Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys
Sepoy
A sepoy was originally the designation given to an Indian infantryman armed with a musket in the armies of the Mughal empire. In the 18th century the French East India Company and its other European counterparts employed locally recruited soldiers within India, mainly consisting of infantr…
What was the role of a sepoy?
A sepoy was the name given to an Indian infantryman employed by the armies of the British East India Company from 1700 to 1857 and later by the British Indian Army from 1858 to 1947. That change of control in colonial India, from the BEIC to the British government, actually came about as a result of...
What is a sepoy in Indian Army?
The largest of these Indian forces, trained along European lines, was that belonging to the British East India Company. The term "sepoy" is still used in the modern Indian, Pakistan and Nepalese armies, where it denotes the rank of private . In Persian اسپ (Aspa) means horse and Ispahai is also the word for cavalrymen.
What is another name for the Sepoy Mutiny?
Robert McNamara. Updated November 07, 2020. The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series ...
What is the origin of sepoy?
The term sepoy came into use in the forces of the British East India Company in the eighteenth century, where it was one of many, such as peons, gentoos, mestees and topasses used for various categories of native soldier. Initially it referred to Hindu or Muslim soldiers without regular uniform or discipline.
What is sepoy in Indian Army?
Sepoy (/ˈsiːpɔɪ/) was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
What is the lowest post in Indian Army?
SepoySepoy The lowest enlisted rank in the Indian infantry with its equivalent being a private in the British Army.
Who were the sepoys and who did they work for?
Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857, (1857–58) Widespread rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the English East India Company.
Who did the sepoys serve?
Indian Mutiny, also called Sepoy Mutiny or First War of Independence, widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India in 1857–59. Begun in Meerut by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow.
What is the salary of sepoy?
Average Indian Army Sepoy salary in India is ₹ 4.2 Lakhs for experience between 3 years to 17 years. Sepoy salary at Indian Army India ranges between ₹ 0.5 Lakhs to ₹ 6.5 Lakhs.
Can sepoy become lieutenant?
Completion of their B.A. from Army Cadet College will be followed by a year of military training in IMA, Dehradun, after which they will finally be commissioned as a Lieutenant in the army.
Who were the sepoys 4 marks?
Sepoys were local men recruited by Eic to defend their trading posts. Most of sepoys disliked British rule. One of them, Mangal Pandey was executed after he defied british officers.
Who were the sepoys How was their working conditions?
Answer: The sepoys were the native Indian soldier working in forgein companies. It is basically mean "soldier" or "employed" , used for the rank and file in the Mughal army hired from local population opposed to mecenaries or tribal contingent .
Who were the sepoys Class 8?
Sepoys were Indian soldiers in the British army.
Why were the Indians called sepoys?
The term "Sepoy" was derived from the Persian word sepāhī, meaning "infantry soldier", and came into use in the forces of the British East India Company in the eighteenth century.
Which was the highest post given to Indian sepoy?
Expert-verified answer questionThe most noteworthy position feasible in the Indian Army is Field Marshal. ... A Field Marshal's badge involves the public insignia over a crossed stick and saber in a wreath of lotus blossoms.More items...•
Who won the Sepoy Rebellion?
BritishIndian Rebellion of 1857Date10 May 1857 – 1 November 1858 (1 year and 6 months)LocationIndiaResultBritish victory Suppression of revolt Formal end of the Mughal Empire End of Company rule in India Transfer of rule to the British Crown1 more row
Which is the lowest rank of army?
PrivatePrivate (E-1) Private, the lowest Army rank, normally is held only by new recruits while at Basic Combat Training (BCT), but the rank occasionally is assigned to soldiers after a disciplinary action has been taken.
What are the 17 branches of the Indian Army?
OrganisationThe Armoured Corps.The Regiment of Artillery.Army Air Defence.Army Aviation Corps.The Corps of Engineers.The Corps of Signals.Mechanised Infantry.Infantry.More items...
Which is the best post in Indian Army?
The Field Marshal rank is the highest rank in the Indian Army. It is a ceremonial or wartime rank. Only two officers namely Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and Field Marshal KM Cariappa have been elevated to the rank of Field Marshal.
What is Indian Army rank?
Commissioned officersRanksDescriptionRetirement ageLieutenant GeneralNational emblem over crossed baton and sabre.60Major GeneralFive-pointed star over crossed baton and sabre.58BrigadierNational emblem over three five-pointed stars in a triangular formation.56ColonelNational emblem over two five-pointed stars547 more rows
What is a sepoy?
Sepoy ( / ˈsiːpɔɪ /) was originally the designation given to a professional Indian infantryman, usually armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire .
What does "sepoy" mean in the army?
The term "sepoy" is still used in the modern Indian, Pakistan and Nepalese armies, where it denotes the rank of private .
Why were sepoys more visible?
Sepoys became more visible when they gained European arms and fought for various fragmented polities of the Mughal Empire during the Carnatic Wars and the Bengal War. After which the importance of the local sepoy diminished and were replaced by the "European hired Sepoy".
What did the Sepoys wear?
The sepoys of the Mughal Empire were infantrymen usually armed with a musket and a talwar, although they sometimes operated artillery pieces and even rockets. They wore the colors of the "Great Moghul" and sometimes used war elephants for transport.
What was the oath of fealty given to the East India Company?
The oath of fealty by the sepoy was given to the East India Company and included a pledge of faithfulness to the salt that one has eaten. The salary of the sepoys employed by the East India Company, while not substantially greater than that paid by the rulers of Indian states, was usually paid regularly.
Where did the term Sepoy come from?
The term sepoy is derived from the Persian word sepāhī ( سپاهی) meaning the traditional "infantry soldier" in the Mughal Empire . In the Ottoman Empire the term sipahi was used to refer to cavalrymen.
What is the meaning of Zipaio?
Zipaio, the Basque version of the word, is used by leftist Basque nationalists as an insult for members of the Basque Police, implying that they are not a national police of the Basque region due to their connection with the Spanish government.
Sepoys in British service
A painting showing a sowar (cavalry equivalent of sepoy), 6th Madras Light Cavalry of British India. Circa 1845.
Sepoys in French service
Following the formation of the French East India Company ( Compagnie des Indes) in 1719, companies of Indian sepoys ( cipayes) were raised to augment the French regulars and Swiss mercenary troops available. By 1720 the sepoys in French service numbered about 10,000.
Sepoys in Portuguese service
Sepoys were also recruited in Portuguese India. Some Portuguese sepoys were later sent to serve in other territories of the Portuguese Empire, especially those in Africa. The term " cipaio " (sepoy) was also applied by the Portuguese to African soldiers and African rural police officers.
What does "sipae" mean?
1. An indigenous soldier serving in the army of a foreign conqueror, especially an Indian soldier serving under British command in India. 2. a. The lowest enlisted rank in the British Indian army and its successors, equivalent to private. b. One holding this rank. [From obsolete Portuguese sipae (modern Portuguese sepaio ), from Urdu sipāhī, ...
How many sepoys were in Dawson's hand?
A little further up the road Dawson himself was lying on his face, quite dead, with an empty revolver in his hand and four Sepoys lying across each other in front of him.
What was the Sepoy Mutiny?
The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. It is also known by other names: the Indian Mutiny, the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indian Revolt of 1857. In Britain and in the West, it was almost always portrayed as a series of unreasonable and bloodthirsty uprisings spurred by falsehoods about ...
What was the East India Company's policy?
Under a British policy called the "doctrine of lapse," the East India Company would take control of Indian states in which a local ruler had died without an heir. The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner.
How long was the East India Company active?
The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. Following the fighting of 1857–58, India was legally considered a colony of Britain, ruled by a viceroy.
What did the Sepoy start as though?
The sepoy started as though a snake had stung him.
Who was responsible for the formation of the Sepoy army?
The empire was responsible for the formation of the sepoy army and for the constitution of the sepoy as a subject without identity.
Where were the Sepoy lines?
Fully two miles away, on the south side of the ravine, were the sepoy lines, and another group of isolated bungalows.
Did Sepoy complain about the idea of a symlink?
The sepoy complained, and it came out that this idea is already widely spread.
What is an encyclopedia editor?
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ...
Who was the first to use the doctrine of lapse?
One notable British technique was called the doctrine of lapse, first perpetrated by Lord Dalhousie in the late 1840s.
What was the grim feature of the mutiny?
A grim feature of the mutiny was the ferocity that accompanied it. The mutineers commonly shot their British officers on rising and were responsible for massacres at Delhi, Kanpur, and elsewhere. The murder of women and children enraged the British, but in fact some British officers began to take severe measures before they knew that any such murders had occurred. In the end the reprisals far outweighed the original excesses. Hundreds of sepoys were bayoneted or fired from cannons in a frenzy of British vengeance (though some British officers did protest the bloodshed).
Overview
Sepoy was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its other European counterparts employed locally recruited soldiers within India, mainly consistin…
Etymology
In Persian اسپ (Aspa) means horse and Ispahai is also the word for cavalrymen.
The term sepoy is derived from the Persian word sepāhī (سپاهی) meaning the traditional "infantry soldier" in the Mughal Empire.
In the Ottoman Empire the term sipahi was used to refer to cavalrymen.
History
The sepoys of the Mughal Empire were infantrymen usually armed with a musket and a talwar, although they sometimes operated artillery pieces and even rockets. They wore the colours of the "Great Moghul" and sometimes used war elephants for transport.
The French East India Company was the first to employ locally recruited sepoys during the Carnatic Wars. Soon other European powers did the same, to protect their interests.
Equipment
The earliest sepoys used matchlock muskets and operated bulky and inefficient cannons to a limited extent during the reigns of Babur Akbar when archery and fighting from horseback was more common. By the time of Aurangzeb the Mughal armies had advanced significantly and utilized a wider range of weapons to win battles.
During the Carnatic Wars and Anglo-Mysore Wars the sepoys of the Mughal Empire employed mor…
History
• A Mughal sepoy, under the command of Mirza Najaf Khan.
• The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb leads his final expedition (1705), (sepoy column visible in the lower right).
A Sipahi or a sepoy was an infantryman armed with a musket in the army of the Mughal …
Contemporary sepoys
The title of "sepoy" is still retained in the modern Nepalese Army, Indian Army and Pakistan Army. In each of these it designates the rank of private.
Other usages
The same Persian word reached English via another route in the forms of sipahi and spahi. Zipaio, the Basque version of the word, is used by leftist Basque nationalists as an insult for members of the Basque Police, implying that they are not a national police of the Basque region due to their connection with the Spanish government.
In Hispanic American countries, especially in Argentina, the word cipayo has historically been use…
See also
• Indian Rebellion of 1857 (termed by some The Sepoy Mutiny)
• Maharajah and the Sepoys
• Jawan, a contemporary soldier of the armies of India and Pakistan.
• Sowar, meaning "the one who rides" in Persian, was originally a rank during the Mughal period.
Sepoys in The Mughal Empire
- A Sipahi or a sepoy was an infantryman in both the Mughal Empire and the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (reigned 1658-1707) raised battalions of sepoys variously armed with matchlocks, rockets, and grenades. These troops were successfully employed in siege warfare, particularly during the Siege of Bidar, the Siege of Bijapur and th...
Sepoys in British Service
- Initially the British recruited sepoys from the local communities in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, the emphasis being on recruits having adequate physique and being of sufficient caste. In the Bengal Army however, recruitment was only amongst high caste Brahman and Rajput communities, mainly of the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions. Recruitment was undertaken locall…
Sepoys in French Service
- Following the formation of the French East India Company (Compagnie des Indes) in 1719, companies of Indian sepoys (cipayes) were raised to augment the French regulars and Swiss mercenary troops available. By 1720 the sepoys in French service numbered about 10,000. Although much reduced in numbers after their decisive defeat in India at the Battle of Wandewa…
Sepoys in Portuguese Service
- Sepoys were also recruited in Portuguese India. Some Portuguese sepoys were later sent to serve in other territories of the Portuguese Empire, especially those in Africa. The term "cipaio" (sepoy) was also applied by the Portuguese to African soldiers and African rural police officers.