ICSE students should refer to Second Phase of Indian National Movement ICSE Class 10 History notes provided below. These revision notes have been prepared based on the latest ICSE Class 10 History Books for the current academic year. Revising notes prior to the exams is really important to get excellent marks in History Class 10 exams. Also, refer to ICSE Class 10 History solutions to understand all chapters properly.
ICSE Class 10 History and Civics Second Phase of Indian National Movement (1905-1916)
Students can refer to the quick revision notes prepared for Chapter Second Phase of Indian National Movement (1905-1916) in Class 10 ICSE. These notes will be really helpful for the students giving the History and Civics exam in ICSE Class 10. Our teachers have prepared these concept notes based on the latest ICSE syllabus and ICSE books issued for the current academic year.
Second Phase of Indian National Movement (1905-1916) ICSE Class 10 History
Flow chart
Know the Terms
• Radicals – Group of younger leaders within the Congress, who did not agree with the methods and ideology of the, moderates.
• Swadeshi and Boycott Movement – It was the movement which was launched by the Indian People after the partition of Bengal. Under this movement, it was decided to use products which were made in India and to boycott the foreign goods.
• Morley – Minto Reforms – Reforms introduced in 1909 which expanded the Legislative Assembly, introduced communal electorate.
• Revolutionaries – The freedom fighters who wanted to obtain ‘Swaraj’ by terrorizing the Britishers.
Know the Dates
• 1905 – Partition of Bengal.
• 1906 – Formation of the Muslim League.
• 1907 – Split of the Congress between moderates and extremists in Surat.
• 1909 – Morley – Minto Reforms.
• 1916 – Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the Muslim League; Home Rule Movement.
Know the Personalities
• Lord Curzon : Came to India as the Viceroy in December, 1898.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra and Lala Lajpat Rai : The trio of Radical nationalists in the Indian National Congress.
• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee : Composer of the national song ‘Vande-Mataram’.
• Agha Khan : Title given to the religious head of Khoja Muslims. Khojas are a wealthy sect of Muslim community
Rise of Assertive/Radical Nationalism
Quick Review
1. The period between 1905 to 1918 saw the rise of radical nationalism in India.
There emerged a group of new and younger leaders within the Congress, who did not agree with the methods and ideology of the moderates. This group of leaders came to be known as Assertive or Radical Nationalists.
2. The immediate attainment of Swaraj was the main objective of the Assertive Nationalists. They wanted to do so by putting pressure on the government.
3. Main Cause of the Rise of Assertive Nationalism
(i) Restrictions on Indians for their own natural rights.
(ii) The Britishers were responsible for the bad economic conditions of India. Indians realised that the root cause of their suffering was the British economic policy in India.
(iii) To make Indians aware about their self-respect and right to freedom of speech and right of property, etc.
4. Belief of Radicals
(i) They did not believe in the “politics of prayers”.
(ii) They had no faith in the goodness of the British.
(iii) They realised that British Imperialism would not let India grow economically.
(iv) They believed in mobilising the masses to put pressure on the government and make them yield to the demands of the nationalists.
5. Methods adopted by the Radicals
Passive resistance, non-cooperation with the British Government by boycotting government services, courts, schools and colleges, promotion of Swadeshi and boycott of foreign goods, etc., were the methods of the Assertive Nationalism.
6. Achievements of the Radicals
(i) Radicals helped in broadening the social base of the freedom struggle by involving the masses.
(ii) They exposed the true characters of the British and specified the goal of ‘Swaraj’ (self-government) as the aim of the Congress. They promoted self-reliance by Swadeshi and Boycott Movement.
(iii) They exposed the evil economic consequences of the British during the end of the 19th century. They helped reviving cottage industries by emphasising on the use of Indian goods.
(iv) They became successful in the amulet of the Partition of Bengal and forced to British to withdraw unjust law such as Morley- Minto Reforms.
(v) They taught Indians to be self-respecting, self-supporting and self-reliant.
Prominent Assertive Leaders
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, popularly called as ‘Lokmanya Tilak’ was known as the ‘Father of Assertive Nationalism’. He believed that education is an important instrument of social change in India. He launched two newspapers – The Kesari (in Marathi) and The Maratha (in English). He organised Ganapati festival and Shivaji festival for arousing national feelings. He also organised Akharas and Lathi clubs in Maharashtra to train the youth for freedom struggle. He was a fearless fighter and coined the slogan “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it”.
In 1910, under the Indian Press Act, Tilak was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment and reported to Mandalay in Burma. for two articles which had been published in his paper ‘Kesari’. He was released in 1914 and in 1916 he formed the ‘Home Rule League’.
In 1916, Tilak was also instrumental in for formulating the famous ‘Lucknow Pact’.
Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal, popularly called the ‘Father of revolutionary thought in India’ joined the Congress in 1887. He was one of the main leaders of Bengal to oppose the Partition of Bengal. He discarded orthodox Hinduism and joined Brahmo Samaj in 1877. He opposed the caste system and other rigidities connected to the same. He advocated widow remarriage. According to him, educating women was the most effective way of elevating their position.
He founded English Weekly and New India. He also started a journal named Vande Matram. He supported Tilak in 1907 at the Surat Session. Later he lost his influence in national politics due to his opposition to the Gandhian programme of non-cooperation.
Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai joined Congress in 1888 and remains its member till the end of his life. He firmly believed that Indians themselves would have to fight for the cause of independence. To propagate his nationalist ideas, he started a paper called ‘Young India’.
He was instrumental in the growth of D.A.V. College, Lahore. He presided over the AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) in 1920 in its opening session.
In 1928, when the Simon Commission arrived in India, he organised anti-Simon demonstration in Lahore. He suffered a severe lathi blow and died on 17th November, 1928.
Lala Lajpat Rai was also referred to as Punjab Kesari or Sher-a-Punjab. His contribution as an educationist and a writer is immense. Lalaji started Punjabi from Lahore. He also published Urdu daily ‘Vande Matarm’ and English weekly named ‘People’ along with ‘Young India’ he also published ‘The Call to Young India’, ‘England’s Debt to India’ and ‘The Political Future of India’.
He is also credited with writing a book on national education that called for a reform of the prevalent educational system.
7. Magazines like Yugantar and Sandhya openly asked people to be ready to use violence. Khudiram Bose, Madanlal Dhingra, Har Dayal were some of those who stood out among those who took the path of violence to gain Swaraj for India.
Causes of the Partition of Bengal and it’s Perspective by the Nationalists
Quick Review
1. On 20th July 1905, Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy, announced the division of the Province of Bengal as at that time ‘Bengal’ included present five, Orissa (Odisha), Bihar, Chota Nagpur Plateau part of Assam and Bengal Finally, the scheme of the Partition of Bengal was implemented on 16th October, 1905.
2. Lord Curzon’s motive behind the Partition :
➢ To curb Bengali influence by not only placing Bengali’s under two Administrations. But by reducing them to a minority in Bengal itself.
➢ To break the growing solidarity of Bengali Nationalism.
➢ To drive a wedge between the Hindus and the Muslims.
➢ To foster divisions on the basis of religion. East Bengal would be predominately a Muslim majority state and West Bengal would have a Hindu majority.
By Partitioning of Bengal in spite of so many petitions and requests, Lord Curzon also wanted to show that the British were the masters and could do whatever they wanted.
3. According to the British administrators, the main objective behind the Partition of Bengal was that it was an administrative necessity. They explained that the province was very large. Hence it was to be divided.
4. The main reason for the Partition of Bengal was to destroy the political influence of the educated middle class among whom, the Bengali ‘intelligentsia’ were the most prominent.
5. Anti-Partition Movement : The Partition of Bengal was opposed by the Indian National Congress and the day of Partition was observed as a day of mourning. After a dip in the River Ganga people tied ‘Rakhi’ to each other symbolising brotherhood. Various sections of the population roused up in opposition to the division of the Province.
Many protest meetings were organised. The cry of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Amaar Sonar Bangla’ resounded everywhere. Both the moderates and the assertive nationalists cooperated with each other during the course of the movement. Some Bengali newspapers like ‘Bengali’, ‘Hitabadi’ and ‘Sanjibani’ played an important role.
A new phase of Nationalism had started. On 7th August 1905, The Anti partition Movement was initiated in the town hall of Calcutta. A massive demonstration against the Partition was organised on that day.
6. Repressions by the Britishers against the Anti-Partition Movement.
The British took many steps to repress the Anti-Partition Movement.
(i) Lathi charge became common and thousands of people were arrested and put behind bars.
(ii) Educational institutions were warned not to allow their students to join this Movement. Grants for suspected and institutions were cancelled.
(iii) Crying of ‘Vande Matram’ was strictly forbidden.
(iv) Government made use of several repressing measures such as the Prevention of Seditious Meeting Act.
The Criminal Law Amendment A
ct, the Explosive Substance Act and Newspapers Act.
When all this did not work, the Britishers tried to win over the moderates by reforms—Government of India Act of 1909 was passed.
7. Finally in 1911, Partition of Bengal was annulled.
8. Swadeshi and Boycott Movement and its impact.
(i) Swadeshi, as a purely economic measure for the development of the industries, had been preached by some nationalists like Gopal Rao Deshmukh, GV Joshi and MG Ranade of Maharashtra, etc. In the year 1896, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had led a full fledged boycott campaign.
(ii) On 7th August, 1905, a resolution to boycott British goods was adopted at a meeting of the INC held in Calcutta. It was started as a purely economic measure for the development of the Indian industries.
(iii) The Swadeshi and Boycott Movement was a boon for Indian industries. Many mills and factories came into existence. Even shops selling only Swadeshi goods came up, as the demands for Indian goods increased.
(iv) Automatically, there was a decline in the sale of British goods leading to a decline in imports and profits.
9. Surat Split
(i) In December, 1906, at Calcutta, the Indian National Congress under the leadership of Dadabhai Naoroji adopted ‘Swaraj’ as the goal of the Indian people.
(ii) The assertive nationalists wanted to extend the Swadeshi and Boycott to the rest of India and make it vehicle for a full fledged political mass struggle leading to Swaraj. But the moderates did not approve it for the whole of India and wanted it to be continued only in Bengal.
(iii) In the year 1907, the annual session of the Congress was held in Surat assertive nationalists wanted to adopt revolutionary methods as announced by them. But the moderates were not in favour of such methods.
(iv) The INC split into two groups at the Surat Session, the extremists were led by Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal and the moderates led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
(v) The extremists proposed the name of Lala Lajpat Rai as the President of the Surat Session, whereas, the moderates proposed the name of Rash Behari Ghosh. Finally, the extremists were expelled from the Congress.
The Muslim League, Home Rule League, the August Declaration of 1917 and Lucknow Pact
Quick Review
1. Formation of the League : The All India Muslim League was formed on December 30, 1906 at Dhaka.
2. Factor responsible for the growth of Communalism :
(i) Divide and Rule Policy of the British Government.
(ii) Educational and economic backwardness of the Muslims.
(iii) Lord Curzon’s policies.
(iv) Anti-Partition Movement.
(v) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement.
3. Aims and Objectives :
(i) To promote among the Muslims of India, feeling of loyalty towards the British.
(ii) To protect the political rights of the Muslims.
(iii) To prevent the rise of any feeling of hostility between the Muslims and other communities.
4. Lucknow Pact (1916) : The unity between the Congress and the League was brought through the Lucknow Pact. Both the organisations decided to work together in harmony.
5. The Home Rule League (1916) : It was formed by Mrs. Annie Besant. Another Home Rule League started separately by Tilak at Poona. The Home Rule Movement aimed at achieving Swaraj.
6. The Declaration of August 1917 : Under this, Lord Montague, the new Secretary of States, announced several constitutional reforms after the First World War.
7. The Montague-Chelmsford Reforms: This is also known as the Government of India Act 1919.
Major Features :
(i) As per this Act, partial responsibility was introduced at the Provincial level.
(ii) There was some relaxation in control of Central Government over the Provinces.
(iii) Many Indian citizens were granted the right to vote.
