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ended in a war of independence, for there is not the slightest doubt

that the rebels wanted to get rid of the alien government and
restore the old order of which the Mughal emperor was the rightful
representative.

Pandit Nehru has written, It was much more than a military

mutiny and it spread rapidly and achieved the character of a
popular rebellion and a war of Indian Independence.”

Prof. Bipan Chandra is of the view that the revolt of the

sepoys was accompanied by a rebellion of the civil population
particularly in the Northwestern Provinces and Oudh, the two
regions from which the sepoys of the Bengal army were recruited.
The civil rebellion had a broad social base embracing all sections of
the society and the revolt of the sepoys thus, resulted in a popular
uprising In spite of the limitations and weaknesses the effort of the
sepoys to liberate the country from foreign rule was a patriotic act.

1.4 CAUSES OF THE REVOLT OF 1857:

Although Revolt began as a military rising and it appears to

be a great sequel in the long series of a number of mutinies, its
causes were deeply rooted in the changing conditions of the times.
It drew its strength from several elements of discontent against the
British rule. There were several Political, administrative, socio-
cultural, economic, religious, cultural and immediate causes of the
revolt.

1.4.1. Political Causes:-

(i) Wars and Conquests:

The East India Company created a lot of discontent and
disaffection among the dispossessed ruling families and their
successors by her conquest. A large number of dependents on the
ruling families who lost their means of livelihood and other common
people were disillusioned and disaffected with the alien rule. Lord
Dalhousie annexed the Punjab and added humiliation to the ruling
family. Dalip Singh, the minor son of Ranjit Singh, the founder of
the Sikh Kingdom of the Punjab, was deposed, and exiled to
England. The properties of the Lahor Darbar were auctioned.

(ii) 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. The subsidiary
alliance of Lord Wellesley, played a major role in British expansion
in India. According to this alliance, Indian rulers were not allowed to
have their independent armed force. They were to be protected by
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the company, but had to pay for the 'subsidiary forces' that the
company was supposed to maintain for the purpose of this
protection. As a result, number of Indian rulers under British
protection surrendered the control of their foreign affairs to the
British. Most subordinate disbanded their native armies, instead
maintaining British troops within their states to protect them from
attack.

Discontent and dissatisfaction was especially strong in those

regions, which were believed to have been lost their independence.
As a consequence of Subsidiary Alliance, lakhs of soldiers and
officers were deprived of their hereditary livelihood, spreading
misery and degradation in the country. Thus the East India
company’s policy of ‘Effective control’and gradual extinction of the
Indian native states took a definite shape with the perfection of the
Subsidiary Alliance System under Lord Wellesley.

The scene from one of the battle.

(iii) Doctrine of Lapse:

The practical application of Doctrine of Lapse of Lord
Dalhousie’s produced unprecedented discontent in the directly
affected states. As a result number of rulers were debarred from
adopting any son for the purpose of religious ceremonies after their
death. This was considered as a direct encroachment by the British
upon their religious practices. The Punjab Pegu, and Sikkim were
conquered and annexed to the British Empire. By applying the
Doctrine of Lapse, Dalhousie annexed the principalities of Satara,
Jaipur, Sambhalpur, Bhagat. Udaipur, Jhansi, and Nagpur. In 1856
Lord Dalhousie annexed the kingdom of Oudh only on the pretext