Revolt of 1857

CAUSES & SPREAD

For centuries and continuously for years, Indians as a nation and as a human being were insulted and humiliated and they were treated with hatred and contempt. �J.L.Nehru in Discovery of India

Causes of the revolt

• Political Causes:
• Administrative causes:
• Economic Causes:
• Social and Religious Causes:
• Military Causes.

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Political causes

Political Causes

1 Policy of Expansionism

• East India Company was founded in 1600 AD . It was a trading company and its object was to get financial gain, but it became a political power and started the expansion of British Empire in India.
• Battle of Plassey and Buxar
• Warren Hastings established company’s supremacy over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa . During The 2^nd Mysore War and the 1^st Marathas War , he crushed the power of the sultan of Mysore and Marathas.
• His policy of expansionism created discontent among the native rulers, which led to the revolt of 1857 .

Political Causes Contd…

3 Unethical Moves of Ellenborough and Hardinge

• The Amirs of Sindh had always been loyal to British , but Ellenborough sent troops to annex Sindh.

Charles Napier remarked,” We have no right to seize Sindh yet we shall do so and a very advantageous useful piece of rascality it will be “

• Lord Hardinge’s victory over Punjab in the First Anglo Sikh War .

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Political causes Contd…

4 Lord Dalhousie’s policy of Expansionism .

• Lord Dalhouusie  was the Governor-General of India till 1848-1856. Under him the British followed an expansionist policy in India.
• Dalhousie through his policies had added considerable territories to the British Empire in India.
• The policy of annexation reached its climax when he implemented the policy of Doctrine of Lapse and annexed the Indian states on charges of mis-governance and absence of an heir.
• In the course of eight years Dalhousie annexed Satara (1848), Sambhalpur (1850), Jhansi (1853), Nagpur (1853), Jaipur (1849) and Bhagat (1850).
• Thus, by 1857 the situation was very stormy and ready for inflammation by any factor and the greased cartridge affair acted as the last straw on the camel’s back.

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Political Causes Contd…..

• As part of the Doctrine of Lapse policy, the titles and pensions of some Indian princes were confiscated.
• The pension of Baji Rao ll’s son Nana Sahib was discontinued after his father’s death.
• Rani of Jhansi had been deprived of her right to rule in violation of the recognized Hindu law.
• Dalhousie further proposed to abolish the title of the Mughal emperor after the death of Bahadur Shah II.

Declarations by Lord Dalhousie

1. Son’s of Bahadur Shah would be deprived of the title Padshah .
2. He would have to vacate Delhi’s Red Fort and royal palace.
3. He would be paid Rupees 15000 per month instead of one Lakh.

Bahadur Shah , did not like these conditions , so he became the sworn enemy of Britishers.

Economic causes

Added to political and administrative distrust for the British East India Company, the economic policies of the British resulted in impoverishing all the segments of the Indian society

Exploitation of Indians by the British

• India had been rich and very prosperous state since ancient times. Mughal Governors spent lavishly the Indian wealth on their grand and luxurious life style but the Indian wealth suffered no paucity. The reason being that the rulers did not harm the sources of India's income.
• On the contrary the English adopted the policy of exploitation of Indians. India became a colony of the British and her wealth was drained to England .
• In the beginning, English East India Company was a trading company. After the battle of Plassey , it became a political power. They got the Dastak rights.

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Destruction of Indian Industries

• As a result of Industrial Revolution in the 18^th century, England became an Industrial hub.
• The economic policies of the British destroyed Indian cottage industries .
• In order to serve the interests of the British Industrialist , it imposed heavy custom duties on the goods manufactured in India , while they imposed a nominal custom duty on British goods, importing to India.
• Thus the sale of Indian goods in India and England was greatly affected. It resulted in complete ruin of Indian industries ; several prosperous towns were destroyed and the craftsmen were ruined.
• R.P Dutt opines, “ The millions of ruined artisans and craftsmen, tanners, smelters , spinners , weavers, potters alike from the towns and villages had no alternative saved to crowd into the agriculture”
• Thus India became an agricultural colony of the British Industrial Capitalism.

Economic facts ….

• The parliamentary reports of 1840 also record that while the British cotton and silk goods imported into India paid a duty of 1 per cent and woollen goods 2 per cent, Indian cotton goods exported to Britain paid 10 per cent, silk goods 20 per cent and the woollen goods 30 per cent.

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• Further, the abolition of the monopoly of trade in 1813 of East India Company and the introduction of free trade by 1833 increased further the exploitation of the economy of India.

India becomes a market

• Indian Economy was designed to serve the interests of British economic system. With the advent of Industrial Revolution, England became the factory of the World. She came to be known As the Nation of Shopkeepers.
• She needed markets to acquire raw material and sell goods manufactured in her factories. England’s economic policy towards India was determined in view of her needs.
• India’s famous industries were ruined, due to government’s indifferent attitude.
• Dr Ishwari Prasad writes, “ India became a milch cow to feed England while her own sons were gradually pushed to the starvation stage”

Drain of wealth to England

Economic causes in short

1. The economic policy of the British adversely affected every section of the Indian society.
2. The British exploited the economic resources of India to their advantage and drained her wealth by crippling the Indian trade and industry. Under the British, India turned into a colonial economy to serve the British capitalist interests.
3. Indian resources were unabashedly exported to London to promote British industries.
4. Consequently, the country was reduced to poverty as traditional handicrafts and industries were ruined.
5. Many people were rendered jobless and there was overcrowding in the agrarian sector.

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Some food for thought …..

• The levels of exploitation of Indians were so high, that even the British felt so sad and disturbed that they wrote, “India is as much a manufacturing country as she is an agricultural one. She is a manufacturing country; her manufacturers of various descriptions have existed for ages, and have never been able to be completed by any nation wherever fair play has been given to them.
• To reduce her now to an agricultural country would be an injustice to India.” While the above was the opinion of a Britisher, Mr. Martin,
• Another Britisher, Mr Cope made the following statement before the Parliamentary Committee in 1840: “I certainly pity the East Indian labourer, but at the same time I have a great feeling for my family than for the East Indian labourer’s family. I think it is wrong to sacrifice the comforts of my family for the sake of the East Indian labourer because his condition happens to be worse than mine”.

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Social and Religious �causes

�Social and Religious Causes: �In Short �

1. The British looked down upon the Indians as inferior race and discriminated with them racially at every step.

• Indians were not allowed at many places such as railway compartments and public places as parks and hotels as these were specially reserved for the Englishmen. This racial arrogance of the British hurt the Indian masses most and they began to regard the Englishmen as their worst enemies.

2 The attempt to bring about social reforms in India by the British was not liked by the general public.

• The social legislations on the evils as sati, infanticide, re-marriage of widows, etc. were considered as interference in the religious matters of Indians about which the Englishmen knew nothing.

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Contd….

3 The introduction of English education.

4 The propagation of the work of the Christian missionaries

5 The changing of the Hindu law of property with a view to facilitate the conversion of Hindus to Christianity alarmed many orthodox Indians.

They feared that these practices would upset the social and religious order of the traditional Indian society.

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Military Causes:�

• Dissatisfaction was widespread among the military rank and file under the British. There was great inequality in treatment between the Indian and the British counterparts in terms of salary and other benefits.

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• There was also a disparity in numbers between the Indian and European troops as the latter numbered far less than the Indians. Majority of the Indian soldiers were sent to Crimea, China and Iran to fight wars of the English.
• The Indian soldiers were considered inferior and were ill-treated by high officers.
• The high ranks in the army were exclusively reserved for the Englishmen and the Indians were deliberately excluded from responsible positions.

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Contd…

• What hurt the Indian soldiers most was the prohibition to wear caste and religious marks while serving that amounted to interference in their personal affairs by the British.
• The immediate cause of the revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle and the greased cartridge.
• In loading the rifle the sepoy before inserting the cartridge had to bite off its top. It was believed that the grease was made out of the fats of cows and pigs. This was objectionable to the Hindus and Muslims alike.
• This rumour sparked off fire of discontent against the British in the form of the revolt.
• The first sign of unrest appeared in 1857 at Barrack-pore in Bengal. A sepoy, Mangal Pandey on 29^th March 1857, killed senior officers on parade and started the revolt.

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��������Spread of the Revolt�

Course and Spread of the Revolt:�

• The revolt spread to Berhampur in Bengal.
• On 24^th April 1857 about ninety men of the Native Cavalry stationed at Meerut refused to accept the greased cartridges.
• Eighty-five of them were dismissed and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
• On 10^th May the revolt started at Meerut and the mutineers after killing some of their officials marched towards Delhi.

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�Delhi:�

• On 12^th May Delhi was seized and Bahadur Shah II was proclaimed the emperor of India.

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• The real command was in the hands of Bakht Khan who had led the revolt at Bareilly and brought the troops to Delhi.

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Kanpur:�Lucknow:�

• Kanpur:
• Here the revolt was led by Nana Saheb who declared himself the Peshwa and Governor of Bahadur Shah.
• Tantya Tope did most of the fighting. Rebels defeated General Windham outside Kanpur.
• Lucknow:
• The revolt was led by Hazrat Mahal, the Begum of Awadh.
• She had proclaimed her young son Brijis Kadiras the Nawab of Awadh against the wishes of the British.
• Henry Lawrence, the British resident was killed at Lucknow.

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Jhansi.�

• After some initial vacillations, Rani Laxmi Bai assumed the leadership of the mutiny.
• After being defeated at Jhansi, she captured Gwalior with the help of Tantya Tope and Afghan guards.

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Bareily:�

• Khan Bahadur Khan proclaimed himself as the Nawab and led the revolt there.
• The other centres of the revolt were Benaras, Allahabad, Gwalior, Nasirabad in Rajputana, Indore, Aligarh and Kota. At all these places the sepoys killed the senior officers and other Europeans on whom they could lay their hands, in many cases not even sparing women and children.
• They also released prisoners from jail, plundered the treasury and burnt land records at many pieces.

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Leaders in the Revolt

Revolt was suppressed

• However the superior British forces soon suppressed the revolt.
• Bahadur Shah II proved to be a weak leader. Delhi was recaptured on 20^th September 1857 by John Nicholson. Bahadur Shah was arrested and deported to Rangoon where he died in 1862.
• The rebels were defeated by General Havelock in Kanpur. Nana Saheb after being defeated refused to surrender and escaped to Nepal.
• At Jhansi Hugh Rose suppressed the revolt and Rani Laxmi Bai died on the battle field.
• Benaras, Bareilly and Gwalior were also recaptured by British officers.

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�British Officials Associated with Revolt�

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