The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also known as the Amritsar Massacre was a massacre that

happened in Amritsar, in 1919. It is named after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the
northern Indian city of Amritsar. On April 13, 1919, British, Indian Army soldiers started shooting
an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The person in charge was Brigadier-
General Reginald Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar.
The shooting lasted about ten minutes. According to official British Raj sources, 379 people were
killed. According to other sources, there were over 1,000 deaths, with more than 2,000
wounded,[1] and Civil Surgeon Dr. Smith said that there were 1,526 casualties.[2]

Contents
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 1Background
o 1.1India during World War I
o 1.2After the war
o 1.3Rowlatt Act
 2Before the massacre
 3The massacre
 4References

Background[change | change source]

India during World War I[change | change source]
World War I began with huge support and goodwill towards the United Kingdom from the Indian
political leadership. This was not expected by the British, who thought there may be a revolt.
India contributed a lot to the British war effort by providing men and resources. About 1.3 million
Indian soldiers and workers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian
government and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition.
However, Bengal and Punjab were areas where people still opposed the British. Terrorist-style
attacks in Bengal became linked with the unrest in Punjab.[3][4] Also, from the beginning of the
war, the overseas Indian population, mainly from the United States, Canada, and Germany,
headed by the Berlin Committee and the Ghadar Party, attempted to start a rebellion in India
similar to the 1857 uprising with Irish Republican, German and Turkish help in a massive
conspiracy that has since come to be called the Hindu German conspiracy.[5][6][7]This conspiracy
also attempted to rally Afghanistan against British India.[8]

After the war[change | change source]

After World War I, the high number of dead and wounded, inflation, heavy taxation and other
problems all greatly affected the people of India. Indian soldiers smuggled arms into India to
overthrow British rule. Different groups settled their differences to demand independence from
Britain. In 1916, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League signed the Lucknow Pact,
agreeing to build a border dividing Punjab (India) and Pakistan.

Rowlatt Act[change | change source]

The worsening civil unrest throughout India, especially amongst the Bombay millworkers, led to
the Rowlatt committee in 1919. The Rowlatt committee was named after Sydney Rowlatt, an
English judge. The job of the committee was to understand German and Bolshevik links to the
militant movement in India, especially in Punjab and Bengal.
The committee asked for an extension of the Defence of India act of 1915[9][10][11][12] The act gave
the Viceroy's government with great power, that included silencing the press, including detaining
the political activists without trial, arrest without warrant of any individual suspected of treason.
This act sparked huge anger within India.
Before the massacre[change | change source]
The events that followed the Rowlatt Act in 1919 were also influenced by the events linked to the
Ghadar conspiracy. At the time, British Indian Army troops were returning from the battlefields
of Europe and Mesopotamia to an economic depression in India. [13][14] There were many attempts
to mutiny in 1915 and the Lahore conspiracy trials were still in public attention. News of
young Mohajirs who fought on behalf of the Turkish Caliphate and later for the Red Army during
the Russian Civil War was also beginning to reach India. The Russian Revolution had also
started to influence India.[15] It was at this time that Mahatma Gandhi, until then relatively
unknown on the Indian political scene, began emerging as a mass leader.
Gandhi's call for protest against the Rowlatt act got an expected response - of furious unrest and
protests. The situation especially in Punjab became bad very quickly. Rail, telegraph and
communication systems were all disrupted. A huge crowd of 20,000 marched through Lahore.[14]
In Amritsar, over 5,000 people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. Michael O'Dwyer is said to have
believed that this was part of an attempt to rebel against the British. [16] James Houssemayne Du
Boulay is said to have ascribed a direct relationship between the fear of a Ghadarite uprising in
the midst of an increasingly tensed situation in Punjab, and the British response that ended in the
massacre.[17]
On April 10, 1919, a protest was held at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, a
city in Punjab, a large province in the northwestern part of what was then undivided India. The
demonstration was held to demand the release of two popular leaders of the Indian
Independence Movement, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew, who had been earlier arrested on
account of their protests. The crowd was shot at by British troops, the shooting stated more
violence. Later in the day, several banks and other government buildings, including the Town
Hall and the railway station were attacked and set on fire. The violence continued to increase,
and resulted in the deaths of at least 5 Europeans, including government employees and
civilians.
For the next two days, the city of Amritsar was quiet, but violence continued in other parts of the
Punjab. Railway lines were cut, telegraphposts destroyed, government buildings burnt, and three
Europeans were killed. By April 13, the British government had decided to place most of the
Punjab under martial law. The legislation placed restrictions on a number of civil liberties,
including freedom of assembly, banning gatherings of more than four people [18]

The massacre[change | change source]

On April 13 1919, thousands of people gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the
Golden Temple in Amritsar. The date was for the Baisakhi festival which was also the Sikh new
year. For more than two hundred years, this festival had drawn thousands from all over India.
People had travelled for days to get to Amritsar.

The Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919, months after the massacre.

The Jallianwala Bagh was surrounded on all sides by houses and buildings and had few narrow
entrances, most of which were kept locked. Unable to escape people tried to climb the walls of
the park. Many jumped into a well inside the compound to escape from the bullets. A plaque in
the monument says that 120 bodies were plucked out of the well.
'The Martyr's' well at Jallianwala Bagh.

As a result of the shooting, hundreds of people were killed and thousands were injured. In
a telegram sent to Dyer, British Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, Sir Michael
O'Dwyer wrote: "Your action is correct. Lieutenant Governor approves."[19]
O'Dwyer asked for martial law to be imposed upon Amritsar and other areas; this was allowed by
the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, after the massacre.