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Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965

Depth study: British India: The War of 1857 and its consequences to 1876 — causes, course and consequences of the rebellion

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on British India in 1857, the Doctrine of Lapse and Awadh, religious and military grievances, the outbreak, Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow, the defeat of the rising, the Act of 1858, the Proclamation, reorganisation and interpretations.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Describe how British India was governed in 1857.

Key term

Explain the Doctrine of Lapse and why it caused resentment.

Numbers

How was the rebellion finally defeated?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe how British India was governed in 1857.

    Model answer

    The East India Company still administered the three presidencies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras through its own civil service and armies, supervised by the Board of Control in London and headed in India by the Governor-General, Canning; around a quarter of a million Indian sepoys served under some 40,000 European troops, and roughly a third of the subcontinent remained under princely rulers bound by subsidiary treaties.

  2. 2

    Explain the Doctrine of Lapse and why it caused resentment.

    Model answer

    Dalhousie's rule that a princely state without a natural heir lapsed to the Company denied the long-established Hindu right of adoption, and its use to absorb Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur, together with the removal of the Nana Sahib's pension, convinced Indian rulers that no treaty or custom would be honoured once annexation was convenient.

  3. 3

    Why was the annexation of Awadh in 1856 so damaging?

    Model answer

    Awadh was taken not for lack of an heir but on the grounds of misgovernment, which broke a treaty of alliance and dispossessed the Nawab, his court and the taluqdar landholders; it also struck at the Bengal Army, since a very large share of its high-caste sepoys came from Awadh and lost the privileges and legal standing they had enjoyed there.

  4. 4

    Which British reforms fed fears about religion and caste?

    Model answer

    The banning of sati, the campaign against thuggee, the legalisation of widow remarriage in 1856, the extension of missionary activity and English education, and the coming of railways and the telegraph, which mixed castes in shared carriages, all suggested a settled intention to Christianise and remake Indian society.

  5. 5

    What were the specifically military grievances of the sepoys?

    Model answer

    Pay and allowances had been eroded, notably the loss of extra batta for service outside Bengal, promotion depended on seniority rather than merit, European officers were increasingly distant and contemptuous, and the General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 required new recruits to serve overseas, which threatened high-caste men with the loss of caste.

  6. 6

    What was the immediate trigger of the rising in 1857?

    Model answer

    The new Enfield rifle used cartridges that had to be bitten open, and the rumour spread that they were greased with cow and pig fat, defiling Hindus and Muslims alike; Mangal Pandey's attack on his officers at Barrackpore in March 1857 and the punishment of sepoys at Meerut for refusing the cartridges lit the fuse.

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