Colonialism was horrific, and soaked down into the bones of the societies that practiced it

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Meme Curator
Colonialism was horrific, and soaked down into the bones of the societies that practiced it
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Meme Curator OP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Dyer#Amritsar_massacre

Dyer had at his command 50 troops, including 25 Gurkhas of 1/9 Gurkha Rifles (1st battalion, 9th Gurkha Rifles), 25 Pathans and Baluch from 59th Sindh Rifles, armed with .303 Lee–Enfield rifles, plus a further 40 Gurkhas armed only with kukris.[40][41] He also had two armoured cars with machine guns, which were unable to pass through the entrance, and Dyer made no attempt to dismount their Vickers Machine Guns and deploy them in the Bagh.[41] Upon entering the Bagh, the general ordered the troops to shoot directly into the gathering. The shooting continued unabated for about 10 minutes,[42] and the soldiers fired a total of 1,650 rounds of ammunition, roughly a third of the rounds carried.[41]

During the Dyer debates in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, there was both praise and condemnation of Dyer.[81] In 1920, the British Labour Party Conference at Scarborough unanimously passed a resolution denouncing the Amritsar massacre as a “cruel and barbarous action” of British officers in Punjab, and called for their trial, the recall of Michael O’Dwyer and the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, and the repealing of repressive legislation.[82]

Having been born in India and educated in Ireland, Dyer then settled in Britain. He was presented with a gift of £26,000 sterling, (equivalent to £1,004,734 in 2025), which emerged from the fund raised on his behalf by The Morning Post, a conservative, pro-imperialist newspaper which later merged with The Daily Telegraph. A “Thirteen Women Committee” was constituted to present “the Saviour of the Punjab with the sword of honour and a purse”. Large contributions to the fund were made by civil servants and by British Army and Indian Army officers, although serving members of the military were not allowed to donate to political funds under the King’s Regulations (para. 443).[92]

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just a little bit context - until very recently (i think within last 10 years, i guess 2019, but my memory is hazy), britishers never even issued a state level official apology. like not after independence, not 50 years after it. I think they did in 2019, which would mark 100 year anniersary of massacre.

at the time, punjab was one of more developed regions of india, mostly from being a bit more farm rich, also because they were one of last states to befell against the empire. I do not remember the exact trigger, but a bout 1-2 weeks before the incident, a state curfew was declared, which restricted any meetups of 4 or more people in public.

the massacre occured on day of vaisakhi - it is farmers haravest festival, been celebrated for 100s (if not 1000s) of years, as this is when you either start or complete harvesting your winter crop (wheat). this would mean celebrations, some fairs, trade, etc. also, nearly 200 years ago, sikhs’ 10th guru, gobind singh officialy made sikh a separate religion on visakhi (for about 150 years before him, sikhism was more like sufi moment, instead of being organised religion, it was more of some wise guy doing his public sessions. he performed a very small symbolic ritual, but to put it simply, to be a sikh, you just had to drink some prepared holy water). I am adding all this to tell you - you expect people to be out in public on vaisakhi, for cultural, religious, or trade reasons, even if you were rebelious.

and dyer ordered a fire at largely armless crowd in the jalliyan wala bagh (bagh means garden, or ground). hundreds died. from horror stories of survivors, one of the ways to escape your “fate” that day was to hide among dead, of your own family.

there was a trial against dyre by some indians, but obviously dyre obviously won it. He was killed by someone (udham singh) who was traumatised by the incident some 20-30 years afterwards.

I wrote most of this from memory, but wiki article is highly recommended in case you want something detailed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

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Meme Curator OP

and dyer ordered a fire at largely armless crowd in the jalliyan wala bagh (bagh means garden, or ground). hundreds died. from horror stories of survivors, one of the ways to escape your “fate” that day was to hide among dead, of your own family.

Christ. I believe it. Ten minutes of continuous fire on an unarmed and peaceful crowd… what a nightmare.

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