Today, I would like to share with you an old story between India and the United Kingdom.
Reginald Dale was born on October 9, 1864, to a family of local British immigrants in the British-controlled Indian province of Punjab.
Dale dreamed of joining the army from a young age, and as a young man he was admitted to the Royal Military College Sandhurst (which trains junior officers and staff officers in the army) and graduated as a second lieutenant in the British Army. Due to Dyer's excellent grades, he was able to serve on British soil.
In 1886, a conflict between Protestants and Catholics broke out in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, which quickly turned into a large-scale conflict, and the then 22-year-old Dale was ordered to lead his troops into Belfast to 'quell'**
This ** is considered to be a big ** for the local pro-British Protestants in Belfast and against the pro-Irish Catholics. And the British army naturally pulled the bias in this **, openly and secretly assisting the local Protestants, which boosted the bloodiness of **. The performance of the fledgling Dale in this ** was greatly affirmed by his boss, and it is not difficult to imagine that he and his troops must be full of blood in this **.
Because of his 'outstanding' performance in the suppression of Belfast**, the British Empire decided to train him. Given that he was born in India and was familiar with the hot and humid tropics, he was transferred back to India, where he was sent to northern Burma, which had just been occupied by the British, to take part in the suppression of the local people's resistance.
However, when Dale arrived in northern Myanmar, he was immediately taught a hard lesson by the harsh rainforest climate of northern Myanmar. Dale, the jackals of Western colonization, suffered from cholera one by one, and many of them remained in the mountains and forests of northern Myanmar forever, but Dale finally escaped by luck.
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out in China, and the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist movement was carried out everywhere in China. This made Britain worry about their colony of Hong Kong in southern China, so Dale, a die-hard officer who had been suppressing all kinds of '** in India for many years, once again came into the eyes of his superiors.
So in 1912, Dale was sent to Hong Kong to garrison.
This was a major impact on Dell's life, as he spent seven years in Hong Kong, which saved him from World War I and did not have to go to Europe to serve as cannon fodder, but it also greatly affected his career.
Until 1919, at the age of 55, he was still only a colonel.
However, it was also in 1919 that a major turning point in Dell's life arrived.
The October Revolution was introduced to the October Revolution by the British who recruited 1.25 million men from India to fight in the First World War. After the end of the First World War, many of the officers and soldiers who had been exposed to revolutionary ideas in Europe returned to India, and many of them threw themselves into the national independence movement. The Indian people, who were brutally oppressed by the British colonialists, rallied to support the national independence movement, and the entire South Asian subcontinent was surging, and the British colonial system was gradually shaken.
In order to suppress the thriving Indian national independence movement, the British Judge in India Sa.The committee headed by Roulat concocted the Indian Penal Code Amendment (No. 1 of 1919) and the Penal Law Extraordinary Powers Act (No. 2 of 1919), which completely deprived the Indian people of political and personal freedoms such as assembly.
Despite the efforts of Indian parliamentarians to resist the two bills, the British colonial authorities forced them through. These two bills led to the opposition of the comprador class, led by Gandhi, to the British colonial authorities, and Gandhi began to promote a non-violent non-cooperation movement. The vast majority of the people of the South Asian subcontinent carried out outright armed insurrections, attacking the various ruling institutions of the British colonial authorities, cutting up the railways, and hunting down the Europeans in the colonial authorities.
In the face of wave after wave of national independence movements of the people of the South Asian subcontinent, the British Empire took high-pressure measures-for-tat, mobilizing elite troops from all over the world to the South Asian subcontinent in an attempt to forcibly suppress them. It was in this context that Dale was transferred back to Punjab, where he was born, and assigned to the city of Amritsar to command the local garrison.
Unlike the rest of India, Punjab is monotheistic Sikhism, and the city of Amritsar is a holy site for Sikhism. Therefore, the British colonial authorities transferred Dale, who was known for his tough suppression of colonial rebellion, to Amritsar, hoping that his purpose of suppressing the local people's resistance with an iron fist was very clear.
The new officer was very conscientious, and he sent armoured vehicles around the city and issued orders ordering the inhabitants of the city to strictly abide by the Indian Penal Law Amendment Act (No. 1 of 1919) and the Penal Law of Extraordinary Powers (No. 2 of 1919) and not to hold any assembly.
However, on the evening of April 12, 1919, the whole city of Amritsar was full of gongs and drums, and a large number of people gathered in the city. Dale was shocked by this sudden situation, but due to the lack of troops, he had to order the garrison to guard the station. Dale, who didn't know the situation outside, sat in the headquarters in a military uniform, and didn't dare to relax for a moment.
By 1 a.m. on April 13, the crowd had gradually dispersed, and the hustle and bustle outside had gradually fallen silent. Dell, who had been nervously paying attention to the situation outside, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and fell asleep directly on the sofa in the headquarters.
However, Dale was woken up by the adjutant at around 4 a.m., and then he got the news that about 20,000 people had gathered in the public garden square of Zalenwala in Amritsar, and they might want to **!
Dale jumped to his feet when he heard this, and he ordered the soldiers to be called, vowing to let the citizens of Amritsar know what would happen if he disobeyed the orders of his commander. Dale then took 149 Gurkha soldiers and Punjabi soldiers (90 Gurkha soldiers and Baloch soldiers) and two tanks and rushed to the public garden of Zalenwala in a murderous manner!
Arriving near the public garden square in Zalenwala, Dale ordered two tanks to block the widest road leading to the crowd square, and then he ordered 105 soldiers (some say 50) to stand in two rows in front of the tanks.
Under the flickering lights, the square is full of old people, women, and children, who greet each other with happy smiles, and it doesn't look like they want to gather together.
However, Dale had no interest in understanding the reason for the gathering, and as soon as the soldiers lined up, he ordered the soldiers to raise their guns and aim at the dense crowd in the public garden square of Zarenwala! After glancing at the crowd gathered in the square, Dale immediately ordered the soldiers to go to the square to be free**!
Some of the soldiers were reluctant to shoot at their own countrymen, so they fired into the sky to disperse them. Dale was furious when he saw this, he drew his pistol and brandished it sharply and ordered: "Flatten the muzzle!" That's what you're here to do! ”
Dale kept urging the soldiers** until the bullets brought by the soldiers ran out, and he gave the order to retreat satisfied. At this time, the public garden square of Zalenwala has become a purgatory on earth, the dead and wounded are stacked on top of each other, wails, cries, and moans echo over the square, and the whole square is soaked in blood!
Upon his return to the headquarters, Dale sent a telegram to his superior, Sir Michael Oderwyer, Deputy Governor of Punjab:I succeeded in suppressing a revolution
Dell's telegram was short, but the pride was palpable. In a telegram back to Dale, Oderwyer praised his bloody disposition and recommended Dale's actions as a model to Lord Chelmsford, then Viceroy of India, in the hope of promoting martial law throughout Punjab.
After Dyer's iron-blooded crackdown in the public garden square of Zalenwala in Amritsar City was transmitted back to the UK, the British ** was praised, and Dale was immediately promoted to brigadier general by the British Army!
However, paper can't contain fire after all.
April 13, 1919 is the most important annual festival of Sikhism - the harvest festival, which is valued to the same extent as the Spring Festival and the Christmas of ** religion in China. The citizens of Amritsar are just celebrating their festivals according to tradition.
The news of Amritsar** quickly spread throughout the South Asian subcontinent, and all walks of life in India condemned the atrocities of the British colonialists, and Rabindranath Tagore, the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature born in Calcutta, India, screamed with grief: 'In Punjab, there are people who do the best in the name of the law
Amritsar** woke up many people in India, and some of the original appeasers also abandoned their positions in the colonial authorities and turned to the pursuit of national independence. As Amritsar** continued to ferment in the South Asian subcontinent, British colonial rule in India became precarious.
Seeing that their colonial rule in the South Asian subcontinent was in danger of being subverted by Amritsar, Britain had to come out to put out the fire, and British politicians also changed their tone. Dyer's immediate boss, Secretary of State for the Army and Secretary of State for the Air Winston Churchill, who approved Dyer's promotion to brigadier general, said in the face of a questioning:This time** is extremely special, a monster can do it, **unprecedented
Remember Churchill's rhetoric, because he will come back below.
In the face of intense pressure from all quarters, the British Parliament set up a Hunt Commission to investigate Amritsar** and summoned Dale to London for questioning.
Of course not, that's not my job. Isn't the hospital open, they can walk to it.
To the committee's question about whether the injured had been rescued, Dale replied so lightly. In the face of questioning, Dale freely admitted everything he had done, and it was not difficult to see from his words and deeds that he did not have the slightest remorse.
A year later, on May 26, 1920, Amritsar**, the Hunt Commission came to its conclusion:It is legal for Dale to disperse a crowd at a party! However, it should be warned in advance, and the shooting time should be shortened
Undoubtedly, this conclusion is to excuse Dyer, after all, as the situation in the South Asian subcontinent gradually stabilizes, Britain does not want to continue to pretend to pursue him. But Dale was already notorious that the British Army could no longer keep him, so he was ordered to retire, which greatly affected his pension.
The following year, War Secretary Winston Churchill became Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, and it is difficult to argue that this had nothing to do with Dyer's affairs.
For Dell's manufacture of Amritsar**, there has always been a large number of people in the UK who support him. A group of people led by Joseph Rudyard Kipling, the 1907 Nobel Prize winner born in Mumbai, India, also set up a ** club specifically for Dale and successfully raised 260,000 pounds (in 1919 one pound was worth 7.)32,238 grams of pure gold) to Dell as a pension.
Although Dale escaped punishment, he was reviled by the world for the rest of his life, and died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1927.
So many people say I did wrong in Amritsar, and so many people say I did right, I just want to ask my Lord whether I am right or wrong
Is all evil in the name of the Lord feasible?
There is no repentance in Reginald Dyer's last words, and he shows us the cold-bloodedness and hypocrisy of a colonist.
Both the Hunter Committee and Dale have always avoided two fundamental questions.
1.Dale was born in Punjab, and of course he knew that the harvest festival was held in April, but why did he order the shooting?
2.Did Dell order it on its own**? Or is it on order?
Britain claimed that Amritsar** had 379 people killed, while India's post-state-building statistics put more than 1,000 people killed. Regardless of the number of Amritsar** killed, the executioners were not punished in any way, and the innocent dead did not receive any consolation.
Heaven is a good reincarnation, and God forgives anyone.
The executioners did not escape punishment either, and on 13 April 1940, exactly 21 years after the Amritsar** incident, Sir Michael Oderwyer, the former Deputy Governor of Punjab, was shot dead while giving a speech in London. The assassin, Yudim Singh, was an eyewitness to Amritsar, who was later hanged by the British, and revered as a martyr by Indians.
At this point, the story seems to be over, but there is still a little tail.
In 1943, World War II was in full swing, and the South Asian subcontinent had a bumper harvest and exported 70,000 tons of grain. However, in the South Asian subcontinent alone, at least 3.5 million civilians starved to death in Bangladesh alone!
Because the British colonial authorities expropriated up to three-quarters of the grain in the local area, the local agriculture depends on the sky for food, and the grain produced can have a surplus of two or three percent of the grain in addition to the open grain.
The colonial** of Delhi sent a telegram to Prime Minister Winston Churchill depicting the terrible scenario of the catastrophe and the horrific death toll of the time.
And Churchill's return message was: ".Why wasn't Gandhi dead yet?
"We will resist until the Indians are dead. Anyway, Indians can give birth like rabbits. ”
There is no shortage of such bold words in Qiu's quotations, but what makes the yard puzzled is that you Britain resisted the German Nazi attack, why did you take the death of Indians as the bottom line?
Kill one thief, slaughter the city as a hero, and kill millions of people as the hero
It's really apt for Churchill.