This investigation seeks to discover whether or not the Sepoy revolution in 1857 had a sufficient impact on India’s rise to independence and separation from the British Empire. The Sepoy revolution was a revolution of the Sepoy soldiers in 1857, and complete independence from the British Empire was not achieved by Indians until 1947. Therefore, did the Sepoy revolution catalyze their rise to independence, or was independence inevitable? The impact of the Sepoy Revolution will be found by looking at the effects of the Sepoy revolution and determining whether or not they were key factors in the rise to independence. A variety of sources will be used. Two important sources that will be used during this investigation are Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelmann and Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World by Niall Ferguson.
Summary of Evidence
After the Battle of Plussey in 1757, Britain gained a much control over India. The British East India Company exercised power in this region instead of the Queen of England. The Company brought British soldiers and missionaries to the foreign land. The military in India was comprised of European troops and Indian troops resulting in a variety of weapons present. The weapons of the English people were a lot more different than those of the Indian people. The Europeans were the officers in this military and the Indians were common soldiers. The Indian Soldiers were known as the Sepoys. There were various events before the actual revolution that were significant to the cause of the Sepoy Revolution. In 1806, the introduction of new clothing/appearance regulations sparked a minor rebellion, but this was easily controlled and suppressed by the British. In 1856, the East India Company anne...
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...f the mutiny: British artists' imaginative depictions of the 1857 sepoy rebellion helped fan the flames of public outrage." MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History Spring 2008: 90+. General OneFile. Web. 20 Dec. 2013.
James, Garry. "Lucknow 1857: this bloody siege during the Indian Mutiny saw the use of two cavalry carbines--the British Pattern 1855 Sharps breechloader and the muzzleloading Victoria." Guns & Ammo Sept. 2012: 78+. General OneFile. Web. 20 Dec. 2013.
James, Lawrence. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
Singh, Jaswant. Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Von, Tunzelmann Alex. Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. New York: Henry Holt and, 2007. Print.
Wolpert, Stanley A. A New History of India. New York: Oxford UP, 1977. Print.
middle of paper ... ... Chapter three examines the Batavian Revolt itself, summarizing the events of the revolt and providing analysis. Part two focuses on the Sepoy Rebellion, and consists of chapters four, five, and six.
The Sepoy Rebellion or the Indian Mutiny of 1857 rattled the British. Most of the Indian army was Hindu and they were taught that they will be defiled if they eat any part of a cow or pig. The Sepoy Rebellion was caused by the removal of the Muslim king of Oudh, Christianity being forced upon Muslims and Hindus, and the new rifle cartridges.
Marshall, Peter. "The British Presence in India in the 18th Century." http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/east_india_01.shtml (accessed June 8, 2014).
The british thought of the native indian people as barbaric, so they felt no shame in putting them to work with little or no pay. The british attempted to convert the indians to christianity and educate them. This did more harm than good, and the damage done to the indians well being was devastating. however The situation backfired on the East british company. A massive rebellion consisting of sepoys, (Indian soldiers who loathed the british company) Attacked the british. The Attack was seen as unsuccessful to the eyes of the natives. But the result of this rebellion was the crash of the east british company a year after the incident. It was becoming obvious to the british that their actions were leading to indian frustration. Even though the east british company was no longer official, the land was still being used for factories and crop production. An official labour payment was established, which softened the british up. It was the perfect time for famous anti colonist Gandhi to speak up and spread the word. This led to many policy adjustments, political complications and british frustration. Gandhi's following of indians greatly overpowered the remaining british
After reading several documents written by Gardiner, Campbell, Sita Ram, Sayyid Khan, and Coohill, the main cause of the Sepoy Rebellion was that many Indians felt suspicious that the British were trying to undermine Indian traditions/society and replace it with their own.
The “Sepoy Rebellion”/the first Indian war of independence did not start from one crucial event that may have triggered it all. This rebellion/war was a product of many small and big situations adding up. When the British East India Company first took over, they started with restricting the Indian ocean trade, which was a heavily relied on, as a source of income and goods in India. This restriction largely impacted and made a new economic structure. With the Indian trade restricted, the British benefited. The British Production system was able to flourish because they were able to use the Indian trade routes to export their goods. Most people living in India, at
The British and the Mughal emperor began to have connection through international trades since 1634, and they gradually tied their strong bonds through competitive trade markets. One of the key institutions, the East India Company, expanded their military force and monopolized the Indian market that was a sign of colonizing India as it weakened its power. Also, through a systemic disrespect in the company, a seed of Protestantism grew together and that created tensions between the East India Company and the local religious/cultural communities which continued to become hostility of rebellion in the mid-18th century. During the summer of 1857, the beginning period of systematic British rule in India, Sepoy, Indian troops in the service of the British East India Company, led to the outbreak of mutiny against the British East India Company.
The mutiny, regarded by many as India's first War of Independence, was to have important consequences and the structure of British India was to be re-organised extensively. Increasingly, India came under direct Crown rule as the British East India Company was dispossessed of its functions and, in 1877, Queen Victoria was crowned Empress. Despite the severity of European reprisal as each territory had been regained and its subsequent defensive proposals of military alteration, a measure of conciliation had been introduced to administrative policy. Integration of the higher castes and princes was now considered important, land policy was revised and plans for radical social change were shelved.
The Sepoy Rebellion was caused by Cultural disrespect from the British. One example of this discourtesy was the increase in christian missionaries in India. The local people felt that this was an attempt to convert people from Hindu and Islam, and that Britain was pushing western culture on them. Another contributor to the notion of disrespect from the British was a rumor that the guns being issued to the indian soldiers were greased with pig and cow fat. Since these were sacred animals in Islam and Hindu, people of these religions saw this as further proof that the british were trying to take away their religions. Lastly, there were no Indians in the Legislative Council, so they had very little political power. These are a few of the things
Iyer , L, 2004, The Long-term Impact of Colonial Rule: Evidence from India. [Online] available at [accessed on 12 November 2010]
By 1920, the British Empire was one of the most dominant empires the world has seen owning a quarter of the globe. India was in the grasp of the British. Once controlled by the British East India Company as a placement for cotton, indigo, and tea, the British sought and took India’s political, economical, and social power completely after the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. With an abundant amount of resources only the British could dream of and a massive population with the potential of being consumers, India was no doubt the “Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire. Britain’s government in India ran smoothly, creating massive infrastructure across the country and education that would create an elite class of Indians.
On May 10, 1857, the sepoys (British-employed Indian soldiers) shot their British officers and marched towards Delhi, initiating one of the biggest uprisings in the 19th century. Within 18 months, the sepoy revolt spread from Meerut to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow. However, the rebellion was not just a mutiny, its root cause lies in sepoy resentment towards British dominance. Since 1820, the British have been using a variety of tactics to assert their authority in Indian political, economic, and cultural life. One notable British technique was called the doctrine of lapse.
By the year 1857 the British had established complete political control of India. As Western education was introduced and missionaries eroded Hindu society resentment among Indian people grew and it was joined by unease among the old governing class when the British decided to formally abolish the Mughal Empire.
The decision to grant independence to India was not the logical culmination of errors in policy, neither was it as a consequence of a mass revolution forcing the British out of India, but rather, the decision was undertaken voluntarily. Patrick French argues that: “The British left India because they lost control over crucial areas of the administration, and lacked the will and the financial or military ability to recover that control”.
With major control over India, the British used a combination of firepower & guile to consolidate their power over the country by expanding from their base areas along the coast into the interior (Duiker 31). Some territories were also taken over the privately run East India Company, which at the time was given authority to administer Asian territories under British occupation, while others were ruled by local maharajas (Duiker 31). British governance brought order and stability to a society that had recently been wrecked by the wars from the different empires (Duiker 31).