Indian Independence movement

The Indian Independence Movement incorporated the efforts by Indians to expel the British, French and Portuguese from their trade-posts in the subcontinent; it involved a wide spectrum of Indian political organizations, philosophies, and rebellions between 1857 and India's emergence as an unified nation-state on August 15, 1947.

The initial Indian Rebellion of 1857 was sparked when soldiers serving in the British East India Company's British Army and Indian kingdoms rebelled against the British. After the revolt was crushed, India developed a class of educated elites whose political organising sought Indian political rights and representation while cleverly allowing the British to go ahead with western-style industrial developments. However, increasing public disenchantment with the presence of the British — their involvement in native civil liberties, political rights, and culture as well as alienation from issues facing common Indians — led to an upsurge in revolutionary activities aimed at overthrowing the non-natives, particularly the British.