The Midnight Hour
As the clock struck midnight between 14 and 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru rose before the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi to deliver his "Tryst with Destiny" speech, declaring that India would now awaken to life and freedom.
1947 — India Gains Independence
On 15 August 1947, India became a sovereign nation as nearly two centuries of British colonial rule came to an end.
- Jawaharlal Nehru becomes independent India's first Prime Minister
- Lord Mountbatten serves as the last Viceroy and first Governor-General of independent India
- India and Pakistan are partitioned, triggering mass migration across the new border
- The Indian tricolour is hoisted at the Red Fort for the first time
A Nation and a Partition
Independence arrived alongside the Partition of British India into the new dominions of India and Pakistan, drawn along the Radcliffe Line. The division triggered one of the largest mass migrations in human history and immense communal violence.
The Flag at Red Fort
On the morning of 16 August 1947, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the Indian tricolour at the Red Fort in Delhi, beginning a tradition of the Independence Day flag hoisting and address that every Indian Prime Minister has continued since.
