The Indian Mutiny or Rebellion errupted from British westernization policies that threated India's way of life. In 2,000 words explore the Mutiny that almost ended British rule in the subcontinent.
Causes of the
Rebellion
The
rebellion flared up as a result of policies directed towards complete British
control over India and threatened the fabric Indian tradition and society.
The
rebels turned their frustration and anger towards a powerful entity (not a
country) that engineered British expansion to the subcontinent – the British East
India Company. The joint-stock company had the approval of London to negotiate
treaties, command armies, and managed local administration of acquired lands.
In
the years prior to the Mutiny, the Company’s administration under Lord
Dalhousie started to consolidate power and to westernize India. Previously, the
East India Company had allied with princely state and made them declare the
British as their overlord. In the 1840’s, however, they began to subdue local
prices by denying them pensions and titles and enactment of the Doctrine of
Lapse. Under the Doctrine, it prohibited Indian rulers to adopt to be heirs in
time of absence of an heir. In such case, upon the death of the Indian ruler
British officials would take over the administration of the princely state.
 |
| Bahadur Shah II, 1858 |
Numerous
Princes fell victim to the Doctrine including the heir to Maratha, Nana Sahib,
and widow and regent of Jhansi, Lakshmibal. The Company also offended the
Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II who they informed that the dynasty would end
upon his death.
Peasant
Indians also resented British agrarian policies. Moreover, important traditions
of India, like the Caste System and Hindu religion, faced threats from British
imposition of Westernization. Number of missionaries increased along with
conversions. Although some prohibitions on certain practice like Sati, the
burning of widows and allowing them to remarry, improved the plight of widows,
many Indians viewed Westernization as a threat to the fabric of Hindu society
and culture.
 |
| 2 Sepoy Officers and a Private, 1820s |
Indian
soldiers that served the British East India Company felt further
dissatisfaction. Besides receiving low salary and being sent to fight in
far-away lands, they disagreed with the Company’s policies that they
interpreted as means to convert as Christians.
Strong
homeland ties also played a role in the rebellion. Most of the troops that
participated in the rebellion came from the princely state of Awadh. In 1856
Awadh lose its princely state status and fell to Company management which began
to enact reforms that angered locals including the Sepoys from the region.
From Mutiny to Full
Scale Rebellion
Anger
over British treatment of Indians resulted to waves of mutiny within the ranks
of native soldiers, especially the Bengal Army considered as an elite unit. In
March 1857, a Sepoy, Mangal Pandey, attacked his British officer in
Barrackpore.
 |
| Mangal Pandey |
On
April 24, Sepoys in Meerut refused to use their cartridges and as a result
faced steeped imprisonment sentence. Adding insult to injury, their British
officers had them publicly stripped of uniforms, cuffed with ball and chain,
and made to work hard labor. The act infuriated their comrades.
On
May 10, 1857, the Sepoys of Meerut rebelled and executed their British
officers. They then marched to Delhi, captured the city, and proclaimed Bahadur
Shah II as Emperor of India. The Sepoy aimed to use Bahadur Shah as a rallying
point and moral symbol of mutiny. By declaring him Emperor of India meant to
revive the independence, past glory, and might of the lost Mughal Empire. The
unit gathered more support with the garrisoned Sepoys in the city as well as
civilians willing to take up arms with them bolstering their number to
thousands.
More
mutinies followed escalating the situation to a large scale rebellion.
Mutineers overran important cities killing British officers and murdering Europeans.
Nana Sahib gained the support of the Sepoys and led them in capturing Cawnpore
by June. Following Nana Sahib rose up in rebellion, Tantia Tope followed and
rallied the Gwalior Contigent of native soldiers. The deprived widow ruler of
Maratha Lakshmibal who became known as the fierce rhani of Jhansi also took up
arms. Rebelling Sepoys besieged Lucknow leaving the British to defend
themselves in the Governor’s residence. The whole of Northern India fell into
chaos.
 |
| Lakshmibai, the rhani of Jhansi |
Not
all the native Indian troops, however, joined the rebellion. Gurkhas and Sikhs
remained loyal to the British. The Punjab Sikhs hated the idea of reviving
Hindu and Muslim Mughal Empire, while the Nepalese Gurkhas showed their known
loyalty. The Kingdom of Nepal in the Himalayas also joined the British in July
and its Prime Minister, Jung Bahadur, marched with a host of 10,000 Gurkhas
against the mutineers.
The
rebellion seemed to dominate Northern India, but the threat of British counter
attacks directed by Charles Canning from Calcutta and John Lawrence from Punjab
remained strong. Months after the rebellion spread, British and native Indian
troops from Persia, Afghanistan, Burma, and China went to India. Firmer
leadership of the British also threatened the rebellion’s success when London
sent Sir Colin Campbell, a veteran of the Crimean War, to quell the rebellion.
Delhi
faced the strongest threat from the British who perceived the city as the
center of the rebellion. Sepoys resisted the British under General George Anson
pushing to retake the city. Luckily for the mutineers, the advance slowed after
cholera broke out claiming the life of General Anson. The task of taking Delhi then
fell to Sir Henry Barnard. By late June, however, they failed to secure the
outskirts of the city and a siege began that lasted until September.
The
Sepoys showed courage but lacked the necessary organization, proper leadership,
discipline, and better weaponry that turned the tide against them. Situation
worsened when British reinforcement from Punjab led by General John Nicholson
arrived and intensified the siege. In September 1857, the Sepoys met a huge
massive artillery barrage and followed by a full scale assault on Delhi’s
Kashmir Gate. Fighting lasted for 6 days and the Sepoys lose Delhi on September
21, 1857.
 |
| The Capture of Emperor Bahadur Shah II |
Indian
civilians, Sepoys, and Emperor Bahadur Shah II met British reprisals. Bahadur
Shah’s sons were executed by British Captain William Hodson while he was tried and
sentenced to exile to Burma leaving the country as the last Mogul Emperor.
Besides the Emperor’s sons, many Sepoys and Indian civilian were by the British
army.
While
Sepoys in Delhi fought the British, another battle raged in Cawnpore. Sepoys
led by Nana Sahib besieged a small British garrison in the city. It lasted from
June 6 to 27, when the British, facing considerable odds including numerous
women and children with them, surrendered. Nana Sahib promised safe passage for
the besieged British that helped to convince the garrison to lay down their
arms. In an act of cruelty, however, while the British boarded their boats for
the safety of Allahabad in Satichaura Ghat, Sepoy mutineers open fired on them
killing the boarding soldiers instantly. The women and children of Cawnpore
remained in a house called Bibighar.
 |
| Massacre in the Boats off Cawnpore |
Nana
received news of a British army led by General Henry Havelock had begun to march
towards Cawnpore and massacred Indians in villages along the way. The news
resulted to retribution that led to the massacre of the women and children
sheltering in Bibighar. Nana’s forces failed to stop the advancing British and
Cawnpore fell. He escaped the British and successfully disappeared without a
trace. Some said he died of malaria while others suggested he fled and hid.
In
another theater in Lucknow, Sepoys had mutinied on May 30, 1857 and followed on
June 4 by those in Sitapur, which was 51 miles from Lucknow. More Sepoys rose
up in rebellion in Fyzabad, Daryabad, Sultanpur, and Salon. The Sepoys in
Lucknow then besieged the residence of the Governor Sir Henry Lawrence who had
felt the discontent of the Sepoys beforehand and warned the Company of
potential mutiny. Sepoys attacked the residence in full force and on July 4,
they stroked the British a mortal blow when they shot dead Sir Lawrence. They,
however, still failed to overrun the residence and even faced a threat of a
British relief force led by General Havelock who by then recaptured Cawnpore.
Sepoys
from different areas then tried to thwart General Havelock’s advance in which
they succeeded and slowed the British advance for 2 months. They, nevertheless,
in the space of that 2 months, still had failed to take the residence and
General Havelock along with the assistance of Sir James Outram arrived in the
outskirts of the city on September 23. Fierce fighting ensued for the next 2
days with the British relief force reaching the residence.
Although
the Sepoys failed to stop General Havelock’s relief, the fighting dragged on,
and soon another siege of the residence restarted with General Havelock and Sir
Outram inside. The threat that Sepoys faced was another relief force coming
from then recaptured Delhi. Indeed, the threat of a relief force materialized
when a British force of 2,790 troops under Col. Edward Greathed began their
march for Lucknow on September 24. Rebels tried to stall the advance but all in
vain when the British reached Agra on October 10 and Cawnpore by the 26th, then
on November 3, Sir Colin Campbell assumed command of the relief force.
 |
| The Relief of Lucknow by Thomas Barker |
Besides
failing to stop Campbell, the Sepoys also failed to stop the escape of Thomas
Henry Kavanagh from the Lucknow residence and interrupt his mission to guide
Campbell’s forces to Lucknow. On November 14, a 4,500-man British army had
stumbled the Sepoys outside Lucknow and the fight to reach the residence began.
After 3 days, the Sepoys failed to stop Campbell from reaching the residence. On
November 22 the British began to evacuate the city with all the relieved
besieged troops, women, and children, and they reached the safety of Cawnpore
on the 27th.
The
Sepoys continued to occupy Lucknow, but soon it met the prospect of falling to
the British who deemed the city as the new center of the rebellion after Delhi.
Lucknow’s defense fought bravely against the British that started the siege
operations on March 2, 1858. The fighting lasted until March 21, 1858 with a
British victory and reprisals against the Sepoys.
With
major cities recaptured, few resistance remained against the British, especially
in the state of Jhansi, home of the Tantia Topi and the rhani of Jhansi. The
Indian leaders resisted the advance of British force led by Sir Hugh Rose
tasked to destroy the remaining rebels. The main battle for the rule of the
Central India region was for the city of Gwalior where the rhani of Jhansi and
Tantia Topi fortified themselves. By early June the fight over the city began,
but on June 19 it ended with the death of the rhani of Jhansi and the capture
of Tantia Topi who was later tried and sentenced to death. By July 1858, the rebellion
that rocked India officially ended.
 |
| Tantia Tope's Soldiery |
In
all of the fighting countless of men, women, and children died. Stories of
massacres and reprisals spread and remembered. Both Sepoys and British were
guilty. Sepoys murdered Europeans, while the British executed Sepoys in the
most gruesome way either by bayonet or cannon fire.
 |
| Execution of Mutineers at Peshuwar, Blowing from the Guns, etc. |
Aftermath
The
Indian Mutiny caused a review of the British East India Company. London issued
reforms to prevent another violent and dangerous uprising. In 1858, parliament
abolished the East India Company and placed the administration of India under
the Crown. The abolition meant little change in the administration of India but
it hoped to bring order by removing a hated institution.
Other
reforms included the suspension of land expropriation, toleration of different
religions, and positions of subordinate level for Indians in the new imperial
administration of India, such as Indians in the Legislative Council starting in
1861.
The
transportation network, such as railroads, in India improved as the British saw
as vital to answer to crises and rebellions.
Reforms
to prevent another mutiny within the military ranks were also pursued. London decreased
the ratio between Indians and British soldiers in a unit, and they prohibited
natives to be part of artillery units.
The
failure of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the abolition of the East India Company
allowed Britain to make India as its jewel in its imperial crown.
See
also:
Bibliography:
"Indian Mutiny." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., Encyclopedia.com. (April 14, 2017). URL: http://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/indian-mutiny
“The Indian
Mutiny.” The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. In Wikisource. Accessed April 28,
2017. URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Indian_Mutiny,_The
Editors
of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Indian Mutiny.” In Encyclopedia Britannica.
Accessed on April 15, 2017. URL: https://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Mutiny
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