(IGCSE HISTORY) Chapter:war of independence of 1857
799 Words
BRITISH RULES
.the british had been blamed for warfare occurred in india in late and early 19th century
.the law and order had broken down,in many places serious famine took lives of thousand of innocent civilians, many great old monument had damaged due to warfare
.some indian places,like bengal,had great wealth, however the wealth was not shared with local indian, instead it went into the pockets of nobility or british officials
.in 1833 the early governor general tried to give indian a voice in running their own country, the charter act of 1833 said that indian can be a part of civil services administering india, around 1000 indians were employed, however they were chosen by public examination taken in england in english, this meant that india was governed by british group of officials.
.the salaries paid to the british officials was called by indians historians as ‘drain of wealth’, the tax collected from indian peoples,unlike past, was used to buy goods which was shipped out of country, to england
.by mid 19th british were firmly established in india, for indian peasant or worker life didn’t change, the british wasn’t careful not to cause opposition by trying to change indians religions and cultures, for upper class, if they wanted to succeed in life, they had to become anglicized, for e.g in 1834 english replaced persian as the off icial language of india , in 1835 the entire education was in english
.the indian viewed british as greedy westerns
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN 1857
.in 1857 british faced a serious challenge for their control of india, there were many uprising and resentment, the indian historians viewed it as ‘the war of independence’, while british called it ‘indian mutiny’
.there are many reasons for the cause of this war
POLITICAL
.as british extended their control, local leader saw their authority declining, the use of doctrine of lapse by lord dalhoiuse was unpopular, the seize of oudh in 1856, convinced many indians leader that british were greedy foreigners, in lower class there was also resentment due to lack of opportunities for indian people in civil services
RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL
. as british influence grew so did the spread of british culture, the britisher consider it their duty to spread their culture
.the british treated indians as inferior race, thought that indian aren’t socially equals to britishs
.british regarded themselves as a small oasis in a huge uncivilized world , this arrogant attitude created coupled with new technologies caused huge resentment.
.many muslims, hindus and sikhs believed that their religions are under threat,british always denied this believe,however its true that christian missionaries came to covert locals to christianity as well as set up school to teach youth about christianity
ECONOMICS
.british merchants made huge profits from the trade like textiles, the british imposed high taxes to ensure that india wealth is exploited, the local merchants and worker found it difficult to pay huge taxes which cause resentment
.the sepoys were paid low salaries by british which causes resentment.
MILITARY
.the revolt started over the issue of ‘grease cartridges’, however there are deep seated reasons
.the sepoys and sowars were exclusively indians while officer class were exclusively british, this mistreatment causes huge resentment
.there were also rumors that indian soldiers will be forcely converted in to christianity and will be sent to fight aboard, which was unacceptable for indians
THE EVENTS
.in january in 1857, the british announced a new grease cartridges for rifle, there was rumor that grease was made of fat of both cow and pigs, the sepoys were angered and refused to use the cartridges
.in march, a man name mangal pandey, defied his officer and was executed, two months late
.in may meerut, many sepoys refused to use the grease cartridges, they were arrested, but their broke into prison and freed them, the meerut was under attack, british officer and foreigners were put to death, bahadur shah iI became a unifying symbol for hindus and muslims
.the british lost allahbad,jhansi . delhi and lucknow
.in cawnpore,lled by nana sahib rose up against british and kept their forces trapped for there weeks , after being promised a safe passage out of city , the british surrendered however, as they left the city, nana sahib attack them, killed 400 women and childrens, later british captured the city and took revenge much more worse
.in lucknow, the main opposition was lakshimibai assisted by tayta topee, but in 1858 the lakshimibai was defeated, tayta topee of his escaped but later was captured and executed
.the british proved to be successful,recaptured many cities, bahadur 2 surrender but his son mir mughal, mir sultan and mir abubakr still opposed the british, the head three sons was presented to bahadur as a lesson
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