British Empire Events

1812 Jun 18
to 1815 Mar 23
 War of 1812
The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire (particularly Great Britain and British North America), was fought from 1812 to 1815. There were several im...
1814 Dec 24 The Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, in Ghent, currently in Belgium, was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingd...
1838
to 1842
The First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo–Afghan War lasted from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia be...
1839 Jul 23 The Battle of Ghuznee
The Battle of Ghuznee took place in city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan on July 23, 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. By the 1830s the British Indian Empire stretched to the bo...
1869 Oct 2 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is Born in Gujarat, India
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India, on 2 October 1869. His father, Karamchand Gandhi (1822-1885), who belonged to the Hindu Mod...
1874 Nov 30 Winston Churchill Is Born
A descendant of the famous aristocratic Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father, used the surname Churchill in public life. His ancestor George Spencer had chan...
1876 Mohandes Gandhi Begins Primary School in Rajkot
The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and Maharaja Harishchandra from the Indian epics, had had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. The story of Harishchandra, a ...
1880 Jul 27 The Battle of Maiwand
The Battle of Maiwand was one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The battle ended in defeat for the British Army and victory for the Afghan followers of Ayub Khan. T...
1881 Mohandes Gandhi Enters High School in Rajkot
Gandhi was a shy and fearful child. Short and spindly, he shied away from athletics, and his lack of physical prowess was matched by his difficulties in school. Though in later years he w...
1883 May Mohandes Gandhi Marries Kasturbai Makhanji in an Arranged Child Marriage
In May 1883, the 13-year old Mohandas was married to 14-year old Kasturbai Makhanji (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba," and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged child m...
1884 Mohandes Gandhi Enters Rebellious Adolescent Phase, Engaging in Activities He Will Soon Reject
Like most growing children he passed through a rebellious phase, but contrary to the impression fostered by his autobiography, Gandhi’s adolescence was no stormier than that of many of hi...
1885 Mohandes Gandhi's Father Dies at 63
Mohan passed the matriculation examination of Bombay University in 1887. His father’s death a year earlier had strained the means of the family. Being the only boy in the family who had p...
1888 Sep 4 Mohandes Gandhi Travels to London to Train as a Barrister
On 4 September 1888, less than a month shy of his 19th birthday, Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London and to train as a barrister. His time in Lon...
1891 Jun 12 Mohandes Gandhi Returns to India from London After Passing the Bar
A great shock lay in store for him when he landed at Bombay. His mother had died while he was in England. It was only natural that he should have been anxious to justify the hopes of his ...
1893 Apr Mohandes Gandhi Travels to South Africa to Work Under a Year-Long Contract with Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian Firm
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a young man of 24 when he arrived in South Africa in 1893. Gandhi's work in South Africa dramatically changed him, as he faced the discrimination commonl...
1893 May Mahatma Gandhi is Ejected from a South African Train, Motivating Him to Fight for Indian Rights in the British Colony
Pietermaritzburg is also famous for an incident early in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. In May 1893, while Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white man objected to Gandhi's presence in a f...
1894 Aug 22 Mohandes Gandhi Founds the Natal Indian Congress
Gandhi realized that what the India urgently needed was a permanent organization to look after their interests. Out of deference to Dadabhai Naoroji, Who had presided over the Indian Nati...
1897 Jan 10 Mohandes Gandhi is Nearly Lynched by White Settlers in Durban upon Returning from a Brief Trip to Fetch his Family in India
It is a measure of Gandhi’s success as a publicist that the Indian National Congress Recorded its protest against the disabilities imposed upon the Indian settlers in South Africa, and th...
1899 Gandhi Organizes an Indian Ambulance Corps of 1100 Men During His Service in the Boer War
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship, organizing a volunteer ambulance cor...
1904 Nov Gandhi Founds the Phoenix Settlement
Influenced by the teachings of Ruskin, Gandhi purchased a farm at Phoenix, near Mount Edgecombe in 1904 in order to establish a communal settlement. The settlement was based on the ideals...
1906 Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance Requires Asians in Transvaal to Carry Fingerprinted Identification
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship, organizing a volunteer ambulance cor...
1906 Sep 11 Gandhi Introduces Non-Violent Protest Philosophy of Satyagraha
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full citizenship, organizing a volunteer ambulance cor...
1908 Jan 10 Gandhi is Arrested for the First Time, for Refusing to Carry an Obligatory ID Card in South Africa
In January 1908, he was arrested for breach of the registration law and clapped into prison. The following month he was released after an understanding seemed to have been reached with t...
1910 May 30 Gandhi Establishes the Tolstoy Farm, which Serves as a Base of Operations for His Activities in South Africa
Since the centre of the campaign was in the Transvaal, the farm had to be close to Johannesburg. Herman Kallenbach, an architect until he became Gandhi's ardent follower, came to the resc...
1913 Nov 6 Gandhi Begins "Great March" to Gain Indian Rights in South Africa
Led at 6.30.a.m. the "great march", consisting of 2,037 men, 127 women and 57 children from Charlestown; addressed marchers halfway between Charlestown and Volksrust. At Volksrust border,...
1914 Jun Gandhi Suspends South African Struggle After Winning Passage of the Indian Relief Act
The treatment of Indians had reached pathetic limits. The prisons were too small to house the resisters. Mr Hult, a mine manager had flogged 300 Indian prisoners placed under his custody....
1914 Nov 10 Battle of Basra (1914)
The Battle of Basra was a battle of World War I which took place in the city of Basra (modern-day Iraq) between British and Ottoman troops on November 10, 1914. The battle resulted in the...
1914 Dec 3 Battle of Qurna
The Battle of Qurna, (December 3, 1914) was between British forces and Ottoman forces that tried to retake the city of Basra which they lost at the Battle of Basra (1914) during the Mesop...
1915 Jan 9 Gandhi Receives Hero's Welcome Upon Returning to India from South Africa
In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live in India. He spoke at the conventions of the Indian National Congress, but was primarily introduced to Indian issues, politics and the I...
1915 Sep 28 Battle of Es Sinn
The Battle of Es Sinn was a military engagement during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I. The battle was fought to determine control of the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers in wha...
1916 Jan 6 Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad Begins
The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad occurred between 6–8 January 1916 during the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War. The battle took place along the banks of the Tigris River between the...
1916 Jan 13 Battle of the Wadi
The Battle of Wadi, occurring on 13 January 1916, was an unsuccessful attempt by British forces fighting in present-day Iraq during the First World War to relieve beleaguered forces under...
1916 Jan 21 Battle of Hanna
Aylmer's attack began with an advance by 4,000 troops of 7th Division, preceded by short artillery bombardments at noon on 20 January and on the morning of 21 January. The sole effect of...
1916 Mar 8 Battle of Dujaila
The Battle of Dujaila was fought on March 8, 1916, between British and Ottoman forces during the First World War. The Ottoman forces, led by Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz were besieging K...
1917 Mar 11 Fall of Baghdad (1917)
On 11 March 1917, the British Indian Army fighting the Ottoman Turks in the First World War, after a series of defeats, captured Baghdad in a two-year campaign. After the surrender of ...
1917 Mar 13 British Launch the Samarrah Offensive
The Samarrah Offensive (March 13 — April 23, 1917) was launched by the British against the Ottomans as part of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. After Baghdad fell to the Briti...
1917 Mar 19 British Forces Capture Falluja
The Samarrah Offensive (March 13 — April 23, 1917) was launched by the British against the Ottomans as part of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. After Baghdad fell to the Briti...
1917 Mar 25 First Action at Jebel Hamrin
The first action we fought at Jebel Hamrin, in the third week of March, 1917, was a sanguinary affair. The Turks held us back on the hills when they were crossing the Diala with the Russi...
1917 Apr Gandhi Goes to Champaran to Investigate Conditions of Local Farmers
Bhumihar Brahmins in Champaran had earlier revolted against the conditions of indigo cultivation in 1914 (at Pipra) and 1916 (Turkaulia). Then Pandit Raj Kumar Shukla persuaded Mahatma Ga...
1917 Apr 23 British Take Control of Samarrah and Its Railroad, Ending Samarrah Offensive
The Samarrah Offensive (March 13 — April 23, 1917) was launched by the British against the Ottomans as part of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. After Baghdad fell to the Briti...
1917 Jun 17 Gandhi Establishes Sabarmati Ashram
Sabarmati Ashram (Gujarati: સાબરમતી આશ્રમ also known as Gandhi Ashram, Harijan Ashram, or Satyagraha Ashram) is located in the Ahmedabad suburb of Sabarmati adjoining to famous Ashram Roa...
1917 Sep 28 British Forces Launch Attack on Ramadi
The Battle of Ramadi was fought in central Iraq late in September 1917 between the British and the Ottomans; it was part of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. The 15th Indian Di...
1918 Jan Gandhi Begins Advocating on Behalf of Farmers in Kheda Subject to Oppressive Taxation During a Famine
In Gujarat, Gandhi was only the spiritual head of the struggle. His chief lieutenant, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and a close coterie of devoted Gandhians, namely Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal Pa...
1918 Mar 22 Action of Khan Baghdadi
The Action of Khan Baghdadi was an engagement during the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. The 15th Indian Division had been at Ramadi since its capture of the town in September 19...
1918 Oct 23 Battle of Sharqat Begins
The Battle of Sharqat (October 23—30, 1918) was between the British and the Ottoman Empire at the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I, which became the final conflict that ended as a res...
1918 Nov 13
to 1923 Sep 23
 Occupation of Constantinople
The Occupation of Constantinople (present day Istanbul) was the occupation of the capital of the Ottoman Empire, following the Armistice of Mudros by the Triple Entente of World War I. Th...
1919 Mar British Government Passes the Rowlatt Act in Colonial India, Indefinitely Extending the Use of 'Emergency Measures'
The Rowlatt Act was a law passed by the British in colonial India in March 1919, indefinitely extending "emergency measures" (of the Defence of India Regulations Act) enacted during the F...
1919 Apr 13 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (Hindi: जलियांवाला बाग़ हत्याकांड جلیانوالہ باغ Jallianwala Bāġa Hatyākāṇḍ), alternatively known as the Amritsar Massacre, was named after the Jallianwala Ba...
1920 Sep The Gandhi Era of the Indian Independence Movement Begins with the Non-Cooperation Movement
The non-cooperation movement (Hindi: असहयोग आन्दोलन), was the first-ever series of nationwide people's movements of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience, led by Mahatma Gandhi and...
1921 Dec Gandhi is Given Exclusive Authority Over the Indian National Congress
In December 1921, Gandhi was invested with executive authority on behalf of the Indian National Congress. Under his leadership, the Congress was reorganized with a new constitution, with ...