What was the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ?

They were considered inferior to British soldiers.

An Indian sepoy was paid less than a European sepoy of the same rank. Besides, an Indian sepoy could not rise to a rank higher than that of a Subedar

The extension of the British Empire in India had adversely affected the service conditions of Indian sepoys.

They were required to serve in areas far away from their homes. In 1856 Lord Canning issued the General Services Enlistment Act which required that the sepoys must be ready to serve even in British land across the sea.

They developed the suspicion that the Government was trying to convert Indians to Christianity.

After the annexation of Awadh the Nawab’s army was disbanded. These soldiers lost their means of livelihood. They became bitter enemies of the British.

The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. A rumour spread that the cartridges of the new Enfield rifles were greased with the fat of cows and pigs.

Before loading these rifles the sepoys had to bite off the paper on the cartridges. Both Hindu and Muslim sepoys refused to use them.

Canning tried to make amends for the error and the offending cartridges were withdrawn, but by then the damage had been done. There was unrest in several places.

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. On 9th May, 85 soldiers in Meerut refused to use the new rifle and were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

Main events of the revolt

Soon there was a rebellion in the Meerut Cantonment. The Meerut Mutiny (May 9, 1857) marked the beginning of the Revolt of 1857

The Indian sepoys in Meerut murdered their British officers and broke open the jail. On May 10, they marched to Delhi.

In Delhi the mutineers were joined by the Delhi sepoys and the city came under their control. Next day, on 11th May, the sepoys proclaimed the ageing Bahadur Shah Zafar the Emperor of Hindustan.

His sons were shot dead. Thus ended the imperial dynasty of the Mughals.

The old king was captured and later deported to Rangoon where he died in 1862.

Thousands of innocent people were massacred and hundreds were hanged.

The British finally attacked Delhi in September. For six days there was desperate fighting. But by September 1857, the British reoccupied Delhi.

The revolt spread over the entire area from the neighbourhood of Patna to the borders of Rajasthan.

here were six main centres of revolt in these regions namely Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Jhansi, Gwalior and Arrah in Bihar.

Begum Hazrat Mahal, one of the begums of the ex-king of Awadh, took up the leadership of the revolt. Finally the British forces captured Lucknow. The queen escaped to Nepal.

Lucknow was the capital of Awadh. There the mutinous sepoys were joined by the disbanded soldiers from the old Awadh army

In Kanpur the revolt was led by Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II. He joined the revolt primarily because he was deprived of his pension by the British. He captured Kanpur and proclaimed himself the Peshwa. The victory was short- lived.

The rebels were either hanged or blown to pieces by canons. Nana Saheb escaped. But his brilliant commander Tantia Tope continued the struggle. Tantia Tope was finally defeated, arrested and hanged.