The Amritsar Massacre: Shame of an Empire

During the First World War, India had rallied in support of the Mother Country. In total 1,500,000 Indians volunteered to fight for Britain, and of those 800,000 did. They fought in the Middle-East, in Africa, and in the trenches of the Western Front, 47,746 were killed, 65,000 wounded and 12 Victoria Crosses were won. It was a display of loyalty to the Empire that shocked many for India had been for many years a seething cauldron of resentment. But this support had not been unconditional, a quid-pro-quo was expected, and this was to be self-Government. When this was not forthcoming resentment quickly turned into open rebellion.

The British did try to placate the Indians and pander to nationalist sentiments by establishing an Indian Parliament but the franchise was so severely restricted that it’s effectiveness was zero and the British retained a firm grip on the levers of power. Despite its loyalty and massive contribution to the war effort Indians remained distrusted and were believed to be incapable of governing themselves. The Defence of India Act of 1915 (supposedly emergency wartime legislation) which allowed for the arbitrary arrest and internment of those accused of sedition, press censorship, and trial before special tribunals was reinforced following the wars conclusion by the passing of the Rowlatt Act in 1919. The British political establishment at Westminster simply could not bear to contemplate losing control over the Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire.

The Indian National Congress, an organisation ironically dominated by British educated upper-caste Indians, had been increasingly coming under the influence of a lawyer and holy man Mohindas Gandhi, the Mahatma, and his Satyagraha Movement of non-violent, non-cooperation. Perhaps for the first time the Congress began to act in unison on a national level and demonstrations against the Rowlatt Act were organised throughout the country. 

In the Punjab, where tensions were running particularly high, a mass-demonstration had been organised to protest against the arrest of some local nationalist leaders, to take place at the Jallianwala Bagh, a walled garden near the Golden Temple. Over 5,000 were to gather in this confined space with few means of egress, they were noisy, fervent, and angry, but they were unarmed.

Major-General Reginald Dyer

In the days prior to the demonstration their had been sporadic outbreaks of violence. Small crowds had been fired upon and several people had been killed. In retaliation a number of buildings had been set alight. On 9 April, a British woman, Marcella Sherwood, who supervised the local Mission Schools, was attacked and physically assaulted by an Indian mob as she cycled through the streets of Amritsar. This act had outraged the local military commander General Sir Reginald Dyer. Dyer, a bloody-minded and unsympathetic man, had little time for the “Browns” despite having been an officer in the Indian Army for over 30 years. He already believed the demonstrations to be part of a plot to overthrow British rule in India and was determined to stamp out dissent within his jurisdiction. Aware of the rally taking place at the Jallianwala Bagh he marched 90 men, mostly Gurkha troops, and two armoured cars to confront what he perceived as a howling mob. He lined his men up and looking with disdain upon the abuse being hurled in his direction made no effort to disperse the crowd but merely gave the order to open fire. When some of his men misunderstood this to mean firing into the air he angrily demanded that they lower their sights and fire into the thickest part of the crowd. They obeyed and a panic ensued as 5,000 desperate, frightened people scrambled for the few exits available. There was no cover in the garden and nowhere to hide, dozens died as they jumped down a well to avoid the bullets, many others were trampled to death in the stampede, but most were simply shot down in cold blood. The firing only ceased when the troops ran out of bullets, and Dyer was later to regret not providing for more ammunition. The official figures given for the carnage were 379 killed and 1100 wounded, but it is widely believed that the figures were deliberately kept low and maybe as many as a 1000 died.