The Revolt Of 1857 — A Mighty Uprising

The Revolt Of 1857: Know its Causes, Impact & Reasons For Failure

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The revolt of 1857 was a mighty uprising in India against the unjust rule of British East India Company. The revolt of 1857 was largely confined to Northern and Central India. The expansionist policies, administrative innovations and economic exploitations of the British East India Company in India over the years, resulted in discontent among the people of India. It was this discontent that led to the great revolt of 1857.

• Though earlier there were several insurrections such as The Vellore mutiny of 1806, Bareilly uprising of 1816 etc., against the British rule, the revolt of 1857 was a massive and violent one, which shook the British East India Company.
• Many Indian nationalists considered it as the first war of Indian independence. Since the revolt began as a military uprising, it is also known as sepoy mutiny of 1857.

Causes Of Revolt Of 1857

All sections of the society, right from rulers to peasants and traders, were affected adversely by the expansionist and imperialist policies put forth by the British East India Company. The cause for the revolt of 1857 was not confined to a particular policy or event, rather it involved various factors from political, economic, administrative and socio-religious aspects. These causes are discussed briefly below,

Economic Causes

• Under the land revenue policies introduced by the British East India Company, heavy taxes were collected from the peasants, for which they obtained loans from the money lenders and traders at higher interests. In case of non-payment, their lands were confiscated by the money lenders thereby depriving them of the source of livelihood.
• Since several Indian states were annexed by the Britishers, the rulers were no longer able to be the patrons of the artisans and craftworkers which in turn led them to misery.
• The Indian industries and handicrafts were destroyed by the economic policies of British East India Company. By imposing high tariff duties on Indian goods, they brought down the export of cotton and silk which ended completely by the mid nineteenth century.

Administrative Causes

• The administration of the British East India Company was inefficient as well as insufficient. Despite the recommendations tabled by Sir Thomas Munro regarding the employment of Indians, no steps were taken by the British on that front.
• There was rampant corruption in the company’s administration.

Political Causes

• Under the Doctrine of Lapse policy introduced by the British East India Company, the adopted children of the rulers were refused to be accepted as legal heirs and their right to succession were decided by them. This aroused rulers such as Nana Sahib, Rani Lakshmibai against the unjust policies of British.
• They introduced aggressive policies such as Subsidiary alliance and effective control and gradually they began to intervene in the internal affairs of state which caused discontent in minds of the rulers.
• Post the death of the Mughal ruler, Faqir-ud-Din, Lord Canning announced that the prince in succession should renounce the regal titles and the ancestral properties of the Mughal empire. This affected the sentiments of Indian Muslims.

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Socio- Religious Causes

• The socio-religious reforms brought about by the British such as abolition of Sati system, support to widow remarriage etc., were not accepted by a large section of the society.
• By introducing the Religious Disabilities Act, they attempted to modify the hindu customs.
• Further the denounced idolatry worship, ridiculed Hindu gods and goddesses and were against the superstitious beliefs and practises.

Military Causes

• The Indian sepoys were restricted from wearing any caste or sectarian marks.
• There was resentment, when Canning’ government passed the General Service Enlistment Act, which stated that the future recruits of the Bengal Army should be prepared to serve anywhere as demanded by the British Government.
• The cartridges of the Enfield rifle introduced by the British were greased with the beef and pig fat. This affected the religious sentiments of both Hindu as well as Muslims. This was dubbed to be the immediate cause for the revolt of 1857.

Course Of Revolt Of 1857 in Chronological Order

The simmering discontent among the Indian sepoys against the British East India Company were further fuelled by the order to use those greased cartridges. Sepoys refused to use the greased cartridges. This was considered as an act of insubordination by the British officials and they began to impose harsh punishments for sepoys. Thus began the revolt of 1857.

Let us discuss the course of the revolt of 1857 briefly.

Date	Events
2 February 1857	The 19th Native Infantry at Berhampur who refused to use the enfield rifle,  broke out in mutiny. Soon they were disbanded.
8 April 1857	Mangal Pandey, a sepoy of 34th Native Infantry was executed for firing at the sergeant major and  34th Native Infantry was disbanded.
10 May 1857	The revolt broke out at Meerut.
11 to 30 May 1857	Bahadur Shah Zafar was proclaimed as the Emperor of India. Gradually the revolt broke out in Delhi, Bombay, Aligarh, Ferozepur, Bulandshahr, Etawah, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur and other stations in Uttar Pradesh.
June 1857	Outbreaks at Gwalior, Jhansi, Allahabad, Faizabad, Lucknow, Bharatpur etc.,
July & August 1857	Mutinies at places like Indore, Mhow, Nerbudda districts and few places in Punjab.
September 1857	Delhi was recaptured by the British East India Company
November 1857	General Windham was defeated by the rebels outside Kanpur.
December 1857	The Battle of Kanpur was won by Sir Colin Campbell
March 1857	Lucknow was recaptured by the British
April 1857	Jhansi was captured by the British by fighting against Rani Laxmibai.
May 1857	Bareilly, Kalpi and Jagdishpur were recaptured by the British.
July to December 1857	Gradually the British authority was re-established in India.

Centers And Suppression Of Revolt Of 1857

In the following table, the storm centers of the revolt of 1857, the leaders who led the revolt at those centers and the British generals who suppressed the revolt are listed.

Centers Of Revolt	Leaders Who Led The Revolt	British Generals Who Suppressed The Revolt
Delhi	General Bakht Khan	Lieutenant Willoughby, John Nicholson and Lieutenant Hudson.
Kanpur	Nana Saheb	Sir Hugh Wheeler and Sir Colin Campbell.
Lucknow	Begum Hazrat Mahal	Henry Lawrence, Brigadier Inglis, Henry Havelock, James Outram and Sir Colin Campbell.
Bareilly	Khan Bahadur	James Outram
Bihar	Kunwar Singh	Sir Colin Campbell
Faizabad	Maulvi Ahmadullah	Sir Colin Campbell
Jhansi	Rani Laxmibai	Sir Hugh Rose

Reasons For Failure Of Revolt Of 1857

The causes for the failure of the revolt of 1857 are as follows,

• The revolt was localized and lacked participation of masses across the country. It was largely confined to North India, while the south, east and west parts of the country did not participate.
• There was no central leadership. Though the leaders of the revolt were brave enough, they could not match the experience and organising ability of the British officials.
• The British had far superior weapons and equipment such as enfield rifles, whereas the Indian sepoys mostly fought with swords and spears.
• Several Indian rulers such as Sindhia of Gwalior, Maharaja of Kashmir, Holkar of Indore etc refused to join the revolt of 1857. Along with them, most of the zamindars and educated Indians also did not participate.
• Except for the anti-foreign sentiments, the Indian sepoys had no unified ideology or forward looking programme.

• Impact Of Revolt Of 1857

  • Under the Government of India Act of 1858, dualism (Crown and Company) in the control of Indian affairs came to an end and the administrative control over India was transferred from British East India Company to the Crown.
  • British officials were appointed to hold the key positions in military and civil administration.
  • Since Indian army was the backbone of the mutiny, the British reorganised them based on the policy of divide and counterpoise.  The strength of British troops in India was increased greatly, whereas the number of Indian troops was reduced.
  • Britishers deliberately began to pursue the divide and rule policy in order to strengthen their position in India.
  • In the Queen’s proclamation, it was declared that the rights, dignity and honour of the native princes would be respected as their own by the British. In addition, Indians were promised that they would be admitted to the office of British service without any partiality, provided they meet the desired qualification. In order to implement this, the Indian Civil Service Act of 1861 was passed. However, the higher posts were held only by the English officials.

  
  

  The Revolt of 1857, an anti-colonial movement which fought against the imperialist policies of British East India Company, is an important event that took place in the Indian history. Though the revolt was suppressed later, it shook the foundation of the British rule in India. With the end of the revolt of 1857, the era of territorial aggrandisement also came to an end. However, it paved the way for the era of economic exploitation in India.