what led to the start of the sepoy rebellion
Indian Wildcat
Why did the Indian Mutiny happen?
East India Company
In the mid-19th century, India was very different from the nation land we know today. It didn't exist equally a country, just instead consisted of different territories controlled past a variety of rulers. The greatest of these was the British Eastward India Company which governed two thirds of the subcontinent.
Originally formed in 1600 purely to merchandise with the Mughal Empire, the Company needed to secure its commercial posts at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Information technology purchased state from Indian rulers to build its settlements on, and recruited native war machine to protect them. Eventually, these evolved into the Bengal, Bombay and Madras Armies.
Ascent to power
By the mid-18th century, the previously dominant Mughal Empire was collapsing as native and European states attempted to carve out their own power bases.
After successfully contesting the French for trading supremacy, and simultaneously involving itself in local politics, the Visitor became India's leading power post-obit Robert Clive's victory at Plassey in 1757. In the years that followed, it expanded its Indian domains.
Culture clash
From the early on 1800s the Visitor attempted to develop the Indian economy and legal system.
Some changes, such as outlawing sati (a widow's suicide past fire) and kid union, may take been well-meaning. But the British imposed them without any regard for Indian culture.
Fears that the British were also trying to force conversion to Christianity upon the Indian people led to a widespread feeling that the traditional way of life was threatened.
A sepoy and his wife, 1810
Troop numbers
Later taking over the Punjab in 1849, the Company reduced the number of British Regular army regiments in Bharat. This was for reasons of economy, and to send men to the Crimean War (1854-56).
Of the 159,000 men on the Bengal Army institution in 1857, 24,000 were European and 135,000 were Indian sepoys (infantry) and sowars (cavalry). This ratio was especially problematic given that subject field in the Bengal Army had for some time been junior to that in the Company's other armies.
Sepoys at rifle do, 1857
Discontent
Poor terms of service and pensions, bad pay, lack of promotion, and increased cultural and racial insensitivity from British officers all contributed to the feelings of discontent among the Indian soldiers of the Bengal Regular army. Many high caste Hindu sepoys also viewed attempts during the 1840s to extend recruitment to lower degree Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims every bit a threat to their traditional social status.
No single cistron was in itself enough to start a rebellion. But the cumulative effect meant all that was needed was a goad to turn placidity discontent into a much more serious affair.
New cartridges
Matters came to a head following the introduction of the Blueprint 1853 Enfield Rifle.
Rumours spread that the cartridges for the new burglarize were greased with sus scrofa and cow fatty. This fabricated them offensive to both Muslims and Hindus, and added weight to existing concerns about forced conversion to Christianity.
Enfield Pattern 1853 Percussion Rifle cartridges, 1857
Disarming of the 11th Cavalry at Berhampore, 1857
Outbreak
On 29 March 1857 at Barrackpore, Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry attacked his officers. When his comrades were ordered to restrain him they refused, but they stopped short of joining him in open revolt.
Although only a handful of sepoys had been involved, the unabridged regiment was disbanded in disgrace. Sepoys elsewhere thought this too harsh a punishment.
The Mutiny proper began at Meerut on 10 May 1857. Eighty-five members of the 3rd Bengal Calorie-free Cavalry, who had been jailed for refusing to employ cartridges they believed to be at odds with their religion, were broken out of prison past their comrades. They ransacked the nearby armed forces station and killed any Europeans they could find.
Problem spreads
The situation rapidly escalated, and the British reacted slowly. The following day Delhi fell to the mutineers. News of these events spread, encouraging further mutinies elsewhere. Eventually all 10 Bengal Light Cavalry Regiments and almost of the 74 Bengal Native Infantry Regiments were affected.
Some units were disarmed earlier they had the chance to mutiny. In other cases, British officers refused to believe their men would rebel until it was too late. Non anybody who mutinied took up arms confronting the British. Many simply went home and refused to assist either side.
Captain Charles Gough winning the Victoria Cross at Khurkowhah, 1857
Bars to Bengal
At that place were but 35,000 British soldiers in the whole subcontinent and these were widely scattered. Reinforcements took months to make it. Fortunately for the British, it was almost exclusively soldiers of the Bengal Army who mutinied.
The Company's Madras and Bombay Armies were relatively unaffected and other Indian units - including Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims and Gurkhas - supported the British. This was partly due to their fear of a render to Mughal rule. They also had fiddling in common with the high degree Hindu sepoys of the Bengal Army.
Sikh and British officers of Hodson'due south Horse, 1858
Rulers join the rising
Local rulers were angered past the Visitor'southward looting of native states. Virtually notorious was the 1856 deposition of the Nawab of Oudh on the grounds that he was unfit to dominion.
Every bit unpopular was the policy of lapse, which said that the lands of any ruler who died without a male heir would be forfeit to the Company. Princes and maharajahs, forth with their courtiers and soldiers, found themselves unemployed and humiliated.
These marginalised people, seen as having the authority to lead a campaign against the British, were in many cases a natural focal point for mutineers. And although they may accept preferred to deal differently with the British, the arrival of rebel sepoys at their gates frequently forced them to take upwardly the crusade.
Other rulers remained neutral or felt that more than could be gained by supporting the British.
Religious and social revolt
Thousands of common people joined the revolt. Some for religious reasons, others out of loyalty to their old rulers or simply to engage in looting.
Many wanted to destroy the system by which the Company collected taxes. Peasants, who had been forced to switch from subsistence farming to consign crops in order to meet increasing tax demands, needed little encouragement to rebel.
Insubordinate divisions
It was not a unified defection. While all wanted the British gone, notions of 'Indianness' were rare. Most of the sepoys hoped to restore Mughal dominion nether Bahadur Shah. Simply the inhabitants of Oudh wanted their Nawab back, and the people of Jhansi wanted their quondam state restored.
The revolt was also divided on religious lines. Most sepoys were Hindus, but other rebels were Muslims fighting a holy war.
Indian troops allied to the British, 1857
Decisive events
Following the outbreak at Meerut, uprisings by soldiers and civilians akin occurred across northern and central Bharat. But the main centres of rebellion were Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Jhansi and Gwalior. The hereafter of India would be decided on these battlefields.
Discover the decisive events of the Indian Mutiny
Source: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/why-did-indian-mutiny-happen
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