We know the big moments of India's freedom struggle. The Dandi March. Quit India. The Simon Commission. August 15, 1947. We know the names, too. But photographs make those moments feel different. They show the people who were actually there — walking for miles, gathering on streets, sitting across negotiating tables, waiting to vote and, eventually, watching a country become independent.

Here are ten photographs that offer a closer look at some of those moments, and the men and women who lived them.

Gandhi meets Sir Stafford Cripps (March 1942)

Mahatma Gandhi met Sir Stafford Cripps in New Delhi in March 1942, when Cripps had come to India with a proposal from the British government. Britain was fighting the Second World War and wanted Indian support, while Indian leaders were pressing for a clear path towards self-government. Gandhi and other leaders discussed the proposals with Cripps, but the talks went nowhere. The mission failed to produce an agreement, and the political situation in India grew more tense in the months that followed.

Setting out on the Dandi March (March 12, 1930)

On March 12, 1930, Gandhi left Sabarmati Ashram with 78 volunteers and started walking towards Dandi. It wasn't a short protest march. The group covered hundreds of kilometres over several weeks, stopping in villages along the way. The reason for the journey was salt — the British controlled its production and sale and imposed a tax on it. On April 6, Gandhi reached Dandi and broke the salt law by making salt from seawater. The simple act became the starting point for a much larger civil disobedience campaign.

Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference (1931)

In 1931, Gandhi travelled all the way to London for the Second Round Table Conference. He wasn't there as a head of state or an official representative of a government. He went as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress. The conference followed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, signed earlier that year, which had temporarily brought the Civil Disobedience Movement to an end. Gandhi hoped the London talks would help settle India's constitutional future. They didn't. The conference ended without the agreement Congress had wanted.

Global simon commission — 'Simon Go Back' (1928)

The Simon Commission didn't exactly receive a warm welcome when it came to India in 1928. The British government had sent the commission to look into constitutional reforms, but there was one glaring problem for Indian nationalists: every member of it was British. Protests quickly followed. Crowds carried black flags and shouted “Simon Go Back”. Demonstrations took place in several parts of the country, turning the commission's arrival into another major confrontation between Indian nationalists and the colonial government.

Women waiting to vote (1937 provincial elections, Calcutta)

The women seen here are waiting to cast their votes during the 1937 provincial elections in Calcutta. At the time, India didn't have universal adult suffrage. The right to vote was limited and depended on eligibility conditions laid down under the electoral system introduced by the Government of India Act, 1935. Still, the photograph is striking because it shows women taking part in public and political life well before India became a democracy with universal voting rights. That would come after independence.

The Poona Pact (September 24, 1932)

This photograph is connected to one of the most difficult political debates of the freedom struggle. The Poona Pact was signed on September 24, 1932, after disagreements over how the Depressed Classes should be represented politically. Dr B.R. Ambedkar was one of the central figures in the negotiations. Gandhi, who was in Yerwada jail, had opposed the proposal for separate electorates for the Depressed Classes and had begun a fast. The agreement eventually provided reserved seats within a common electorate instead.

Nehru addresses the Constituent Assembly (December 1946)

Jawaharlal Nehru is seen addressing the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi in December 1946. The country was still under British rule, but the Assembly had already begun the enormous job of deciding what independent India would look like. Its first meeting had taken place on December 9. Over the years that followed, members debated and argued over the Constitution, rights, elections, government and the relationship between the Centre and the states. This was the room where many of the foundations of independent India's political system were worked out.

Quit India — 'Do or Die' (August 1942)

In August 1942, the Congress made its demand very clear: the British had to leave India. The All-India Congress Committee passed the Quit India resolution in Bombay, and Gandhi gave the call to “Do or Die”. The British government responded by arresting Gandhi and other major Congress leaders. That didn't end the movement. In their absence, protests broke out across the country. Students, workers, villagers and ordinary citizens became part of a movement that was met with a strong British crackdown.

Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (1943)

Subhas Chandra Bose believed India needed a different route to independence. In Southeast Asia, he took charge of the Indian National Army in 1943 and made it a central part of his campaign against British rule. The INA had originally been formed in Singapore in 1942 from Indian prisoners of war captured by Japanese forces. Bose later announced the Provisional Government of Free India and led the INA in its campaign against British rule.

Morning of August 15, 1947

There are photographs of flags, crowds and celebrations from August 15, 1947. But this newspaper front page records the same moment in a different way. The Indian Express announced the occasion with the headline “India Celebrates Freedom”. After years of protests, negotiations and political struggle, British rule had ended and India was independent. For people who picked up a newspaper that morning, those words would have made the historic change feel very immediate.