UPSC History Uprising against British Rule 1857 Revolt Short Notes - The Revolt of 1857

Short Notes - The Revolt of 1857

Category : UPSC

The Revolt of 1857

Political Causes: The policy of Doctrine of Lap
Nana Sahib was refused pension, as he was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao I.

Rani Laxmi Bai's adopted son was not recognized by the East India Company as the heir to Jhansi.
Bahadur Shah's successor was denied the right to live at the Red Fort.
Economic Causes: Heavy taxation, evictions, discriminatory tariff policy against Indian products, destruction of traditional handicrafts.
Military Discrimination: Discrimination between the Indian and the British soldiers.
Religious Discrimination: The introduction of Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was greased with animal fat, provided the spark.
On March 29, 1857, a soldier named Mangal Pandey attacked and fired at his senior at Barrackpur in Bengal (in 19th and 34th Native infantry).
Mutiny spread throughout UP along with some other parts of the country.
Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II was proclaimed the Emperor of India.
Causes of Failure of the Revolt: Lack of planning, organization and leadership.
Some Indians supported the British in suppressing the revolt as Scindia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Raja of Jodhpur, the Nawab of Bhopal, the rulers of Patiala, Sindh and Kashmir and the Rana of Nepal.
The revolt was mainly feudal in character carrying with it some nationalist elements.
The control of Indian administration was passed on to the British crown by the Government of India Act, 1858.
After the revolt, the British pursued the policy of Divide and Rule.

A Brief Survey of the Major Centres of the Revolt of 1857

Centre	Leaders	British Officials who suppressed the Revolt	Fate of the Leader
Delhi	Bahadur Shah, Gen- eral Bakht Khan of Bareilly regiment	Nicholson	Bahadur Shah deported to Rangoon, Bakht Khan died in battlefield.
Lucknow	Begum Hazrat Mahal of Avadh	Colin Campbell	Escaped to Nepal
Kanpur	Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Azimullah	Colin Campbell	Nana Saheb escaped to Ne- ~ pal, Tantia tope was hanged Azimullah died of illness.
Jhansi	Lakshmibai	Hugh Rose	Died in battle field.
Arrah	Kunwar Singh	William Tyier and Eyre	Died of wound sustained in the fight

Peasant Movement

Movement	Place	Year	Leaders
Indigo Revolt	Bengal	1859	Bishnu and Digambar Biswas
Pabna	Bengal	1870	Ishwar Roy, Sabu Pal, Khoodi Mollah
Deccan Riots	Maharashtra	1875	--------
Ramosi Movement	Maharashtra	1879	Vasudev Balwant Phadke
Bijolia	Rajasthan	1913	Sitaram Das, Vijay Pathik Singh
Champaran	Bihar	1917	Gandhiji
Kheda	Gujarat	1918	Gandhiji and Vallabh Bhai Patel
Moplah	Kerala	1921	Sayyad Ali and Sayyid Fazi
Bordoli/Borsad	Gujarat	1928	Vallabh Bhai Patel
Tebhaga	Bengal	1946	Kamparan Singh, Nyamat Ali
Punnapra-Waylar	Kerala	1946	--------
Telengana	AndhraP.	1946	Kumaraiya and Sundaraiya
UP Kisan Sabha	UP.	1918	Indra Narayan Dwivedi and Gauri Shankar Mishra
Avadh Kisan Sabha	UP.	1920	Baba Ramachandra
Eka Movement	Avadh	1921	Madari Pasi
Forest Satyagrah	South India	1931	NV Rama Naidu, N G Ranga
All India Kisan Sabha	Lucknow	1936	Sahajanada Saraswati

Important Books on 1857

Book	Year	Author
The First Indian War of Independence-1857-59	1859	Karl Marx
Causes of Indian Revolt	1873	Sayed Ahmad Khan
The India War of Independence	1909	V.D. Savarkar
The Sepoy Mutiny and the rebellion of 1857	1957	R.C. Mazumdar
Civil Rebellion in Indian Mutinies	1957	S.B. Chowdhury
Rebellion, 1857 : A Symposium	1957	P.C. Joshi
1857	1957	S.N. Sen