Research Paper On The Amritsar Massacre

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The Amritsar massacre in April, 1919 involved the British and the Indians. During the massacre the British open fired on 20,000 unarmed protesters. This led to 379 deaths. The Indians were protesting for their freedom and their rights to not be imprisoned without a trial . The Amritsar massacre was one of the most horrific scenes in Indian history. Early in February 1919, the Rowlatt act passed which stated that you could be put in jail without a trial (Britannica.com 2015).This act led to many riots, and protestings. Two popular and dominant leaders of Amritsar, Kitchlew and Satya Pal, were arrested(SabrangIndia 2016). They were important to Amritsar because they were the leader of a religion called Punjab. This made the Indians even more mad. The next day, the city was then handed over to Reginald Dyer, who was the general of the British. Dyer, then put a ban on public meetings and protestings. …show more content…

Around 20,000 people from other villages went to the festival.They were unaware of Dyer’s recent ban on public meetings,and gatherings. The festival was an enclosed area with only one exit. Suddenly, Dyer appeared at the festival with 90 troops without any warning(historytoday.com 2015). He then ordered fire on a peaceful defenceless crowd of people(Scroll.in 2016). Dyer continued firing until their ammunition ran out.This led to 379 deaths and 1,200 injured(Britannica.com 2015). The impact on the massacre affected Gandhi and the Indian