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India

Mohandas Gandhi and fellow activist, Manibehn Patel, on the day of his departure for England in 1931.

Mohandas Gandhi and fellow activist, Manibehn Patel, on the day of his departure for England in 1931.
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In 1900 India was central to the British Empire for strategic and economic reasons. India was a market for British manufactures, an important source of gold and one of Britain's biggest debtors. India moved through a series of political reforms to full independence in 1947.

Related documents

Indian nationalism

Cabinet Conclusions 6 & 7. Consultation with the Dominions and India (Imperial Conference). 23 December 1916 (PDF, 2.156MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Reforms. 30 July 1917 (PDF, 2.314MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Government of India Bill. 22 January 1919 (PDF, 19.948MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Telegram from Governor of Bombay to Secretary of State for India dated 11 March 1922. (PDF, 0.223MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 4. Unrest in India. 14 April 1919 (PDF, 1.171MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 3. India. 7 July 1925 (PDF, 1.319MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Conversations between the Secretary of State for India and the Governor-General. 27 June 1925 (PDF, 13.271MB)

Political reform during the 1930s

Cabinet Memorandum. The Statutory Commission on Indian Constitutional Reforms. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India. 12 July 1927 (PDF, 1.092MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Statutory Commission. 30 March 1928 (PDF, 2.075MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 11. India. 19 September 1930 (PDF, 3.379MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. The General Political Situation in India. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India. 9 August 1930 (PDF, 2.051MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. The India Round Table Conference. 13 January 1931 (PDF, 0.997MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Government Policy at the Indian Round Table Conference. Note by the Secretary of State for India. 11 November 1931 (PDF, 3.029MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Round Table Conference. Report of Cabinet Committee. 12 November 1931 (PDF, 1.152MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Round Table Conference. Note by the Secretary of State for India. 19 November 1931 (PDF, 7.108MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Government Policy at the Indian Round Table Conference. Note by the Secretary. 27 November 1931 (PDF, 0.362MB)

End of the war and independence

Cabinet Memorandum. Government of India Bill. Explanatory Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India. 11 January 1935 (PDF, 71.295MB)

Cabinet memorandum. India. 18 January 1935 (PDF, 0.643MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Report by the Cabinet Committee on India. 29 January 1935 (PDF, 0.833MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Policy to be Adopted Towards Mr Ghandi. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India. 16 June 1942 (PDF, 2.867MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Policy to be Adopted Towards Mr Ghandi. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India. 27 June 1942 (PDF, 1.366MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 8. India. 13 July 1942 (PDF, 2.156MB)

Cabinet Conclusions. India. 23 May 1947 (PDF, 1.092MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Policy. Memorandum by the Prime Minister. 4 January 1947 (PDF, 0.887 MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Indian Policy. Memorandum by the Prime Minister. 22 May 1947 (PDF, 2.156 MB)

Search using Indian National Congress Muslim League Simon Commission

Further reading

Brown, J.M., India In Brown, J.M. and Louis, W.R., The Oxford History of the British Empire Vol. 4 The Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
Brown, J.M., Modern India: the Origins of an Asian Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press , 1994)
Moore, R.J., Escape from Empire: the Attlee Government and the Indian Problem (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983)

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