Political

Map of
India
before
1857

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 Introduction
✣ The revolt of 1857 was the landmark in the history of India’s
struggle for freedom.
✣ The event was called the Uprising, the Revolt of 1857 or the
Sepoy Mutiny by the British. But Indian historian called it the
first war of independence as it was the first time that different
sections of Indian society united and fought as one nation to
throw off the shackles of foreign domination.

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Contents
• Causes
• Leaders
• Important Centres of the
revolt
• Outcome
• Causes of failure of revolt
• Impact of the revolt

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 Causes of the Revolt of 1857
 Political
 Economical
 Military
 Social
 Administrative

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 Lord Dalhousie’s policy of annexation and the Doctrine of Lapse had
made the Indian rulers angry and insecure. The Rani of Jhansi, Laxmi
Bai, was not allowed to adopt a son.

 The policy of annexation of Dalhousie especially Doctrine of Lapse,

created fear and resentment among Indian rulers.

 The Muslim feelings had been badly hurt when after the death of
Bahadur Shah II, Lord Canning took away regal titles and Moghul
palaces.

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 Economical Causes

• The policy of economic exploitation and the destruction of the

traditional India economic structure by the British caused widespread
resentment among Indians.
• The British had drained India of all her wealth and natural resources
by selfish economic policies.
• Farmers were forced to grow cash crops. There was severe food
shortage and famine.
• The handloom industry had been destroyed. Weavers lost their jobs.

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 Military Causes
 The sepoys’ revolts were not a new phenomena and go back to
the first decade of the 19th century.
 There was a clash between the service conditions and religious
practices of the upper caste sepoys due to the policies of the
British.
 The sepoys helped the Britishers to establish their empire in
India. But instead of receiving awards or promotions they were
humiliated by the British.
 The highest pay given to an Indian sepoy (subedar) was less
than the minimum pay of a European recruit.
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 Immediate Causes
• The cartridges of the new Enfield rifle had a greased paper
cover which had to be bitten off before the cartridge was
loaded into the rifle. It was said that the greased paper
was made up of beef and pig fat. Both the Hindus and the
Muslims refused to use them as cow is sacred to Hindus
and the pig is detestable to the Muslim community.

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 Administrative causes
• On the basis of various pretexts like misgovernment and the refusal to
recognize adoption, the British annexed not only Awadh but many
other kingdoms and principalities like Jhansi and Satara. Once these
territories were annexed, the British introduced their own system of
administration and their own laws. The East India Company made
many changes in the administrative policy towards India from 1757 to
1857.

• The immediate consequences of the new system of administration

were negative for Indians. The complete elimination of Indians from the
higher services had the most adverse effect.

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• The Indian sepoys were deprived of high salaries and
promotions.

• The highest post

for an Indian was
that of the
Subedar.

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Leaders of the revolt
Mangal Pandey

On March 29, 1857, on the

parade ground Barrackpore,
asepoy named Mangal Pandey
fired the first shot of the
uprising.
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 The sepoys marched to Delhi and declared
BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR, the last Mughal ruler as
the emperor of India.

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Leaders like Rani Lakshmi Bai ,Tantia Tope and
Nana Saheb also joined the fight.

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Important Centres of the Revolt
 Meerut
 Delhi
 Oudh
 Kanpur
 Jhansi
 Gwalior

Many of the common people, like the peasants

and the artisans, joined the
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revolt.
 Outcome
The revolt was completely suppressed and crushed
by July 1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar surrendered to the
British

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 Causes of failure of Revolt
 The Uprising had been planned for months but it broke before the due date.
It was not widespread.
 There was no unity among the rebels. The ideas of nationalism had not yet
developed. There was no common ideology.
 It was limited to north and central India . Gurkhas helped the British to
suppress the revolt. The rebels could not match the sophisticated weapons
of the British .
 The leadership was neither strong nor gave directions to the rebels.
Moreover the British got timely help from the government of Britain.

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 Major Impact of the Revolt
The revolt was the first effort towards freedom and
independence. People from different parts of India fought
together against a common enemy -the British.

The British just considered it to be

a mere military revolt.

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 continued
The control of Indian administration was transferred from
the East India Company to the
crown by the Government Of
India Act 1858. Queen Victoria
became the Empress of India.
The revolt of 1857 really paved the way for India’s way
for Independence later in 1947.

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 References

o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_
1857
o http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-
india/the-revolt-of-1857-the-first-war-of-
independence/1581
o https://www.slideshare.net/angadpujani/revolt-of-
1857
o Internet Public Library
o britannica.com 22
Thank You

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