1.

The First War of

Independence,1857(Indian Historians)

REVOLT OF 1857
SEPOY MUTINY( British Historians)
THE GREAT UPRISING OF 1857
 Revised Syllabus

Only the causes ( political, socio-

religious,economic and military) and
consequences will be tested
 Causes
• P- POLITICAL
• R- RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL
• E - ECONOMIC
• M - MILITARY
 Political Causes
• 1. Policy of Expansion
By Outright Wars
Battle of Plassey(1757)
Battle of Buxar (1764) – Masters of Bengal,Bihar and
Odisha.
Anglo-Mysore Wars(1767-1799) – Annexed most of the
territories of Mysore
Maratha Wars(Peshwa’s dominion and entire maratha
territory North and South of Narmada river were acquire)
Sikh Wars – Punjab was annexed.
 Policy of Annexation
1.Subsidiary Alliance System(Lord Wellesley)
• Accepting British as Supreme Power
• Surrendered their foreign relations to the East
India Company
• Accept a British resident at their headquarters
• Not to employ any European without consulting
the company.
• Agreed to maintain British troops at their own
cost
• Virtually lost their Independence.
 Policy of Annexation
2.Doctrine of lapse( Lord Dalhousie)
• Under this policy, heirs adopted without the
consent of the company, could inherit only the
private property of the deceased ruler and not
his territory, which would come under the
Company’s rule.
• Satara,Jhansi,Jaitpur,Sambalpur,Udaipur and
Nagpur were victims of this doctrine.
Policy of Annexation 3.Maladministration

• Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in 1856 on the

pretext of alleged misrule.
-Effects of Annexation
• Thousands of nobles, officials and soldiers were
thrown out of employment.
• They had to pay higher land revenue and
additional taxes on food, houses and ferries.
• The British confiscated the estates of the
taluqdars or zamindars.
 2. Disrespect shown to Bahadur Shah
• In 1849 , Lord Dalhousie announced
successors of Bahadur Shah Zafar would not
be permitted to use the Red Fort as their
palace.
• In 1856, lord Canning announced after that
after the death of Bahadur Shah, his
successors would not be allowed to use
imperial titles with their names and would be
known as mere princes.
 3. Treatment given to Nana Saheb and
Rani laxmi Bai
• British refused to grant nana saheb the pension
they were paying to Baji rao II
• Nana Saheb was forced to live at Kanpur, far
away from his family seat at Poona.
• Nana Saheb was not acknowledged as legal
heir as he was the adopted son of Baji Rao II.
• Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, became a bitter
enemy of the British as her adopted son was
not accepted as the legal heir to the throne.
4. Absentee Sovereignty of the British
• It means that India was ruled by the British
Government from England, at a distance of
thousand of miles.
• In case of Britain, the Indians felt that their
wealth was being drained to England and not
utilised for their welfare.
 Socio-Religious causes
• Interference with Social Customs
i. Abolition of sati(1829)
ii. Introduction of widow remarriage Act(1856)
iii. Opening of western education to girls were
not welcomed by masses.
iv. Female infanticide
All these changes were not welcomed by
masses.
Apprehensions about modern Innovations

• People were suspicious about introduction of

modern innovations like telegraph and
railways.
• There were rumours that telegraph poles were
erected to hang those Indians who were
against British rule.
• Similarly they believed that in railway
compartments the higher castes and lower
castes were made to sit side by side.
• Policy of racial discrimination
• Corruption in administration
• Oppression of the poor

• Activities of Missionaries
In 18th century the British showed a friendly attitude towards Indian religions.
They had no zeal for their own religion and even acted as trustee of some Hindu
temples.
However in 19th century it underwent some change
a. The British began to interfere in the local religious and social customs
b. They denounced idol worship and social customs
c. After 1813, there was an increase both in numbers and activities of the
Christian missionaries. Indians thought the Government was supporting
missionaries who would convert them to Christianity.
 Fears regarding western education
• In 1829, the Bengal government established an English
class in Calcutta madrasa, which was a Muslim
Institution.
• English language was introduced in Benaras Sanskrit
College.
• The shift from oriental learning to western education
was not received well by the people especially the
pandits and maulvis.
• People stated suspecting that western education was not
to promote literature but to encourage their children to
become Christians.
 Taxing religious places
• Religious sentiments were hurt by the official
policy of taxing religious places like temples
and mosques.Such lands were exempted from
taxation by previous Indian rulers.
 Law of property
• The religious disabilities act of 1850 enabled a
convert from Hinduism to other religions to
inherit the property of the father.
 Economic Causes
• Exploitation of economic resources
i. India was forced to export raw materials like
raw cotton and raw silk at cheaper rates.
ii. India was forced to accept readymade goods
either duty-free or at nominal duty rates.
iii. Indian goods were unable to compete with
machine made British products which in turn
ruined the Indian industry and deprived the
artisans their income.
 Drain of wealth
• Till battle of plassey, european traders used to
bring gold into India to buy Indian cotton and silk.
• After conquest of Bengal, they began to purchase
raw materials from the surplus revenues of
Bengal and profits from duty-fee inland trade.
• The transfer of wealth from India to England in
which India got no proportionate return is called
drain of wealth.
Decay of cottage industries and handicrafts

• Heavy duties on Indian goods and cotton textiles in

Britain destroyed Indian Industries. On the other
hand, British goods were imported into India at a
nominal duty.
• By the end of 19th century, export of cotton and silk
goods from India practically ceaesd.
• The art of spinning and weaving which had given
employment for artisans become extinct.
• British goods were imported to India at a nominal
duty
 Economic decline of peasantry
• The peasants were discontent with the official land
revenue policy and the consequent loss of their land.
• The land revenue was the double the amount collected
under the Mughals. Not even a part of this revenue was
spent on the development of agriculture or on the welfare
of cultivator.
• Increase in land revenue forced many farmers into
indebtedness or into selling their lands.
• The traditional zamindars were replaced by landowners
and moneylenders who pushed rents to exorbitant and
evicted their tenants in case of non-payment.
 Growing unemployment
• Thousands of soldiers and officials in
administrative became unemployed because
british policy excluded Indians from higher
posts.
• The traditional rulers had given financial
support to scholars,preachers and men of
arts.The coming of Britishers led to the decline
of such rulers and gradually their patronage
came to an end.
 Inhuman treatment of Indigo cultivators

• The peasants were forced to grow Indigo in

the fields chosen by British planters. If they
grow anything else, their crops were
destroyed and cattle's were taken as
punishment.
• Poverty and famines
i. There were 12 major and various minor
famines between 1765 and 1857.British
government did nothing to lessen people’s
misery.
ii. British economic exploitation,decay of
cottage industries,high taxation,the drain of
wealth,stagnation of agriculture reduced the
Indians to extreme poverty.
 Decline of landed aristocracy
• According to Inam Commission, 20000 estates
were confiscated when landlords failed to
produce evidence like title-deeds.
• Such estates were purchased by
moneylenders and merchants who never
understand the needs of tenants and
exploited them.
• This drove the landed aristocracy to poverty.
 Military Causes
• Ill-treatment of Indian soldiers
i. The Indians soldiers were poorly paid, ill fed
and badly housed.
ii. The military authorities forbade the sepoys
from wearing caste or sectarian marks,
beards or turbans and they showed disregard
for the sentiment of the sepoys.
 General service enlistment act
• In 1856, Lord Canning passed General Service
Enlistment Act.As per this act, Indian soldiers
could be sent overseas on duty.
• The Brahmin soldiers saw in this a danger to
their caste.
• It was a taboo for Brahmins to cross the seas.
 Larger proportions of Indians in British
army
• The number of British troops was never very
large with british in the ratio as low as one in
four thousand.
• Thus it made easier for the large number of
Indian soldiers to take up arms against the
british.
• Bleak prospects of promotion
i. Irrespective of their performance Indian soldiers could not rise
above the rank of the Subedar.
ii. The future of Indian soldiers was bleak without chances of
promotion.

• Deprivation of allowances for Indian soldiers

i. They were required to serve in areas away from their homes
without extra payment and additional bhatta(foreign service
allowance)
ii. The post office act of 1854 withdrew the privilege of free
postage free enjoyed by the sepoys.
 Faulty distribution of troops
• Places of strategic importance like
delhi,allahabad had no british soldiers.
• England soldiers were engaged in several wars
outside India.(e.g. Iranian war,Crimean war
and Chinese war)
• They were therefore determined to strike at a
suitable time.
 Lower salaries
• The British soldiers received more than eight
times the salary of the Indian soldiers.
 Immediate causes
• In 1856, ‘brown Bess’ was replaced by new
Enfield rifle.
• 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 Jan 1857, there was rumour that the greased
cartridges had the fat of cow or pig.
• Cow is sacred to Hindus and pig is a taboo to
Muslims.
 Consequences
1.End of Company’s Rule
• It was done by Government Act of 1858 which had the following
provisions
(i) It transferred the power to govern India from the East India company
to the British crown.
(ii) The Company’s Board of control and court of Directors were
abolished. The power was to be exercised by the Secrtetary of State,
aided by a 15 member council.The Secretary of State was a member of
British Cabinet and was responsible to the Parliament.
(iii) Actual governance was to be carried on, as before, by the Governor-
General who was also given the title of Viceroy,that is a personal
representative of the crown.Lord Canning was appointed as the First
Viceroy under this Act.
(iv) Appointment to civil services were to be made by open competition
under rules made by the secretary of state.
 2.Queen Victoria’s Proclamation
• The Queen’s proclamation incorporating the transfer of
governance from East India Company to the British Crown was
made public at Allahabad, on November 1,1858 by Lord Canning.
i. follow a policy of non-intervention in social and religious
matters of Indians;
ii. treat all subjects _ Indians and Europeans _ as equals (education
and ability would be the basis of all appointments);
iii. grant a general pardon to all those who had taken part in the
War except those who were guilty of murder of British subjects;
iv. do its best to advance the industries in India; and
v. Promotes work of public utility in India so as to ensure the
material as well as the moral progress of the people.
 3. End of Mughals and Peshwas
• 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 and had fled to Nepal after the
failure of the uprising. So the office of Peshwa
came to an end.
 4.Relations with Princely States
• The Policy of Annexation and the Doctrine of
Lapse were abandoned.
• Some of the Indian princes had remained loyal
to the British and had helped them in
suppressing the uprising. Their loyalty was
rewarded with the announcement that their
right to adopt heirs would be respected and
the integrity of their territories guaranteed
against future annexation.
 5.Policy of Divide and Rule
• After 1858, the British continued their policy
of ‘divide and rule’ by turning the princes
against the people, province against province,
caste against caste, group against group and
above all, Hindus against Muslims.
• The Government cleverly used the attractions
of government service to create a split along
religious lines among educated Indians.
 6. Racial Antagonism
• Railway compartments,parks,hotels,clubs,etc.,
reserved for ‘Europeans only’ were visible
manifestations of this racialism.
 7.Foreign Policy
• India’s foreign policy was dictated by the
interests of the British Government. It fulfilled
the two aims of the British –(a) protection of
its Indian empire and (b) expansion of British
economic and commercial interests in Asia
and Africa.
• The cost of implementation of policies was
borne by the Indians.
8.Increased Racial Bitterness
 9.Religious Changes
• The British rulers declared emphatically their
policy of non-interference in the religious
affairs, customs and traditions of the Indians.
 10.Changes in the Army
i. The strength of European troops was increased. The ratio of
European to Indian troops was fixed at 1:2 ( Bengal army) and 2:5
( Madras and Bombay armies)
ii. European troops were kept in key geographical and military positions.
iii. To desist the Indian soldiers from rising again against the British rule,
the sophisticated weapons and ammunitions were never placed
under the charge of the Indians.
iv. Discrimination on the basis of caste, region and religion was practiced
in the recruitment to the army.
v. In order to discourage nationalism, measures such as introduction of
caste and community in most regiments were taken.
vi. Newspapers, journals were prevented from the reach of Indian
soldiers to keep them separated from rest of the population.
 11. Economic Exploitation
i. India was turned into a typical colonial economy,
exporting raw material and importing finished goods.
ii. The salary and allowances of the Secretary of State
and members of the India Council, the civil servants
and military officers were a large drain on the
country’s resources.
iii. Peasants were impoverished under the British rule.
iv. Rural artisan industries such as handicrafts, spinning
and weaving collapsed.
 12.Rise of Nationalism
• The sacrifices made by revolutionaries like
Rani Laxmi Bai, Nana Saheb and Mangal
Pandey served as source of inspiration for the
future freedom fighters.
 13.Widening of the Gulf between Hindus
and Muslims
• During the First War of Independence, both the
Hindus and Muslims showed great enthusiasm
and zeal to fight against the alien government.
• But after the uprising, the gulf between two
communities widened. This was the
consequence of British policy of ‘Divide and
rule’ and a deliberative attempt of British so
that the two communities might never come
together to pose a threat to British Rule.