The Sepoy MutinyEssay Preview: The Sepoy MutinyReport this essayBy the year 1857 the British had established complete political control of India. As Western education was introduced and missionaries eroded Hindu society resentment among Indian people grew and it was joined by unease among the old governing class when the British decided to formally abolish the Mughal Empire.
The mutiny of the Sepoy (native troops in the British army) began on May 10, 1857, when Indian soldiers who had been placed in irons for refusing to accept new cartridges were rescued by their comrades. The greased cartridges had to be bitten off before use, and the manufacturers had supplied a fat of beef and pork – repulsive to both Hindus and Moslems. For Hindus the cow is sacred, whilst Muslims believe that the pig is a filthy beast. Inevitably, some of the Sepoys refused to use the ammunition, and as a consequence were shackled in chains and imprisoned. Incensed by this move their comrades revolted and freed them. In their escape they viciously killed several British soldiers and this was to set the tone for some savage scenes, especially for the next six months.
The Indian garrison at Delhi joined the mutineers and proclaimed Bahadur Shah, the titular Mughal emperor as their leader.The capture of Delhi turned the mutiny into a wide-spread revolt. But the leaders were not united, because they sought to revive former Hindu and Muslim regimes, which traditionally had been opposed to each other.
The British had some advantages. They did receive reinforcements from Britain, and they had a base in Bengal, and in the Punjab the Sikhs were so hostile to the Muslims that they supported the British against the Mughal restoration in Delhi.
As a direct result of the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian presence in the British army was reduced to almost a half of what it had been. Also whereas before Indian regiments had been allowed to exist separately, they were now incorporated to be part of larger British regiments. High caste Hindus and Brahmins were stereotyped as dishonest, because of their role as provokers and their nationalist sympathies. The opposite can be said of such groups as the Sikhs, who were portrayed as model citizens and soldiers. Muslims, in particular were persecuted, because the British believed that the Sepoy Mutiny was a direct attempt to restore the acting Moghul emperor as leader. The British recaptured Delhi in the fall of 1857, further campaigns followed the
The Sepoy Mutiny was also the cause of a great many problems of political and civil life. India’s situation was still deteriorating. The Indian army was divided as separate from the British: it was commanded by a senior officer. But India as a whole was ruled by a highly political class, with very low-ranking officials such as the king, army chief and army chief himself in each caste. So Indians who belonged to a sub-caste could be expected to follow the general policy of the Indian army.
Although civil war raged, there was no political struggle with any party and the government did nothing to make it work, much less to prevent it. The war’s outcome was not always good, but as is a feature of history, it had its victims. India was only in a crisis of some importance; the situation was now more dire than in years past. The British had taken the right political decisions. They had begun a political campaign of the most popular kind, that of a free democratic India. It was called the Indian Revolution, but it was also the second half of British colonialism.
All that this civil war produced was a very significant event: war. It was a time of growing anti-colonialism, and the British government recognised a new and growing struggle within Indian society. After the British won their second war in 1857, Indian society was divided. During the Civil War, when Indian state power fell completely, all sections of Indian society had little hope. Many of their rulers, even those with great wealth had no hope. They found themselves unable to defend themselves politically and militarily against the rising power of British imperialism. Indian democracy was at the heart of the anti-colonial movement.
In 1857 the British gave to Indian statehood. There was a war that took seven years to build. It started when the British and Indian governments were joined together in two of the most important revolutions in Indian history. The first was the British Revolution. It occurred in India’s first statehood election that year, with the participation of India’s first president, Adji (the daughter of the king, who had just been crowned), for a statehood election, that had already won a national vote.
Indian states were split along class and sub-caste lines. This meant their political situation was much tighter than it was in the United States. Both British and Indian leaders were afraid that when they won power they would be forced to accept a new form of rule like the British empire. The British government’s attitude shifted in 1798 when the Rajputs ruled in the country in which they had been born.
In the next two years, and possibly most notably, there was a revolution. This changed the way in which Indian statehood governments were governed on a large scale. In 1867, India had a legislature formed by a large minority of the ruling class. The Rajput administration was given its