The War Of Independence 1857

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By the middle of the eighteenth century, the East India Company had taken control of all the major trading post that had been run by other European companies: the Portuguese, the French and the Dutch.

The company had a large army and navy. It also had its own coins. Its army units were based in the company’s three presidencies: Bengal, Madras and Bombay. These three countries were the bases of its main trading posts.

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The company had many soldiers called sepoys. The East India Company which begun as a small trading industry, now ruled about two-thirds of the sub-continent.

THE CAUSES OF UNREST IN THE SUBCONTINENT

The Presence of Christian Missionaries

It seemed that many people accepted the British rule. A large number of people served in the East India Company’s army. Despite of some people who were unhappy because of the British style social reforms. The presence of Christian missionaries was a concern for some Indians that made them think, the British wanted to convert people to Christianity.

The Doctrine of Lapse

The East India Company interfered with the traditional system of inheritance in India by introducing ‘The Doctrine of Lapse’. This was the second reason for the resentment amongst Indian nobles and British rulers. The Doctrine of Lapse stated that the adopted children of Indian rulers would not be considered as their legal heirs. Hence, the titles and land of many people and rulers became the property of East India Company. In some cases, they even abolished the pensions of the adopted heirs.

Financial and Military Reforms

In addition landowners and princes resented the high taxes they had to pay, which often resulted in conflicts with the British troops. Some sepoys were unhappy about discrimination based on caste in the army. Many in the Bengal army who were from higher Hindu castes, refused to travel overseas due to their religious beliefs. They were allowed special privileges, but the sepoys from lower castes resented this because they had to travel overseas to fight for the British. They also faced difficulty in becoming officers as more and more European officers arrived in India.

Greased Cartridges in Rifles

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In early 1857, a new type of rifle which used greased cartridges was issued to the Indian soldiers. The grease allowed the cartridges to be slipped into the rifle easily. However, it was suspected that the grease was made from animal fat. On 10 May 1857, at the military base of Meerut, near Delhi, 85 sepoys refused to touch these cartridges. Hindus would not touch them in case the fat was from cows, and Muslims in case it was from pigs. This infuriated the British officers who punished these sepoys in front of their regiment for disobeying orders. They stripped them off uniforms and shoes, and locked them up in chains.

THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1857

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The rebellious attitude of the sepoys shocked the British army officers, who were used to being able to control any conflict in the subcontinent.

Some historians think they underestimated the strength of the resentment felt by many Indians including a large group of sepoys who set the imprisoned sepoys free, and attacked their officers.

On the night of 11 May 1857, the sepoys marched from Meerut from Delhi to visit the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was 82 years old and living in his palace in Delhi on a pension provided by the British.

 He no longer ruled an empire, but the sepoys persuaded him to be their leader-even if only in name. They proclaimed him ‘Emperor of the Whole of India’.

Before long, sepoys at other army garrisons began to join in, until the actions spread over a large area. The War of Independence was centred in Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow.

THE CENTRES OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Delhi

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When the sepoys arrived at Bahadur Shah’s palace in Delhi, others in the palace joined the revolt. Some of the Bengal Native Infantry, who were stationed nearby, also joined the rebellion. Those who did not join in, refused to obey orders to take action against the rebels.

British officers in Delhi blew up their arsenal of weapons to stop the rebels getting hold of them. The explosion killed many people nearby, and as a result the sepoys stationed around Delhi joined the rebellion.

They managed to get some of the weapons from the arsenal, and captured a store of 3000 barrels of gun powders not far from Delhi. However, Delhi was recaptured by the British on 20 September 1857 and the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was arrested and exiled to Burma, where he spent the remaining days of his life and was buried.

Kanpur

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Nana Sahib was the adopted son of an exiled Maratha noble. He led the revolt in Kanpur, because he had lost territories and a pension after his father’s death, and wanted independence from East India Company’s rule in India.

The British garrison in Kanpur surrendered. Nana Sahib took the survivors prisoner but let them leave by boat. However, as they got into the boats, his troops fired at them and killed them.

He kept control for just a few days, until his forces were defeated by a British army that recaptured Kanpur. He is thought to have died in the hills of Nepal.

Lucknow

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There was already tension in Lucknow because the East India Company had taken over the state of Awadh and exiled its ruler, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, to Calcutta in 1856.

The British commissioner there had fortified the residency in Lucknow and built up supplies to resist a siege.

British civilians from surrounding places headed there when they heard about the sepoy rebellion.

The British troops fought to defend the residency against the sepoys who clearly outnumbered them.

The siege lasted for many days but by March 1858, the British retook Lucknow and the War of Independence was over.

WHY DID THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE FAIL?

There were several reasons for the failure of the War of Independence. To begin with, the war was not a coordinated effort by the people of the subcontinent and hence could not gain momentum across all parts of the subcontinent.

Apart from Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Jhansi (Where the Rani of Jhansi put up a brave fight), other important cities such as Bombay, Madras and the Deccan, did not participate. 

Moreover, the Muslims and Hindus were not united against their common enemy and many sepoys remained loyal to the British forces.

WHAT WERE THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE?

The immediate effects of the war was that the British government abolished the East India Company. In August 1858, the India Act brought India directly under the British Crown. Lord Canning was made the first viceroy of India, and this formally ended the Mughal Empire.

Although the rebellion was started by the Hindu sepoys, yet the British blamed the Muslims for the War of Independence which strained the relationship between them. The British army was reorganized and fewer Indian sepoys were recruited than before.

Only British soldiers were allowed to take charge of the artillery. No more sepoys were recruited from Bengal but more Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans, who did not participated in the War of Independence, were recruited.

The British also set up three universities for the Indian people in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. The British government’s power increased and many Britons went to live in India, where they could make great profits from trade and industry.