History
National Movement: 1885 to 1919
National Movement: 1885 to 1919 — Quick Revision
One-page CGPSC quick revision for the National Movement 1885–1919: sessions, dates, leaders, newspapers and Don't-confuse pairs for Prelims and Mains.
The national movement from the founding of the Congress (1885) to the eve of the Gandhian era (1919) on one page: dates, sessions, leaders, organisations and newspapers. For explanations, go back to the chapter.
How to use this sheet
Scan it top to bottom in the week before Prelims. Bold entries are the facts examiners return to most often.
Timeline / Key Facts
| Year | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1838 | Landholders’ Society | Calcutta; first political association |
| 1851 | British Indian Association | Calcutta |
| 1866 | East India Association | London, Dadabhai Naoroji |
| 1870 | Poona Sarvajanik Sabha | M.G. Ranade |
| 1876 | Indian Association | Surendranath Banerjea, Ananda Mohan Bose |
| 1883 | Ilbert Bill; first Indian National Conference | Lord Ripon |
| 1884 | Madras Mahajan Sabha | |
| 1885 | INC founded, Bombay, 28 Dec | W.C. Bonnerjee, 72 delegates, A.O. Hume; Viceroy Dufferin |
| 1887 | Madras session | Badruddin Tyabji, first Muslim president |
| 1888 | Allahabad session | George Yule, first English president |
| 1891 | Nagpur session | P. Ananda Charlu; Central Provinces (incl. Chhattisgarh) |
| 1892 | Indian Councils Act | Limited indirect election; budget discussion |
| 1893, 1895 | Ganapati and Shivaji festivals | Tilak |
| 1897 | Rand and Ayerst shot, Poona | Chapekar brothers |
| 1900 | Chhattisgarh Mitra, Pendra | Madhavrao Sapre |
| 1901 | Poverty and Un-British Rule in India | Dadabhai Naoroji |
| 1902 | Anushilan Samiti, Calcutta | |
| 1904 | Abhinav Bharat | Savarkar brothers |
| 1905 | Partition: 19 July (decision), 16 Oct (in force); 7 Aug boycott resolution | Curzon; Benares session (Gokhale) |
| 1905 | India House, London | Shyamji Krishna Varma |
| 1906 | Simla Deputation (1 Oct); Muslim League, Dacca (30 Dec); Calcutta session: Swaraj | Aga Khan; Naoroji |
| 1906 | Swadeshi Steam Navigation Co.; National Council of Education; Jugantar | V.O. Chidambaram Pillai; Barindra Kumar Ghosh |
| 1907 | Surat split (session first fixed for Nagpur) | Rash Behari Ghosh; Madame Cama at Stuttgart; Sapre’s Hindi Kesari, Nagpur |
| 1908 | Muzaffarpur bomb (30 Apr); Alipore case; Tilak to Mandalay (six years) | Khudiram Bose (hanged 11 Aug) |
| 1909 | Morley–Minto: separate electorates; Curzon Wyllie shot (1 Jul); Jackson shot (Dec) | S.P. Sinha in Viceroy’s Executive Council; Dhingra; Kanhere |
| 1910 | Bhumkal, Bastar (tribal, separate stream) | Gunda Dhur |
| 1911 | Partition annulled, capital to Delhi (12 Dec) | George V; Hardinge |
| 1912 | Bomb at Hardinge, Delhi (23 Dec) | Rash Behari Bose |
| 1913 | Ghadar Party, USA; Ghadar (1 Nov) | Har Dayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna |
| 1914 | Komagata Maru; Budge Budge (29 Sep); Tilak released (June) | Gurdit Singh |
| 1915 | Gandhi returns (9 Jan); Ghadar rising fails (Feb); Bagha Jatin (Sep); Kabul government (1 Dec); Extremists readmitted (Bombay) | Mahendra Pratap, Barkatullah |
| 1916 | Tilak’s League (Apr, Belgaum); Besant’s League (Sep, Madras); Lucknow Pact (Dec) | A.C. Mazumdar; Tilak and Jinnah |
| 1917 | Besant interned (Jun) and released (Sep); August Declaration (20 Aug); Besant presides, Calcutta | Edwin Montagu |
| 1918 | Montagu–Chelmsford Report; Liberal Federation | Surendranath Banerjea |
| 1919 | Government of India Act; Rowlatt Act | Next chapter |
Leaders, Organisations and Papers
| Leader | Remember for |
|---|---|
| Dadabhai Naoroji | East India Association; drain theory; elected to the British House of Commons (1892, Finsbury Central); Swaraj at Calcutta 1906 |
| G.K. Gokhale | Moderate; Benares 1905; Servants of India Society (1905) |
| Tilak | Kesari, Mahratta; festivals; Mandalay; Home Rule League; “Swaraj is my birthright” |
| Lajpat Rai | Punjab; Mandalay 1907; Home Rule League of America (1917) |
| Bipin Chandra Pal | Bengal; New India |
| Aurobindo Ghosh | Bande Mataram; Bengal National College; Alipore (acquitted) |
| Annie Besant | New India, Commonweal; Home Rule League; first woman Congress president |
| Madhavrao Sapre | Chhattisgarh Mitra (Pendra, 1900); Hindi Kesari (Nagpur, 1907) |
| Shyamji Krishna Varma | India House; The Indian Sociologist |
| Har Dayal | Ghadar |
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Rash Behari Ghosh — Surat president, 1907 | vs | Rash Behari Bose — Hardinge bomb, 1912 |
| British Indian Association (1851) | vs | Indian Association (1876) |
| Indian Councils Act 1892 | vs | Indian Councils Act 1909 (separate electorates) |
| Swadesh Bandhab Samiti (Barisal) | vs | Anushilan Samiti (revolutionary) |
| Jugantar (Bengal weekly, 1906) | vs | Yugantar Ashram (Ghadar HQ, San Francisco) |
| Tilak’s League (Apr 1916, Belgaum, CP and Berar) | vs | Besant’s League (Sep 1916, Madras, rest of India) |
| Lucknow Pact 1916 (separate electorates accepted) | vs | Poona Pact 1932 (Depressed Classes, joint electorate) |
| August Declaration 1917 (Montagu) | vs | August Offer 1940 (Linlithgow) |
| Annie Besant (first woman president, 1917) | vs | Sarojini Naidu (first Indian woman president, 1925) |
| Safety valve (Wedderburn’s Hume) | vs | Lightning conductor (Bipan Chandra) |
| Bhumkal 1910 (tribal, Bastar) | vs | Alipore 1908 (urban revolutionaries) |
Favourite MCQ trap
“The partition of Bengal was annulled in 1909 by the Morley–Minto reforms.” Wrong. The 1909 Act brought separate electorates. The partition was annulled at the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, announced by George V, when Hardinge was Viceroy.
Second favourite trap
“The first session of the Congress was held at Poona under Surendranath Banerjea.” Both parts are wrong. It was held at Bombay under W.C. Bonnerjee. Surendranath was at the Indian National Conference in Calcutta.
Chhattisgarh one-liners
Chhattisgarh was a division of the Central Provinces (capital Nagpur) · Nagpur session 1891 · the 1907 session was first fixed for Nagpur · Madhavrao Sapre: Chhattisgarh Mitra (1900), Hindi Kesari (1907) · CP and Berar in Tilak’s League · Bhumkal 1910 was a separate tribal stream. More in Freedom Movement in Chhattisgarh.
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