Lesson video

Hello, welcome back to our history lessons, looking at how India achieved independence in 1947.

Now this is our second lesson.

And if you were with me in our first lesson, you should have that piece of paper that we divided into four sections.

We only wrote in the first section.

So that piece of paper is very important.

As I explained at the end of our first lesson, it's very important that it's kept safe for these four lessons.

So you'll need that piece of paper.

You'll also need something to write with, and then you need that coloured, something to write with as well, a coloured pencil, a coloured pen or highlighter.

So while you're getting those things and making sure that there are no distractions anywhere and your phone's turned off and you have a nice quiet place to work, I will get out of the way.

And we'll see you in a moment.

When World War two began, Britain was fighting a war in various parts of the world.

Britain was fighting against Germany and other countries in Europe.

And in Asia, Britain was fighting against Japan.

So it really was a World War.

This poster that you can see was produced by the British to show the countries of the British empire coming together to help Britain fight for freedom, to fight against Britain's enemies.

In fact, if you look carefully, there is one soldier there whose meant to represent India.

There's a soldier at the back who represents African colonies in the British empire.

And in front of the African soldier, there is an Indian soldier.

And then there were other soldiers there as well, representing other colonies in the British empire and of course Britain herself.

But in fact, some Indians did support the war and fought very bravely.

Other Indians at home did not support the war.

Indians volunteered to join the British army and fight in the second World War in such large numbers.

In fact, the number of volunteers from India was the largest volunteer army in the history of the world.

No volunteer army has ever been bigger.

Two and a half million Indians volunteered to fight in the Second World War on the side of Britain and the British empire to fight for freedom.

You can see there for examples of Indians in different parts of the world.

None of those Indians are fighting in India.

They're fighting Britain's enemies in different parts of the world.

So photograph A shows an Indian standing guard over some enemy soldiers that have been captured in North Africa.

Photograph B shows an Indian sailor.

You can see her in her Naval uniform and she's stationed in Scotland, in the far North of Scotland.

Photograph C show some Indians joining the Air Force.

These Indians have just arrived in London.

They volunteered to help fly planes to help keep the Island of Britain free from enemy attacks.

And then photograph D shows Indian soldiers in North Africa with a captured enemy flag because they've captured a tank very briefly and the enemy inside the tank has surrendered.

And the flag on the tank has been captured by these brave Indian soldiers.

None of these Indian soldiers in those photographs or the airman or the Naval officer in photograph B, none of them are in India.

They've been sent to different parts of the world to fight Britain's enemies, to keep Britain free, But not all Indians at the time of the Second World War were fighting Britain's enemies.

Some Indians at home in India, were still telling the British to get out of India.

Or as this booklet says to 'Quit India'.

Leave India.

This is the book by Gandhi.

You remember Gandhi from our first lesson, he led the Congress Organisation.

They were arguing that the British should leave India and India should become independent.

And they were using non-violent, non-cooperation tactics to get the British, to leave.

Well during World War II, Gandhi's book became hugely popular across the country.

In fact, Vishnu by this was 18 years old.

You remember the photograph of him as a little boy standing in front of his father's bookshop.

Well, Vishnu was now 18 years old.

He's running the bookshop with his father.

And Vishnu and his father have British soldiers coming into their shop everyday.

Vishnu and his father put hundreds of copies of Gandhi's book, 'Quit India' in the window of their shop.

They're selling a book, but the message of the book is very clear.

Indians do not want Britain to be in their country, ruling over it.

They want to be independent.

The British raided Vishnu and his father's shop several times because it was actually illegal to write things or to publish books that attacked the British.

Well often when they came to Vishnu's shop, his mother and his sister would hide little copies of books that were attacking the British and arguing for Indian independence.

But they would hide these little books inside the folds of the clothes they were wearing.

Can you see Vishnu's mother on the right? She's wearing a traditional Indian dress called a sari.

And in a sari there are different folds.

She used to hide some of the booklets in the folds of her sari when the British soldiers would come to the shop.

Well, one day the British soldiers raided Vishnu's house.

They found something in Vishnu's house that he had written.

He was 18 years old when the British arrested him and put him in prison with his father.

Vishnu had written, "You are fighting against the Germans for your freedom.

We are fighting for our freedom too.

You want your homes to be safe.

We want our homes to be safe too.

You don't want to be ruled by foreigners.

Well, neither do we!" He was sent to prison.

Vishnu and his father spent the rest of the war in the same jail that Gandhi spent time in.

Gandhi was arrested by the British for writing that book, 'Quit India'.

Just before Vishnu and his father went to prison.

There had been a March to protest the British being in India and to demand India's independence.

Vishnu had his own flag, the flag of Gandhi and Congress.

The flag that had the little spinning wheel in the middle.

18 year old Vishnu was very proud of being an Indian and was proud of being part of the fight to become independent.

Vishnu was proud to go to jail for what he believed.

Well in the same year that Vishnu and his father were in jail, Gandhi was also in jail.

You can see Gandhi there in the jail.

He's wearing spectacles and his arms through the bars of the jail.

Well like Vishnu and his father, Gandhi spent the rest of the war in jail.

But actually photographs like this also went around the world.

As Britain was fighting Britain's enemies in the Second World War, Indians were being put in prison in India for demanding that the British leave their country.

While other Indians two and a half million Indians had volunteered to help the British fight the Britain's enemies.

Well, one Indian who fought on the side of Britain in the war was called Karamjeet Singh Judge.

This is Karamjeet Singh Judge.

Karamjeet won the highest award that it is possible to win in the British army.

He won an award called the Victoria Cross.

You have to do something incredibly brave to win the Victoria Cross.

In fact, it has to be so brave that you deliberately put your life at risk.

So the chances are that you will be killed in the act of bravery.

And quite a lot of Victoria Crosses are given after the person has died.

Well, Karamjeet Singh Judge was one of those Indians.

He was one of those 30 Indians who did something very brave.

Indians were fighting at home to be an independent country and Indians like Karamjeet, we're helping the British fight their enemies.

Indians hoped that when the Second World War was over, that the British would give them that independence.

Millions of Indians were reading Gandhi's book.

Remember that Gandhi writing it at the time of World War Two.

And in his book, he tells the British, "Ours is not a drive for power, but is purely a non-violent fight for India's independence.

I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for freedom than ours.

Our quarrel is not with the British people, we fight their imperialism.

I know the British government will not be able to withhold freedom from us when we have made enough self-sacrifice.

As a matter of fact, I feel myself to be a greater friend of the British now than ever before.

One reason is that the British are today in distress." There's a couple of things to highlight in this.

First, that word that I've put in bold.

The word, 'imperialism'.

Imperialism is the belief that your country should rule over other places around the world.

That your country is better than other countries.

Gandhi is saying, I don't hate the British people.

I don't quarrel with British people.

What I'm fighting is British imperialism.

I'm fighting so that our India is not part of a British Empire.

Another thing to highlight is what he says at the end, where he says, "I'm a great friend of the British." And he says, "More than ever before," at the time of writing this book, even though I'm demanding that the British leave my country, I still want to be friends with the British because the British are today in distress.

Britain is fighting for its freedom in the war.

Britain is fighting its enemies who want to take over Britain.

He's saying, that's kind of like India.

We don't want someone to take over us.

We want our freedom.

So let's come back to our first lesson.

In our first lesson, we were thinking about the pressure that the Indians are putting on the British.

Well, let's think specifically about how India's involvement in World War Two was putting pressure on the British.

India wants to be independent, but think of what Indians are doing in World War Two that is putting pressure more pressure on the British.

If you still have those four boxes from our first lesson, then we're into the second box.

India in World War Two.

If you go back to your notes and go back through the slides, you might want to play some of the slides again.

And make some notes in that box of any examples that you can find where India is putting pressure on the British in World War Two.

What about the Indians who are fighting in World War Two? What sorts of things are they doing to help the British? But actually that's putting pressure on the British to give India India's independence.

But then what things are Indians doing at home in India that puts pressure on the British? Think of Vishnu and his father's bookshop.

And think of Gandhi.

Well, I'll give you a moment to do that.

So if you want to pause the video to write down as many examples as you can find and then come back to the video when you're ready.

So how did you get on? What pressure is India's involvement in World War Two putting on the British? And also the things that Gandhi is doing in India, even though Gandhi isn't fighting in the Second World War.

Well, let's do the same thing that we did in the first lesson.

Let's look through our list of examples and let's see if we can categorise them.

So if you've got your coloured pen or pencil, you might like to put some colours to show the different types of pressure that India is putting on the British in World War Two.

Is the pressure moral pressure? Is the pressure to do with money? Is it economic pressure? Is the pressure political pressure? That's to do with power and laws and who runs your government or is the pressure military pressure.

It's about people who serve in the Army or the Navy or the Air Force.

Now you might find that your list of examples includes different types of pressure and that would be fantastic.

And maybe some of you are looking at these types of pressure and thinking, I've just discovered another example of pressure that I didn't include in my list that I can now add and show what type of pressure it is.

So you might want to pause the video again, think about the different types of pressure and using your coloured pencil or highlighter, add some notes about what type of pressure, India's involvement in world war two is putting on the British.

All right, we're at the time of the lesson where there were some questions for you to answer.

So just like in the first lesson, it would be a good idea not to answer these questions in your four boxes, answer them on the back of the piece of paper or even better on a separate piece of paper.

So the first question is, why did Britain need India's help in World War Two? Second question.

Can you give some examples of what Indians were doing to help Britain win World War Two.

Third question.

What was that book that Gandhi wrote during World War Two? You could say not just the title, but what the book was about.

Fourth question.

How did World War Two put moral pressure on the British? So pressure to do with doing the right thing and not doing the wrong thing.

Then question five, In thinking about India becoming independent, India becoming a free country, how did World War Two put military pressure on the British? Think of all those Indians who are helping in the military in World War Two.

So you want to pause the video, answer the questions and when you finish the questions, come back to the video.

So we're at the end of the lesson.

Thank you very much.

So very well done.

You have worked very hard this lesson.

I would love to see any work that you've done.

So if your parent or carer is able to take a photograph of it and to send it to me at Oak, I would be very appreciative.

So I look forward to seeing you in our third lesson, looking at how India achieved independence in 1947.

Hope you have a good day and you enjoy your lessons.

Bye, bye.