‘Calculated to Strike Terror’: The Amritsar Massacre and the Spectacle of Colonial Violence

Kim A Wagner

doi:10.1093/pastj/gtw037

Abstract

Research supported by the British Academy and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship Programme

Highlights

I fired and continued to fire until the crowd dispersed and I consider this is the least amount of firing which would produce the necessary moral, and widespread effect it was my duty to produce, if I was to justify my action
THIS IS HOW Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer explained the reasoning behind his order to fire at point-blank range into a large crowd of Indian civilians gathered in Amritsar, in the Punjab province of India, in April 1919
To Sharpeville or Bloody Sunday, the event itself has become a byword for colonial violence, usually encapsulated by formulaic reference to the 379 civilians killed and more than 1200 wounded by the 1650 bullets fired by the colonial troops over the duration of 10 minutes.[4]

Summary

Introduction

I fired and continued to fire until the crowd dispersed and I consider this is the least amount of firing which would produce the necessary moral, and widespread effect it was my duty to produce, if I was to justify my action.

Results

Conclusion