The British East India Company, which served as the sovereign power in India on behalf of the British Crown, was the target of a significant revolt in 1857–1858 known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 or the Revolt of 1857. In the garrison town of Meerut, 64 kilometres northeast of Delhi, sepoys of the Company’s army staged a mutiny on May 10, 1857, signalling the start of the uprising.
Afterwards, it burst into other mutinies and civil uprisings, primarily in central India and the upper Gangetic plain, though there were also instances of uprising further north and east. Only the rebels’ loss in Gwalior on June 20, 1858, was able to put an end to the uprising, which constituted a military threat to British dominance in that area.
The British declared the hostilities to have officially ended on 8 July 1859, but they had already offered amnesty to all rebels who had not committed murder on 1 November 1858. The First War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, and other names have all been used to refer to it.
Resentments stemming from a variety of perceptions, such as intrusive British-style social reforms, severe land taxes, the shabby treatment of some wealthy landowners and princes, as well as scepticism regarding the advancements brought about by British rule, fed the Indian insurrection. Although many Indians rebelled against the British, many others also battled in their favour, and the majority appeared to continue to submit to British rule. Fighting and British vengeance left the towns of Delhi and Lucknow in ruins, and both sides inflicted violence that occasionally revealed extraordinary cruelty on British officers, civilians, including women and children, and rebels and their sympathisers, sometimes even entire villages.
Instead of being caused by a single event, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was the consequence of a number of causes coming together over time.
The new Enfield Pattern 1853 rifled musket’s ammo lit the final match. These weapons, which employed pre-greased paper cartridges and Minié balls, had a tighter fit than the previous muskets. Sepoys had to bite open the cartridge to liberate the powder in order to load the gun. It was rumoured that the grease used on these cartridges contained lard made from pork, which would offend Muslims, and tallow made from cattle, which would offend Hindus.
The insurrection itself was preceded by months of rising tensions and many occurrences. The new cartridges the 19th Bengal Native Infantry unit had been given were wrapped in paper coated with cow and pig fat, which had to be opened by mouth and offended their religious sensibilities. This worry arose on February 26, 1857. The next morning’s procession was cancelled after their colonel confronted them while being supported by cavalry and artillery on the parade grounds.
Due to the previous activities of the East India Company, Mangal Pandey, a 29-year-old member of the 34th BNI, stated his intention to rebel against his superiors on March 29, 1857, at the Barrackpore parade ground, close to Kolkata. Sergeant-Major James Hewson went to investigate after learning of Pandey’s behaviour, but Pandey shot at him. On April 6, he was court-martialed, and two days later, he was executed.
The regiment was disbanded and deprived of its uniforms because it was thought that, especially following this episode, it harboured animosity towards its leaders.
These penalties were viewed as draconian by sepoys in other regiments. Several historians believe that the display of dishonour during the ceremonial disbanding contributed to the insurrection. Disgruntled ex-sepoys sought retribution upon their return to Awadh.
Place | Indian Leader |
Delhi | Bahadur Shah II, General Bakht Khan |
Lucknow | Begum Hazrat Mahal, Birjis Qadir, Ahmadullah |
Rajasthan | Jaidayal Singh and Hardayal Singh |
Farrukhabad | Tufzal Hasan Khan |
Assam | Kandapareshwar Singh, Maniram Dutta Baruah |
Kanpur | Nana Sahib, Rao Sahib, Tantia Tope, Azimullah Khan |
Jhansi | Rani Laxmibai |
Bihar | Kunwar Singh, Amar Singh |
Orissa | Surendra Shahi, Ujjwal Shahi |
As the revolt in Meerut started, the rebels moved swiftly to Delhi, where Bahadur Shah Zafar, an 81-year-old Mughal emperor, was proclaimed the Emperor of Hindustan. Shortly, the rebels had seized vast portions of Awadh and the North-Western Provinces (Oudh). The reaction from the East India Company also came quickly. Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and Delhi by the end of September, both with the aid of troops. But it took till the latter half of 1857 and the first half of 1858 to put an end to the uprising in Jhansi, Lucknow, and particularly the Awadh region.
The Bombay Presidency, the Madras Presidency, and other Company-controlled areas of India remained generally tranquil. The Sikh princes played a vital role in aiding the British in the Punjab by supplying both soldiers and assistance. The larger princely realms of Hyderabad, Mysore, Kashmir, and Travancore, as well as the lesser ones of Rajputana, resisted the British, acting as “breakwaters in a storm,” in the words of Governor-General Lord Canning.
Several areas of the insurrection, most notably in Awadh, adopted the characteristics of a patriotic uprising against British authority. However, none of the rebel leaders’ declarations hinted to a new political order. Despite yet, the uprising turned out to be a significant turning point in the histories of the British Empire and India. By passing the Government of India Act 1858, it required the British to restructure the army, the financial system, and the administration in India, which resulted in the breakup of the East India Company.
The British government then took direct control of India under the new British Raj. Despite not having the legal standing of a constitutional clause, Queen Victoria guaranteed Indians on November 1st a set of rights that were comparable to those enjoyed by other British subjects. As these rights were not always recognised in the next decades, Indians were to specifically cite the Queen’s proclamation in their expanding declarations of a new nationalism.
Due to a number of causes, the revolution ultimately failed to drive the British out of the country.
Abolition of Sati by Bengal Sati Regulation 1829
Qutub Minar: History and Recent Controversy
Widespread but ineffective insurrection against British rule in India between 1857 and 1859 is known as the Indian Mutiny, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Independence. Indian soldiers (sepoys) working for the British East India Company started it at Meerut, and it afterwards spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow.
The 1857 uprising was started at Barrackpore on March 29, 1857, by Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry.
Eventually, the greased cartridge incident led to the Rebellion of 1857. There was a rumour that the new Enfield rifles' cartridges were lubricated with pig and cow fat. The sepoys had to gnaw off the cartridge paper before loading these guns. Muslims and Hindu sepoys both objected to their use.
The three key figures in the Rebellion of 1857 were Mangal Pandey, Bahadur Shah Zafar, and Rani Laxmi Bai. The rebellion was largely led by numerous other well-known independence warriors, including Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Man Singh, and Kunwar Singh.
The President, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States), and the Lok Sabha (House of the…
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Association for Democratic Reforms &…
The UKPSC Exam Calendar 2024 for a variety of exams was made public by the…
Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) has released a notice regarding the announcement of a new…
The Union Public Service Commission has released the notification to conduct the UPSC EPFO PA…
The JPSC Syllabus 2024 is being published by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission. To improve…