Indian History

Government of Tamil Nadu

Department of Employment and Training

Course : TNPSC Combined Civil Services Examination - IV(Group IV / VAO)

Subject : History
Topic : INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT

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 Indian History

TNPSC GROUP IV
STUDY MATERIAL
INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT
 Indian History

SYLLABUS

Indian National Movement:

National renaissance

Emergence of national leaders - Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore

Different modes of agitations

Role of Tamil Nadu in freedom struggle

Rajaji, VOC, Periyar, Bharathiar & others.

 Indian History

INDIAN NATIONAL HISTORY

The Great Revolt 1857:

• Revolt of 1857 or the First War of Indian Independence.

• Rebellion of 1857 occurred as the result of an accumulation of factors over time, rather than
any single event.

• This war brought about the end of the British East India Company’s rule in India, and led to
the direct rule by the British Government/Crown rule.

Causes of the Revolt:

Political Causes:

• British policy(Wellesly) of expansion through the Doctrine of Lapse and direct annexation.
• Rani Lakshmi Bai’s adopted son was not permitted to sit on the throne of Jhansi.
• Satara, Nagpur and Jhansi were annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse. Jaipur, Sambalpur and
Udaipur were also annexed.
• The refusal to continue the pension of Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Baji Rao II, created
hostility among the ruling class.

Social and Religious Causes:

• An Act in 1850 changed the Hindu law of inheritance enabling a Hindu who had converted
into Christianity to inherit his ancestral properties.

• The abolition of practices like sati and female infanticide and the legislation legalizing widow
remarriage, were threats to the established social structure.

Economic Causes:

• The British imposed heavy protective duties on imported goods in Britain while British goods
were imported into India at a nominal duty.

• In rural areas, peasants and zamindars resented the heavy taxes on land and the stringent
methods of revenue collection followed by the Company.
 Indian History
• India was transformed into a supplier of raw materials and a consumer of goods manufactured
in Britain. 5

Military Causes:
• Besides Indian sepoys could not rise to a rank higher than that of a Subedar.

• In 1856 Lord Canning issued the General Services Enlistment Act which required that the
sepoys must be ready to serve even in British land across the sea.

• An Indian sepoy was paid less than an European sepoy of the same rank.

Different leaders Associated with the Revolt of 1857

• Barrackpore Mangal Pandey

• Delhi Bahadur Shah II

• Lucknow Begum Hazrat Mahal

• Kanpur Nana Sahib, Rao Sahib (nephew of Nana), TantiaTope

• Jhansi Rani Laxmibai

• Bihar Kunwar Singh

Immediate Cause:
• The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. A rumour
spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and
pigs.

• In March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in Barrackpore, had refused to use the cartridge
and attacked his senior officers. He was hanged to death on 8th April.

• On 9th May, 85 soldiers in Meerut refused to use the new rifle and were sentenced to ten
years imprisonment.

Main events of the revolt:

• The Meerut Mutiny (May 9, 1857) marked the beginning of the Revolt of 1857. The Indian
sepoys in Meerut murdered their British officers and broke open the jail. On May 10, they
marched to Delhi.
 Indian History
• In Delhi the mutineers were joined by the Delhi sepoys and the city came under their
control. 6
• Next day, on 11th May, the sepoys proclaimed the ageing Bahadur Shah Zafar the
Emperor of Hindustan.
• September 1857, the British reoccupied Delhi. Thousands of innocent people were
massacred and hundreds were hanged. The old king was captured and later deported to
Rangoon where he died in 1862.

Suppression of the Revolt:

• The Revolt of 1857 lasted for more than a year. It was suppressed by the middle of 1858.

• On July 8 1858, fourteen months after the outbreak at Meerut, peace was finally proclaimed
by Canning.

REVOLT AT KANPUR

• When the revolt broke out at Kanpur, Nana Saheb the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II
joined the rebels with his able commander Tantia Tope and declared himself to be the Peshwa.
• Nana Saheb was finally defeated by Sir Colin Campbell and he fled to Nepal.
• November 1857 Kanpur was brought under the control of the British.

REVOLT AT DELHI

• Sir Archdale Wilson, Nicholson and Sir John Lawrence were the Military officers who freed
Delhi from the rebels.
• Bahadur Shah II, the powerless Mughal Emperor in Delhi was tried and deported to Rangoon.

REVOLT AT LUCKNOW
• The Chief Commissioners Sir Lawrence and Colonel Neil were killed. Begum Hazrat Mahal,
the wife of Nawab of Oudh had also joined the rebels.
• Finally Lucknow was recaptured by Sir Colin Campbell in March 1858.

REVOLT AT CENTRAL INDIA

• In Central India the great rising was led by Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi and Tantia Tope who
came from Kanpur.
• She was killed in the battle in June 1858.
 Indian History
REVOLT AT BIHAR
7
• The revolt was led by KunwarSingh, an 80 year old land lord ofJagadishpur.
• He fought bravely till his death in 1858

Results of the revolt:

• The revolt marked the end of the East India Company’s rule in India. India now came under
the direct rule of the British Crown.

• This was announced by Lord Canning at a Durbar in Allahabad in a proclamation issued on 1

November 1858 in the name of the Queen.

• Thus Indian administration was taken over by Queen Victoria, which in effect meant the
British Parliament. The Governor General’s office was replaced by that of the Viceroy.

• The Revolt of 1857 paved the way for the future struggle for freedom in India.

QUEEN VICTORIA’S PROCLAMATION OF 1858

• A Royal Durbar was held at Allahabad in November 1, 1858

• The proclamation issued by Queen Victoria is described as the Magna Carta of India.
• It was read by Lord Canning who was the last Governor General and the First Viceroy of
India.
• It confirmed the earlier treaties of the East India Company with the Indian Princes.