Amritsar Massacre
On 13 April 1919, troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire on a large crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, an enclosed public garden in Amritsar in British-ruled Punjab. The shooting killed hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children and wounded many more. The massacre became a turning point in the history of British India, destroying the trust of many Indians in imperial rule and pushing the independence movement toward mass, organized non-cooperation.
The background lay in the strains of the First World War. Punjab had supplied large numbers of soldiers and heavy wartime levies, and expectations of political reform were high. Instead, the Rowlatt Acts of early 1919 extended emergency powers, allowing detention without trial and curbs on the press, and provoked widespread anger. Mohandas Gandhi called for a nationwide hartal, or strike, and Punjab saw tense protests. In Amritsar, the arrest and deportation of two local leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Satya Pal, led to riots on 10 April in which several Europeans were killed, banks were attacked, and a missionary teacher was assaulted.
Authorities placed the city under military control, and Dyer was sent to restore order. He banned public gatherings, though how widely the ban was announced is disputed. On the afternoon of 13 April, which was also the Sikh festival of Baisakhi, thousands assembled at Jallianwala Bagh. Some came for the festival, others to attend a political meeting. Dyer brought soldiers to the only main entrance, which was too narrow for vehicles, and ordered them to fire without warning into the dense crowd. The shooting continued for around ten minutes, until ammunition ran low. Many people died in a crush at the exits or in a well in the grounds. The official British figure was 379 dead, but Indian estimates were considerably higher, and the true number remains uncertain.
Martial law followed across parts of Punjab, with public floggings and the notorious "crawling order" imposed on one Amritsar street. Dyer later said he intended to produce a "moral effect" across the province. A British inquiry, the Hunter Committee, criticized his actions, and he was relieved of his command, though he was never prosecuted. In Britain, opinion was divided: the House of Commons condemned the killings, while the House of Lords and some public campaigns supported Dyer.
In India the response was lasting. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his knighthood in protest, and Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920. Jallianwala Bagh became a national memorial, and the massacre remains a powerful symbol in debates about colonial violence, with British leaders expressing regret in later decades.