Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

On the festival of Baisakhi, April 13, 1919, British Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab.

Statistics: The firing lasted for about 10 minutes, killing at least 379 people (according to official British estimates) and injuring over 1,000, though Indian estimates were much higher. The crowd had gathered to protest the arrest of pro-independence leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satya Pal.

Legacy: The brutality of the massacre stunned the nation and resulted in a loss of faith in British justice. It became a turning point in the Indian independence movement, leading Rabindranath Tagore to renounce his knighthood and Gandhi to launch the Non-Cooperation Movement.