History

Browse History by subject — practice questions and study articles for each.

Ancient Indian History

Ancient Indian History Articles (129)

Ancient Indian Art and Architecture 5

Chola Art and Architecture (Imperial Period)

Elephanta Caves

Gandhara vs Mathura Schools of Art

The Mahabodhi Temple: Architecture and Heritage

The Sanchi Stupa

Ancient Seats of Learning 4

Kumaragupta I and Nalanda University

Odantapuri University

Taxila (Takshashila): Ancient Centre of Learning

Vikramshila University

Buddhism and Buddhist Heritage 9

Buddhism: Historical Timeline and Present-Day Status

Buddhism: Schools and Sacred Texts

Buddhism: The Buddha's Life and Councils

Buddhist Rock-Cut Architecture: Chaityas and Viharas

Sarnath: Buddha's First Sermon and the Gupta-Era Buddha Statue

Sects of Buddhism: Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana

The Jatakas as a Historical Source

The Tripitaka

Xuanzang: The Pilgrim Who Chronicled Harsha's India

Epics and Literature as Historical Sources 4

Prakrit Languages

The Mahabharata: Composition, Content and Historicity

The Ramayana: Composition, Content and Historicity

Vedic and Puranic Literature as Historical Sources

Foreign Invasions and Contacts 6

Alexander's Invasion of India

Greeks in India Immediately After Alexander: Seleucus Nicator

Indo-Greeks, Shakas and Kushans

The Indo-Greek Kingdom: Bactria, Demetrius and Menander

The Indo-Parthian Kingdom (Gondophares)

The Persian (Achaemenid) Invasion of India

Gupta Empire 8

Chandragupta I: Marriage, Empire, and the Gupta Era

Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya)

Gupta-Era Culture and Science

Harshavardhana and the Post-Gupta Age

Samudragupta: Conquests and the Prayaga Prashasti

Society in the Gupta Age

The Gupta Empire: Founders and Administration

Trade and Towns of the Gupta Age

Indus Valley Civilisation 10

Alamgirpur

Animals of the Indus Valley Civilization

Harappa: The City That Named a Civilisation

Harappan Civilisation: Life, Economy and Decline

Harappan Civilisation: Sites and Discovery

Kalibangan

Lothal: Harappan Dockyard and Port City

Mohenjodaro

Political Organisation of the Indus Valley Civilization

Rangpur

Jainism 3

History and Spread of Jainism

Jain Texts and Scriptures: The Agamas

Jainism: Origins and Teachings

Mahajanapadas 18

Anga (Mahajanapada)

Assaka / Ashmaka (Mahajanapada)

Avanti (Mahajanapada)

Chedi (Mahajanapada)

Gandhara (Mahajanapada)

Kamboja (Mahajanapada)

Kashi (Mahajanapada)

Kosala (Mahajanapada)

Kuru (Mahajanapada)

Life of the People in the Mahajanapada Era

Magadha (Mahajanapada)

Malla (Mahajanapada)

Matsya (Mahajanapada)

Panchala (Mahajanapada)

Surasena (Mahajanapada)

The Mahajanapadas and the Rise of Magadha

Vajji / Vriji Confederacy (Mahajanapada)

Vatsa / Vamsa (Mahajanapada)

Material Culture and Archaeology 10

Crafts, Trade and Towns, 200 BC to 300 AD

Junagadh Rock Inscription of Rudradaman

Max Müller

Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW) Culture

Painted Grey Ware Culture

Sanghol

Sources of Ancient Indian History: Archaeology and Epigraphy

The Iron Age in India

The Old Silk Route and Ancient Indian Trade

The Prehistoric Period in India

Mauryan Empire and Statecraft 11

Agriculture and Land Revenue in the Mauryan Empire

Ashoka and His Edicts

Ashoka's Relations with Other Empires

Ashokan Edicts as Inscriptions: Script, Language and Decipherment

Bindusara: The Missing Mauryan

Kautilya's Arthashastra: Statecraft and Political Theory

Later Mauryan Kings and the Decline of the Empire

Life of the People in the Mauryan Empire

Mauryan Administration and Economy

The Mauryan Empire: Chandragupta Maurya

The Nanda Dynasty of Magadha

Philosophy 2

Charvaka (Lokayata): Ancient India's Materialist Philosophy

Medieval Philosophy and Temple Architecture

Post-Mauryan Successor States 2

Minor Post-Mauryan Powers of North India

Shungas, Satavahanas and Kalinga

Regional and Successor Dynasties 7

Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I

Post-Gupta Regional Dynasties of North India

Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Pallavas and Cholas

The Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Tripartite Struggle for Kannauj

The Palas, Senas and Buddhist Learning Centres

The Sangam Age: Chera, Chola and Pandya Kingdoms

The Sangam Age: Literature and Society

Religious Sects and Movements 3

Other Religious Sects and the Bhakti Roots

Shaivism: History and Development

Vaishnavism: History and Development

Vedic Age Society and Religion 14

Agriculture in the Vedic Age

Gods of the Vedic Age: The Rigvedic Pantheon

Janapadas of Vedic Times: Territories and Polity

Rigvedic Polity and Society: Government by Assembly, Not by Decree

Rigvedic Religion and the Later Vedic Age

Status of Women in Vedic Society

The Ashrama System: Four Stages of Life

The Atharvaveda

The Coming of the Aryans: Migration, Invasion, or Indigenous Origin?

The Rigveda

The Samaveda

The Varna System: Origin and Evolution

The Yajurveda

Yajnavalkya

Other 13

Human Evolution: From Australopithecus to Homo Sapiens

Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers: The Origins of Agriculture

Malavikagnimitram: Kalidasa's Sunga-Era Love Story

Rea, Longhurst, Sewell, Burgess and Elliot: Archaeologists of Colonial India

Satiyaputta

Symbols of the Buddha in Early Aniconic Art

The Amaravati Stupa

The Araghatta Irrigation Device

The Chola Empire: Rise, Administration, Culture and Decline

The Dhauli Rock-Cut Elephant: India's Earliest Buddhist Sculpture

The Haryanka Dynasty of Magadha

The Magadha: Ancient India's Professional Chroniclers

Vedic Civilisation: Society, Polity and Religion

Medieval Indian History

Medieval Indian History Articles (93)

Delhi Sultanate: Dynasties and Rulers 20

Foreign Travelers and Chroniclers 1

Foreign Travelers and Chroniclers of Medieval India

Medieval Architecture and Monuments 4

Alai Darwaza and the True Arch

Chittorgarh Fort

Gwalior Fort

The Red Fort (Lal Qila)

Regional Resistance and Warrior Rulers 6

Banda Singh Bahadur: The Ascetic Who Toppled a Mughal Governor

Chand Bibi — Regent of Two Deccan Sultanates

Lachit Borphukan

Maharana Pratap: The King Who Never Bowed

Rana Kumbha: The King Who Built Rajasthan’s Highest Fort

Rani Durgavati: The Warrior Queen of Garha-Mandla

Regional Sultanates 12

Alauddin Husain Shah — Bengal Sultanate's "Golden Age" Ruler

Gujarat Sultanate

Jaunpur Sultanate

Kashmir Sultanate

Malwa Sultanate

Regional Sultanates and Rajput Kingdoms

The Ahmadnagar Sultanate (Nizam Shahi)

The Bahmani Kingdom and Deccan Sultanates

The Berar Sultanate (Imad Shahi)

The Bijapur Sultanate (Adil Shahi)

The Golconda Sultanate (Qutb Shahi)

Zain-ul-Abidin (Budshah): Kashmir's Great King

Society and Culture in Medieval India 1

Socio-Economic and Religious Life, 750–1200 CE

Sufism, Bhakti and Religious Movements 12

Ali Hujwiri (Data Ganj Bakhsh): Sufi Saint of Lahore

Amir Khusrau

Dadu Dayal

Guru Har Gobind

Guru Tegh Bahadur

Ramcharitmanas

Sant Tukaram: Poet-Saint of the Varkari Tradition

Sheikh Salim Chishti: The Saint Behind Fatehpur Sikri

Sikhism and Sufism in Medieval India

The Naqshbandi Order of Sufism

The Qadiriyya Order of Sufism

The Suhrawardi Order of Sufism

The Marathas 2

Shivaji and the Rise of the Marathas

The Maratha Confederacy and the Peshwas

The Mughal Empire 11

Akbar's Empire

Akbar: Life and Reign

Aurangzeb and Mughal Administration

Babur, Humayun and Sher Shah Suri

Bahadur Shah I: The Oldest Man Ever Crowned a Mughal Emperor

Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Dara Shikoh

Mughal Decline After Aurangzeb

Nur Jahan: The Empress Who Ruled in All But Name

Raja Man Singh I: Akbar’s General, Amber’s King

Shah Jahan: Chahar Taslim and the Two Succession Wars

Sher Shah Suri

Vijayanagara and South Indian Kingdoms 7

Abdur Razzaq: A Persian Envoy in Vijayanagara

Deva Raya I

Krishnadeva Raya: Vijayanagara's Golden Age Emperor

Rudramadevi — The Kakatiya Queen Who Ruled as a King

South Indian Kingdoms Destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate: Yadavas, Kakatiyas, Hoysalas

Vijayanagara Empire: Founding to Krishnadeva Raya

Vijayanagara: Decline, Sources and Monuments

Other 17

Babur and the Founding of Mughal Rule in India

Bappa Rawal

Bengal's Regional Culture: Language, Literature, Pirs and Temple Architecture

Champaka, Durgara, and Kuluta: Matching Medieval Hill States

Eripatti, Ghatikas, and Taniyurs: Chola-Era Land Terms

Feudalism in Indian History: A Weak Center, Not a Strong One

Guru Angad Dev

Guru Nanak Dev

Kabir

Malik Kafur: From Slave to Sultan-Maker

Mughal Agrarian Society: Peasants, Zamindars and Land Revenue

Mughal Emperors

Purandaradasa: Father of Carnatic Music

Successor Kingdoms of Medieval India

The Banjaras: Medieval India's Traveling Traders

The Cheras and the Making of Malayalam: Language, Script and Regional Identity

Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years: Sources and Periodisation of Medieval India

Modern Indian History

Modern Indian History Articles (257)

APre-1857 Resistance and Regional Powers39

A.118th-Century Regional Powers2

A.1.1

Mysore Under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan

Mysore was the Company's most stubborn southern rival for nearly forty years. One commander seized it, and his son nearly held it.

A.1.2

Successor States: Hyderabad, Awadh and Bharatpur

Not every post-Mughal kingdom ended the same way. Hyderabad, Awadh and Bharatpur all broke from a weakening empire.

A.219th-Century Regional Powers1

A.2.1

The Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh

A one-eyed chieftain's son built the only Indian power the East India Company never dared attack while he lived. Ranjit Singh uni...

A.3Eastern India Resistance3

A.3.1

Buxi Jagabandhu

In March 1817 a band of hill fighters crossed into Khurda, in Odisha. They burned a police station and a post office.

A.3.2

Jayee Rajguru

In 1804, a royal priest in Odisha called the village warriors of Khurda to arms. The British Company had broken its promises to h...

A.3.3

Titumir

In June 1830 a Bengal landlord named a tax on beards. The men who paid it were poor Muslim farmers.

A.4North and West Indian Resistance6

A.4.1

Baba Ram Singh and the Kuka Movement

Long before Gandhi, a Punjab farmer's son ran his own post office. His followers also stayed away from British goods and services.

A.4.2

Bhai Maharaj Singh: The Saint Who Resisted the Raj

Bhai Maharaj Singh was a Sikh holy man, not a soldier or a noble. He turned his religious retreat into a base for resistance to t...

A.4.3

Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone

A hundred years before the Revolt of 1857, a chieftain in southern Tamil Nadu refused the Company's demands. His name was Alagumu...

A.4.4

Motilal Tejawat: The Eki Movement and the Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

In 1921 a man who had once clerked for a landlord began carrying a message through the Bhil hills. The message was one word: Eki,...

A.4.5

Rao Tula Ram

Rao Tula Ram was a chieftain of Rewari, in today's Haryana. In 1857 he drove out the local British officer and took the town.

A.4.6

Vijay Singh Pathik

Vijay Singh Pathik led peasants of Bijolia in Mewar against heavy taxes. He did this years before Gandhi's big satyagrahas.

A.5South Indian Resistance (Poligar Wars and Beyond)13

A.5.1

Ali Musliyar

On 21 February 1922 a man of about sixty went to the gallows in Coimbatore prison. He had spent his life as a teacher and prayer ...

A.5.2

Dheeran Chinnamalai: The Kongu Chieftain Who Refused to Bend

He learned gunnery from French officers. He fought beside Tipu Sultan. Then he turned those skills against the East India Company...

A.5.3

Kittur Chennamma: Resistance 33 Years Before 1857

In October 1824, a queen in present-day Karnataka beat a British force in battle. This was 33 years before the Revolt of 1857.

A.5.4

Kuyili: The Commander Who Became a Living Weapon

A woman covers herself in ghee. She sets herself alight and runs into an enemy armoury. The blast helps an exiled queen win back ...

A.5.5

Pazhassi Raja: The Lion of Kerala

Pazhassi Raja fought Mysore, then the East India Company, for more than thirty years. He is remembered as the Lion of Kerala.

A.5.6

Puli Thevar: The Poligar Who Started It All

Long before 1857, a chief in the far south said no. He refused a tribute demand backed by the East India Company. He held out for...

A.5.7

Rani Abbakka Chowta: The Fearless Queen of Ullal

In 1555 a Portuguese envoy came to a small port in coastal Karnataka. He demanded tribute. The queen of that port said no.

A.5.8

Rani Velu Nachiyar: The Veeramangai

A queen loses her husband and her kingdom in a single attack. She spends eight years in exile, planning her return.

A.5.9

Sangolli Rayanna

Rani Chennamma of Kittur fell to the British in 1824. She died in prison in 1829. Her army chief refused to stop.

A.5.10

The Marudu Brothers: 1801's Proclamation of Independence

In June 1801 a paper appeared on the gate of a palace in Tiruchirappalli. It spoke to everyone in the land, not just one kingdom.

A.5.11

Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy: Rayalaseema's 1846 Uprising

Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy was a chieftain on a small pension. In 1846 he became the face of a peasant revolt in Rayalaseema.

A.5.12

Variyamkunnath Kunjahammed Haji

In August 1921 a revolt broke out in the hills and farmland of South Malabar. For about six months it shook British control over ...

A.5.13

Veerapandiya Kattabomman: The Poligar Who Refused

In 1798 a Tamil chief was summoned by a British collector. The meeting ended in a clash at a gate and a dead Company officer.

A.6Tribal and Adivasi Uprisings12

A.6.1

Budhu Bhagat: Leader of the Kol Rebellion

In February 1832 British troops marched on a village called Silagai, near Ranchi. They had come for one man, an Oraon farmer name...

A.6.2

Govind Guru and the Mangarh Massacre

In November 1913, a hill on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border filled with Bhil families. They had come to follow a teacher, not to fig...

A.6.3

Gunda Dhur and the 1910 Bastar Rebellion

In early 1910 a strange message passed through the villages of Bastar. It was a mango branch, a lump of earth, a chilli and an ar...

A.6.4

Jadonang

Jadonang was a young Naga prophet from Manipur. He built a faith called Heraka, and then a dream of a free Naga kingdom.

A.6.5

Kalu Singh Mahara

In 1857 a secret letter reached the hills of Kumaon. It came from Awadh and asked local leaders to rise against the British.

A.6.6

Nilambar and Pitambar: Brothers Who Captured Palamu Fort

In October 1857 about five hundred fighters gathered in the forests of Palamu. Two brothers led them, Nilambar and Pitambar.

A.6.7

Pawibawia: Chief of the Eastern Lushai Hills

On 14 April 1892 British soldiers climbed a steep hill in the eastern Lushai Hills. At the top lay one of the biggest villages in...

A.6.8

Rani Gaidinliu

Rani Gaidinliu was 16 when the British sentenced her to life in prison. She spent 14 years behind bars, then lived another 46 yea...

A.6.9

Tantia Bhil

Tantia Bhil raided British treasuries and the wealth of their local helpers. He is said to have shared much of it with poor famil...

A.6.10

The Santhal Rebellion (Hul), 1855-56

Two years before the 1857 revolt, thousands of Santhals rose against British rule. They also rose against the moneylenders who ha...

A.6.11

Tilka Manjhi: The First Tribal Rebellion

Some heroes are remembered in stone and song, but barely appear in old files. Tilka Manjhi is one of them.

A.6.12

Tirot Sing: The Khasi Hills' Guerrilla War

Tirot Sing first agreed to let the British build a road through his hills. Later he led a guerrilla war to drive them out.

A.7Very Early Regional Powers2

A.7.1

598 Years of the Ahom Kingdom

Mughal armies had swallowed most of North India. One kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley fought them to a standstill, on water, and...

A.7.2

Kanhoji Angre

For more than two decades, European merchants on India's west coast feared one name. Their ships were stopped, taxed or taken by ...

BThe Revolt of 185713

B.1

Azimullah Khan: The Strategist Behind Nana Sahib

He was born poor and orphaned in a famine. He learned two European languages in a mission school. Within twenty years he was a pr...

B.2

Bakht Khan: Delhi's Real Commander in 1857

Ask who led Delhi in 1857 and most people say Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was the face of the revolt. The man who ran its army was som...

B.3

Begum Hazrat Mahal

In 1856 the British took over Awadh and sent its ruler into exile. His wife, Begum Hazrat Mahal, stayed behind in Lucknow.

B.4

Bir Tikendrajit

In March 1891, a British mission marched into Manipur to arrest its army commander. The Manipuris fought back, and five British o...

B.5

Khan Bahadur Khan: The Self-Declared Nawab of Rohilkhand

In May 1857 the soldiers at Bareilly rose against their officers. A rebel government took over the city within days.

B.6

Kunwar Singh

Kunwar Singh was nearly 80 years old and in failing health when the Revolt of 1857 reached Bihar. He took up arms anyway.

B.7

Mangal Pandey: The Spark of 1857

Mangal Pandey was a sepoy at Barrackpore. His act on 29 March 1857 came weeks before the great Revolt.

B.8

Maniram Dewan

He showed the British where Assam's wild tea grew. Years later, they hanged him.

B.9

Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah: The Lighthouse of the Revolt

British officers called him a holy man in name only. They suspected that a wandering preacher with a drum was really building an ...

B.10

Nana Sahib

He was an adopted prince whom the British refused to recognise. That refusal pushed him into the Revolt of 1857.

B.11

Peer Ali Khan

In July 1857, a Patna bookbinder led a night attack on British officials. He was arrested the next day and hanged within four day...

B.12

Tatya Tope

Tatya Tope grew up at Bithur playing alongside a boy named Nana Saheb and a girl named Manu. Manu became Rani Lakshmibai of Jhans...

B.13

Turrebaz Khan

The Revolt of 1857 is often placed in the north. But in July 1857 rebels also attacked the British Residency in Hyderabad.

CFreedom Struggle82

C.1Movements and Milestones (existing)7

C.1.1

1857: Causes, Course and Consequences

In May 1857, sepoys at Meerut rose against the Company. They marched to Delhi and asked the last Mughal emperor to lead them. Wit...

C.1.2

Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and Revolutionary Nationalism

Not every freedom fighter followed Gandhi's path of non-violence. Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and Surya Sen chose direct, a...

C.1.3

Civil Disobedience and the Salt March

Gandhi published eleven demands in January 1930. In a separate March letter, he warned Viceroy Irwin that he would break the salt...

C.1.4

Key Pacts and Conferences, 1900–1947

From 1916 to 1946, Congress, the Muslim League, and Dalit leaders sat down with Britain again and again. They also negotiated wit...

C.1.5

Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements

In 1920, Gandhi linked a Muslim campaign to save the Ottoman Caliphate with a new Non-Cooperation Movement. For the first time, m...

C.1.6

The Indian National Congress: Founding and the Moderate-Extremist Phase

The Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay in December 1885. It asked only for a larger Indian voice within Br...

C.1.7

Tribal and Peasant Uprisings: Munda, Mappila and Rampa Rebellions

Tribal and peasant communities across India rose up against colonial land laws, forest rules, and landlord oppression. The Munda ...

C.2Personalities (existing)6

C.2.1

Comparing Freedom Movement Ideologies

The freedom movement was never just four leaders. Gandhi, Bose, Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar get most of the attention.

C.2.2

Gandhi's Philosophy: From Hind Swaraj to Champaran

Gandhi’s political method did not appear fully formed in India. It grew out of specific books, places, and experiments, years bef...

C.2.3

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: From Salt Satyagraha to Cultural Institutions

In 1930, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay looked at Gandhi’s volunteer list for the Salt Satyagraha. She found no women on it at all. She...

C.2.4

Matangini Hazra: A Quit India Martyr's Final March

Matangini Hazra was in her seventies when she led a huge Quit India procession in Bengal. Police shot her three times, but she ke...

C.2.5

Sarojini Naidu and Women in the Freedom Struggle

Sarojini Naidu was a poet who became a leading political figure in the freedom struggle. She broke several barriers for women alo...

C.2.6

The Freedom Struggle's Global Legacy and Gandhi's Relevance Today

India's freedom struggle didn't stay inside India's borders. Gandhi's satyagraha became a template other movements studied and ad...

C.3Mass Movements -- Gandhi and His Circle4

C.3.1

Mahadev Desai: Gandhi's Secretary for 25 Years

For twenty-five years, one man woke before Gandhi and slept long after him. He wrote down almost everything that happened in betw...

C.3.2

Pyarelal Nayyar: Gandhi's Last Secretary and Biographer

On 15 August 1942, Gandhi's secretary died in prison. A younger aide picked up the pen that same week. His name was Pyarelal Nayy...

C.3.3

Ravishankar Maharaj: Gandhi's Constructive-Work Partner in Gujarat

He dropped out of school after the sixth standard. He later gave up his family land to join Gandhi.

C.3.4

The Three Monkeys of Gandhi

A small figurine of three monkeys is linked with Gandhi. Each monkey covers a different sense.

C.4Mass Movements -- Leaders and Orators14

C.4.1

Accamma Cherian: "Jhansi Rani of Travancore"

Police threatened to open fire on her march. She stepped forward and told them to shoot her first.

C.4.2

Acharya Narendra Dev: The Scholar-Socialist

He read Buddhist texts in Pali before he ever led a party. That is why people called him Acharya, the teacher. In 1934 the same s...

C.4.3

Aruna Asaf Ali: Queen of the 1942 Movement

On 9 August 1942, the British had jailed every top Congress leader. One young woman walked onto a Bombay ground and raised the Co...

C.4.4

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a mathematics teacher, a newspaper editor and a political leader. He went to jail twice for what he wrote...

C.4.5

Hasrat Mohani: The Man Who Coined "Inquilab Zindabad"

A poet who wrote love songs to Krishna also gave India one of its loudest slogans. He then went on to sit in the Constituent Asse...

C.4.6

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

He built a peaceful army of thousands on a frontier known for feuds and guns. His followers wore red shirts and took an oath of n...

C.4.7

Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai led a peaceful march against a British commission. Police beat him in the charge that followed, and he died withi...

C.4.8

Madan Mohan Malaviya: Mahamana

Madan Mohan Malaviya helped build Banaras Hindu University in 1916. He also worked in law, journalism and the freedom movement. H...

C.4.9

Neki Ram Sharma

A Sanskrit scholar from a Haryana village spent about 2,200 days in British jails. He kept returning to the freedom struggle anyw...

C.4.10

Purushottam Das Tandon: The Rajarshi

In 1950 he beat the candidate Nehru had backed. A year later he was out. Few Congress presidents have had a shorter or more drama...

C.4.11

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai

He went from a British jail to India's first Communications Ministry. Then he took charge of the country's food supply. He died i...

C.4.12

Saifuddin Kitchlew & Dr. Satyapal

On 10 April 1919 two Amritsar leaders were called to a British officer's house. They never came home that day.

C.4.13

T.B. Cunha

He was an engineer who learned his politics in Paris. Goans came to call him the Father of Goan nationalism.

C.4.14

The Ali Brothers

Two brothers from Rampur led a movement together. They also went to jail together, and in the end they broke with Congress togeth...

C.5Mass Movements -- Satyagrahas and Campaigns15

C.5.1

Bhagwan Ahir: Chief Organiser of the Chauri Chaura Incident

A police officer struck an army veteran in a market. Days later, a crowd marched on a police station and set it on fire.

C.5.2

Biswambhar Parida

In 1987 Odisha issued a small booklet to a white-haired man in thick glasses. It was a freedom fighter's pension card, numbered 0...

C.5.3

Chittu Pandey: The Lion of Ballia

In August 1942 the top Congress leaders were in jail. In Ballia, ordinary people decided not to wait for them.

C.5.4

Kanaklata Barua: Birbala

She was 17, unarmed, and carrying a flag. That was enough to get her shot.

C.5.5

Kheda Satyagraha (1918)

In 1918 the harvest failed in Kheda, and plague spread. The government still wanted full tax. The farmers said no, and they staye...

C.5.6

Lahore Congress and the Purna Swaraj Declaration, 1929

India's Republic Day traces back to a date Congress picked twenty years earlier. That date marked a pledge, not a constitution.

C.5.7

Mohanlal Pandya: The Onion Thief of the Kheda Satyagraha

One spring day in 1918, a small group walked into a Gujarat field and cut onions. The field belonged to a farmer, but the governm...

C.5.8

Moturu Udayam

She led an all-women theatre troupe underground, and rode a bicycle when almost no woman in the state did either.

C.5.9

Nana Patil: The Underground Government of Satara

For almost three years, villages in Satara ran their own affairs. They had their own courts and their own armed volunteers.

C.5.10

Quit India Movement, 1942

Mahatma Gandhi spoke for barely a few minutes at Gowalia Tank on 8 August 1942. He gave Indians just two words to live by: "Do or...

C.5.11

Rajkumar Shukla

In December 1916 a farmer from Bihar walked up to Mahatma Gandhi at a Congress meeting in Lucknow. He had one request.

C.5.12

Senapati Bapat

He once planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Years later he led farmers in a peaceful march against a dam.

C.5.13

Shah Mal: The Baraut Zamindar Who Ran His Own Hall of Justice

Shah Mal did not command sepoys or hold a fort. He was a village landlord near Meerut.

C.5.14

The Swadeshi Movement, 1905

In 1905, Viceroy Lord Curzon split Bengal in two. He said it was for better government. Nationalists saw it as an attack on their...

C.5.15

Usha Mehta

In August 1942 a quiet voice came over the air in Bombay. It said it was the Congress radio, calling from somewhere in India. The...

C.6Revolutionary Movement -- Bengal (Anushilan/Jugantar)10

C.6.1

Bagha Jatin

Jatindranath Mukherjee earned the name "Bagha", the Tiger, after he killed a tiger with a dagger.

C.6.2

Barindra Kumar Ghosh

Barindra Kumar Ghosh was Sri Aurobindo's younger brother and the founder of Jugantar.

C.6.3

Bhikaiji Cama: Mother of the Indian Revolution

On 22 August 1907, a Parsi woman stood up at a socialist congress in Stuttgart. She raised a flag that no government had approved.

C.6.4

Ganesh Ghosh

On the night of 18 April 1930, a band of young men struck at the heart of British power in Chittagong. One of them led the attack...

C.6.5

Khudiram Bose: India's Youngest Executed Martyr

Khudiram Bose was 18 when the British hanged him for the Muzaffarpur bombing.

C.6.6

Prafulla Chaki

Prafulla Chaki was 19 when he threw a bomb meant for a British judge.

C.6.7

Pritilata Waddedar

A club in her own city had a sign that insulted Indians. At 21, Pritilata Waddedar led the raid that answered it.

C.6.8

Suniti Choudhury and Santi Ghosh

One was fourteen and the other fifteen. Both were schoolgirls in Comilla, in eastern Bengal.

C.6.9

Surya Sen

On the night of 18 April 1930, a group of young revolutionaries seized two armouries in Chittagong. Their leader was a schoolteac...

C.6.10

Ullaskar Dutta

A young chemistry student in Calcutta learned to make explosives in a small home laboratory. In 1908 one of his bombs went to Muz...

C.7Revolutionary Movement -- Other Figures and Events4

C.7.1

Baji Rout: India's Youngest Martyr

Baji Rout was a boatman's son from Odisha. He was shot dead by police at the age of twelve.

C.7.2

Diwan Singh Kalepani

He was a doctor, a poet and a builder of a gurdwara that welcomed everyone. In the Andaman Islands, people knew him as Kalepani.

C.7.3

Hemu Kalani: Sindh's Teenage Martyr

Hemu Kalani was 19 when the British offered him a way out. He only had to name his friends.

C.7.4

Rash Behari Bose: From Delhi Bomb to Tokyo Exile

In December 1912, a bomb was thrown at the Viceroy's procession in Delhi. The man behind the plot was Rash Behari Bose.

C.8Revolutionary Movement -- Punjab/UP (HSRA)12

C.8.1

Ashfaqulla Khan: Poet of the Kakori Conspiracy

Ashfaqulla Khan was a poet and a revolutionary. He was hanged at 27 for the Kakori train robbery.

C.8.2

Bhagat Singh: Martyr of the Revolutionary Current

Bhagat Singh had a lawyer, an appeal and a real chance to avoid the gallows. He chose the trial itself as his political stage.

C.8.3

Chandrashekhar Azad: The Vow of Azad

At 15, a magistrate asked his name. He answered "Azad", the free one. Nine years later, he made sure he died free too.

C.8.4

Durgawati Devi (Durga Bhabhi)

In December 1928, a young mother boarded a train at Lahore. Her small son sat in the lap of the man beside her.

C.8.5

Kartar Singh Sarabha: The Boy Bhagat Singh Idolised

Kartar Singh Sarabha was a student in California at 16. He was hanged in Lahore at 19.

C.8.6

Rajendra Nath Lahiri

On 9 August 1925, a train stopped in the dark near Lucknow. A young history student had pulled the emergency chain.

C.8.7

Ram Prasad Bismil

Ram Prasad Bismil planned the Kakori train robbery of 1925. It was one of the boldest revolutionary actions against British rule.

C.8.8

Sohan Singh Bhakna: A Revolutionary's Long Life

Sohan Singh Bhakna was the first president of the Ghadar Party.

C.8.9

Thakur Roshan Singh

Thakur Roshan Singh was hanged as one of four men sentenced to death in the Kakori case. He took no part in the Kakori train robb...

C.8.10

The Chapekar Brothers: India's First Assassins of a British Official

On 22 June 1897, Pune was lit up for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. That night, a young man fired at a British plague officer.

C.8.11

Udham Singh: Retribution for Jallianwala Bagh

On 13 April 1919, a teenage orphan served water to a crowd in Jallianwala Bagh. Then soldiers opened fire on them.

C.8.12

Vasudev Balwant Phadke: Father of the Armed Revolutionary Movement

Vasudev Balwant Phadke was a government clerk in Pune. He could not get leave in time to see his dying mother.

C.9Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA10

C.9.1

B.C. Dutt: The Spark of the 1946 Naval Mutiny

One night in early February 1946, a young sailor slipped out with a pot of paint. His target was a wall at a naval base in Bombay.

C.9.2

Captain Lakshmi Sahgal

Lakshmi Sahgal trained as a doctor. In 1943 she raised the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, an all-women combat unit of the Indian Nation...

C.9.3

Habib ur Rahman: The Last Witness to Netaji

On 18 August 1945 a Japanese bomber crashed just after take-off at Taihoku. Subhas Chandra Bose was on board, and so was one Indi...

C.9.4

M.S. Khan: President of the Naval Strike Committee

In February 1946 the sailors of Bombay harbour pulled down the Union Jack. They raised three flags in its place.

C.9.5

Netaji's Escape: From Calcutta to Kabul to Berlin

Before Subhas Chandra Bose ever led the INA, he had to escape British-controlled India entirely. His search for Axis support took...

C.9.6

Shah Nawaz Khan

Shah Nawaz Khan began as an officer in the British Indian Army. He ended as a general of the Indian National Army.

C.9.7

Subhas Chandra Bose and the Forward Bloc, 1939

In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose won a Congress election against Gandhi's own candidate. Within three months, he had left the party's...

C.9.8

The 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

In February 1946, Indian sailors in Bombay refused their orders. The revolt spread to ports from Karachi to Calcutta.

C.9.9

The INA's Military Campaign: Imphal and Kohima

The Indian National Army did not just exist on paper. It fought real battles against British forces, on Indian soil, as part of a...

C.9.10

The Indian National Army and Netaji: From Command to the Red Fort Trials

In 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose took command of an army in exile. Within four months, he had proclaimed a government.

DReform Movements18

D.1

A.V. Kuttimalu Amma

Jail rules said no infants. She quoted the law back at the officers, and kept her two-month-old daughter with her in prison.

D.2

Anandibai Joshi

Anandibai Joshi lost her infant son because no doctor was willing or able to save him. That loss set her on a path to a medical d...

D.3

Caste Consciousness Movements, 19th Century

In 1848, two young teachers opened a school for girls in Pune. One of them, Jyotirao Phule, went on to found a movement against c...

D.4

Deoband and Aligarh: Two Paths for Muslim Education

One school locked its gates to the British. The other opened them wide. Both were answers to the same 1857 shock.

D.5

Har Bilas Sarda

A judge from a small town in Rajasthan put a bill before the national legislature in 1927. It asked a hard question: should a chi...

D.6

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar: Scholar and Reformer

Every Bengali child who learns the alphabet uses a primer he reordered in 1855. The same man pushed through a law that let Hindu ...

D.7

Jyotirao Phule: Education and Anti-Caste Reform

In 1848, Jyotirao Phule and his wife Savitribai opened a school for girls in Pune. Savitribai taught there.

D.8

Mannathu Padmanabhan: Kerala's 'Bharat Kesari'

A Nair leader marched thousands of upper-caste people to support a protest that another community had started. Thirty-five years ...

D.9

Muthulakshmi Reddy: India's First Woman Legislator

A schoolgirl was told her presence might "demoralise" the boys. A screen was put up in the classroom to hide her. She went on to ...

D.10

Narayan Meghaji Lokhande

Narayan Meghaji Lokhande quit his clerk's job at a Bombay cotton mill to fight for the men working the looms around him. In 1890,...

D.11

Periyar E.V. Ramasamy

He was jailed for a temple road in Kerala. He left the Congress over one refused proposal. He then built a movement that still sh...

D.12

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the Brahmo Samaj

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is often called the "Father of the Indian Renaissance." He built a bridge between old Indian tradition and new...

D.13

Rukhmabai: The Court Case That Helped Change India's Marriage Law

An 11-year-old bride grew up to choose prison over her husband's house. Her defiance helped reshape India's marriage law, and she...

D.14

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

He saved British lives in 1857. Thirty years later, he was warning Muslims away from India's biggest nationalist movement.

D.15

Swami Vivekananda: The Monk Who Introduced Vedanta to the West

In 1893 a young monk from Calcutta stood up in Chicago and began with four words: "Sisters and brothers of America."

D.16

Taraknath Palit

Taraknath Palit gave away his life savings to fund a science professorship. He never got to see who filled it. Three years after ...

D.17

The Age of Indian Renaissance: Dayananda Saraswati and Pandita Ramabai

Two reformers reshaped Indian society in the 1800s, in completely opposite ways.

D.18

The National Education Movement of the Swadeshi Era

A poet-turned-revolutionary who had never run a school walked in to lead one. That restless start never quite left the movement h...

EColonial Rule and Administration21

E.1

Bengal's Nawabs and the Road to Plassey

A banking house in Murshidabad decided a battle before it even started. Jagat Seth and his allies promised Mir Jafar the throne i...

E.2

British Land Revenue Systems

The British tried three very different ways to squeeze revenue out of Indian farmland. One went through landlords, one through in...

E.3

Colonial Administrative Structure of British India

One act, passed in 1858, remade how Britain ruled India. It replaced a trading company with the Crown, and the shape lasted nearl...

E.4

Dupleix

Joseph François Dupleix was the French Governor-General in India. He dreamed of a French empire in the south.

E.5

Early Labour Laws and Currency Reform in British India

One reform told mill owners they could not work children to the bone. The other told London it could not let the rupee swing wild...

E.6

Economic Drain and Early Industry

In 1854, a Parsi broker named Cowasjee Nanabhoy Davar opened Bombay's first cotton mill. He had joined his family's trading busin...

E.7

Grievance and Reform: The Deccan Riots, Famine Commission, and Arms Act

A famine killed millions and a riot burned account books — and the same government that whipped Indians with the Arms Act slowly ...

E.8

Lord Curzon: Administrative and Cultural Reforms

Lord Curzon was Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905. He ruled with great energy and wanted an efficient government. He protected m...

E.9

Lord Dalhousie: The Doctrine of Lapse, Railways and Annexation

Lord Dalhousie ran British India from 1848 to 1856, and used that time to grab more territory than almost any Governor-General be...

E.10

Lord Ripon: Local Self-Government and the Ilbert Bill

Lord Ripon was Viceroy of India from 1880 to 1884. He is remembered for two things: starting local self-government, and trying to...

E.11

Macaulay's Minutes and Railways: Colonial Policy's Social Impact

In 1835, Thomas Babington Macaulay argued for English education that would make Indians "English in taste, in opinions, in morals...

E.12

Moved — see The Indian Councils Act of 1861

This article has moved. You are being redirected to The Indian Councils Act of 1861: Portfolio System and the First Indians.

E.13

Portuguese, Dutch and Danish Trading Companies in India

Three European flags flew over Indian ports before the British ever ran the country. Portugal arrived first, in 1498, chasing pep...

E.14

Robert Clive: The Foundation of British Rule in India

Robert Clive was a clerk who became the founder of British power in Bengal. He won at Plassey in 1757 by a plot, not by force. In...

E.15

Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse

Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse were two ways the Company annexed Indian states without open war. One needed a rule...

E.16

The Carnatic Wars: Anglo-French Rivalry

Britain and France fought three wars on India's southeastern coast between 1746 and 1763. Each war was really the Indian front of...

E.17

The Decline of the Mughal Empire: Causes Behind the Collapse

A mighty empire fell apart from the inside, long before the British finished it off.

E.18

The East India Company Becomes a Political Power

A trading firm slowly turned into the ruler of a subcontinent, one Act of Parliament at a time.

E.19

The East India Company's Wars, 1767–1849: A Complete Overview

Between 1767 and 1849, the Company fought nine separate wars against three major Indian powers. By the end, no major independent ...

E.20

The English East India Company's Early Settlements

A royal charter, a rescued strip of coast, and a physician who cured an emperor. These small, negotiated beginnings grew into Bri...

E.21

The Government of India Act, 1935

The Government of India Act, 1935 had 321 sections. It was the longest Act the British Parliament had ever passed. Yet its bigges...

FPath to Partition and Independence11

F.1

Cabinet Mission

In 1946, Britain sent one last major plan to keep India united. It rejected a separate Pakistan. It offered a loose federation in...

F.2

Cripps Mission

In March 1942, Japanese troops stood on India's eastern border. They had just taken Burma. Britain feared India might not hold.

F.3

Direct Action Day

On 16 August 1946, the Muslim League called for "Direct Action" to press its demand for Pakistan. In Calcutta, that day turned in...

F.4

Indian Councils Act, 1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms)

A 1909 law expanded India's legislative councils. It also planted a seed that grew into Partition decades later.

F.5

Indian Independence Act, 1947

One Act of the British Parliament ended nearly two centuries of Crown rule. It passed in just two weeks.

F.6

Mountbatten Plan

India's independence date was not chosen for any reason tied to India. Lord Mountbatten picked 15 August 1947 for a personal reas...

F.7

Simon Commission and the Nehru Report, 1927-28

A seven-member commission arrived in India to decide its constitutional future. Not one member was Indian.

F.8

The All-India Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League began as a loyalist, elite political body. Within four decades, it became the driving force behind Pa...

F.9

The Lucknow Pact, 1916

In December 1916, Congress and the Muslim League reached a deal they never repeated. They agreed on one shared demand for constit...

F.10

The Two-Nation Theory

The Two-Nation Theory is the idea that Hindus and Muslims form two separate nations. More than any other idea, it made Partition ...

F.11

The Wavell Plan and Shimla Conference, 1945

In June 1945, a wartime Viceroy tried to break India's political deadlock. One demand from the Muslim League ended his plan withi...

GConstitution-Making and the Nation's Foundations10

G.1

Ammu Swaminathan: From Child Bride to Constituent Assembly

She never went to school. She was married at thirteen. Decades later she spoke in the Constituent Assembly, and her daughter led ...

G.2

Annie Mascarene

A police officer once assaulted her. Thieves broke into her home. She published an account of it anyway.

G.3

Begum Aizaz Rasul

She sat in the Constituent Assembly as a Muslim League member. Yet she spoke against the League's old demand. She called separate...

G.4

Dakshayani Velayudhan

She was a Dalit woman in a room full of lawmakers who were mostly men. Dakshayani Velayudhan sat in India's Constituent Assembly ...

G.5

Durgabai Deshmukh: The Mother of Social Work in India

At twelve she quit school to protest English-only teaching. At forty-four she chaired a national welfare board. Along the way she...

G.6

Hansa Mehta: The Five Words That Changed Human Rights

The first line of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights could have read "All men are born free and equal". One Indian woman i...

G.7

K.M. Munshi: Constitution-Maker and Somnath's Rebuilder

He helped draft the Constitution. He wrote novels under a pen name. He rebuilt a temple that the Prime Minister did not want the ...

G.8

M.C. Setalvad: India's First Attorney General

When India became a republic, it needed a lawyer to speak for the government in its highest courts. The job went to a Bombay barr...

G.9

Renuka Ray: Champion of Women's Legal Rights

She met Gandhi at sixteen. She wrote the report that asked India to study every law that held women back. Later she ran refugee r...

G.10

The Legacy of Colonialism in Today's India

India's railway network is the 4th-largest in the world by route length. The British built almost all of it. It is just one of ma...

HIntegration of Princely States1

H.1

Yuvraj Pratap Singh of Kullu

Most stories of 1857 head to Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur. This one is set far north, in the high green valley of Kullu.

IPost-Independence7

I.1National Politics and Events4

I.1.1

Emergence of Communism in India

India's communist movement was born twice. It began once abroad, in exile, and again years later on Indian soil.

I.1.2

Jitendra Chandra Paul: The Man Who Gave Tripura Its First Daily

In 1954 a small state in the far northeast got its first Bengali daily. It was not a gift from the government. It was one man's p...

I.1.3

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)

In 1925 a doctor in Nagpur gathered a few boys for exercise and discussion. From that small start grew one of the largest volunte...

I.1.4

Romesh Chunder Dutt

Romesh Chunder Dutt passed the Indian Civil Service exam in 1869, ranking 3rd. He went on to write the book that first backed wit...

I.2Socialist and Left Movements2

I.2.1

The Congress Socialist Party's Founding, 1934

Not every Congress leader in the 1930s trusted Gandhi’s methods alone. A younger, more radical group wanted socialism written int...

I.2.2

V. Subbiah

In 1947 a man from a small French colony in India won a seat in the French Senate. A year later France issued a warrant for his a...

I.3State Leadership (Chief Ministers)1

I.3.1

Gopinath Bordoloi: The Man Who Kept Assam in India

In 1946 the Cabinet Mission drew a plan that tied Assam to Bengal. One man said no, and Assam stayed out of that group. That man ...

JWars and International Conflicts1

J.1

India's Role in the First World War

Over a million Indian soldiers fought for Britain in the First World War, 1914-1918. India also gave huge sums of money and raw m...

KCultural and Literary Figures of the Era4

K.1

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay: The Man Who Wrote Vande Mataram

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay served the colonial government for over 30 years. In his spare hours he wrote the song that outlaste...

K.2

Pingali Venkayya and the Design of the Indian National Flag

The man who designed India's flag died in a hut, largely forgotten. Pingali Venkayya spent five years studying and refining flag ...

K.3

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay: The Author of Devdas

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was poor for most of his life. He did not become famous until he was nearly forty.

K.4

Wajid Ali Shah

Wajid Ali Shah was the last Nawab of Awadh. The British removed him from his throne in February 1856.

Other 50

A.K. Fazlul Haq (Sher-e-Bangla): The Man Who Moved the Lahore Resolution

Ahilyabai Holkar — The Queen Who Rebuilt India's Temples

Awadh After Annexation: Taluqdars and the Summary Settlement, 1856

Chittaranjan Das (Deshbandhu): The Barrister Who Founded the Swaraj Party

Colonial Cities: Urbanisation, Planning and Architecture

Dadabhai Naoroji: The Grand Old Man of India

Economic Critics of Colonialism

Gandhi vs. Tagore: Two Visions of Education

Governors-General and Viceroys of India (1773-1947)

How Different Crops Came to India: Ancient Routes, Indian Ocean Trade and the Columbian Exchange

James Prinsep and the Decipherment of Ashoka's Edicts

Keshab Chandra Sen: The Institutions He Actually Founded

Labour Legislation in Colonial India

Lord Canning: The First Viceroy of India

Lord Cornwallis: The Permanent Settlement and the Cornwallis Code

Lord Dufferin: The Founding of the Indian National Congress

Lord Lytton: The Vernacular Press Act, Arms Act and the Delhi Durbar

Lord Wellesley: The Subsidiary Alliance and the Conquest of India

Lord William Bentinck: Sati, English Education and Reform

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: The Scholar Who Built the Ministry of Education

Motilal Nehru: The Barrister Who Fought From Inside the System

Mysorean Rockets

Political Associations Before the Indian National Congress

Presidents of the Indian National Congress: 1885 to Independence

Railways in British India

Rani Lakshmibai: The Queen Who Would Not Give Up Her Jhansi

Sardar Baldev Singh

Satya Shodhak Samaj: Phule's Anti-Caste Movement

Tarabai — The Regent Who Kept the Marathas Fighting Aurangzeb

The Anglo-Maratha Wars, 1775-1819

The Anglo-Mysore Wars, 1767-1799

The Anglo-Sikh Wars, 1845-1849

The Asiatic Society: A Courtroom Meeting That Rewrote Language History

The Butler Committee, 1927

The Chauri Chaura Incident, 1922

The Eka Movement

The Founding of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha

The Government of India Act, 1919 (Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)

The Home Rule Movement, 1916-1918

The Indian Councils Act of 1861: Portfolio System and the First Indians

The Indian Councils Act of 1892: Indirect Election and the Budget Debate

The Non-Cooperation Movement

The Poona Pact, 1932: How Gandhi's Fast Reshaped Dalit Representation

The Rowlatt Satyagraha, 1919

The Ryotwari Settlement

The Surat Split, 1907: Moderates and Extremists Break Apart

The Vedaranyam Salt March: C. Rajagopalachari's Civil Disobedience

Warren Hastings: The First Governor-General

Wood's Despatch, 1854

Young Bengal: Henry Derozio and the Derozians

World History

World History Articles (78)

AIdeas and Economic History4

A.1

From Watermills to Railways: The Tools Before the Factories

Before the factories came a quieter change. Flooded mines needed pumps. Pumps needed better engines. Engines needed iron, and iro...

A.2

Historiography: From Meta-Narratives to People's History

Whose story gets told? For a long time the answer was kings, generals and treaties. Then historians began to ask about everyone e...

A.3

The Renaissance, Reformation and the Age of Reason

Around 1400, Europe began to look back at Greece and Rome. Within three centuries, it had changed how it thought about art, faith...

A.4

The Scientific Revolution: Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton

For over a thousand years, Europe believed the Sun circled the Earth. Then a few curious people looked harder. They watched the s...

BInternational Institutions2

B.1

The Peace of Westphalia, 1648: Birth of the Modern State System

This article's content has moved. The Peace of Westphalia's full story — the Thirty Years' War, the Münster and Osnabrück treatie...

B.2

The United Nations: Founding, Charter, and the Veto

In 1945 the world had just lived through its deadliest war. Leaders met in San Francisco to build something stronger than the Lea...

CColonialism and Decolonization3

C.1

The Economics of Colonialism: Mercantilism and the Triangular Trade

For about three centuries, European powers saw colonies as wealth machines. The ruling idea was mercantilism. A nation grew rich,...

C.2

The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Remaking of West Asia

For centuries the Ottoman Empire ruled much of West Asia and North Africa. In the First World War it backed the losing side. The ...

C.3

The Scramble for Africa and the Berlin Conference, 1884-85

In 1870 Europeans held about a tenth of Africa, mostly along the coast. By 1914 almost the whole continent was under their flags....

DRevolutions3

D.1

The American Revolution

Before the French Revolution shook Europe, thirteen British colonies in North America had already broken away. What began as a qu...

D.2

The French Revolution

In 1789, France was nearly bankrupt. Bread was dear, and taxes fell on the poor. Within five years, the people had stormed a fort...

D.3

The Russian Revolution of 1917

A war-weary empire. A hungry capital. A small, disciplined party. Together they toppled the Tsar in March 1917, and then the gove...

ERise of Nation States3

E.1

The Meiji Restoration: Japan's Rapid Modernisation, 1868

In 1853 Japan was a closed land ruled by a shogun. Fifty years later it had beaten a European empire in war. No other country cha...

E.2

The Unification of Germany: Bismarck's Realpolitik

Before 1871 there was no single Germany on the map. Otto von Bismarck built one in nine years, with three short wars.

E.3

The Unification of Italy: Risorgimento and the New Kingdom

In 1815 Italy was only a name on the map. It was a patchwork of kingdoms, duchies and papal lands. Within sixty years it was one ...

FWorld Wars3

F.1

World War I: Causes, Course, and the Treaty of Versailles

One shot in Sarajevo, and Europe slid into four years of war. Then a peace treaty tried to settle the score. It left many problem...

F.2

World War II: Fronts, Leaders, and the Holocaust

The Second World War was fought by two camps. The Axis was led by Hitler, Mussolini and Japan's military leaders. The Allies were...

F.3

World War II: Six Turning Points, 1939-1943

On 1 September 1939 German troops crossed into Poland. Two days later Britain and France declared war. Over the next four years, ...

GFascism and Interwar Europe3

G.1

Mussolini and the Rise of Fascism in Italy

Before Hitler, another leader built the first fascist state in Europe. Benito Mussolini gave the ideology its name and its first ...

G.2

The Spanish Civil War: A Preview of World War II

In July 1936 a group of generals rose against Spain's elected government. They expected a quick win. Instead, a brutal three-year...

G.3

The Weimar Republic: Germany's Fragile Democracy, 1919-1933

Germany's first democracy was born in defeat and died in fourteen years. It had a modern constitution, vote for women and a burst...

HCold War and Post-War Order5

H.1

The Bretton Woods Institutions: IMF, World Bank, and GATT

In July 1944 the war was not yet over. But delegates from 44 allied nations met in a hotel in New Hampshire to plan the peace. Th...

H.2

The Cold War and the Berlin Wall: A Divided World

After 1945 two superpowers stared at each other for more than forty years. They never fought a direct war. Yet one divided city, ...

H.3

The First Indochina War and the Fall of Dien Bien Phu

In 1954 a European army surrendered to an Asian army in a remote mountain valley. France had ruled Vietnam for generations. In ei...

H.4

The Marshall Plan: Rebuilding Europe and Containing Communism

In 1947 Europe lay in ruins. Cities were broken, factories idle, and food was short. The United States offered a rescue plan. It ...

H.5

The Suez Crisis, 1956: The End of Old Empires

In 1956 two old European powers tried to take back a canal. Within days they had to stop. The Suez Crisis showed that the world n...

IContemporary Geopolitics1

I.1

Origins of the South China Sea Dispute

Imagine a sea where six governments draw lines on the same map. That is the South China Sea. Ships, fish, oil and old maps all me...

JGeography and Heritage of India1

J.1

Mesopotamia: Geography, Urbanism, and the Rise of Temples and Kings

The first cities rose in a land with almost no rain. Two rivers made it possible. Then temples and kings turned villages into pow...