Context: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was carried out by British forces, with an estimate of 379-1,500 killed. Those killed were involved in a gathering of people to celebrate the Baisakhi festival and protest the Rowlatt Act - A law that allowed any Indian person to be arrested on suspicion, in an effort to stop a growing independence movement.
Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer surrounded the crowd, penning them into an enclosed area with only 1 exit that the British forces held and ordered his men to open fire. Many men, women, and children tried to flee but with no where to go, 120 of which jumped to their deaths into the ‘Martyrs’ Well. Dyer claims his goal “was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians for disobedience.”
The House of Commons condemned Dyer for his ruthless act, but the House of Lords commended him and the British public raised over a million pounds in today’ money to fund for him.
This was an important lesson to those that fought in the Indian independence movement to not believe in the false morality / justice of British occupiers.
Dyer ordered his troops to keep firing for ten minutes, even after the ammunition supply was exhausted and the crowd was already incapacitated.
Although a commission (the Hunter Commission) investigated the massacre, Dyer was never criminally prosecuted.
This was India’s Tiananmen Square massacre. The notable difference being that it was committed by foreign occupiers rather than an authoritarian indigineous government.
Nearly 100 million died in artificially engineered famines due to British foreign interference. Everyday we are grateful that the sun did indeed set on the British Empire.