What was the cause of the 1857 revolt?
It began on 10 May 1857 at Meerut, as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company’s army. Sepoys in the Presidency of Bengal revolted against their British officers. How did 1857 end?
What happened in the year 1857 in India?
Indian Rebellion of 1857. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown.
What is the nomenclature of the revolt of 1857?
Nomenclature. In India and Pakistan it has been termed as the "War of Independence of 1857" or "First War of Indian Independence" but it is not uncommon to use terms such as the "Revolt of 1857". The classification of the Rebellion being ". First War of Independence " is not without its critics in India.
How did the revolt of 1857 come to an end?
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 Lord Canning.
Why did the revolt of 1857 end in a failure?
The revolt of 1857 suffered from a weak leadership. It was not planned and organized. There was a clear lack of unity among the rebels and there was no common purpose among them during the revolt of 1857. The revolt did not spread to all the parts of India instead it was confined to the Northern and Central India.
How did the British end the struggle of 1857?
India now came under the direct rule of the British Crown. This was announced by Lord Canning at a Durbar in Allahabad in aproclamation 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.
When did 1857 revolt end?
May 10, 1857 – November 1, 1858Indian Rebellion of 1857 / Period
Was the revolt of 1857 successful?
The revolt was eventually not successful in ousting the British from the country because of several factors. The sepoys lacked one clear leader; there were several. They also did not have a coherent plan by which the foreigners would be routed.
What were the three major reasons for out break of the revolt of 1857?
What were the main causes of Revolt of 1857?Pathetic Socioeconomic Condition.Problems of Land Revenue.Destruction of Economy.Low position of Indians in Administration.Doctrine of Lapse.Ill-treatment with Bahadur Shah Zafar.Annexation of Oudh.Biased Police and Judiciary.More items...•
Who refused to accept the revolt of 1857?
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 1857. On 9th May 1857, 85 soldiers in Meerut refused to use the new rifle and were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
Where did the great revolt of 1857 Break Out?
The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi northeast of Delhi.
Why did the revolt of 1857 Fail Upsc?
Reasons for the failure of the sepoy mutiny in 1857 The sepoy mutiny was more localized. Due to the lack of any central influence, it became easier for the British to suppress the revolts. No one was there to lead the sepoys and make them understand about the game plan.
Why was the revolt of 1857 not successful highlight any five reason?
Answer. There was no planning among the rebels. Different groups pulled in different directions. The principal rebel leaders – Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh, Rani Laxmibai were no match to their British opponents in generalship.
What were the three major reasons for out break of the revolt of 1857?
What were the main causes of Revolt of 1857?Pathetic Socioeconomic Condition.Problems of Land Revenue.Destruction of Economy.Low position of Indians in Administration.Doctrine of Lapse.Ill-treatment with Bahadur Shah Zafar.Annexation of Oudh.Biased Police and Judiciary.More items...•
Why did the great rebellion fail?
The Sepoy Rebellion failed due to a couple of key elements. One of the major reasons was that the two Indian groups, the Muslims and the Hindus, were not friendly. Even though they had a common enemy, their basic grudge against each other led them to fight instead of merge.
Who coined the name Sepoy Mutiny?
In India, the term First War of Independence was first popularized by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1909 book The History of the War of Indian In...
What was the immediate reason for the revolt of 1857?
The immediate factor was the introduction of the ‘Enfield’ rifle. It was said that the cartridge of this rifle was wrapped in the fat of cow and pi...
What are the causes of revolt 1857?
There are many reasons that led to the revolt of 1857. Major reasons for the revolt can be broadly classified into – Political, Social, Economic, R...
Where did the rebellion take place in 1857?
However, it then took the remainder of 1857 and the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow, and especially the Awadh countryside. Other regions of Company-controlled India— Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, and the Madras Presidency —remained largely calm.
What were the causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857?
Main article: Causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 occurred as the result of an accumulation of factors over time, rather than any single event. The sepoys were Indian soldiers who were recruited into the Company's army.
What were the three groups of the Civilian Rebellion?
Civilian rebellion was more multifarious. The rebels consisted of three groups: the feudal nobility, rural landlords called taluqdars, and the peasants. The nobility, many of whom had lost titles and domains under the Doctrine of Lapse, which refused to recognise the adopted children of princes as legal heirs, felt that the Company had interfered with a traditional system of inheritance. Rebel leaders such as Nana Sahib and the Rani of Jhansi belonged to this group; the latter, for example, was prepared to accept East India Company supremacy if her adopted son was recognised as her late husband's heir. In other areas of central India, such as Indore and Saugar, where such loss of privilege had not occurred, the princes remained loyal to the Company, even in areas where the sepoys had rebelled. The second group, the taluqdars, had lost half their landed estates to peasant farmers as a result of the land reforms that came in the wake of annexation of Oudh. As the rebellion gained ground, the taluqdars quickly reoccupied the lands they had lost, and paradoxically, in part because of ties of kinship and feudal loyalty, did not experience significant opposition from the peasant farmers, many of whom joined the rebellion, to the great dismay of the British. It has also been suggested that heavy land-revenue assessment in some areas by the British resulted in many landowning families either losing their land or going into great debt to money lenders, and providing ultimately a reason to rebel; money lenders, in addition to the Company, were particular objects of the rebels' animosity. The civilian rebellion was also highly uneven in its geographic distribution, even in areas of north-central India that were no longer under British control. For example, the relatively prosperous Muzaffarnagar district, a beneficiary of a Company irrigation scheme, and next door to Meerut, where the upheaval began, stayed relatively calm throughout.
How many Indians were in the Sepoy Mutiny?
Indian Rebellion of 1857. "Sepoy Mutiny" redirects here. For other uses, see Sepoy Mutiny (disambiguation). As many as 800,000 Indians and possibly more, both in the rebellion and in famines and epidemics of disease in its wake, by comparison of 1857 population estimates with Indian Census of 1871. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, ...
Why did the British look for increased recruitment in the Punjab for the Bengal army?
The British looked for increased recruitment in the Punjab for the Bengal army as a result of the apparent discontent that resulted in the Sepoy conflict.
How many British people died in the Indian Rebellion?
6,000 British killed. As many as 800,000 Indians and possibly more, both in the rebellion and in famines and epidemics of disease in its wake, by comparison of 1857 population estimates with Indian Census of 1871. v.
What was the Indian rebellion fed by?
The Indian rebellion was fed by resentments born of diverse perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, as well as scepticism about the improvements brought about by British rule.
What were the causes of the revolt of 1857?
Causes of Revolt of 1857 1 Political Causes – The British expansion had led to the propagation of unjust policies that led to the loss of power of the Nawabs and Zamindars residing at various places of India. The introduction of unfair policies like the policy of Trade and Commerce, the policy of indirect subordination ( subsidiary alliance ), the policy of war and annexation, the policy of direct subordination ( doctrine of lapse ), the policy of misgovernance (through which Awadh was annexed) greatly hampered the interests of the rulers of the native states, and they one by one became victims of British expansionism. Therefore, those rulers, who lost their states to the British, were naturally against the British and took sides against them during the revolt. 2 Economic Factors -There were various reforms in the taxation and revenue system that affected the peasants’ heavily. British Government had imposed and introduced various administrative policies to expand their territory.
When did the revolt start in Bengal?
The revolt began on May 10 , 1857, at Meerut as a sepoy mutiny. It was initiated by sepoys in the Bengal Presidency against the British officers.
Who coined the name Sepoy Mutiny?
In India, the term First War of Independence was first popularized by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1909 book The History of the War of Indian Independence.
Why did Indian sepoys refuse to use the Enfield rifle?
The cartridge had to be bitten off before loading it into the gun. Indian sepoys believed that the cartridge was greased with either pig fat or made from cow fat. This was against the Hindu and Muslim sentiments. Thus they were reluctant to use the ‘Enfield’ rifle.
When did the Vellore Mutiny happen?
The Vellore Mutiny took place even before the revolt of 1857 (50 years before). It erupted on 10th July 1806 in Vellore, present-day Tamil Nadu, and lasted only for a day, but it was brutal and it was the first major mutiny by the Indian sepoys in the East India Company.
What were the economic factors that affected the peasants?
Economic Factors -There were various reforms in the taxation and revenue system that affected the peasants’ heavily. British Government had imposed and introduced various administrative policies to expand their territory.
Did the Sepoys have a clear leader?
The sepoys lacked one clear leader; there were several. They also did not have a coherent plan by which the foreigners would be routed. Indian rulers who aided the revolt did not envision any plan for the country after the British were defeated. Majorly northern India was affected by this revolt.
Introduction to Revolt of 1857
What Was The Revolt of 1857 Also Known as?
- The Revolt of 1857, the initial stage of our independence struggle, had a lot of names given by historians worldwide. The Revolt of 1857 was also known as:- 1. Indian Mutiny 2. Sepoy Mutiny 3. Sepoy Rebellion 4. Sepoy Revolt 5. First War of Independence
Centers of The Revolt of 1857
- The revolt spread over the entire area from the neighbourhood of Patna to the borders of Rajasthan. The main centres of revolt, commonly known as the sepoy mutiny in these regions namely Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, Gwalior, and Arrah in Bihar. 1. Lucknow– It was the capital of Awadh. Begum Hazrat Mahal, one of the begums of the ex-king of Awadh, took up the …
Overview
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilia…
The revolt
Bahadur Shah Zafar was proclaimed the Emperor of the whole of India. Most contemporary and modern accounts suggest that he was coerced by the sepoys and his courtiers to sign the proclamation against his will. In spite of the significant loss of power that the Mughal dynasty had suffered in the preceding centuries, their name still carried great prestige across northern India. Civilians…
East India Company's expansion in India
Although the British East India Company had established a presence in India as far back as 1612, and earlier administered the factory areas established for trading purposes, its victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the beginning of its firm foothold in eastern India. The victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar, when the East India Company army defeated Mughal Emperor Shah …
Causes of the rebellion
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 occurred as the result of an accumulation of factors over time, rather than any single event.
The sepoys were Indian soldiers who were recruited into the Company's army. Just before the rebellion, there were over 300,000 sepoys in the army, compared to about 50,000 British. The forces were divided into three presidenc…
Onset of the rebellion
Several months of increasing tensions coupled with various incidents preceded the actual rebellion. On 26 February 1857 the 19th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment became concerned that new cartridges they had been issued were wrapped in paper greased with cow and pig fat, which had to be opened by mouth thus affecting their religious sensibilities. Their Colonel confronted the…
Supporters and opposition
The news of the events at Meerut and Delhi spread rapidly, provoking uprisings among sepoys and disturbances in many districts. In many cases, it was the behaviour of British military and civilian authorities themselves which precipitated disorder. Learning of the fall of Delhi, many Company administrators hastened to remove themselves, their families and servants to …
Consequences
Both sides committed atrocities against civilians.
In Oudh alone, some estimates put the toll at 150,000 Indians killed during the war, with 100,000 of them being civilians. The capture of Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur and Lucknow by British forces were followed by general massacres.
Another notable atrocity was carried out by General Neill who massacred thous…
Nomenclature
There is no universally agreed name for the events of this period.
In India and Pakistan it has been termed as the "War of Independence of 1857" or "First War of Indian Independence" but it is not uncommon to use terms such as the "Revolt of 1857". The classification of the Rebellion being "First War of Independence" is not without its critics in India. The use of the term "Indian Mutiny" is considered by some Indian politicians as belittling the imp…