Monday, February 11, 2019

The Great Revolt of 1857 Causes of the Revolt of 1857 Political causes Economic causes Social and religious causes

The Great Revolt of 1857 


    The biggest challenge to British authority came in 1857. The Revolt of 1857 began with a mutiny of the Soldiers but soon people from all section of the society joined with the.
   
    The revolt occurred during the Governor Generaship of Lord Conning. There are differences of opinion among the historians regarding the nature of the Great Revolt of 1857. The English historian regard it as mere sepoy mutiny, with selfish interest. The Indian historians called it as "The First War of Indian Independence".

Causes of the Revolt of 1857. 
Political causes 
    The British policies of annexation and expansion created suspicion in the minds of the Indians. Lord Wellesley's. Subsidiary Alliance and Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse made the Indian rulers as the dead enemies of the English.

Economic causes. 
    All trade and commerce of the country went into the hands of the English. The introduction of machine made goods by the British destroyed the indigenous industries.
   All high posts were reserved only for the English. It created ill feeling against the English.

Social and religious causes
    The English has begun to interfere in the religious affairs by abolishing Sati and child marriage and encouraging widow rae-marriage. The Hindu law of property was changed with a view to facilitate the conversion of the Hindus to Christianity.

Military cause
    Moreover, in order to make the sepoy look smarter, the sepoys were asked to trim their mustaches and beards. They were also ordered to remove their caste marks on their forehead and to replace the turban with leather hat. Hindu and the Muslims felt that it was against their religion. The Sikhs never trim their hair or beard. This hurt them deeply.

Immediate cause 
    The immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857 was the introduction of greased cartridges in the new Enfield Rifle. These cartridges had to be bitten by the sepoys in order to fit them in the New Rifles. A rumour spread that these cartridges were greased with the Hindus and the Muslims refused to use these greased cartridges. The sepoys got infuriated and refused to use them as the cow was considered sacred by the Hindus and the pig was detested by the Muslims.
   
     The first soldier to protect against the greased cartridge was Mangal Pandey, the Brahmin Sepoy, at Barrackpore in Bengal.
 He refused to use the cartridges and shot his officer dead on April 8th 1857. He was arrested and hanged to death.

Queen's Proclamation of 1858
    A Royal Durbar was held at Allahabad on November 1st 1858, where the Queen's proclamation was decorated. It was read at the Durbar by Lord Conning who was the last Governor General and the first Viceroy of India.

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