1857 - the Great Revolt

Introduction 

In Indian history, the term ‘First War of Independence’ is used to refer to the Great Uprising of 1857. This was a great uprising against the oppressive foreign rule. There were many causes that led to the First War of Independence in 1857. The main causes were political, economic, social, religious and military.

During the span of 100 years from 1757 to 1857, the British had managed to expand their political power throughout the country. They dispossessed the native rulers; ruthlessly exploited the masses; used trade and commerce for their own benefit and drained wealth from India. All these caused widespread dissatisfaction and distrust among all sections of Indian society including native rulers, landlords and common people. 

All these led to the Uprising which initially started as a mutiny of sepoys (Indian soldiers) and later spread to the other sections of the society.

Causes of the Uprising 

Political – Due to the British policy of annexation there was distrust among the native rulers and discontent among the people of the annexed territories. The Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse were used indiscriminately to annex many independent states leading to great discontentment among the rulers and subjects of states annexed. 

Jhansi was an example which was annexed after the death of the ruler on the pretext that the king had no legal heir, although the king had named his successor. Also the annexation of Awadh on ground of mis-governance created discontent among the people towards the British. Besides, the Mughal king was disrespected as Lord Dalhousie had ordered Bahadur Shah II to ask his successors to leave the Red Fort after his death. The title of Mughal Emperor was to be abolished after Bahadur Shah’s death. Common Indians who were part of one ruling class or the other found themselves without any power and prestige with the British excluding Indians from all high civil and military  posts.

Economic – The British utilised their political power for exploiting the economic resources of the country. Within a few decades after the establishment of political power iin Bengal, the British drained out its resources to the extent that its people were not even left with bare minimum for existence. Next, they adopted several policies that resulted in the destruction of the cottage and handicraft industries of India. 

Also the British Government introduced new land revenue systems in India solely based on the aim of extracting as much as possible from the peasantry. The British planters forced peasants to produce cash crops like indigo instead of food crops leading to food shortage and famines. Also the indigo cultivators were treated inhumanly. India was reduced to an agrarian colony of England. 

Besides the Inam Commission appointed by the British to look into proprietary rights confiscated the properties of more than twenty one thousand zamindars making them landless over night. Also the British policy of annexation of Indians states rendered many native soldiers, civil officers and religious teachers jobless.

 

Social and Religious – A serious apprehension among all the classes of Indians was that the British were attempting to convert them all to Christianity. The banning of Sati, passing of Widow Remarriage Act and Religious Disability Act (law against depriving the religious converts of his hereditary property)  also created distrust among the people. The spread of western education that rendered the religious teachers jobless was also seen with suspicion. Even the replacement of Persian by English as court language was not liked by the people.

Military – The Indian soldiers in the British army were unhappy with many rules and regulations. The Sikh and Muslims rulers resented when they were asked to cut their beard, those who disobeyed were dismissed. Also the poor salary and no prospect made the sepoys unhappy. They were also dissatisfied because they were asked to go to distant places to fight without any extra remuneration. Also sea voyages were a concern among the Brahmin soldiers.  But the immediate cause was the introduction of Enfield rifles whose cartridges were believed to be greased with cow and pig fats.

Spread of the Revolt 

The Uprising actually started at Barrackpore on 29 March 1857 when Mangal Pandey a soldier of the 34^th Regiment fired at his Major after refusing to use the greased cartridges and instigated other soldiers to revolt. He was executed. 

Next in Meerut on 6^th May 1857, 85 soldiers of the 3^rd Cavalry Regiment refused to use the greased cartridges. The soldiers were punished and arrested leading to the storming of the prison and killing of the resident British officers. The soldiers after killing all British officers in Meerut marched to Delhi and declared the Mughal King Bahadur Shah II as Emperor of India. 

Soon the whole of north India was under the uprising. Many civilian English men and British officers were killed. The war was led by Nana Saheb in Kanpur, Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow and Laxmi Bai in central India (Jhansi).

Suppression of the Revolt 

Lord Canning, the Governor General took immediate steps to suppress the uprising and regained lost territories soon. He collected the forces of Madras, Bombay, Sri Lanka and Burma and with the loyal Sikh armies proceeded to Delhi and soon overthrew the Mughal king, killed his two sons, arrested and deported him to Rangoon. Next was Allahabad and Kanpur followed by Lucknow, Gwalior, Jhansi and central India.

Failure of the First War of Independence 

The First War of Independence seriously crippled the British government initially. Still they succeeded in suppressing the revolt for many reasons. The primary reasons being – the uprising was limited to only central and north India, lack of unity and planning of the leaders of the war, no unified leadership, better resources of the British, no support of the native rulers and educated Indians. Large parts of south Indian, Punjab and west India had no uprising. There was no concept of nationalism, as every party was fighting for its own revival and regional interests. Also native rulers remained unsympathetic to the revolt and in many cases supported the British.

Consequences of the First War of Independence 

The Uprising saw the end of the rule of the East India Company in India. The British Parliament passed The Government of India Act which transferred all East India Company territories to the British Crown. India was started to be ruled in the name of the British Queen, after Queen Victoria made a Proclamation regarding transfer of power from the Company to the British crown on November 01, 1858 in Allahabad. 

Lord Canning was made the first Viceroy of the British territories. The Queen in her Proclamation declared that the British government would not discriminate against Indians nor would undertake any type of expansion activities and the rights, dignity and honour of native rulers would be respected.