THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE-1857

Religious and Social

 The British thought that they were superior culture and disrespected the Indian culture.
They also did not get mixed with the Indians as they thoughts the Indians are uneducated
and uncivilized people.
 Christians monks were sent by the British to spread their religion. The Christian monks
insulted the religion of the Indian. This angered many Indians.
 In the military set up they introduced some regulations that injured religious sentiments of
the Indians. For Example under the military rules the Indian soldiers were forbidden to
have beards or wear turbans or put tilak on their foreheads. These regulations made
Indians realize that their faith were in trouble.
Social and Religious
Social and Religious
Military Cause

 There were many Indian soldiers in the British

army but not even a single one of Indian was
made an officer.
 Many controversial military reforms were
introduced in which British started posting of
Indian soldiers to far off places.
 It was said that the Indian people working in
the army would be converted to Christians and
they might be sent to other countries to fight
for the British.
Main Cause

 In January 1857 the British announced that they

would introduce a new rifle with a paper cartridge
covered with grease to keep the powder dry and
before the cartridge would be loaded the end had
to be bitten off. However, the grease was made up
of cows and pigs fat.
This main event became the immediate cause of the war. At the same time, an Indian sepoy
killed two British officers, when he was forced to use greased cartridge. He was arrested
and hanged to death.
The Events:

 In March sepoys named Mangal Pandey disobeyed his British

officer and was killed.
 In May sepoys of Meerut refused to touch the new cartridge so they
were put to prison but their fellow sepoys freed them and killed all
the British then the soldiers marched to Delhi and captured it.
 The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar wined the support of
Hindus and Muslims.
The Events:

 The war spread and British lost control of Mathura, Kanpur, Jhansi,
Bihar, Allahabad, Gwalior, Delhi and Lucknow. This area is now
known as Uttar Pardesh.
 However, British proved to be too powerful and quickly regained
the areas they had lost.
 In September Delhi was regained and Bahadur Shah was put into
lifetime prison. In August1858, the war was officially over.