The Great Uprising of 1857

Three main political causes that led to the Great Uprising of 1857 were:

1. The British policies of expansion like Doctrine of Lapse, Subsidiary Alliance, outright wars and control of territory on the pretext of alleged misrule was one of the major grievances of the Indian rulers.
2. The successors of Bahadur Shah Zafar were not allowed to use the Red Fort as their palace and also they were not allowed to use imperial titles with their names. This decision hurt the feelings of Muslims causing Zeenat Mahal, the wife of Bahadur Shah Zafar to start plotting against the British.
3. Nana Saheb was adopted son of Baji Rao II (the last Peshwa) but he was denied the pension by British which they were paying to Baji Rao II. Nana Saheb was forced to live at Kanpur, far away from his family seat at Poona. This was widely resented in the Maratha region.

Two economic factors that caused the Uprising of 1857 were:

1. Agricultural India became an economic colony of industrial England. Raw materials like raw cotton and raw silk were forcibly exported at cheaper rates to British industries. Plantation products (like indigo and tea) and food grains which were in short supply in Britain were also exported cheaply from India. This deprived India of her agricultural surplus raising the prices of raw materials.
2. The art of spinning and weaving, which for ages had given employment to thousands of artisans, became extinct.

The introduction of modern innovations such as railways and telegraphs was misunderstood by the people. They thought that the telegraph poles were erected to hang people who were against the British rule. Similarly, the orthodox Indians noted that in the railway compartments the higher castes and the lower castes were made to sit side by side. They believed that the British had introduced such practices to defy their caste and religion.

The Doctrine of Lapse was a British policy by which the adopted child was not accepted as the heir to the throne and so the state was annexed by the British.

Three states annexed by the British using the Doctrine of Lapse were Satara, Jaitpur and Sambalpur.

Lord Dalhousie announced that successors of Bahadur Shah Zafar would not be permitted to use Red Fort as their palace. They were required to shift to a place near the Qutab Minar. In 1856, Lord Canning announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah, his successors would not be allowed to use imperial titles with their names. These decisions of the British hurt the feelings of the Muslims.

Three ways by which the British exploited the resources of India were:

1. Agricultural India became an economic colony of industrial England. Raw materials like raw cotton and raw silk were forcibly exported at cheaper rates to British industries. Plantation products (like indigo and tea) and food grains which were in short supply in Britain were also exported cheaply from India. This deprived India of her agricultural surplus raising the prices of raw materials.
2. India was made to accept readymade British goods either duty-free or at nominal duty rates, while Indian products were subjected to high import duties in England. This ruined the Indian industry, deprived the artisans of their income and reduced the employment opportunities for labour.
3. Increase in the land revenue forced many peasants into debt or into selling their lands.

Three grievances of the Indian soldiers, which led to the Uprising of 1857 were:

1. Indian soldiers were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed. British military authorities forbade the sepoys from wearing caste or sectarian marks, beards or turbans; and they showed disregard for the sentiments of the sepoys.
2. All higher positions in employment were reserved for the British, irrespective of their performance. Even the Indian soldiers formerly occupying high positions in the armies of native princes could not rise above the rank of a Subedar.
3. The wages of Indian soldiers were inadequate to support their families. On the other hand, the British soldiers received more than eight times the salary of the Indian soldiers.

In 1856, the British authorities introduced the Enfield rifle which became the immediate cause of the Uprising of 1857. The loading process of the Enfield rifle involved bringing the cartridge to the mouth and biting off the top greased paper with the teeth. In January 1857, there was a rumour in the Bengal regiments that the greased cartridge had the fat of cow or pig. The sepoys were now convinced that the introduction of greased cartridges was a deliberate move to defile Hindu and Muslim religions as the cow is sacred to hindus and the pig is a taboo to Muslims. So, both the Hindus and the Muslim soldiers refused to use these cartridges and staged an uprising when they were forced to use them.

Three consequences of the Uprising of 1857 were:

1. The most significant result of the uprising of 1857 was the end of the rule of the East India Company and assumption of the Government of India directly by the Crown. This was done by the Government of India Act of 1858.
2. With the death of Bahadur Shah II, who was deported to Yangon, the Mughal dynasty came to an end. Nana Saheb, the last Peshwa, had taken an active part in the uprising and had fled to Nepal after the failure of the uprising. So the office of the Peshwa also came to an end. Thus, ended two of the most formidable foes of the British — the Marathas and the Mughals.
3. The Policy of annexation and the Doctrine of Lapse were abandoned.

The historians regarded the Uprising of 1857 as the First War of Independence because:

1. It was the first mass uprising in which all the sections of Indian society participated against a common enemy, i.e., the British.
2. It paved the way for the rise of modern national movement. The sacrifices made by Laxmi Bai, Nana Saheb and Mangal Pandey served as a source of inspiration to the leaders and people to fight for the independence of India from the British rule.

(a) The people depicted in the picture are Indian Sepoys in the British Army.

(b) Their grievances against the British were:

1. Indian soldiers were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed.
2. They were forbidden from wearing caste or sectarian marks, beards or turbans. This showed disregard for the sentiments of the sepoys.
3. All higher positions in employment were reserved for the British, irrespective of their performance.
4. The Indian soldiers were required to serve in areas away from their homes without extra payment.
5. The wages of the Indian soldiers were inadequate. British soldiers received more than eight times the salary of the Indian soldiers.
6. As per the General Service Enlistment Act in 1856, the Indian soldiers could be sent overseas on duty. The Brahmin soldiers saw this as a danger to their caste as it was a taboo for them to cross the seas.

(c) Mangal Pandey led an attack on his senior at Barrackpore. He was executed by the British after a Court Martial. He is hailed as a martyr by Indians for his heroic act.