In India , the forces of nationalism were now being organized by the Indian National Congress , led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru . India contributed significantly to victory in the World War , and was bitterly disappointed by the very limited benefits conferred in the Government of India Act 1919 . British fears of German wartime plots or postwar Communism following the Ghadar Mutiny ensured that war-time strictures were renewed by the Rowlatt Act of 1919 that suppressed dissent . Tensions escalated particularly in the Punjab region , where repressive measures culminated in the Amritsar Massacre . In Britain public opinion was divided over the morality of the massacre , between those who saw it as having saved India from anarchy , and those who viewed it with revulsion . Gandhi developed the technique of nonviolent resistance , claiming moral superiority over the British use of violence . Multiple negotiations were held in the 1930s , but a strong reactionary movement in Britain , led by Winston Churchill , blocked the adoption of reforms that would satisfy Indian nationalists . Historian Lawrence James states :
Amritsar Massacre
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Interwar Britain