The Sepoy Rebellion of India 1857

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The Sepoy Rebellion of India1857

• One of the most well-known uprisings during the
  British colonization of India was a mutiny of the
  native troops known as sepoys.
• When it began on Sunday, May 10, 1857 the Sepoy
  rebellion was a complete surprise to the British,
  many of whom were blind to the unrest that had
  been created, in part, by the rapid imposition of
  direct British control over two-thirds of India.
•  
• The campaign to suppress the revolt lasted until
  April 1859. 

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• The British East India Company began recruiting
  native citizens as troops in 1667, in order to
  maintain control during their trading
  operations. 
• In 1748, the British government also began
  recruiting and training Indians to fight with
  their weaponry and methods. 
• The Indian units were called native sepoys and
  soon became the largest part of the British
  forces in India, eventually outnumbering European
  troops ten to one.

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• . After Britain had gained two-thirds of Indias
  land and imperialism had begun to affect every
  part of Indian life
• Technology like the telegraph,
• Religious/Missionary efforts, or
• Administrative and land ownership reform.

There was an incredible amount of tension that
only needed a small spark to set off a huge
revolt. There had been minor outbreaks within the
sepoy ranks before 1857, but these had all been
quickly and brutally suppressed.
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• The spark that came to begin this period of
  revolts was the introduction of the new, more
  accurate breech-loading Enfield rifle. 

• The loading of these rifles entailed the biting
  of a greased cartridge, which the sepoys feared
  was made with either (one) cow or (two) pig fat.
• The first, from an animal sacred to the
  Hindus, and,
• The second from an animal held unclean by the
  Muslims.

The Hindu sepoys saw this as an attempt to break
their caste as a preliminary to making them all
Christians. The Muslim troops were disgusted and
no less insulted than the Hindus the revolts
were about to happen.
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• The first event was the bloody uprising at the
  garrison in Meerut, in which the mutineers
  murdered every European they found. 
• They proceeded to march to Delhi and placed
  themselves under the leadership of the impotent
  and bewildered Mogul Emperor Bahadur Shah.

• Throughout May and June the idea of mutiny spread
  through the Ganges valley, the Rajputna, Central
  India, and parts of Bengal. 
• By June, Cawnpore had surrendered to Nana Sahib,
  and Lucknow, the only British-held outpost in
  Oudh, was besieged.
• On July 17 it was discovered that 200 European
  men, women, and children had been murdered a
  month earlier in the mutiny and siege at Cawnpore

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• Vengeance was swift and harsh suspected
  mutineers were tied to cannons and executed. 
• In six months, the mutiny had been broken, and,
  within the next year, British power was
  restored. 
• These rebellions would be remembered later by
  some Indian freedom fighters as the first stages
  of the struggle for independence from
  colonialism.
• Whether they were related to later uprisings or
  not, the sepoy rebellions certainly sent a
  message to the British that demanded to be heard.

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Bibliography Edwardes, Michael, Battles of
the Indian Mutiny (London B. T. Batsford Ltd.,
1963) pp. 7-19. Olson, James S. and Shadle,
Robert, eds.  Historical Dictionary of the
British Empire, v. 1  (Westport, Connecticut
Greenwood Press, 1996) pp. 566-568. Olson,
James S. and Shadle, Robert, eds.  Historical
Dictionary of the British Empire, v. 2 
(Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1996)
pp. 995-996.