1. The Foundation (India)

• 1899: Mitra Mela – Founded by Vinayak (V.D.) Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Savarkar in Nasik.
• 1904: Abhinav Bharat Society – The Mitra Mela was renamed and expanded in Nasik into a secret society modeled after Mazzini’s “Young Italy.”

2. The London Hub (India House)

• 1905: India House – Established by Shyamji Krishna Varma at Highgate, London.
• Organizations: It served as the base for the Indian Home Rule Society and the journal The Indian Sociologist.
• 1906: International Branch – V.D. Savarkar arrived in London on a scholarship and established the London branch of Abhinav Bharat.
• Intellectual Output: In 1909, Savarkar published The Indian War of Independence of 1857, which was immediately banned by the British.

3. The Paris Connection

• 1907: Shift of Base – Under British pressure, Shyamji Krishna Varma moved to Paris.
• Madam Bhikaji Cama: Operative in Paris; she founded the Paris Indian Society.
• Aug 1907: Stuttgart Congress – Cama unfurled the first Indian National Flag (Green, Saffron, and Red with “Vande Mataram”) at the International Socialist Conference in Germany.
• Support: Paris became the center for printing and smuggling revolutionary literature (like the journal Bande Mataram) back into India.

4. Radical Action & Crackdown (1909–1910)

• July 1, 1909: Curzon Wyllie Assassination – Madan Lal Dhingra shot Curzon Wyllie in London as a protest against British atrocities.
• Execution: Dhingra was hanged on August 17, 1909.
• Dec 1909: Nasik Conspiracy Case – In India, Anant Laxman Kanhere (Abhinav Bharat member) killed Nasik Collector A.M.T. Jackson. This link led the British back to Savarkar in London.

5. Deportation & The Global Shift

• 1910: Savarkar’s Arrest – Arrested in London. During his deportation to India on the SS Morea, he attempted a famous escape at Marseilles, France (July 8, 1910) but was recaptured.
• 1911: Sentence – Savarkar was sentenced to 50 years (Kalapani) in the Cellular Jail, Andaman.
• 1911–1913: Move to USA – Lala Har Dayal, having left London/Paris, arrived in the US.
• 1913: Ghadar Party – Founded in San Francisco (originally the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association) by Lala Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna.

. The Foundation (1902–1906)

The movement began as physical culture clubs (akharas) to build “manly” Indians.

• 1902: Anushilan Samiti (Calcutta): Founded by Pramatha Nath Mitra (P.N. Mitra), including Jatindranath Banerjee and Barindra Kumar Ghosh.
• 1906: Jugantar Group: A more radical inner circle formed within Anushilan by Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Bhupendranath Datta (brother of Swami Vivekananda).
• Journal: They started the weekly Jugantar, which openly preached armed rebellion.

2. The Shift to “Action” (1908)

The focus moved to assassinating oppressive British officials.

• April 1908: Muzaffarpur Conspiracy:Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at the carriage of District Judge Kingsford. They accidentally killed two English women instead.
  • Result: Prafulla Chaki committed suicide; Khudiram Bose (aged 18) became the youngest revolutionary to be hanged.
• May 1908: Alipore Bomb Case: The British raided the Manicktolla Garden (the bomb factory). Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barindra, and 30+ others were arrested.
• The Turning Point: Narendra Gosain (the traitor who became an approver) was shot dead inside jail by Satyendranath Bose and Kanailal Dutt.
• Outcome: Aurobindo Ghosh was acquitted (defended by C.R. Das) and later retired to Pondicherry for spirituality. Barindra was sentenced to life in Cellular Jail.

3. The “Bagha Jatin” Era (1910–1915)

After the Alipore arrests, leadership fell to Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin).

• 1910: Howrah-Sibpur Conspiracy: Bagha Jatin and others were arrested for the murder of DSP Shamsul Alam but were released for lack of evidence.
• 1915: The Zimmerman Plan (Indo-German Conspiracy): During WWI, Bagha Jatin planned an all-India insurrection with the help of German arms arriving via sea.
• Sept 1915: Battle of Balasore: The plan was leaked. Bagha Jatin and his associates fought a heroic trench battle against the British police on the banks of the Budhabalanga River. Jatin died of his wounds, famously saying, “The blood of ancestors must be paid back.”

1. The North American Foundation (USA & Canada)

Before the war broke out, revolutionaries established bases on the West Coast to mobilize the Indian diaspora (mostly Punjabi farmers and ex-soldiers).

• Swadesh Sevak Home (Vancouver): Established by G.D. Kumar. It was modeled after the London “India House” to serve as a center for South Asian revolutionaries in Canada.
• United India House (Seattle): Founded in 1910 by G.D. Kumar and Taraknath Das. This served as a hub for revolutionary activities in the US before the Ghadar Party was formally organized.
• Ghadar Party (1913): Founded in San Francisco by Lala Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna. It unified the various groups (like those from United India House) into a powerful movement to overthrow British rule in India through an armed revolt.

2. The Shift to Berlin (The Berlin Committee)

When WWI started in 1914, Indian revolutionaries saw Britain’s enemy, Germany, as a natural ally.

• Berlin Committee for Indian Independence (1915): Formed by Indian revolutionaries in Germany with the help of the German Foreign Office.
• Key Leaders:
  • Virendranath Chattopadhyay (“Chatto”): The primary architect of the Berlin Committee (brother of Sarojini Naidu).
  • Bhupendranath Dutta: (Brother of Swami Vivekananda) He joined the Berlin Committee and became one of its leading intellectuals.
  • Lala Har Dayal: After fleeing the USA (due to arrest warrants), he reached Germany and joined the Berlin Committee to coordinate with Ghadar members.

3. The Interrelationship: The Zimmerman Plan

This was the “Grand Strategy” that linked all these people and groups:

• The Plan: The Berlin Committee (Chatto, Dutta, Har Dayal) worked with the German government to send arms, money, and explosives to India.
• The Connection: The Ghadar Party in the USA acted as the “manpower” wing. They sent thousands of volunteers from the US back to India to start a mutiny within the British Indian Army.
• The Failure: The plan failed due to British intelligence (the Ane d’Or and Czech spies) and the interception of arms ships like the SS Maverick.