The term 'Indian Independence Movement' is fairly diffuse, since it involves several different movements with similar objectives. The mainstream movement was led by the Indian National Congress, which followed nonviolent agitation and civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. Other leaders, such as Subhash Chandra Bose, adopted a military approach to the movement. The movement culminated in the independence of the subcontinent from the British Empire and the formation of India and Pakistan in August 1947.

The Independence Movement also served as a major catalyst for similar movements in other parts of the world, leading to the eventual disintegration and dismantling of the British Empire and its replacement with the Commonwealth of Nations. Gandhi's success in achieving independence through nonviolent resistance inspired the American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the quest for democracy in Myanmar led by Aung San Suu Kyi and African National Congress's struggle against apartheid in South Africa led by Nelson Mandela. However not all these leaders kept to Gandhi's strict principle of nonviolence and nonresistance.

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