Revolt of 1857

In News

• Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid homage to all those who were part of the events of 1857.

1857 Uprising

• Background:
  • Right from the inception of the East India Company, there were a series of civil disturbances and local uprisings which were scattered, localised and most violent. 
  • Most of these movements arose due to popular discontent with British rule.
  • For about 100 years the people of India had witnessed the enormous loot and plunder of wealth from India to Britain.
• First Independence Movement:
  • The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule.
• Violent and Bloody uprising: 
  • The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857.
  • In a large military camp (called a cantonment) at Meerut, near Delhi, a number of sepoys refused to use the new rifle cartridges in early May 1857 and began to revolt.
• Other Names: 
  • the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857.

Causes

• Political Causes:
  • Subsidiary Alliance: The British policy of territorial annexations led to the displacement of a large number of rulers and chiefs. The vigorous application of the policies of Subsidiary Alliance and Doctrine of Lapse angered the ruling sections of the society.
  • Discontent and dissatisfaction were especially strong in those regions, which were believed to have lost their independence.
  • Doctrine of Lapse: The practical application of the Doctrine of Lapse of Lord Dalhousie’s produced unprecedented discontent in the directly affected states.
  • Annexation of Princely States: The East India Company did not spare even its former allies.
    • The native state of Awadh was annexed by Dalhousie in 1856 on the pretext that Nawab Wazid Ali Shah was mismanaging the state.
    • Even before this he had annexed Satara in 1848 and Nagpur and Jhansi in 1854 on the pretext that the rulers of these states had no natural heir to succeed them after their death.
  • Humiliating and Rush Policy towards the Successors of the Mughals: British never honoured their written or verbal promises; consequently it was natural to result in hatred and revolts.
  • India was Governed from Foreign Land: India was being governed from a foreign country which meant that the rulers of India were carrying on their administration in India while sitting at a distance of thousands of miles away from this country.
  • Suspension of Pension: Suspension of pensions of some of the Indian chiefs and who were disposed of by the company.
• Administrative Causes:
  • Loss of Benefits and Privileges: The Indian aristocrats who once enjoyed privileges, both economic and social, were now deprived of such privileges by the annexation policy of the East India Company.
  • Exclusion of Indians from Higher Administrative posts: In the new administrative machinery Indians were excluded from all the jobs both in civil as well as in military departments. All the Higher posts in British administration were kept reserved for the English people to the exclusion of the Indians.
• Economic Causes:
  • Economic Exploitation of all sections: The only interest of the Company was the collection of maximum revenue with minimum efforts. Owing to their colonial policies of economic exploitation, industry, trade commerce and agriculture languished and India became de-industrialized, impoverished and debt-ridden.
  • Ruin of the Mercantile Class: The British deliberately crippled Indian trade and commerce by imposing high tariff duties against Indian goods.
  • Destruction of Indian Manufacturers: The British policy of promoting the import of cotton goods to India from England destroyed all Indian manufacturers in the cotton textile industry.
  • Pressure on Land: The ruin of Indian Industry and commerce made several people unemployed and the lack of alternate occupational avenues drove a large part of the urban population to fall back on the village economy.
  • Exploitation of the Peasantry: 
    • Although the trade monopoly enriched the East India Company considerably, its main source of income was now derived from the land.
    • To extract as much money as possible it devised new systems of land settlements Permanent, Ryotwari and Mahalwari each more oppressive than the other.
• Socio-Religious Causes:
  • Social Exclusiveness: 
    • The British policy of social exclusiveness and arrogant manner towards the Indians created discontent among the Indians. They were infected with the feeling of racial superiority.
    • The disappearance of these Indian states and their replacement by the British administration deprived the Indians of higher posts which were now taken mainly by the British.
  • Social Legislation: 
    • The social legislation passed by the British also became the cause of the Revolt of 1857. 
    • The British endeavoured to eradicate social Evils like the custom of Sati, Infanticide and child marriage.
    • They also encouraged widow marriage for which they passed various social legislation as in 1829, Lord William Bentinck abolished the practice of Sati, with the support of educated and enlightened Indians such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
  • Alienation of the Middle and Upper Strata of Indians: 
    • It was not merely the peasantry that got alienated from British rule, the middle and upper strata Indians also felt oppressed.
    • The religious men like Pandits and Maulvis also lost all their former power and prestige.
  • Rise of Christianity:
    • A number of Indians began to suspect that the British intended to convert the Indian population to Christianity. 
    • Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumours of impending conversions.
• Military Causes:
  • General Service Enlistment Act (1856): The Indian soldiers nursed grievances against the British as they were forced to go on expeditions to Burma and Afghanistan, which violated their religious scruples. 
  • Dissimilarity between the salaries of the Indian Soldiers and the British Soldiers
  • Impact on the Sepoys:
    • They were frequently abused and humiliated.
    • The Indian Sepoy, despite his valour and great fighting capacity could never rise above the rank of a Subedar while a fresh recruit from England was as often appointed his superior overnight.
• The Immediate Cause – Greased Cartridges:
  • It was in 1856 when, according to regulation, the sepoys were required to bite the end of the cartridge before using it. 
  • There was a rumour that the cartridges to be used with the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs.
  • The result was that the sepoys got infuriated. These factors created the immediate cause for the commencement of the Great Mutiny of 1857.

Leadership

Causes of Failure

• Lack of a Unified Programme and Ideology:
  • The rebellion swept off the British system of government and administration in India.
  • But the rebels did not know what to create in its place! They had no forward-looking plan in mind.
• Lack of Unity Among Indians:
  • While sepoys of the Bengal army were revolting, some soldiers in Punjab and south India fought on the side of the British to crush these rebellions.
• Lack of Support from the Educated Indians:
  • The modern educated Indians also did not support the revolt because, in their view, that revolt was backward-looking.
• Disunity Among the Leaders:
  • The main problem however, was lack of unity in the ranks of rebels themselves. Their leaders were suspicious and jealous of each other and often indulged in petty quarrels.
• Military Superiority of the British:
  • Another major factor for the defeat of the rebels was the British superiority in arms. 
  • British imperialism, at the height of its power the world over and supported by most of the Indian princes and chiefs, proved militarily too strong for the rebels.

Source: Print + PIB