These atrocities were often used to justify the British reaction to the rebellion. V.D. On a political level it was also felt that the previous lack of consultation between rulers and ruled had been another significant factor in contributing to the uprising. Savarkar argues that the rebellion was a war of Indian independence. "[151] In the event Lord Canning insisted on Peshawar being held, and Dost Mohammed, whose relations with Britain had been equivocal for over 20 years, remained neutral. "The Indian Mutiny of 1857", Col. G. B. Malleson, reprint 2005, Rupa & Co. Publishers, New Delhi. They were taken to Delhi and hanged. Some of these were to prove dedicated leaders, but others were self-interested or inept. The next day, Bahadur Shah held his first formal court for many years. The final spark was provided by the ammunition for the new Enfield Pattern 1853 rifled musket. This, as well as the increasing number of British officers in the battalions,[37] made promotion slow, and many Indian officers did not reach commissioned rank until they were too old to be effective.[38]. When it became clear that the help expected from Meerut was not coming, they made their way in carriages to Karnal. [165][166] A particular act of cruelty on behalf of the British troops at Cawnpore included forcing many Muslim or Hindu rebels to eat pork or beef, as well as licking buildings freshly stained with blood of the dead before subsequent public hangings. Nana Sahib disappeared near the end of the Rebellion and it is not known what happened to him. On 10 May 1857, these rebel soldiers killed their British officers, released their imprisoned comrades and hoisted the flag of revolt. There were 311,000 native soldiers in India altogether, 40,160 British soldiers (including units of the British Army) and 5,362 officers. Narrated by 22-year-old poet Zahir Dehlvi in his ‘Dastan-e-Ghadar’ , this first-person account of 1857 gives a rare, from the ground, Indian perspective of an event that would go on to be described as India’s first fight for Independence.Sadly, most of our history books look at the Revolt of 1857 from a socio-political perspective missing out the very important ‘human’ element. The next day was Sunday. [4][5] The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi (that area is now Old Delhi). [36], There were also grievances over the issue of promotions, based on seniority. Crowds in the bazaar attacked off-duty soldiers there. 121 (September 1998), p. 58. [33] Other historians have stressed that by 1857, some Indian soldiers, interpreting the presence of missionaries as a sign of official intent, were convinced that the Company was masterminding mass conversions of Hindus and Muslims to Christianity. It began when Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of Britain’s East India Company refused to use purportedly tainted weaponry. The British colonial administration embarked on a program of reform, trying to integrate Indian higher castes and rulers into the government and abolishing attempts at Westernization. Most of the British press, outraged by the stories of alleged rape committed by the rebels against British women, as well as the killings of British civilians and wounded British soldiers, did not advocate clemency of any kind towards the Indian population. Though it ultimately failed to achieve its goal, the rebellion was successful in generating national consciousness among the people about the political future of the country and in giving a political past to the successive freedom struggles. However, Surendra still held out, and the jungle hampered British parties from capturing him. It took time to organise the British troops already in India into field forces, but eventually two columns left Meerut and Simla. [69], General John Hearsey came out to the parade ground to investigate, and claimed later that Mangal Pandey was in some kind of "religious frenzy". However, in order to forestall any social friction, the Company also took action to adapt its military practices to the requirements of their religious rituals. Lucknow was retaken in March 1858. Several books written by Indian authors were released in the anniversary year including Amresh Mishra's "War of Civilizations", a controversial history of the Rebellion of 1857, and "Recalcitrance" by Anurag Kumar, one of the few novels written in English by an Indian based on the events of 1857. When the people of Cawnpore [Kanpur] heard this, they feared similar retaliation..... At Fatehgarh, for example, when the English defeated the enemy, their officers ordered a mass scale killing [of] the rebels and the citizens on the spot. However, the encirclement was hardly complete, and for much of the siege the besiegers were outnumbered and it often seemed that it was the Company forces and not Delhi that were under siege, as the rebels could easily receive resources and reinforcements. The revolt of 1857 was the conscious beginning of the Independence struggle against the colonial tyranny of the British. The Company's army established a base on the Delhi ridge to the north of the city and the Siege of Delhi began. On the order "fire", they were all simultaneously shot, "swept... from their earthly existence". Defence of the fort at Futtegurh, Indian Mutiny, 1857-1859 (c1895). [113], Photograph entitled, "The Hospital in General Wheeler's entrenchment, Cawnpore". In September 1858 Rai Ahmad Khan Kharal, head of the Khurrul tribe, led an insurrection in the Neeli Bar district, between the Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab rivers. For practical purposes, the Company was the government of much of India.[29]. It was a strong walled city located only forty miles away, it was the ancient capital and present seat of the nominal Mughal Emperor and finally there were no British troops in garrison there in contrast to Meerut. The Bengal Army also contained 29 irregular cavalry and 42 irregular infantry regiments. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 is also termed The First War of Indian Independence.The revolt was one of the important yet unsuccessful rebels against the rule of the British East India Company, which lasted from 1857 to 1859.There were political, social, military and economic causes that had added the uprising of the discontent among the citizens to fight against the British regime. Although the rebels produced some natural leaders such as Bakht Khan, whom the Emperor later nominated as commander-in-chief after his son Mirza Mughal proved ineffectual, for the most part they were forced to look for leadership to rajahs and princes. [83] Fifty-four of the Bengal Army's 74 regular Native Infantry Regiments mutinied, but some were immediately destroyed or broke up, with their sepoys drifting away to their homes. The emperor issued coins in his name, one of the oldest ways of asserting imperial status. The British historian Philip Mason notes that it was inevitable that most of the sepoys and sowars from Meerut should have made for Delhi on the night of 10 May. Dr. Surendra Nath Sen, pages 71–73 "Eighteen Fifty-Seven", Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. It was initiated by sepoys in the Bengal Presidency against the British officers. "[32], After the annexation of Oudh (Awadh) by the East India Company in 1856, many sepoys were disquieted both from losing their perquisites, as landed gentry, in the Oudh courts, and from the anticipation of any increased land-revenue payments that the annexation might bring about. Company officers became aware of the rumours through reports of an altercation between a high-caste sepoy and a low-caste labourer at Dum Dum. During April, there was unrest and fires at Agra, Allahabad and Ambala. Religious and Social Causes – Racism or racial discrimination used to be believed to be a major reason for the revolt of 1857 whereby Indians had been exploited and … Rajit K. Mazumder, The Indian Army and the Making of the Punjab. [159] The British quickly moved to send two companies from the 40th Madras Native Infantry from Cuttack on October 10, and after a forced march reached Khinda on November 5, only to find the place abandoned as the rebels retreated to the jungle. In the evening, most British officers were preparing to attend church, while many of the British soldiers were off duty and had gone into canteens or into the bazaar in Meerut. Results of the revolt of 1857 - shortcut The First War of Independence resulted in the end of the Company rule in India; Queen Victoria's proclamation; End of the Mughals and Peshwas, Change in relations with Princely states; Policy of divide and rule; Racial antagonism; Foreign policy; Religious changes; Changes in the army; Increased racial bitterness; Economic exploitation; Rise of nationalism. Great Revolt of 1857 The Great Revolt of 1857 (also Indian rebellion of 1857, the Great uprising of 1857, the Great rebellion, Indian Sepoy mutiny) is regarded as India’s First War of Independence against the British rule. [127] They then hanged or "blew from the cannon", the traditional Mughal punishment for mutiny, the majority of the sepoy prisoners. [2][129] Campbell's advance was slow and methodical, with a force under General Outram crossing the river on cask bridges on 4 March to enable them to fire artillery in flank. [44] The labourer had taunted the sepoy that by biting the cartridge, he had himself lost caste, although at this time such cartridges had been issued only at Meerut and not at Dum Dum. [146] At the most important garrison, that of Peshawar close to the Afghan frontier, many comparatively junior officers ignored their nominal commander, General Reed, and took decisive action. [136], On 25 July, mutiny erupted in the garrisons of Danapur. Memorandum from Lieutenant-Colonel W. St. L. Mitchell (CO of the 19th BNI) to Major A. H. Ross about his troop's refusal to accept the Enfield cartridges, 27 February 1857. It was said that the cartridge of this rifle was wrapped in the fat of cow and pig. On 9 May, the remaining 85 men were court martialled, and most were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment with hard labour. [176] Governor General Canning ordered moderation in dealing with native sensibilities and earned the scornful sobriquet "Clemency Canning" from the press[177] and later parts of the British public. In September and October 1857, the Rani led the successful defence of Jhansi against the invading armies of the neighbouring rajas of Datia and Orchha. "... it was the support from the Sikhs, carefully cultivated by the British since the end of the Anglo-Sikh wars, and the disinclination of the Bengali intelligentsia to throw in their lot with what they considered a backward Zamindar revolt, that proved decisive in the course of the struggle. Karl Marx criticized this story as false propaganda, and pointed out that the story was written by a clergyman in Bangalore, far from the events of the rebellion, with no evidence to support his allegation. [133], The rebellion in Bihar was mainly concentrated in the Western regions of the state; however, there were also some outbreaks of plundering and looting in Gaya district. At one stage, faced with the need to send troops to reinforce the besiegers of Delhi, the Commissioner of the Punjab (Sir John Lawrence) suggested handing the coveted prize of Peshawar to Dost Mohammed Khan of Afghanistan in return for a pledge of friendship. This led to discontent and was a major military factor that resulted in the revolt of 1857. This was the official beginning of the ‘Great Revolt’. The Revolt of 1857 was a prolonged period of armed uprising as well as rebellions in Northern and Central India against British occupation of that part of the subcontinent. [216] Reflecting this debate, an early historian of the rebellion, Charles Ball, used the word mutiny in his title, but labelled it a "struggle for liberty and independence as a people" in the text. On 9 May 1857, they were severely punished for this. [l][11][18] It led to the dissolution of the East India Company, and forced the British to reorganize the army, the financial system, and the administration in India, through passage of the Government of India Act 1858. The Viceroy stopped land grabs, decreed religious tolerance and admitted Indians into civil service, albeit mainly as subordinates. He ordered the Indian commander of the quarter guard Jemadar Ishwari Prasad to arrest Mangal Pandey, but the Jemadar refused. There are various names for the revolt of 1857 – India’s First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny, etc. Landholding and traditional members of Indian society an intense fight, the sepoys of the King 's in... 120 ], incidents of rape allegedly committed by Indian rebels against.... Majority remained apparently acquiescent 138 ] as the Straits Settlements, became colonies in their right! 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Regions of Company-controlled India—Bengal province, the condemned soldiers berated their comrades for failing to support..
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