Revolt of 1857

Course of Revolt of 1857:

1. Mangal Pande episode before Meerut rebellion
• Mangal Pande revolted single-handedly and attacked his superior officers - became a martyr at Barrackpore and was hanged on 29th March 1857
2. whether planned or not - difference in opinion of historians
• some believe it was a result of a widespread and well-organized conspiracy - circulation of chappattis and red lotuses, propaganda by wandering sanyasis, faqirs & madaris; while others believe otherwise
3. Beginngin of revolt at Meerut
• began at Meerut on 10 May 1857 
• on 24th April, 90 men of 3rd Native Cavalry refused to accept the greased cartridges - on 9th May, 85 of them were dismissed and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment & out into fetters
• this sparked a general mutiny among Indian soldiers at Meerut and they released the imprisoned comrades, killed officers and set off to Delhi
4. Spread to Delhi
• at Delhi, the local infantry joined the Meerut troops and killed their own European officers and seized the city
• rebellious soldiers now proclaimed the aged and powerless Bahardur Shah II the emperor of India with Delhi its centre of Revolt
• Bahadur Shah under the instigation and pressure of the sepoys wrote letters to other chiefs and rulers of India urging them to organize a confederacy of Indian states to fight and replace British regime
5. Spread to East India
• entire Bengal army rose in revolt which spread to Awadh, Doab, Bundelkhand,Bihar - all shook British authority
6. many princely state rulers remained loyal to their British overlord but the soldiers revolted or remained the brink of revolt
7. Spread to Central India
• many of the Indore troops rebelled and joined the sepoys
• Gwalior troops joined Tantia Tope and Rani of Jhansi in revolt
8. Spread to West India
9. many small chiefs of Rajasthan and Maharashtra revolted with support of people
10. Contribution of civilians:
• after the sepoys destroyed British authority at a place, common people rose up in arms often fighting with spears, axes, bows & arrows, lathis & sickles and crude muskets
• wide participation of peasantry, artisans, shopkeepers, day laborers and zamindars gave real strength and character to the revolt
• peasants and zamindars attacked money-lenders and new zamindars - destroyed account books and records of debt, attacked British established law courts, revenue offices(tehsils) & revenue records and thanas
11. people showed sympathy for rebels
• rejoiced in success of rebels
• organized social boycott of British loyal sepoys
• showed active hostility to British forces, refused to help and even misled them
12. Hindu-Muslim unity was strength of revolt
• all rebels recognized Bahardur Shah, a Muslim, as their Emperor
• Hindu & Muslim rebels & sepoys respected each other's sentiments
13. Storm centres and revolt leaders:
• at Delhi - Bahadur Shah was nominal and symbolic head, real leadership was with Court of Soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan who had led the revolted troops of Bareilly & brought them to Delhi
• at Kanpur - revolt led by Nana Sahib, with help of Tantia Tope, Azimullah(expert in political propaganda) and sepoys, expelled English from Kanpur and declared himself the Peshwa and Governor of Bahadur Shah
• at Lucknow - Hazrat Mahal, Begum of Awadh, with the help of sepoys, peasants & zamindars organized an all-out attack on British
• at Gwalior - Rani Lakshmibai with the help of Tantia Tope & her trusted Afghan guards captured Gwalior; Maharaja Sindhia of Gwalior fled to Agra in English refuge
• in Bihar - Kunwar Singh, a ruined zamindar of Jagsishpur near Arrah, organized revolt
• in Faizabad - Maulavi Ahmadullah fought a large-scale battle against British troops and emerged as acknowledged leaders in Awadh