johnnywishbone wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Indian_Navy_MutinyDid you even read this link? It just illustrates my point further.
This wasn't an armed insurrection but a general strike.
The RIN Revolt started as a strike by ratings of the Royal Indian Navy on 18 February in protest against general conditions. The immediate issues of the revolt were conditions and food. By dusk on 19 February, a Naval Central Strike committee was elected.
Leading Signalman M.S Khan and Petty Officer Telegraphist Madan Singh were unanimously elected President and Vice-President respectively.[3] The strike found immense support among the Indian population, already gripped by the stories of the Indian National Army.[4] The actions of the mutineers was supported by demonstrations which included a one-day general strike in Bombay. The strike spread to other cities, and was joined by the Royal Indian Air Force and local police forces. Naval officers and men began calling themselves the "Indian National Navy" and offered left-handed salutes to British officers. At some places, NCOs in the British Indian Army ignored and defied orders from British superiors. In Madras and Pune, the British garrisons had to face revolts within the ranks of the Indian Army. Widespread rioting took place from Karachi to Calcutta. Notably, the revolting ships hoisted three flags tied together — those of the Congress, Muslim League, and the Red Flag of the Communist Party of India (CPI), signifying the unity and downplaying of communal issues among the mutineers.
The revolt was called off following a meeting between the President of the Naval Central Strike Committee (NCSC), M. S. Khan, and Vallab Bhai Patel of the Congress, who had been sent to Bombay to settle the crisis. Patel issued a statement calling on the strikers to end their action, which was later echoed by a statement issued in Calcutta by Mohammed Ali Jinnah on behalf of the Muslim League. Under these considerable pressures, the strikers gave way. However, despite assurances of the good services of the Congress and the Muslim League widespread arrests were made. These were followed up by courts martial and large scale dismissals from the service. None of those dismissed were reinstated into either the Indian or Pakistani navies after independence.
Not to stir up any new hostilities, Johnny, but it's more of an attempt to show you why reading something for 5 minutes and assuming you are correct is questionable debate practice. You read the first few paragraphs from wiki and made a blanket statement which is completely wrong as I will show below, as there was an armed rebellion which was spurred on by Indian National Army fighting against the British headed by Subash Chandra Bose. You only read the introduction from the wiki page but failed to grasp the importance and reasoning for the Mutiny.
Let me explain from text taken from the same wiki link
To start, here's an introduction of the Indian National Army being put on trial. These INA members fought against the British in an armed capacity
After the Second World War, three officers of the Indian National Army (I.N.A.), General Shah Nawaz Khan, Colonel Prem Sahgal and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon were put on trial at the Red Fort in Delhi for "waging war against the King Emperor", i.e. the British sovereign personifying British rule. The three defendants were defended at the trial by Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai and others. Outside the fort, the trials inspired protests and discontent among the Indian population, who came to view the defendants as revolutionaries who had fought for their country.
Next, shows more attribution to Chandra Bose's movement and INA support that pretty much spurred on the mutiny
The INA trials, the stories of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as the stories of INA's fight during the Siege of Imphal and in Burma were seeping into the glaring public-eye at the time. These, received through the wireless sets and the media, fed discontent and ultimately inspired the sailors to strike. In Karachi, revolt broke out on board the Royal Indian Navy ship, HMIS Hindustan off Manora Island. The ship, as well as shore establishments were taken over by mutineers. Later, it spread to the HMIS Bahadur. A naval central strike committee was formed on 19 February 1946, led by M. S. Khan and Madan Singh. The next day, ratings from Castle and Fort Barracks in Bombay, joined in the revolt when rumours (which were untrue) spread that HMIS Talwar's ratings had been fired upon. Ratings left their posts and went around Bombay in lorries, holding aloft flags containing the picture of Subhas Chandra Bose. Several Indian naval officers who opposed the strike and sided with the British were thrown off the ship by ratings. Soon, the mutineers were joined by thousands of disgruntled ratings from Bombay, Karachi, Cochin and Vizag. Communication between the various mutinies was maintained through the wireless communication sets available in HMIS Talwar. Thus, the entire revolt was coordinated.
Next the important thing you were probably waiting for. Demonstrations of armed militants going against the British
Hundreds of strikers from the sloops, minesweepers and shore establishments in Bombay demonstrated for 2 hours along Hornby Road near VT (now the very busy D.N. Road near CST). British personnel of the Defence forces were singled out for attacks by the strikers who were armed with hammers, crowbars and hockey sticks.
Next, this sure sounds like an armed rebellion, but I may be mistaken if guns qualify as arms.
Vehicles carrying mail were stopped and the mail burnt. British men and women going in cars and victorias were made to get down and shout "Jai Hind" (Victory to India). Guns were trained on the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Yacht Club and other buildings from morning till evening.
The next quote shows how the mutiny spread and wasn't limited to just the Navy alone. There was a pure national movement taken place.
1000 RIAF men from the Marine Drive and Andheri Camps also joined in sympathy. By the end of the day Gurkhas in Karachi had refused to fire on striking sailors.
This next passage also demonstrated the increased state of armed Indians who were willing to use them.
The situation was changing fast and rumours spread that Australian and Canadian armed battalions had been stationed outside the Lion gate and the Gun gate to encircle the dockyard where most ships were berthed. However, by this time, all the armouries of the ships and establishments had been seized by the striking ratings. The clerks, cleaning hands, cooks and wireless operators of the striking ship armed themselves with whatever weapon was available to resist the British Destroyers that had sailed from Trincomalee in Ceylon
Once again, firing artillery/shells/gunfire back at the British sounds more like a armed confrontation, rather then a general strike.
The Royal Artillery positioned the battery within point blank range of the Hindustan on the dockside. An ultimatum was delivered to the mutineers aboard Hindustan, stating that if they did not the leave the ship and put down their weapons by 10:30 they would have to face the consequences. The deadline came and went and there was no message from the ship or any movement. Orders were given to open fire at 10:33. The gunners' first round was on target. On board the Hindustan the Indian naval ratings began to return gunfire and several shells whistled over the Royal Artillery guns
Next, the passage below will begin to show the effects this armed rebellion had against the British psyche
The revolt caused a great deal of panic in the British Government. The connections of this revolt with the popular perceptions and changing attitudes with the activities of the INA and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was taken note of and its resemblance of the revolt of 1857 also caused alarm among the British administration of the time.
The next passage shows that the members of this mutiny/rebellion were not forgotten and have since been honored for their actions in India
More recently, the RIN Revolt has been renamed the Naval Uprising and the mutineers honoured for the part they played in India's freedom. In addition to the statue which stands in Mumbai opposite the sprawling Taj Wellingdon Mews, two prominent mutineers, Madan Singh and B.C Dutt, have each had ships named after them by the Indian Navy.
The following passage will explain how the revolt binded a nation together even along religious and cultural differences. The revolt also recieved wide militant support throughout India
The most significant factor of this revolt, with hind-sight, came to be that Hindus and Muslims united to resist the British, even at a time that saw the peak of the movement for Pakistan. This critical assessment starts from events at the time of the revolt. The revolt came to receive widespread militant support, even for the short period that it lasted, not only in Bombay, but also in Karachi and Calcutta on 23 February, in Ahmedabad, Madras and Trichinopoly on the 25th, at Kanpur on the 26th, and at Madurai and several places in Assam on the 26th. The agitations, mass strikes, demonstrations and consequently support for the mutineers, therefore continued several days even after the revolt had been called off.
Most importantly, as stated below is the fallout of this event, in that the British realized they could no longer rely on Indians to do their dirty work and that the game was up.
Along with this, the assessment may be made that it described in crystal clear terms to the government that the British Indian Armed forces could no longer be universally relied upon for support in crisis, and even more it was more likely itself to be the source of the sparks that would ignite trouble in a country fast slipping out of the scenario of political settlement.
Next, it further explains how this armed rebellion showed the British, that there would be no way to counter any other uprisings in India. It seemed the people and the mutineers/rebels had produced a favorable effect.
However, to control the result of those actions, compounded by the outpourings of the INA trials was beyond the capabilities of the British Indian forces on whom any British General or politician (including Indian leaders) could reliably trust. The navy itself was marginal in terms of state power; Indian service personnel were at this time being swept by a wave of nationalist sentiments, as would be proved by the mutinies that occurred in the Royal Indian Air Force. In the after-effect of the revolt, a Weekly intelligence summary issued on 25 March 1946 admitted that the Indian army, navy and air force units were no longer trust worthy, and, for the army, "only day to day estimates of steadiness could be made".[12] It came to the situation where, if wide-scale public unrest took shape, the armed forces could not be relied upon to support counter-insurgency operations
Having said all that, I'd liek to point out that I only had knowledge of the significance of this event and didn't really know all the specifics of what took place. I had more of a general idea. I thank you though for influencing me to go back and read it all, and now am fully aware fo what transpired.
All in all, these events(INA fighting the British and the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny/Rebellion) steered us towards independence far more effectively then peaceful sit downs were my people were beaten humiliatingly. If I had the choice between peaceful demonstration or aggressive armed rebellion, I would always pursue the peaceful solution at first and attempt diplomacy. After being humiliated and laughed at in my own land for 100's of years, after a point I'm taking arms up.