Introduction:
The Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 was a widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against the rule of British East India Company in India which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British crown.
The revolt of 1857 is an important landmark in the history of India which occurred during the Governor generalship of Lord Canning.
The Revolt
It was the first expression of organised resistance against the British East India Company
It began as a revolt of the sepoys of the British East India Company’s army but eventually secured the participation of the masses.
The revolt is known by several names: the Sepoy Mutiny (by the British Historians), the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion (by the Indian Historians), the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First War of Independence (by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar).
Causes For the revolt:
the revolt of 1857 was a combination of political economic social religious and military cause.
3.1 political causes:
Nana Sahib was refused pension as he was the adopted son of Peshwa Bajirao 2.
Awadh was annexed in 1856, on charges of mal-administration Satara Jhansi Nagpur and Sambalpur were annexed owing to doctrine of lapse.
This measure converted Awadh, a loyal state, into a hotbed of discontent and intrigue.
3.2 economic causes:
Heavy taxation, forcibly evictions, discriminatory tariff policy against Indian Products and destruction of traditional Handicrafts that hit peasants and artisans.
Large numbers of sepoys belonged to the peasantry class and had family ties in villages, so the grievances of the peasants also affected them.
After the Industrial Revolution in England, there was an influx of British manufactured goods into India, which ruined industries, particularly the textile industry of India.
3.3 Socio religious causes:
The rapidly spreading Western Civilisation in India was alarming concerns all over the country.
An act in 1850 changed the Hindu law of inheritance enabling a Hindu who had converted into Christianity to inherit his ancestral properties.
The people were convinced that the Government was planning to convert Indians to Christianity.
The abolition of practices like sati and female infanticide, and the legislation legalizing widow remarriage, were believed as threats to the established social structure.
Introducing western methods of education was directly challenging the orthodoxy for Hindus as well as Muslims
Even the introduction of the railways and telegraph was viewed with suspicion.
3.4 Military causes:
The Revolt of 1857 began as a sepoy mutiny:
Indian sepoys formed more than 87% of the British troops in India but were considered inferior to British soldiers.
An Indian sepoy was paid less than a European sepoy of the same rank.
They were required to serve in areas far away from their homes.
In 1856 Lord Canning issued the General Services Enlistment Act which required that the sepoys must be ready to serve even in British land across the sea.
Immediate Causes:
The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges.
A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs.
Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges.
Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them.
Lord Canning tried to make amends for the error and the offending cartridges were withdrawn but the damage had already been done. There was unrest in several places.
In March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in Barrackpore, had refused to use the cartridge and attacked his senior officers.
He was hanged to death on 8th April.
On 9th May, 85 soldiers in Meerut refused to use the new rifle and were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.
Centres of The Revolt
The revolt spread over the entire area from the neighbourhood of Patna to the borders of Rajasthan. The main centres of revolt in these regions namely Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, Gwalior and Arrah in Bihar.
Lucknow: it was the capital of Awadh. Begum Hazrat Mahal, one of the begums of the ex-king of Awadh, took up the leadership of the revolt.
Kanpur: the revolt was led by Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II.
He joined the revolt primarily because he was deprived of his pension by the British.
The victory was short- lived. Kanpur was recaptured by the British after fresh reinforcements arrived.
The revolt was suppressed with terrible vengeance.
Nana Saheb escaped but his brilliant commander Tantia Tope continued the struggle.
Tantia Tope was finally defeated, arrested and hanged.
Jhansi: the twenty-two-year-old Rani Lakshmi Bai led the rebels when the British refused to accept the claim of her adopted son to the throne of Jhansi.
She fought gallantly against the British forces but was ultimately defeated by the English
Gwalior: After Rani Lakshmi Bai escaped, she was joined by Tantia Tope and together they marched to Gwalior and captured it.
Fierce fighting followed where the Rani of Jhansi fought like a tigress but died, fighting to the very end.
Gwalior was recaptured by the British.
Bihar: the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh who belonged to a royal house of Jagdispur, Bihar.
Within a month of capture of Delhi, The Revolt spread to the different parts of India.
South India remained quiet and Punjab and Bengal were only marginally affected.
Note:
A.
Bahadur Shah 2 was deported to Rangoon, where he died in 1862.
His sons where died.
Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Khan bahadur khan escaped to Nepal.
Tantia Tope was captured and executed on 1859.
Rani Lakshmi Bai died in the battlefield.
Kuer Singh was founded and died on 1858.
B.
sir Huge Rose described Rani Lakshmi Bai as the best and bravest military leader of the Rebel.
other important leaders: Khan bahadur khan( brailly), Maulavi ahmadullah (Faizabad), Kadam Singh (Meerut).
English authority re-established in India during July to December 1858.
Causes of failure of the revolt:
The revolt of 1857 was and and successful but heroic effort to eliminate foreign rule.
the main causes were:
disunity of Indians and poor organisation.
lack of complete nationalism: Schindias, Holkars and Nizam and other actively helped the British.
lack of coordination between sepoys, zamindars and other classes.
many had different motives for participating in the revolt.
7. Significance of Revolt 1857:
The important element in the revolt Lay in Hindu Muslim Unity.
people executed patriotic sentiments without any touch of communal feelings.
it no doubt began as a mutiny of soldiers but soon turned into a Revolt against British rule in general.
8. Nature of revolt of 1857:
There are two main views about the nature of the revolt of 1857.
Sepoy mutiny: Syed Ahmed Khan, Munshi Jivan lal, Durga Das.
National struggle/ war of independence: Benjamin, Karl Marx, k m panikkar, Ishwari Prasad.
9. Impact of revolt of 1857:
In August 1858, the British Parliament passed an act, which put an end to the rule of the company. The control of the British government of India was transferred to the British crown.
A Minister of the British government, call the secretary of state for India was made responsible for the governance of India.
The British Governor General of India was now also given the title of Viceroy who was also the representative of the monarchs.
mark the end of British imperialism and princely states were assured against. the doctrine of lapse was withdrawn.
After the revolt the British pursued the “policy of divide and rule”.
far reaching changes were made in the administration and increase of white soldiers in the army.
total expense of the suppression was thrown on the Indian people.
10. Conclusion:
The revolt of 1857 was an unprecedented event in the history of British rule in India. It united, though in a limited way, many sections of Indian society for a common cause.
Though the revolt failed to achieve the desired goal, it sowed the seeds of Indian nationalism.
