The Partition of Bengal 1905: The Stroke That Woke a Nation
Meant to divide the province that led political India, the partition of 1905 ignited swadeshi, rakhi bandhan and boycott, and ended in the empire's first retreat.
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The North West Frontier and the Great Game
Russia's shadow, the Durand Line, the risings of 1897 and Curzon's frontier province: the Great Game consumed India's revenues and left borders still burning.
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Curzon: The Viceroy Who Loved India and Misread Indians
He restored the Taj, rebuilt famine policy and founded the frontier province, then partitioned Bengal and called truth a Western conception. Curzon's love never saw Indians.
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Vivekananda at Chicago and the Awakening of Indian Confidence
Five words at Chicago brought an assembly to its feet and a civilisation to its own attention. Vivekananda converted the applause into missions, service and strength.
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The Plague of 1896 and the Shots at Ganeshkhind
Plague searches that violated homes, a sedition trial that crowned the Lokmanya, and two brothers on the Ganeshkhind road: 1897 opened the revolutionary era.
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The Age of Consent Act 1891 and the War Over Reform
A child's death forced the Age of Consent Act of 1891, and the storm it raised, Tilak against the reformers, set the template for every battle over custom and state.
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Tilak and the Birth of Extremism
Festivals, the popular press and the defiant trial: Tilak awakened the ruled instead of petitioning the rulers, and made swaraj a birthright and politics a mass affair.
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Gokhale: The Servant of India
Gandhi called him the Ganga and made him his guru. Gokhale turned budgets into weapons, spiritualised politics and taught India the institutions it now inhabits.
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The Indian Councils Act 1892: Election by Another Name
The 1892 Act allowed election without the word, budget speeches without votes and questions without follow up, and taught a generation the price of politeness.
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The Moderates: Prayer, Petition and the Making of a Nation
Mocked as mendicants, the Moderates of 1885 to 1905 demolished the empire's economic case, built the Congress and bound the pages on which Gandhi later wrote.
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