Timeline History

India History Timeline: 1901 - 1950



Year Rulers War and Politics Entertainment Literature Art and Architecture Science and Technology World Historic Events / Personalities
1901-1905 Governor-General of India : George Nathaniel Curzon (1899–1904)
Arthur Russell (1904)
George Nathaniel Curzon (1904–1905)
The First Partition of Bengal (1905) Birth of novelist, Mulk Raj Anand (1905)


Mulk Raj Anand was among the first writers to render Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English

  Queen Victoria Dies (1901)


Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 January 1877, until her death in 1901.

Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner.(1902)

First Silent Movie, The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Salvador Dali (Surrealism) born in Spain (1904)

The first movie theater opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1905)
1906-1910 Governor-General of India : Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (1905–1910) Formation of Muslim League (1906) Birth of Indian Novelist R.K. Narayan (1906)


R.K. Narayan (1906-2001) was short listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times, but he never made it all the way.

Color photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.(1907)

The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu.(1907)

More than 100,000 die in Sicilian earthquake (1908)

Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole (1909)
Birth of Bhagat Singh (1907)
1911-1915 Governor-General of India : Charles Hardinge (1910–1916) The capital of India was moved from Calcutta to Delhi. (1911) India's first feature film Raja Harishchandra was made by Dadasaheb Phalke (1913)


Dadasaheb Phalke, (April 30, 1870 - February 16, 1944) is known as the father of Indian cinema.

Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature. (1913)
The Gateway of India (1911)


The foundation stone was laid on March 31, 1911 and George Wittet's final design sanctioned in August 1914. The construction was completed in 1924, and the Gateway opened on December 4, 1924 by the Viceroy, Earl of Reading.


Maqbool Fida Husain, the often controversial and well known Indian artist, popularly known as M F Husain born in Pandharpur (September 17, 1915)
Rabindranath Tagore: A Biographical Study
Rabindranath Tagore: A Biographical Study
Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras. (1912)

More than 1500 die in sinking of Titanic (1912)

World War I (1914-1918)

Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invented Pyrex in New York City. (1915)
Henry Piquet, flying a Humber bi-plane, carried mail from Allahabad to Naini junction which was the first flight in India. (1911 February 18)
1916-1920 Governor-General of India : Frederic John Napier Thesiger (1916–1921) Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919 April 13)

The Khilafat Movement started (1920)
First South Indian feature Keechaka Vadham by R Nataraja Mudaliar (1916)   Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly.(1916)

Russian Revolution (1917)

World's first radio station opens in Britain (1920)

International Court of Justice established at The Hague (1920)
Death of Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1920)
1921-1925 Governor-General of India : Rufus Isaacs (1921–1925) Maplah (Muslim) rebellion in Malabar (1921) Victoria Memorial in Calcutta is completed (1921)


Built in 1912 with the white marble, in memory of Queen Victoria. The Prince of Wales inaugurated it. The building was designed by Sir William Emerson and its construction was completed in 1921.

The first robot built.(1921)

Formation of the U.S.S.R. (1922)

Walt Disney creates his first cartoon, "Alice's Wonderland" (1924)


Trivia: Walt Disney held the patent for Technicolor for two years, allowing him to make the only color cartoons.

 
1926-1930 Governor-General of India : Victor Bulwer-Lytton (1925–1926)
George Joachim Goschen (1929)
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood (1926–1931)
Salt March to Dandi (1930)


In 1930 Gandhi reached Dandi after walking 241 miles in 24 days. He then defied the law by making salt

The first Malayalam movie vigathakumaran was released (1928) Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect


Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman (1888-1970) Director and Professor, Tata Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 1934-1948. Founded the Indian Academy of Sciences, 1934. Director, Raman Institute of Research, Bangalore, 1948-1970. Received the Bharat Ratna, 1954.

Robert H. Goddard invents liquid-fueled rockets.(1926)

The First Talking Movie, The Jazz Singer (1927)

First color television is demonstrated (1928)

First Mickey Mouse cartoon (1928)

Frank Whittle and Dr Hans von Ohain both invent a jet engine.(1930)

Discovery of Planet Pluto (1930)
A Comprehensive, Annotated Bibliography on Mahatma Gandhi: Biographies, Works by Gandhi, and Bibliographical Sources
A Comprehensive, Annotated Bibliography on Mahatma Gandhi: Biographies, Works by Gandhi, and Bibliographical Sources
1931-1935 Governor-General of India : Freeman Freeman-Thomas (1931–1936) Second Round Table Conference (1931) The first Indian talking film Alam Ara released (1931)


The movie directed by Ardeshir Irani and its music was widely successful, and marked the beginning of filmi music in Indian cinema.


One of the most successful early product of the studio system in India, Devdas, premieres (1935)
Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope.(1931)

Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany (1933)

Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents nylon(1935)
Martyrdom of Bhagat Singh (1931)


Bhagat Singh became a legendary hero for the masses. Innumerable songs were composed about him, and the youth throughout the country made him their ideal. He became a symbol of bravery and a goal to free India.

Indian Air Force established. (1932)
1936-1940 Governor-General of India :Victor Alexander John Hope (1936–1943) Jawaharlal Nehru is elected president of the Indian National Congress (1936) All India Radio established (1936)


AIR maintains approximately 200 broadcasting centres around the country and transmits in 24 different languages.

The first jet engine is built.(1937)

Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter.(1939)

German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman, demonstrate nuclear fission

World War II (1939-1945)
Three Statesmen: Gokhale, Gandhi, And Nehru
Three Statesmen: Gokhale, Gandhi, And Nehru
1941-1945 Governor-General of India : Archibald Wavell (1943–1947) Quit India Movement called for by Gandhi (August 9 1942) The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur Gandhi, Wife of Mahatma Gandhi
The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur Gandhi, Wife of Mahatma Gandhi
All India Council for Technical Education is established. (1945) Enrico Fermi invents the neutronic reactor.(1941)

John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic digital computer.(1942)

Truman orders use of atomic bombs against Japan (1945)

World War II ends (1945)

United Nations is formed (1945)
The Indian National Army (INA) was formed during World War II by Indian nationalists and prisoners, led by Subhas Chandra Bose (1942)


Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (January 23, 1897 – August 18, 1945) was a fierce and popular leader in the political scene in pre-independence India . He was the president of the Indian National Congress in 1937 and 1939.

Kasturba Gandhi, affectionately called Ba dies on 22 February 1944.
1946-1950 Governor-General of India :Louis Mountbatten (1947-1948)
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari (1948–1950)
First Prime Minister of independent India : Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-1964)
Indian independence; India partitioned (1947)

Integration of princely states (1948)

Ceasefire in Kashmir; Enactment of Indian constitution (1949)

India becomes a republic (1950)

First President of India : Dr. Rajendra Parasad


Dr. Rajendra Prasad (December 3, 1884 – February 28, 1963)

Gandhi's Experiments With Truth: Essential Writings By And About Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi's Experiments With Truth: Essential Writings By And About Mahatma Gandhi
Mobile phones first invented.(1947)

First supersonic flight (1947)

NATO Established (1949)


NATO's (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium. Its other official name is the French equivalent, l'Organisation du Traitι de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)

The Soviet Union detonates its first atomic device.

Independence of India (August 15, 1947)


On August 15, 1947, India became an independent Dominion within the British Commonwealth. Concurrently the Muslim northwest and east of British India was separated into the Dominion of Pakistan. Lord Louis Mountbatten, and later Chakravarti Rajagopalachari served in the office of the Governor General of India, the constitutional head of state.

Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse (1948 January 30)


Following his assassination of Gandhi, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who did not try to flee, was captured, tried and executed. He was hanged on November 15,1949

Year Rulers War and Politics Entertainment Literature Art and Architecture Science and Technology World Historic Events / Personalities


India History Timeline : 1851 - 1900

India History Timeline : 1951 - 2000

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