IMPACT OF WWI ON INDIA:

The war created a new economic and political situation.

•It led to a huge increase in defense expenditure which let to the increasing taxes & customs duties and income tax were introduced.

•The prices of basic commodities increased – doubling between 1913 and 1918 – leading to extreme hardship of common people.

•Villages were called upon to supply soldiers, and the forced recruitment in rural areas caused widespread anger.

•Then in 1918-19 and 1920-21, crops failure in many parts of India, resulting in acute shortages of food. This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic.

•According to the census of 1921, 12 to 13 million people perished as a result of famines and the epidemic.

•People hoped that their hardships would end after the war. But that did not happen.

The Idea of Satyagraha

•Gandhi returned to India in January 1915 from South Africa where he had successfully fought the racist regime with a new method of mass agitation called as satyagraha.

•The idea of satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth.

•It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.

•Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a satyagrahi could win the battle through nonviolence by appealing to the conscience (moral value) of the oppressor.

•Mahatma Gandhi believed that this dharma of non-violence could unite all Indians