War of Independence

Introduction
 The year 1857 is highly significant in the political and cultural history of India. It marked the eventual
collapse of Mughal empire. With this, the history of India entered a new phase.
 Not only soldiers but the whole population was involved in war
“It was impossible to believe that such a widespread and massive movement was triggered only by the
cartridges.” (Lord Salisbury)
 According to Justice Carther, “The truth is that people in most parts of Northern and North-Western parts
of India had risen in revolt against English domination. The cartridge affair was only a spark which found
its way into this ammunition depot and ignited it. It was indeed a religious and national war”
 According to Sir Syed Ahmed’s treatise The Causes of the Indian Revolt, this was not merely a military
uprising because a single event can never become the cause of a general uprising.

Causes
a) Military Revolt:
 The Indian soldiers were treated in an inhuman and unjust way.
 The Indian soldiers were not allowed to use Tilak while at parade.
 Huge difference in salaries. An Indian infantry soldier earned only Rs.7 per month whereas, a
cavalry man got Rs.29
 Indian soldiers had no chances of promotion. According to Holmes, the Indian soldiers knew very
well that even if they were as gallant as Hyder Ali, they would never be able to earn a salary
equivalent to that of a low ranking English soldier.
 The Company tried to attract the soldiers to Christianity.
 Indian soldiers were ordered to go to the overseas war-fronts which was considered a sin by
Brahman Hindus.
b) Religious Causes:
 The Company entered Indian for the purpose of trade but their first and foremost aim was the
propagation of Christianity.
 A priest Dr. Pfander made attacks on Islam in his Book Mizan-ul-Haq.
 The subordinates were forced to listen to the sermons of the priests.
 The children in orphanages were forcibly converted to Christianity.
 Until 1922, the money spent on Churches was drawn from the Indian exchequer.
c) Political causes:
 After defeating Muslims, Britishers tried to malign history books and tried to portray Muslims as
barbaric and uncultured in these books.
 In 1943, the Company stopped sending gifts to Mughal Emperor on special occasions.
 Lord Dalhousie issued a decree stating that after death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, his heirs would
have to vacate red fort and they can not use the title of Emperors for themselves.
d) Accession of States:
 A forcible annexation of states was carried out by Lord Dalhousie.
 In order to occupy Avadh, Nawab of Avadh was forced to pay 16 lacs in exchange for the military
expenses.
 Fertile lands of the state were seized by the Company. Even at that time, this land was the source
of savings worth two crore rupees.
  Under subsidiary system, a Resident was appointed in Avadh who started interference in internal
affairs of state. This illegal interference ruined the lives of the rulers and masses of the state.
 On January, 1856, after seeking the permission of the Board of Control, the State was annexed to
the British Empire.
 The Resident went to the Court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and asked him to sign the letter
stating, “I willingly handover the charge of the State to English”, which he refused to do.
 The English army invaded the palace and forcibly annexed it to British Empire.
 The people were hit hard due to this annexation. The hardest hit were those 80,000 soldiers who
suddenly found themselves jobless.
 Those frustrated soldiers of Avadh fought desperately during the War of Independence.
e) Doctrine of Lapse:
 In Hindu religion, it was obligatory to adopt a son in case of the absence of a male offspring.
 The Doctrine of Lapse was introduced by Lord Dalhousie.
 According to this doctrine, the adoption of a heir was not recognized and that in case any Indian
ruler dies without leaving a male heir, his kingdom would automatically pass over to the British.
 The main sufferer was Nana Sahib who was the adopted son of last Peshwa Baji Rao and the
Rani of Jhansi.
 In 1818, the last Marhatta leader Baji Rao was removed from power with the promise that he
would get 8 lac rupees annually as pension from the Company.
 Baji Rao had nominated Nana Sahib as his successor but after his death in 1851, Nana Sahib’s
pension was stopped.
 Nana Sahib was filled with disdain for the English and actively participated in the War.
f) Economic Exploitation:
 When the Company started occupying different regions of the country, the local inhabitants had
to face severe economic hardships.
 Firstly, all the key posts were reserved for the English.
 Secondly, after retirement they would transfer all their assets to England. Thus the wealth of
India slowly began to be transferred to England.
 Moreover, thousands of people who were associated with the courts of rulers became jobless as
soon as these states were annexed.
 The company deliberately destroyed the native industry by imposing heavy taxes on it.

Immediate Cause
 The immediate reason was provided by the East India Company in February, 1857 when a new
rifle was introduced.
 The greased cartridge for this rifle allegedly used fat from cows and pigs.
 The soldiers, whose vast majority comprised local Hindus and Muslims, were required to bite
pre-greased cartridges to release the powder.
 Since the cow was sacred to Hindus and the pig forbidden for Muslims, this was unacceptable to
both communities. Biting these cartridges would have meant a direct breach of their faith.
 Thus the issue of greased cartridge proved to be the immediate reason for the War of
Independence 

The Outbreak of War

 In April 1857, some soldiers stationed at Meerut cantonment refused to use these cartridges.
 The Company sentenced the rebel soldiers to ten years.
 This incident sparked off a general mutiny among the soldiers of Meerut.
  On 10 May 1857, these rebel soldiers killed their British officers, released their imprisoned
comrades and hoisted the flag of revolt.
 This was the official beginning of the Great Revolt.
 On 11 May 1857, they reached Delhi. Here, they were joined by the locals.
 The rebels seized Delhi and declared the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor of
India.

Causes of Failure
The fact that within 3 weeks, the mutiny spread through the length of the country shows the extent to which
natives were furious at the policies of the English. Unfortunately, this movement could not succeed to achieve its
due objectives due to the following reasons:

1) Change in the Plan:

 The war was planned to be started throughout the country simultaneously on March 31, 1857
 It was started prematurely due to cartridge incident. Thus the plan could not be materialized
properly.
 Even the British experts have acknowledged that if the war had started on schedule, the
Company would have failed to overcome it.
2) The Treachery of the Sikhs:
 The Sikh states of Jind and Patiala provided generous financial and military assistance to the
English.
 According to John Lawrence, if the Sikhs and the Gorkhas had not helped us, it would have been
impossible for us to recapture India
3) Absence of an Active Leadership:
 There was no experienced leader among soldiers to lead them.
 They had declared Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, their leader but instead of warfare he
was devoted to poetry and was too old and incompetent to lead the revolutionaries.
 The British troops, on the other hand, were lead by extremely competent generals like Edwards
and Lawrence.
4) The Company’s Control Over the Means of Communication:
 Freedom fighters had no control over means of communication.
 An English man wired the news of the mutiny even by risking his own life which enabled
Company to make the necessary defense arrangements.
 In the words of Robert Montgomery, India was saved by the electronic wire.
5) Economic Conditions:
 The economic conditions of Indian troops also was an obvious cause of their defeat.
 On the one hand the war started out of awkwardness, mismanagement and lack of planning and
even the emperor was practically penniless who was asking for loans from Delhi landlords but
they were determined to save their money, not their freedom.
 The British troops, on the other hand, had been wealthy because the prosperous regions of India
were totally under their control.

Results
 The War of Independence would surely go down in the history as the first and direct challenge to the British rule
in India. It was a desperate attempt of subjugated people to cut off the shackles of slavery.

 The first major outcome was that the rule of the East India Company came to an end and India came
under the British parliament.
 The second important outcome was the abolition of the Law of Lapse; the emperors of states could now
adopt sons who could be their heirs.
 Another main outcome was that British put all the blame on Muslims and made it no secret to wipe them
out.
 But the biggest outcome was that the War of Independence successfully stimulated a number of new
popular resistance movements in post 1857 era which finally led to the formation of Pakistan in 1947.