The First War of Independence Class 10 ICSE notes
• The Uprising of 1857 A.D -A Nationalist Outburst
After a hundred years of conquest and administration, the English East India Company faced a massive rebellion that started in May 1857 and threatened the Company's very presence in India. Sepoys mutinied in several places beginning from Meerut and a large number of people from different sections of society rose up in rebellion. Some regard it as the biggest armed resistance to colonialism in the nineteenth century anywhere in the world. The rebellion resulted in the end of the Company's rule in India and the beginning of the Crown's direct rule over India.
By 1856 AD., the English had completed their conquests in India. Nearly a hundred years of Company's rule had neither been just nor fair. Based upon political intrigues, and the divide and rule policy, it also aimed at socio-cultural conquest of India.
Causes of the Uprising of 1857 A.D.
The Uprising of 1857 AD. was an outburst of nationalist sentiments. The Indian rulers and the people in general had not accepted the Company's rule. Between 1756 and 1856, there occurred twelve minor revolts against the Company's exploitative rule. There were several causes, of which some were Political, Socio-religious, Economic, Military, and an Immediate cause. All these had a cumulative effect, leading to the outbreak of India's First War of Independence in 1857 A.D.
The following were the major causes of this revolt:
(A) Political Causes
The following were the political causes :
1. Company's Territorial Expansion/Policy of Annexation
Ever since the Battle of Plassey (June 1757), the Company's territorial expansion had been rapid. By 1818 AD., when the last Peshwa was dethroned, all Princely States had either been annexed or compelled to sign Treaties/Subsidiary Alliances with the Company on the latter's own terms and conditions.
(a) Subsidiary Alliance : The doctrine of subsidiary alliance was introduced by Lord Richard Wellesley, British Governor General of India from 1798 to 1805.
Its main principles were :
- Any Indian ruler accepting the subsidiary alliance with the East India Company had to keep the British Army within their territory and was supposed to pay for its maintenance.- In lieu of the payments, some of the states' territory was ceded to the British.
- The ruler accepting it was forced to keep a British official at the court called 'Resident'.
- The states brought under British control by this system included Hyderabad, Gwalior, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Oudh.
(b) Conquests : In 1843 AD., Sindh was attacked and annexed to the Company's domain. The revolts of Diwan Mulraj of Multan and Chatter Singh Attariwala of Hazara were used as a pretext to annex Punjab in 1849. These expansionist ambitions of the Company alarmed the Indian rulers and the people alike.
(c) Arbitrary Doctrine of Lapse : According to this Doctrine, if an Indian ruler of a dependent State did not have his real son to succeed him, he was not allowed to adopt a successor without the Company's consent. In this case, the State in question was annexed. Heirs adopted without the consent of the company could neither inherit the throne nor the title.
They could inherit only the private property of the deceased ruler. By his Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of India (1846-1856 A.D.), annexed three Maratha dependent States of Satara, Nagpur, Jhansi and several small principalities. For example, when the ruler of Jhansi died in 1853 A.D. without a child, the widowed Rani Lakshmi Bai was pensioned off, and their adopted son, Anand Rao, was not recognized by the Company, and Jhansi was annexed. The application of the Doctrine of Lapse caused widespread discontentment among the rulers and the people of the Indian Princely States. They were scared and apprehensive of the English rule.
(d) Unjust Annexation of Awadh: Awadh was a protected feudatory State with control over internal administration only. On February 13, 1856, Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh on the pretext of maladministration by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who was sent to Calcutta (Kolkata) on a pension of ₹ 12 lakh per annum. Consequently, a number of taluqdars or nobles, officials and the soldiers were deprived of their status, and rendered jobless.
Dalhousie's annexation of Awadh to the British Empire, was illegal and the people of Awadh were very displeased with the British.
(e) Annexation of Berar : Unable to pay the debt, Lord Dalhousie annexed Berar in 1853. The Nizam owed a huge amount to the English company on account of the contingent forces. As the Nizam was unable to pay, the debt reached to about 1,80,000 pounds. A new treaty was signed by which Nizam gave Berar to the English for the maintenance of the contingent.
Lord Dalhousie annexed the states
(i) to expand the British Empire,
(ii) to rule over India for a longer time or to keep themselves in power,
(iii) to further exploit India and carry its wealth to England.
2. Unfair attitude towards the Mughal Emperor :
Lord Dalhousie declared that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zaffar, the emperor and his successors would have to leave the royal palace, i.e., the Red Fort. Later, Lord Canning, the next Governor General announced in 1856 A.D. that Bahadur Shah's successors would not be allowed even to use the title of a 'King'. Similarly, the Regal titles of the Nawabs of Carnatic and Tanjore were abolished. Such discourtesies were resented by the people and the Indian rulers.
3. Unpopular Administration of the Company : There were several reasons which made the British administration highly unpopular :
- The British officers were very arrogant and had contempt for the Indians.
- They were not easily approachable.
- Indians were not appointed on high posts in administration.
- The English officials had little knowledge of people's customs. The Indians found themselves out of place with English Language.
- Indians were not contented with the judicial system of the British.
4. India governed from a foreign land : India was administered by the British while sitting at a distance of thousands of miles away. The country was being drained of her wealth.
5. Stopping the Pension of Nana Sahib : Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the Peshwa Baji Rao II, was denied his pension on the grounds that he was not a natural born heir. He was also not allowed to ascend the throne. This hurt the sentiments of the Hindu subjects of the Peshwas, and proved once again the cunningness of the East India Company towards Indians. Nana Sahib inherited enormous wealth which he used in sending emissaries to different parts of the country to gather support for the revolt.
6. Role of Rumours : There were rumours that the territory of no ruling chief was safe. It was also widely believed that the days of Company's rule in India were numbered. The British came to Power in 1757 (after the Battle of Plassey) and their rule would come to an end in 1857.
(B) Socio-Religious Causes
1. Fear of Mass Conversion : Many activities of the Christian Missionaries and that of the government created panic among the masses that they would all be converted to Christianity.
- The teaching of the Christian doctrine was made compulsory in the schools set up by the Christian missionaries.
- The officials openly preached the Christian doctrine in mosques and temples.
- The Missionary Society of America established a press at Agra for the propaganda against the Hindu religion.
- The missionaries openly and everywhere condemned the Hindu scriptures, idol worship and Hindu and Muslim doctrines and customs. They were active in some of the tribal areas and sometimes created hostile feelings among the tribes by disturbing their social, cultural and economic lives.
- Many temptations were offered to make conversion by giving the Indians bribes, promotions and rewards.
- The study of Bible was introduced in government schools.
- Prisoners in jails were instructed in Christianity.
- Police force was used for converting people to Christianity.
- The missionaries established chaplain and churches for the propagation of Christianity.
- A Christian priest was maintained in the army.
- Orphans and victims of calamities were often converted to Christianity.
- Land belonging to temples or mosques was taxed.
2. The Laws that interfered with the religious customs of the people : There were many laws which interfered with the religious customs of the people.
(i) General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 : Under this Act, new recruits were required to serve anywhere in India or overseas. This caused a great alarm amongst the Indian soldiers as according to the Hindu customs, crossing the sea was contrary to their religion.
(ii) The Religious Incompetence Law (Religious Disabilities Act, 1850) : According to this law, if a person belonging to the Hindu religion changed his religion, he could remain the heir of his ancestral property. According to the people, the law was enacted to promote the conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
(iii) Widow Remarriage Act, 1856 : Widow Remarriage Act legalised the widow remarriage. This was also not liked by the orthodox Hindus who favoured Sati.
(iv) Other Prohibitions : The government had also prohibited the Sati system, female infanticide and child marriage. All these measures were not liked by the common people.
3. Introduction of Railways and Telegraphs : The introduction of railways had created suspicion and fear in the minds of the people. They thought that these measures were introduced to propagate Christianity. It also meant that the people from lower castes, including the so-called untouchables, would sit in the same compartments and buy their tickets from the same window as people of the superior castes, including the Brahmins. The orthodox section considered it an attempt to interfere in the caste structure of its society and defile its religion. There was also a rumour that telegraph poles would be used for hanging people who were reluctant to embrace Christianity and railway tracks would be used to throw people in front of the railway engines and trains who were against the Company's rule. Thus the modern innovations threatened the old social order and created unrest among the people.
4. Fear of English Education : Christian missionaries and Government schools introduced the teaching of English in their institutions, particularly after 1833 AD. This implied the shifting of emphasis from oriental learning (Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic and Urdu) to western learning. The Pandits and Mullahs resented this change, as they saw in it an attempt to discourage the study of Islamic and Hindu literatures. The new schools provided education to all, irrespective of caste and religion. This was not liked by the orthodox and the upper class Hindus.
C) Economic Exploitation of India
British economic policies in India worked against the interests of Indian Trade and Industry and thus ruined her financially. The economic exploitation of Indians and the drainage of Indian wealth to England became a potent cause of the uprising of the Revolt of 1857 AD. as noted below :
1. The Ruin of Indian Trade and Handicrafts: Before the arrival of the Britishers, India was the leading exporter of cotton textile. But at the beginning of the 19th century, its share started declining. An Act passed by British government in 1720 prohibited the use of Indian silk and calicoes in England. In 1811-12, the share of cotton textile and silk was about 33% which fell down to 3% in 1850-51. The anti-India British policies were responsible for this :
(i) They imposed heavy export duty on silk and cotton textile.
(ii) British goods were imported into India without any duty or at a very nominal duty.
(iii) British manufacturers flooded the Indian market with machine-made goods. Indian weavers and producers failed to compete with them.
(iv) Indian traders also suffered at the hands of the British traders. The British traders got many privileges and facilities as compared to the Indian traders.
(v) As a result of the anti-Indian economic policies of the British, the art of spinning and weaving which employed thousands of workers in India, became extinct. Manufacturing towns of Dacca, Murshidabad and Surat became desolate.
Their miseries increased with the disappearance of their traditional buyers - the Princes, Chieftains and zamindars.
The Charter Acts of 1813 and 1833 enhanced further the exploitation of India by British.
2. Impoverishment of Peasants : Through the Permanent Settlement of 1793 A.D. introduced in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, the Zamindar was supposed to collect the land revenue. He was authorised to eject a peasant for the non-payment of revenue. In the South, the British revenue collectors were even more harsh towards the peasants. They claimed more than half the produce as land revenue. The poor cultivator was forced to borrow money from the landlord or moneylender at a heavy rate of interest. The peasants held the British responsible for their poverty in India. Famines occurred frequently in India. The famine of 1837-38 made the people desert their villages.
3. India was converted into an Agricultural Colony : The British industrialists saw a rich source in India to provide them with raw materials for their industries. Bengal, Bihar and Awadh became major producers of export crops such as jute, opium, indigo, cotton and oilseeds. The English traders in India controlled the export trade. Only such crops, as were required in England, were allowed to be produced in India. Thus, India was converted into an agricultural colony of England, and her own indigenous agro-industries were ruined under a well-planned British policy.
4. Ill-treatment of Indigo-cultivators : A new plantation system introduced in 1833 brought incalculable misery for the Indian peasants. Indigo was required by cloth manufacturers to dye cloth. As the indigo trade grew, commercial agents and officials of the Company began investing in indigo production. They forced the peasants to produce only indigo. The condition of Indigo cultivators was miserable. Most of the cultivators were in a debt trap . Peasants who were initially tempted by the loans soon realised how harsh the system was. The price they got for the indigo they produced was very low and the cycle of loans never ended.
5. Confiscation of Estates : The Inam Commission appointed in 1852 AD., asked the owners of large landed-estates to show the papers/documents of title-deeds as proof of their ownership. Many of them could not produce these documents, with the passage of time, the Company's Government confiscated about 20 thousand landed-estates of the Taluqdars. Lord Bentinck's resumption of rent free tenures reduced the land owners to poverty.
This caused a great resentment in the landed gentry, who became the natural supporters of the War of Independence in 1857 AD.
6. Loss of Employment : Lakhs of artisans and craftsmen lost their livelihood due to the ruin of their industries, which was the result of British export-import policies. Annexation of Awadh and other Princely States rendered their soldiers jobless, because they were disbanded by the British. With the introduction of English education, thousands of Pandits and Maulvis lost their work and thousands of others feared losing work in the near future. This fear also contributed substantially towards the anti-British sentiments.
(D) Military Causes
The Indian sepoys employed in the company also had reasons for discontent :
1. Meagre British Troops in India : The ratio between the British soldiers and Indian soldiers was very low. This encouraged the sepoys to take up arms in 1857 AD.
2. Higher Jobs and Salaries to the Englishmen in the Army : The Indian soldiers were not given a rank higher than that of a Subedar. All higher ranks were reserved fo r the Englishmen. They were also paid higher salaries than the Indian soldiers. This discrimination affected the morale of the Indian troops and made them unhappy and frustrated.
3. Ill-treating the Indian Troops : Besides the discrimination in pay and rank, the British officers in the Army ill-treated the Indian soldiers. They treated them as menial servants, inferior to their English masters. The British authorities forbade the sepoys from wearing caste or sectarian marks, beards or turbans. The English kept them at a distance in official and social life and thus humiliated the Company's very victors. This hurt the Indian soldiers.
4. Disbanding of Troops : The British disbanded the troops as well as the officers in the armies of the Princely States annexed by them and even in States which had entered into Subsidiary Alliances with the Company. A large number of Indian soldiers and officers thus became unemployed. They had no means to fall back upon.
5. General Service Enlistment Act : The Enlistment Act of 1856 AD. passed by Lord Canning required that all recruits to the Bengal Army could be sent anywhere for service, within or outside India. This caused great alarm amongst the soldiers of the Bengal Army. They thought that crossing the sea was contrary to their religion. Even earlier, during the Anglo-Afghan war of 1839-42 AD., the Bengal Army had resented when they had to cross the river Indus to go outside India. The Indian soldiers were not even paid any extra allowances (Bhatta) for service outside India.
6. Defeat of British Troops in the First Afghan War : The British lost the First Afghan War even after an enormous waste of money and loss of human lives. This exposed the British weakness. The Indian troops gained confidence to be able to challenge the British in India too, at an opportune time which came in 1857 AD.
7. Postage Office Act, 1854 : Indian soldiers used to send letters to their homes free of cost but in 1854, under the new act, they were deprived of that right.
8. The Immediate Cause : While there prevailed a seething discontent in the country, the sepoys too were agitated over the issue of Greased Cartridges. In January 1857 AD., the Company had introduced Enfield Rifle in the Bengal Army. Greased cartridges were to be used in this Rifle. The soldiers had to bite the end of the cartridge with their mouth before using it. The cartridges were believed to be greased with the fat of cow or pig. The Sepoys felt that it was an attempt to defile both the Hindu and the Muslim religions. The news of the polluted cartridges spread to all military stations, causing general resentment among the Indian soldiers.
•Causes of the Failure of the Rising of 1857 A.D
The rising was, however, suppressed by the British. On account of the following reasons, it failed to achieve its goal of ending the foreign rule. But it was not a total failure, as it had far-reaching effects.
(i) The rising could not become an all-India struggle, because number of states such as Kashmir, Sind, Rajputana and most of Punjab did not take part in it.
(ii) All the classes of the society and all the Indian rulers did not join the rising. On the other hand, Nabha, Patiala, Jind, Jodhpur, Scindhia, Holkar, the Nizam, the Nawab of Bhopal and the zamindars and big merchants, all supported the Company's government in the rising.
(iii) The rebels did not have modern weapons, and other war materials.
(iv) Whereas the Company's government had good supply of men, money and arms from England.
(v) The rising was started before the scheduled time. So it was not well-organized nor centrally controlled. The British had sufficient time to organize themselves and their resources.
•Consequences of the first war of Independence
1. Changes in the administrative set up (Constitutional Changes) :
End of Company's Rule : The rule of the East India Company came to an end. The Indian empire went under the direct control of the Crown.
Queen Victoria became the Queen of India. This change was done under the 'Government of India Act, 1858' which had the following provisions :
(i) It transferred the power to govern India from the East India Company to the British Crown.
(ii) The Board of Control was abolished and the Board of Directors had no powers left. Now, the power was to be exercised by the Secretary of State for India, aided by a Council. The Secretary of State was a member of the British Cabinet and was responsible to the Parliament. His salary and allowances were to be paid out of the revenues of India. Thus, the ultimate power over India remained with the British Parliament.
(iii) The Secretary of State was to be assisted by a 15-member India Council. Of these, nine should have resided or served in India for at least 10 years.
(iv) Actual governance was to be carried on as before by the Governor General who was also given the title of Viceroy or Crown's personal representative. Lord Canning was the first Viceroy under this Act.
(v) Appointments to the Civil Service were to be made by open competition under rules made by the Secretary of State. The Indian Civil Services Act of 1861 provided for an annual competitive examination for recruitment to Civil Services. It was to be held in London. The higher services were reserved only for Englishmen. The Indian University Act set up Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.
2. Queen's Proclamation, 1858 :
Policy towards Indian Princes and Chiefs. On November 1, 1 858, Lord Canning announced Queen Victoria's proclamation to the Princes, Chiefs and People of India. The Queen in her declaration declared that :
(i) The British Government would not annex the Indian States.
(ii) All the treaties that the Princes had concluded with the East India company would be honoured.
(iii) The 'Doctrine of Lapse' was abandoned and the right to adoption was recognised.
3. End of the Peshwas and the Mughal Empire : Nana Sahib, the Peshwa, had fled to the jungles of Nepal. He never returned. The title of the Peshwa was abolished. Bahadur Shah, the Mughal Emperor, was deported to Rangoon, where he died after sometime (1862). After his death, the Mughal Imperial dynasty, founded by Babur, came to an end.
4. Promises to the People : Queen Victoria also held out the following promises to the general people of India in order to assuage their feelings, and to win them over. She promised :
(a) Not to interfere in the social and religious beliefs of the people. This strengthened the conservative forces in India. Earlier Lord William Bentinck in 1829 had banned sati and in 1856 had passed the Widow Remarriage Act.
(b) To give equal treatment to all her subjects, both Indians and Europeans.
(c) To admit Indians to all offices, without discrimination of caste or race.
(d) To grant general pardon to all, except those found guilty of murdering an Englishman during the Uprising.
(e) To make moral and material advancement of the people as the main concern of the government policies.
(f) To develop industries and promote works of public utility.
5. Changes in the Army Organisation : Yet another important consequence of the War of 1857 A.D., was that the Indian Army was thoroughly reorganised and built up on the policy of 'division and counter-poise':
(a) A Royal Indian Army was created, merging the armies of the Company and the Crown under a Commander-in-Chief.
(b) The ratio of Europeans and Indians in the Army was rearranged respectively to 1 : 2 (in Bengal) and 2 : 5 in Bombay (Mumbai) and Madras (Chennai).
(c) The Indian soldiers were to be excluded from the artillery and arsenals.
(d) Supply of newspapers and magazines to the armies were stopped.
(e) A distinction was made between martial and non-martial races.
(f) The sepoys belonging to different castes and creeds were mixed up in the same regiment, so that a sense of unity in them may not develop. The new army left out the Brahmans and Rajputs of Oudh and brought in Sikhs from Punjab, Gurkhas from Nepal and Pathans from Frontier.
g) All key positions in the army were reserved for the British, and only they were to be stationed at strategic places.
(h) Indians in the army were not to be appointed at a rank higher than that of a Subedar.
6. Introduction of Budget System : From 1860 A.D. onwards, the Budget system was introduced in India for the first time in order to reorganise the financial administration. Sources of income were distributed between the Central and Provincial governments.
7. The Policy of Divide and Rule : A very important measure by the British to safeguard their empire in India, was to continue and further extend the use of the policy of divide and rule. They adopted the following steps in this direction:
(a) Soon after the War of 1857 A.D., the government turned against the Muslims and discriminated against them in services, favouring the Hindus. When later on the Hindu nationalism grew, they became friendly towards the Muslims. They encouraged the formation of the Muslim League in 1906 A.D. and introduced a separate electorate for the Muslims in 1909.
(b) To create a wall of separation between the feudal elements (the Princes, Landlords, Zamindars), the common people and the peasantry, the British assured the Princes to end the policy of annexation. They gave gifts of land to the landlords who began to exploit the peasantry in several ways. So the feudal elements were encouraged against the ordinary masses.
(c) The army was also reorganized on the principle of 'divide and rule', e.g. martial vs. non-martial regiments and Europeans vs. Indians. They put together the soldiers of different castes, religions, tribes and regions to make one regiment.
(d) The Indian people were divided into two categories, namely those in British India and those in Princely India; wedges were created between the two through administrative restrictions on the people of British India, having limited rights in the Princely States and vice-versa.
(e) The British encouraged the sentiments of provincialism and regionalism by favouring one against the other.
(f) They gave jobs to the sons of landlords and discriminated against the educated Indians.
8. Increased Economic Exploitation of India: Earlier, India was exploited by one Trading Company, namely the East India Company. Now, after the War of 1857 A.D., India came to be exploited by the British nation as a whole, in several ways, as given here under :
(a) The high salaries of the Secretary of the State for India and other members of the Indian Council in England were paid from the Indian exchequer. The numbers of civil and army officials from the European community increased manifold, which caused more burden on the Indian exchequer.
(b) India became an Imperial Colony of Britain, exporting raw materials and importing finished goods from England.
(c) Imbalance in Export and Import duties caused the ruin of India's economy.
9. British Apathy towards Social Reforms : The British now became apathetic towards social reforms in India, as these had been misunderstood and had become one of the factors responsible for the First War of Independence of 1857 A.D.
10. British Indian Presidencies : Three British Indian Presidencies, namely the Presidencies of Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata), and Madras (Chennai) were established. This led to further decentralization in the Indian administration. Local bodies also came to be introduced by Lord Ripon in 1882 A.D.
11. Rise of Nationalism in India : The First War of Indian Independence, 1857 A.D. became a symbol of challenge to the British and proved to be a great incentive to the continuation and further rise in the spirit of nationalism in India. The British committed great atrocities on Indians, after their victory in the War of 1857 A.D. These were never forgotten by the people. Moreover, the stories of sufferings and sacrifices of national heroes of 1857 A.D.
•Important Terms
• Doctrine of Lapse : This was a policy of annexation followed by Lord Dalhousie. The Doctrine meant that when a ruler of a dependent state died without a natural heir, the state would pass over to the English Company.
• Subsidiary Alliance : An Indian ruler accepting the Subsidiary Alliance was made to keep a large British force within his territory and had to pay for its maintenance. In lieu of this payment, sometimes a part of the ruler's territory was ceded to the British.
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