BASIC HISTORIA

British policies in India underwent major changes after 1858. All these changes were made to strengthen their hold over India and prevent another countrywide uprising. In August 1858, the British Parliament passed an act by which the rule of the English East India Company in India came to an end. The act transferred all administrative powers to the crown. All policies concerning India were to be framed by the government accepted direct responsibility for ruling India. Think about it :  Why did the government in Britain want to take away power from the Company? Comment it below! By the Act of 1858, a minister of the British Cabinet was appointed to manage affairs in India. He was called the Secretary of State.  The Secretary of State was responsible to the British Parliament. The Act of 1858 also changes in the functioning of the government in India.The Government would be headed by the Governor-General. Since he was appointed by the Crown, he was given the title of Viceroy. A ...

A Picture Showing King Bahadur Shah II Being Caught By British . T o underplay the  importance of the uprising, British historians refer to it as a ' Sepoy Mutiny ', that is, one in which a few sepoys of the English East India Company revolted. The facts, however, suggest otherwise. An uprising as long-lasting and as widespread as this cannot be explained by just the disaffection that the grease cartridges caused among the sepoys. The revolt did begin as a mutiny by the sepoys but it was soon supported by people from all sections of society. The participation of peasants and artisans made the revolt a widespread and a popular uprising. In some regions, the common people revolted much before the sepoys displayed their rebellious intent. All this shows that it was popular revolt. The uprising was characterized by Hindu-Muslim unity. People of both communities fought together. Unity among different regions also existed. Rebels in one part of the country helped those fighting in ot...

  A Painting By Vasily Vereshchagin Depicting Several Sepoys Being Executed By Being "Blown From A Gun.  Suppression Of The Rebellion Of 1857 By mid- 1857 it appeared that the rule of the Company was over, at least in North India. The British, however, soon re-organized and fought back. One by one, they started recapturing the areas they had lost to the rebel sepoys. British commanders such as Colin Campbell and Henry Havelock were particularly successful. In September 1857, the British forces re-captured Delhi. This was a big blow to the rebels. Bahadur Shah Zafar was taken prisoner and deported to Rangoon (now Yangon) in Burma (now Myanmar). With this, the rule of the Mughals ended officially. Despite losing Delhi, the rebels soldiers continued to fight. But the British now had the upper hand. Bhakt Khan, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Khan Bahadur Khan and Kunwar Singh died fighting the British. Nan Sahib and Begum Hazrat Mahal escaped to Nepal and continued the struggle. Tatya Tope was...

BEGINNING OF THE REBELLION OF 1857 The  first sepoy (soldier) to protest against the new cartridges was  "Mangal Pandey."  He was a sepoy in 5th Company of the 34th Native Infantry Regiment, stationed at  Barrackpore  (Barakpur). On 29 March 1857, het his British commander and asked to other sepoys to join him to end the rule of the company. He was, however, soon arrested and hanged on  8 April .  Q. Some years ago, a movie was made on the life of Mangal Pandey. Who played the character of Mangal Pandey? Comment downward! The hanging of  Mangal Pandey caused great unrest in the army camps across India. On  24 April, 85 sepoys (sipahis) of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, stationed at Meerut, refused to use the cartridges. On 9 May , they were publicly humiliated, dismissed from service and jailed. this sparkled off a mutiny  among the sepoys at Meerut. On 10 May , these soldiers raised banner of revolt. They killed the British officers, rel...

An Imaginary Picture Of The Revolt. One cold morning in January 1857, at an army camp in Dum Dum, a sepoy of the Bengal Native Infantry was walking back to his quarters with a pot of water. On the way he met a Khalasi (labourer) who asked him for a drink. This was a time when caste divisions in Indian society were very strict. The Brahman sepoy refused to give water to low cast khalasi. The khalasi was hurt and said,"You are very proud to your cast. Wait a little and the sahib log will make you bite bullets smeared with the fat of cows and pigs. Then where will your cast be?" The khalasi worked at the Dum Dum ammunition factory. He was referring to the new rifle and its bullets, soon to be introduce in the army. The news that the bullets of the rifle were smeared with cow and pig fat spread from regiment to regiment like wildfire. By the month of May, sepoys at army camps across Awadh (UP) were ready to revolt. The First War Of Independence was about to begin. There were many...