Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, or Massacre of Amritsar, (1919) Incident in which British troops killed several hundred unarmed Indian protesters.
In 1919 the British government of India enacted the Rowlatt Acts, extending its World War I emergency powers to combat subversive activities. On April 13 a large crowd gathered in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab region to protest the measures; troops opened fire, killing some 379 and wounding about 1,200.
The massacre permanently scarred relations between India and Britain and was the prelude to Mahatma Gandhi’s noncooperation movement of 1920–22.