gujarat), Kalibangan (ploughed field, Rajasthan), Dholavira (water management, Gujarat). Memory aid 'HARMOLDKA': Harappa-Ravi, Mohenjodaro-Indus. The civilization had a planned grid layout, the Great Bath (Mohenjodaro), standardized weights, and undeciphered Boustrophedon script. Mother Goddess and Pashupati seal indicate religion. No definite temples or horse evidence. The economy was based on agriculture and trade (Mesopotamia called it 'Meluha'). Decline causes include floods, Aryan invasion theory, and climate change.

Mauryan Empire (322 BCE): Founded by Chandragupta Maurya with Chanakya (Kautilya, author of Arthashastra). Bindusara succeeded him. Ashoka (268-232 BCE) fought the Kalinga War (261 BCE), embraced Buddhism, and spread Dhamma via rock/pillar edicts. Megasthenes (Greek ambassador) wrote 'Indica'. Mauryan capital: Pataliputra. The Gupta Age (320-550 CE) is the 'Golden Age of India' — Chandragupta I started it; Samudragupta (Indian Napoleon) and Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya, defeated Shakas) expanded it. Fa-Hien visited during Chandragupta II. Achievements: Aryabhata (zero, decimal), Kalidasa (Shakuntala), Nalanda University, and the iron pillar (Mehrauli). Memory tip: Gupta = Gold (science, art, literature flourished).

The Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) had five dynasties — memory aid 'Slave Khilji Tughlaq Sayyid Lodi' (SKTSL): 1) Slave/Mamluk (1206, Qutub-ud-din Aibak, built Qutub Minar; Iltutmish; Razia Sultana — first woman ruler; Balban). 2) Khilji (1290, Alauddin Khilji — market reforms, Malik Kafur's southern campaigns). 3) Tughlaq (1320, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq — token currency & capital shift to Daulatabad failures; Firoz Shah Tughlaq). 4) Sayyid (1414). 5) Lodi (1451, Ibrahim Lodi defeated by Babur at First Battle of Panipat 1526). The Vijayanagara (1336) and Bahmani (1347) kingdoms rose in the south during this era.

Mughal succession (memory aid 'BHASJAB'): Babur (1526, founder, won First Panipat) → Humayun (lost to Sher Shah Suri, regained throne) → Akbar (1556-1605, greatest; Din-i-Ilahi, Mansabdari system, abolished Jizya, Navaratnas) → Jahangir (Nur Jahan; art patron) → Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Jama Masjid — 'Golden Age of Architecture') → Aurangzeb (last great ruler; reimposed Jizya, expanded to maximum but caused decline). Akbar's key battle: Second Battle of Panipat (1556) vs Hemu. Tansen and Birbal were among Akbar's Navaratnas. The empire effectively declined after Aurangzeb's death (1707).

Key medieval battles to memorize: First Panipat (1526) — Babur vs Ibrahim Lodi (Mughal Empire begins). Khanwa (1527) — Babur vs Rana Sanga. Second Panipat (1556) — Akbar/Bairam Khan vs Hemu. Haldighati (1576) — Akbar (Man Singh) vs Maharana Pratap (indecisive, Pratap retreated). Third Panipat (1761) — Ahmad Shah Abdali vs Marathas (Maratha defeat). Plassey (1757) — Robert Clive vs Siraj-ud-Daulah (British foothold in Bengal). Buxar (1764) — British vs combined forces of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula, Shah Alam II. Memory aid: All three Panipat battles changed the ruling power of Delhi.

Shivaji (1630-1680) founded the Maratha Empire; coronated at Raigad (1674) with title 'Chhatrapati'. He developed guerrilla warfare ('Ganimi Kava') and a council of eight ministers called 'Ashtapradhan' (PM = Peshwa). After Shivaji, the Peshwas became de facto rulers — Balaji Vishwanath, Baji Rao I (greatest Peshwa, never lost a battle), Balaji Baji Rao (defeated at Third Panipat 1761). The Marathas expanded across India but their power broke after three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1818), ending with the Peshwa's defeat. Memory tip: Shivaji = guerrilla + Ashtapradhan; Peshwa Baji Rao I = expansion north.

When the spice ships of Europe began drifting east in the late 1400s, none of their captains imagined that their countries would, one after another, fight to plant flags on Indian soil. Yet the order in which they arrived — and the order in which they left — is one of the most reliable mark-scoring areas for any General Awareness paper, especially in railway-board exams like the RPF Sub-Inspector test.

Definition — Advent of Europeans: The arrival of European trading companies on the Indian coast between 1498 and 1664 in search of spices, textiles and indigo, which gradually turned into a contest for political control.

The classic mnemonic — PDEDF

The standard memory aid is "Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danish, French" → PDEDF. A simple way to remember it is the silly phrase "Please Don't Eat Delicious Food". The first letters lock the order forever.

1. Portuguese (1498) — Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut on the Malabar coast in May 1498, guided across the Indian Ocean by the Gujarati pilot Abdul Majid. The local Hindu ruler — the Zamorin — received him. Later, Alfonso de Albuquerque, the second governor, captured Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510, making it the headquarters of the Estado da Índia. The Portuguese also held Daman, Diu and Bombay (which they later gave to the English as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry in 1661).
2. Dutch (1602) — The Dutch East India Company (VOC — Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) was founded in 1602. Their main interest was the spice islands of Indonesia, but they set up Indian factories at Pulicat (their first), Masulipatnam, Surat, Nagapattinam, Chinsura and Cochin. The Dutch were ousted from India after they lost the Battle of Bedara (1759) to the English.
3. English (1600) — The English East India Company received its charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600. Captain William Hawkins reached the court of Jahangir in 1608, and Sir Thomas Roe secured trading rights in 1615. Their first factory came up at Surat (1613), followed by Madras (1639, leased from a local chief), Bombay (1668) and Calcutta (1690).
4. Danish (1616) — The Danish East India Company was smaller in scale. Its main settlements were at Tranquebar (Tamil Nadu) and Serampore (Bengal). The Danes sold their Indian possessions to the British in 1845.
5. French (1664) — The French East India Company (Compagnie des Indes Orientales) was founded under King Louis XIV by his minister Colbert. Their first factory was at Surat (1668), followed by Masulipatnam, Pondicherry (1674 — became headquarters), Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal and Yanam. Under the energetic Governor Dupleix, the French nearly became masters of South India.

A neat twist — first in, last out

A favourite RPF and RRB question is, "Who was the first European to arrive in India, and who left last?" The same answer covers both: the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama arrived in 1498, and the Portuguese held on to Goa, Daman and Diu until India liberated them in Operation Vijay in December 1961 under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Why the English won — the Carnatic Wars

By the mid-1700s the real fight in South India was between the English and the French. They fought three rounds — the Carnatic Wars (1746–1763) — using Indian princely politics as a chessboard.

• First Carnatic War (1746–48): Ended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in Europe; Madras was returned to the English.
• Second Carnatic War (1749–54): Robert Clive distinguished himself; Dupleix was recalled to France.
• Third Carnatic War (1758–63): The decisive round.

The hinge battle was the Battle of Wandiwash (1760), where the English general Sir Eyre Coote routed the French Comte de Lally. The Treaty of Paris (1763) ended French ambitions in India — France was allowed only to keep its factories, with no fortifications. The English East India Company now had a clear field, and after the Battle of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) it became the de facto ruler of Bengal.

Why it matters

This sequence is the spine of Modern Indian History. Every later development — the Battle of Plassey, the Permanent Settlement, the Revolt of 1857 — rests on the English having already out-competed the other Europeans. Many exam questions are framed around "who came first," "who left last," "first factory," "headquarters," and "who lost the Carnatic Wars."

Common misconception

Many aspirants think the English came before the Dutch because the English Company was chartered in 1600, before the Dutch VOC in 1602. But "advent" is measured by arrival in India, and the English actually set foot here only in 1608 (Hawkins at Surat). The Dutch had already opened their Masulipatnam factory in 1605. Always remember: Portuguese (1498) → Dutch (early 1600s) → English (1608) → Danish (1620s) → French (1660s).

Worked example

Question: Arrange the following European powers in the order in which they arrived in India: French, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Danish.
Solution:
Step 1: Recall the mnemonic PDEDF.
Step 2: P = Portuguese (1498), D = Dutch (1602), E = English (1600 charter / 1608 arrival), D = Danish (1616), F = French (1664).
Conclusion: Portuguese → Dutch → English → Danish → French.

:::compare

:::keypoints

• Order: Portuguese (1498), Dutch (1602), English (1600/1608), Danish (1616), French (1664) — PDEDF.
• Vasco da Gama was guided to Calicut; the Zamorin was the ruler there.
• Alfonso de Albuquerque captured Goa in 1510 from Bijapur.
• Dutch ousted at Battle of Bedara (1759).
• French defeated at Battle of Wandiwash (1760); Treaty of Paris (1763) ended their ambitions.
• Portuguese were the first to come and the last to leave (Goa freed in 1961).
• Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal, Yanam were French possessions till 1954–62.
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:::memory
"Please Don't Eat Delicious Food" → Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danish, French.
"VWP" for the three decisive English victories → Vandiwash (vs French, 1760), W for Plassey region wins, Plassey (vs Bengal Nawab, 1757). And remember Portuguese = First IN, Last OUT.
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:::recap

• The Europeans came chasing spices but stayed chasing empires.
• The order PDEDF is asked again and again — lock it for a guaranteed mark.
• The Carnatic Wars settled European rivalry in India in England's favour.
• The Portuguese opened India to Europe in 1498 and were the last to fold up shop in 1961.
  :::

Two battles, eight years apart, decided who would rule Bengal — and eventually most of India. Plassey gave the British a foothold; Buxar gave them the keys to the treasury.

Definition: Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757) — a short engagement at Palashi (near present-day Nadia district, West Bengal) between Robert Clive's East India Company forces and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the young Nawab of Bengal.

Definition: Battle of Buxar (22 October 1764) — a decisive military encounter at Buxar (in present-day Bihar) where the Company defeated a triple alliance of Mir Qasim of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh, and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.

Definition: Diwani — the right to collect land revenue (lagaan) and administer civil justice in a Mughal province.

The Setting: Why Bengal Mattered

By the mid-eighteenth century, Bengal was the richest province of the crumbling Mughal Empire. Its fertile delta produced rice, raw silk, cotton, saltpetre and opium — the exact goods the East India Company wanted to ship to Europe. Calcutta was already a fortified Company trading post, and the Company held farmans (royal licences) allowing duty-free trade. The problem: Company officials misused these privileges, traded privately, and refused to pay legitimate tolls. When Siraj-ud-Daulah became Nawab in 1756, he saw a Company growing too rich and too defiant. His seizure of Calcutta in June 1756 — and the infamous Black Hole incident — set the stage for a counter-attack the Company had been quietly preparing.

Plassey, 1757 — A Battle Won Before It Was Fought

Robert Clive, then in his early thirties, marched up from Madras with roughly 3,000 men. Siraj-ud-Daulah fielded close to 50,000. On paper, no contest. But Clive had spent weeks bribing and conspiring with the Nawab's own commander, Mir Jafar, along with the merchant houses of Jagat Seth and Amir Chand (Omichand). When the cannons opened at dawn on 23 June 1757, Mir Jafar's huge contingent simply stood still. A sudden monsoon shower soaked the Nawab's gunpowder while the Company kept its powder dry under tarpaulins. By afternoon the Nawab's lines collapsed; Siraj fled and was murdered days later.

Plassey was militarily a small skirmish — but politically an earthquake. Mir Jafar was installed as the new Nawab and paid the Company enormous sums; Clive personally received roughly two hundred thousand pounds. From this moment, the Company stopped being only a trading body. It was now a kingmaker.

Buxar, 1764 — The Real Military Verdict

Mir Jafar proved a weak puppet. The Company replaced him with his son-in-law Mir Qasim, who, to everyone's surprise, turned out to be an able administrator. He shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger, built a modern army with European drill, and — fatally for the Company — abolished internal duties so Indian merchants could compete with Company traders on equal terms. The Company demanded he reverse the order. He refused. War broke out in 1763.

After defeats in Bengal, Mir Qasim fled to Awadh and formed an alliance with Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula and the displaced Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. The three armies — perhaps 40,000 strong — met Hector Munro's Company force of about 7,000 at Buxar on 22 October 1764. Unlike Plassey, this was an open, hard-fought battle with no betrayal. The Company won on tactics, discipline and artillery. Buxar is therefore considered the real military foundation of British rule in India.

The Treaty of Allahabad, 1765 — The Diwani Grant

In 1765 Robert Clive returned to Bengal as Governor and negotiated the Treaty of Allahabad with Shah Alam II. Two documents were signed:

• Shah Alam II granted the Company the Diwani — the right to collect revenue and administer civil justice — of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
• The Company paid the Emperor an annual tribute of Rs 26 lakh and returned Kara and Allahabad to him.

Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh was restored to his throne after paying a war indemnity, but Awadh now became a Company buffer state. With one stroke of the pen, the Company turned itself into the de facto government of the richest territory in the subcontinent — without ever fighting for it as a sovereign.

Dual Government in Bengal, 1765-72

Clive set up a clever arrangement called Dual Government (or Diarchy). The Company exercised real power — collecting revenue and controlling the army — while the Nawab's officials handled the day-to-day administration, criminal justice (Nizamat) and the political odium when things went wrong. The Company enjoyed authority without responsibility; the Nawab carried responsibility without authority. The result was catastrophic mismanagement, climaxing in the Bengal Famine of 1770, in which an estimated one-third of Bengal's population perished. Warren Hastings finally abolished Dual Government in 1772.

Why it matters: Plassey, Buxar and the Diwani together explain the mechanism of British conquest. The Company did not arrive as a flag-bearing army; it arrived as merchants who learned to weaponise local politics, then used revenue from one province to fund the conquest of the next. Every UPSC, SSC, RRB and RPF Modern History question on "the beginning of British rule" traces back to this triad.

Real-world example: Think of how a venture capitalist might buy a controlling stake in a struggling company — first installing a friendly CEO (Mir Jafar after Plassey), then replacing him when he becomes inconvenient (Mir Qasim), and finally extracting a long-term royalty contract (the Diwani). Clive ran exactly this playbook on Bengal in eight years.

Common misconception: Many students believe Plassey "made the British rulers of India." It did not. Plassey only made the British kingmakers in Bengal. The decisive military victory was at Buxar, and the legal-political foundation of rule was the Diwani grant of 1765, not 1757.

Question: Which battle is regarded as the real foundation of British political power in India, and why?

Solution:
Step 1: Identify the two candidate battles — Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764).
Step 2: Plassey was won by betrayal (Mir Jafar), involved no full-scale combat, and only changed the Nawab of Bengal.
Step 3: Buxar was won in open battle against a confederacy of Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daula and Shah Alam II — the Mughal Emperor himself.
Step 4: The Treaty of Allahabad (1765) following Buxar gave the Company the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Conclusion: Buxar is the real foundation, because it was a decisive military victory against the highest political authority in India and produced the legal grant of revenue rights.

:::compare

:::keypoints

• Plassey (23 June 1757): Clive vs Siraj-ud-Daulah; won through conspiracy with Mir Jafar, Jagat Seth, Omichand.
• Mir Jafar replaced as puppet; Mir Qasim removed for being too independent (abolished internal duties for Indian merchants).
• Buxar (22 Oct 1764): Hector Munro defeated combined armies of Bengal, Awadh and the Mughal Emperor.
• Treaty of Allahabad (1765): Company received Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa; paid Rs 26 lakh annual tribute to Shah Alam II.
• Dual Government in Bengal (1765-72) under Clive — Company had authority, Nawab had responsibility.
• Bengal Famine of 1770 killed nearly one-third of Bengal's population, exposing the failure of Dual Government.
• Buxar — not Plassey — is treated as the true military foundation of British rule.
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:::memory
"P-B-D-D" — Plassey (foothold by betrayal), Buxar (real victory), Diwani (legal-financial control), Dual Government (Clive's mismanagement).
Plassey = Political foothold. Buxar = Big battle. Allahabad = Administrative grant.
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:::recap

• Plassey (1757) was a small fight decided by betrayal; Buxar (1764) was a decisive open battle.
• The Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the East India Company the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
• Dual Government separated power from responsibility and led to the 1770 Bengal Famine.
• These three events together — not any single one — mark the beginning of British political rule in India.
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Important Governors-General: Warren Hastings (first GG of Bengal, 1773). Lord Cornwallis (Permanent Settlement 1793, Zamindari system). Lord Wellesley (Subsidiary Alliance — states surrendered defence to British). Lord William Bentinck (abolished Sati 1829 with Raja Ram Mohan Roy; first GG of India). Lord Dalhousie (Doctrine of Lapse — annexed states with no natural heir; introduced railways 1853, telegraph). Memory aids: Cornwallis = 'C for Collect revenue (Permanent Settlement)'; Dalhousie = 'D for Doctrine of Lapse + Development (railways)'; Bentinck = 'B for Banned Sati'. The Doctrine of Lapse annexed Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, etc.

Revolt of 1857 ('First War of Independence'): Began at Meerut (10 May 1857), immediate cause was the greased cartridge (Enfield rifle) controversy. Mangal Pandey (Barrackpore) fired the first shot. Leaders: Bahadur Shah Zafar (Delhi, nominal leader), Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Nana Sahib (Kanpur), Tantia Tope, Begum Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow). The revolt failed; in 1858 the Crown took over from the East India Company (Government of India Act 1858). Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in 1885 by A.O. Hume; first session in Bombay presided by W.C. Bonnerjee. Memory aid: 1857 = Sepoy Mutiny; 1885 = Congress born.

When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stepped off the SS Arabia at the Apollo Bunder, Bombay on 9 January 1915, the Indian freedom struggle changed character forever. Within seven years he would transform a polite petition-writing Congress into a mass movement that pulled in farmers, mill-workers, women and students. For RPF Sub-Inspector aspirants, the Gandhian Movements timeline is one of the highest-yield General Awareness chapters — almost every paper carries one direct date or place question from this block.

Definition: A Satyagraha (literally "insistence on truth") is Gandhi's method of non-violent resistance against an unjust law or authority, combining mass civil disobedience with personal moral courage.

Definition: Purna Swaraj means "complete self-rule" — total independence from British rule, declared by the Congress at its Lahore Session in December 1929.

Champaran Satyagraha, 1917 — the first laboratory

The Champaran district of Bihar grew indigo for European planters under the brutal Tinkathia system, which forced peasants to cultivate indigo on 3/20th of their land at fixed low prices. The agrarian distress brought Raj Kumar Shukla all the way to Lucknow to plead with Gandhi. In April 1917 Gandhi arrived in Champaran, defied an order to leave the district, and led India's first Satyagraha on Indian soil. The Champaran Agrarian Act of 1918 abolished Tinkathia. This movement also gave Gandhi his first major lieutenants — Rajendra Prasad, Brajkishore Prasad, J.B. Kripalani.

Jallianwala Bagh, 13 April 1919 — the turning point

On Baisakhi day, a peaceful crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to protest the Rowlatt Act (which allowed detention without trial). Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer sealed the only exit and ordered his troops to fire — over 1000 unarmed Indians were killed by official Congress estimates. The massacre shattered Indian faith in British justice and pushed Gandhi from constitutional methods to outright non-cooperation. Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in protest; Udham Singh would later assassinate Sir Michael O'Dwyer (the Lt. Governor of Punjab who endorsed Dyer) in London in 1940.

Non-Cooperation Movement, 1920–22

Launched at the Calcutta Session (Sept 1920) and ratified at the Nagpur Session (Dec 1920), the Non-Cooperation Movement asked Indians to:

• Surrender titles and honours.
• Boycott British schools, colleges, courts and councils.
• Boycott foreign cloth and promote khadi.
• Refuse to pay taxes (eventually).

It merged with the Khilafat Movement and became India's first nationwide mass struggle. The movement was abruptly withdrawn by Gandhi on 12 February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident (5 February 1922, Gorakhpur, UP) where an angry crowd burnt a police station killing 22 policemen. Gandhi judged that the country was not yet ready for non-violent mass struggle. Many young leaders (Subhas Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru) disagreed bitterly with the withdrawal.

Lahore Session and Purna Swaraj, 1929

Under Jawaharlal Nehru's presidency, the Congress adopted the Purna Swaraj resolution on 19 December 1929. 26 January 1930 was celebrated for the first time as Independence Day — and that exact date would be chosen, two decades later, as the day the Indian Constitution came into force, making India a Republic.

Civil Disobedience Movement and the Dandi March, 1930

On 12 March 1930, Gandhi began his 24-day, 240-mile Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 hand-picked satyagrahis. On 6 April 1930 at Dandi (Gujarat coast), he broke the Salt Law by picking up a handful of natural salt — a small act loaded with political symbolism. Salt was a daily necessity that the British taxed; defying that tax pulled even the poorest into the freedom movement.

The wider Civil Disobedience Movement then spread across India — Sarojini Naidu led the raid on Dharasana salt works, the Khudai Khidmatgars under Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi") mobilised the North-West Frontier, and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931) finally suspended the movement so Gandhi could attend the Second Round Table Conference in London.

Quit India Movement, 1942 — the final push

After the failure of the Cripps Mission (March 1942), the Congress passed the Quit India Resolution at the Bombay (Gowalia Tank) Session on 8 August 1942. Gandhi gave the famous battle-cry "Do or Die" (Karenge ya Marenge). Within hours almost the entire Congress leadership was arrested; the movement became leaderless yet spread fiercely, especially in Ballia, Satara, Tamluk and Talcher, where parallel governments were set up. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August 1942 and became the "Heroine of 1942." Quit India was the last great mass movement before independence on 15 August 1947.

Why it matters: Roughly one or two RPF GS questions every year ask either the year, place, or slogan of these four movements, or the trigger event (Rowlatt → Jallianwala → Non-Cooperation; Chauri Chaura → withdrawal; Cripps failure → Quit India). Get the chain right and you get the answers right.

Real-world example: The salt cellar on every Indian dining table carries an invisible political weight. Until 1930 the British charged a salt tax of about 14 annas per maund — roughly 8.4% of an Indian labourer's daily wage on a single household necessity. When Gandhi picked up that pinch of salt at Dandi, he was not breaking a chemistry rule; he was breaking the legal monopoly that funded the colonial state.

Common misconception: "Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience are the same movement." They are not. Non-Cooperation (1920-22) was about refusing to cooperate — surrendering titles, boycotting institutions, but stopping short of breaking the law. Civil Disobedience (1930-34) went further — Indians actively broke specific unjust laws, starting with the Salt Law. The escalation in tactics matches the escalation in goals (Swaraj within the empire → Purna Swaraj).

:::compare

:::keypoints

• Gandhi returned to India from South Africa on 9 January 1915 (later observed as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas).
• Champaran (1917) was the first Satyagraha on Indian soil and dealt with the Tinkathia indigo system.
• Jallianwala Bagh massacre happened on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar under General Dyer.
• Non-Cooperation (1920) was withdrawn after the Chauri Chaura incident on 5 February 1922.
• Lahore Session (Dec 1929) declared Purna Swaraj; 26 January 1930 was the first Independence Day.
• Dandi March started on 12 March 1930 and ended on 6 April 1930 with the breaking of the Salt Law.
• Quit India was launched on 8 August 1942 with the slogan "Do or Die."
• India became independent on 15 August 1947.
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:::memory
"CRSQ" for the four big Gandhian movements in order: Champaran (1917), Rowlatt → Non-Cooperation (1920), Salt / Civil Disobedience (1930), Quit India (1942). The decades line up like a steady drumbeat: 17, 20, 30, 42.
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:::recap

• Four big movements: Champaran 1917, Non-Cooperation 1920-22, Civil Disobedience 1930, Quit India 1942.
• Jallianwala Bagh (1919) was the trigger that made Gandhi go national.
• Chauri Chaura (1922) was the trigger that made Gandhi withdraw.
• 26 January and 15 August are the two dates that bookend the modern Indian Republic.
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Revolutionary nationalists and slogans to remember: Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev — hanged 23 March 1931 (Lahore Conspiracy / Saunders murder); Bhagat Singh threw a bomb in the Central Assembly (1929) with B.K. Dutt. Subhas Chandra Bose — formed Azad Hind Fauj (INA); slogans 'Give me blood, I will give you freedom' and 'Jai Hind'. Slogans: 'Swaraj is my birthright' (Bal Gangadhar Tilak); 'Inquilab Zindabad' (popularized by Bhagat Singh); 'Do or Die' (Gandhi, Quit India 1942); 'Vande Mataram' (Bankim Chandra Chatterjee). Memory aid: Tilak = birthright; Bose = blood; Gandhi = Do or Die.