Government of India Act

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: Using the British Regulating Act, Queen Victoria’s Proclamation concerning India, and the Government of India Act, prepare a time line with the ten events you believe were most important in the evolution of India to an independent nation. Be prepared to justify your inclusion of each entry on the time line.
• 2.: Why did the Government of India Act fail to satisfy the nationalist movement in India?
• 3.: In the long term, did institutions such as those created by the Government of India Act contribute to a tradition of democratic government that survived in India? Explain.
• 4.: Compare the independence movement in India with that of Algeria, which broke from France in 1954, as reflected in the events surrounding the Proclamation of the Algerian National Liberation Front. What were the motivations of the two countries' nationalists? How did the colonial powers—England and France—respond to independence movements in their colonies?
• 5.: Another nation in England's sphere of influence, Ireland, fought for independence in the early twentieth century. Compare India's independence movement with Ireland's, as reflected in the Proclamation of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, which was issued just three years before the Government of India Act.