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| FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE |
The Revolt of 1857 was one of the significant event in Indian history. The revolt laid the foundation of Nationalism in India. It is also regarded as India's First War of Independence or Sepoy Mutiny. This article will provide you insight into causes, beginning, failure, significance and outcomes of the revolt.
The Great Revolt of 1857 :
The revolt was great in the sense that it successfully sowed the seeds of Nationalism in India. The Revolt of 1857 broke out to end the rule and monopoly of British East India Company in India. Unfortunately, the war eventually led to the direct rule by the British Government in most of the parts of the Indian Subcontinent for the next 90 years.
-Vir Savarkar hailed the 1857 revolt as a well-planned freedom struggle.
I. Causes of the Revolt :
Initially, the introduction of the greased cartridges was considered as the major cause for the 1857 Revolt. However, the revolt was the consequence of multiple causes inculcating political, social, religious, economic and military causes.
• POLITICAL CAUSES
1. The annexation policy of Lord Dalhousie and the Subsidiary Treaty of Lord Wellesley played an important role in generating a discontent among the Indians.
2. Anti-British sentiments were strong throughout India, especially in regions like Coorg, Sindh, Punjab, Assam, Burma which were unfairly annexed by the British.
• SOCIO-RELIGIOUS CAUSES
1. The Britishers had an arrogant attitude and practiced racial prejudice. They persistently insulted, harassed and assaulted Indians.
2. The propagation of Christianity also filled the discontent among the Indians. Christian Missionaries from England were permitted to enter India and continue with their mission of conversion i.e. convert people to Christianity.
3. The Britishers substituted the oriental learning and culture of Indians with western schooling and the English language. The Indians thus felt that they were losing their social identity.
4. The Religious Disabilities Act of 1950 amended the traditional Hindu law. According to this act, the change in religion would not prevent a son from inheriting the property of his heathen father.
• ECONOMIC CAUSES
1. Economic exploitation of India by the British was also a major reason of revolt. The British ruined Indian enterprises, drained Indian wealth, raised land revenue and terminated Indian artisans and craftsmen out of job.
2. The commercialisation of agriculture burdened the peasantry. A new plantation system introduced by the British led to extreme hardships for the Indian peasants. The severely affected were the peasants of the indigo plantations belonging to Bihar and Bengal.
3. De-industrialisation, increased export tariffs and reduced import tariffs to sell cheap British goods extensively in India led to the overall dwindling of the economy.
• MILITARY CAUSES
1. The Indian Sepoys were quite unhappy in the Indian Army. The extension of British dominion in India drastically affected the service condition of the sepoys.
2. They had overwhelming feeling of resentment due to the low salaries, ill-treatment, deprivation of promotion and being sent to serve outside the borders of India away from their homes without paying additional allowance.
3. The Britishers disrespected the religious sentiments and social values of the Indian Sepoys.
4. An important reason of Military dissatisfaction was the General Service Enlistment Act, 1856 which made it mandatory for the sepoys to cross the seas, whenever required.
5. The Post Office Act of 1854 denied the free postage facility for the sepoys.
II. Beginning of 1857 Revolt :
•The strong outrage and resentment was rising against the British rule among almost all the sections of the Indian society. The stage was all set and they were just waiting for an occasion to revolt. Introduction of greased cartridges sparked the Revolt of 1857.
•The new Enfield Rifle was introduced to the Indian sepoys for the first time. It's cartridges possessed greased cover which had to be bitten off by the mouth before loading the cartridge into the rifle. The grease used contained the fat of cow and pigs. The cow is considered sacred to the Hindus and the pig is considered forbidden to the Muslims.
•Moreover, there was another rumour that the British government had mixed the bone dust of cows and pigs into the flour that was sold in the market.
• These instances strongly hurted the feelings of the sepoys who were mainly Hindus and Muslims and increased the growing disaffection with the government. They felt that the British Government was intentionally trying to target and tarnish their cultural and religious identities by plotting the huge conspiracy against them.
• Barrackpore - A sepoy called Mangal Pandey was the first soldier who openly disobeyed orders and refused to use the greased cartridges. He attacked and killed two of the English officers at Barrackpore near Calcutta on 29 March, 1857. Mangal Pandey was arrested and hanged. The regiment of Barrackpore was disbanded and sepoys found guilty of rebellion were punished. The 7th Awadh Regiment which defied the orders of its officer also suffered similar consequences. The incident of Magal Pandey hanging sparked the revolt and resulted in open revolts in other parts of the country.
• Meerut - The most decisive rebellion happened at Meerut on 9 May, 1857 where 85 sepoys of the 3rd Cavalry regiment were sentenced to imprisonment for 2-10 years beacuse they refused to use the greased cartridges. On 10 May, the sepoys of three regiments broke into open rebellion, killed British officers and released their fellow sepoys and headed towards Delhi. The commanding officer, General Hewitt was helpless.
The rebellious sepoys reached Delhi on 12 March, 1857 and were joined by the local infantry and common people. General Willtashby, the officer incharge of Delhi was not able to control them. The rebels killed many British officers and captured Delhi. They declared Bahadur Shah Zafar of the Mughal dynasty as the Emperor of India.
The revolt of Meerut and capture of Delhi served as precursor and soon the revolt spread throughout Northern and Central India.
• Delhi - Though the leadership of Delhi was officially in the hands of Bahadur Shah who was proclaimed as the symbolic head of the revolt but the actual control was exercised by General Bakht Khan who led the soldiers in revolt. The British again captured Delhi by September, 1857. Bahardur Shah was arrested and deported to Rangoon.
• Lucknow - The revolt began in Lucknow on 4 June, 1857. It was primarily organised by Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh with support from sepoys, peasants and zamindars. Begum declared her young son Birjish Qadir as the Nawab and attacked the British Residency at Lucknow. The British Chief Commissioner, Henry Lawrence, died in revolt. But here also, Sir Colin Campbell successfully suppressed the revolt.
• Kanpur - The revolt started at Kanpur on 5 June 1857. Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Bajirao II, led the revolt in Kanpur. He was assisted by two of his lieutenants - Tantia Tope and Azimullah. Nana Saheb successfully managed to expel the British from Kanpur with the assistance of sepoys. Sir Hugh Wheeler, who was accountable for Kanpur, gave up and surrendered. Afterward, Sir Colin Campbell once again captured Kanpur.
• Jhansi - At Jhansi, Rani Lakshmi Bai who was the widowed queen of Gangadhar Rao took the command of revolt on her hand. Jhansi was influenced by Lord Dalhousie's policy of 'Doctrine of Lapse', as they didn't have a natural successor for the throne. Rani Lakshmi Bai was accompanied by Tantia Tope and they together seized Gwalior. Sir Hugh Rose defeated Tantia Tope, attacked Jhansi and then recaptured Gwalior. Rani Lakshmi Bai died on 17 June, 1858.
• Bihar - Kunwar Singh who was a dissatisfied zamindar of Jagdishpur coordinated the revolt in Bihar. During the battle with the British, he was lethally injured and died.
III. End of Revolt :
•The Revolt of 1857 came to an end with the conquest of the British.
•Viceroy Lord Canning proclaimed the peace throughout India.
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| LORD CANNING |
IV. Causes of Failure :
1. The revolt was unplanned and lacked efficient leadership, unity, firm organization and specific strategy.
2. Few regional rulers like Scindia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Bhopal, etc. extended the open support to the British.
3. Most of the people of the upper and middle classes, the usurers, the merchant class, the zamindars of Bengal remained loyal to the British.
4. The modern educated Indians also did not support the rebels.
5. The quality of the military equipment utilised by the Indians in the war was inferior while the British had superior resources.
6. The revolt was limited, sporadic and non consistent.
V. Importance of the Revolt :
1. Despite the fact that the revolt was totally suppressed, it shook the British establishment in India.
2. The revolt even displayed Hindu-Muslim solidarity.
3. It displayed the prevalent sentiment of Indians and united the displeased segments of the society.
VI. Impact of the Revolt :
1. The outcome of the Revolt of 1857 was that the control of the Indian administration was handed over to the British Crown from the East India Company by the Government of India Act, 1858. This way the East India Company lost its control over India.
2. The Act came into force after the Queen's Proclamation of November 1, 1858. The Proclamation was referred as the Magna Carta of the Indian people. It's provisions included following points :
• It guaranteed the rights of the Indian princes
• It denied the expansion of territory
• It even promised the religious tolerance (accepting individuals religion and practices).
• It swore equivalent treatment to all subjects, regardless of whether Indians or Europeans.
3. The reorganization of army to avoid the further occurrence of such an event at a massive scale.
4. The Governor General now came to be known as Viceroy. Lord Canning had the golden opportunity to become a Governor-General as well as first Viceroy according to the Proclamation on November 1, 1858. He proclaimed the new Government at Allahabad in 1858.
5. The Revolt raised the sentiments of Nationalism in India in the second half of 19th century.
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