India strongly supported the Empire in the First World War . It expected a reward , but failed to get home rule as the British Raj kept control in British hands and feared another rebellion like that of 1857 . The Government of India Act 1919 failed to satisfy demand for independence . Mounting tension , particularly in the Punjab region , culminated in the Amritsar Massacre in 1919 . Nationalism surged and centred in the Congress Party led by Mohandas Gandhi . 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
Amritsar Massacre
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Interwar period