CBSE Class 10 SST: Nationalism in India — History Notes 2026

First World War and Indian Nationalism

• WW1 (1914–18): India sent 1.5 million soldiers to fight for Britain; massive war expenditure → price rise, forced recruitment
• Indian nationalists hoped Home Rule would be reward for loyalty; expectations dashed by Rowlatt Act 1919
• Rowlatt Act: allowed imprisonment without trial; Satyagraha called by Gandhi; Jallianwala Bagh massacre April 13, 1919

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22)

• Gandhi's programme: boycott schools, courts, councils, foreign cloth; return honours/titles
• Spread to social issues: anti-caste movements in Nagpur, Oudh peasant movement, tribal movement in Andhra
• February 1922: Chauri Chaura (UP) — mob burned police station killing 22 constables; Gandhi withdrew movement

Salt March and Civil Disobedience

• March 12, 1930: Gandhi's 240-mile march from Sabarmati to Dandi; reached April 6, 1930; made salt from sea
• Civil Disobedience: refused to follow specific unjust laws; hartals, boycotts, non-payment of taxes
• Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931): civil disobedience suspended; Gandhi attended Round Table Conference in London

How Different Groups Participated

• Peasants: joined in Awadh and Bardoli; grievances about rent and revenue; connected national and local issues
• Tribal people: Alluri Sitaram Raju in Andhra; adapted non-cooperation into forest rights campaign
• Women: participated in picketing, marches; Gandhiji included women as equal participants in movements

Sense of Collective Belonging

• National flag: tricolour designed; national songs; shared cultural symbols
• Bharat Mata imagery: mother goddess representing the nation; Bankim Chandra's Vande Mataram
• History and folklore: leaders invoked stories of Shivaji, Rani Laxmibai to inspire collective identity

Limits of Congress Vision

• INC represented middle-class professionals, merchants; did not always represent peasant/tribal demands
• Muslim League: separate political identity; demands not incorporated in Congress platform led to eventual partition
• Class and communal tensions: sometimes nationalist leaders chose unity over addressing caste/class inequalities

CBSE Exam Tips

• Nationalism chapter: 6–8 marks in CBSE; source-based questions on Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience
• Cause and consequence questions: why did Gandhi withdraw Non-Cooperation?
• Map: mark Dandi, Chauri Chaura, Jallianwala Bagh, Champaran — all are map-point questions in CBSE