The revolt of 1857 was one of the most critical events in the history of the freedom struggle in India. It jolted the foundation of the East India Company in India and at one point people thought that it would be the downfall of the British Empire. What began as a revolt by soldiers, was soon joined by the farmers and other civilian populations. It is often referred to as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 or the First War of independence. Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire, became the epicentre of the rebellion.
The primary reason behind this upsurge was the exploitation of Indian citizens by British officials. The Indian sepoys who served in the British troops were treated quite roughly by the British officers. They were often humiliated and abused. Apart from this, there was this impression among the Indian citizens that their religion is at peril, and this sentiment was also shared by the other people. In some places, it was reported that people were being converted to Christianity. Moreover, the sepoys were prohibited from wearing any religious marks.
In such a charged environment, anything would have inflamed the situation and caused rebellion; and that is what happened. The new Enfield rifle had a cartridge which had a greased paper cover, and the sepoys were asked to bite off the paper before loading the cartridge into the rifle. Very soon the rumor began to spread that the cartridges were made of pig and beef fat, the rumour enraged the situation. The Hindu and Muslim sepoys believed that the British did it deliberately to insult their religion. This incident proved to be the instant cause of rebellion.
On March 29th, 1857, a young sepoy, Mangal Pandey, began revolting against British officers. He was hanged, and this made the sepoys unite against the injustice. Less than a month later, 90 men from the Third Native Cavalry declined to use the cartridges. These men faced severe consequences – 85 of them were dismissed and the others were imprisoned for 10 years. On 19th May 1857, the rest of the Indian sepoys began to revolt together. Together, they fought to free their comrades and killed the British officers. The sepoys then marched to the power centre – Delhi.
Revolt of 1857
A grim reality of the revolt was the series of massacres that became unavoidable. The revolters shot the officers and caused mayhem at Kanpur, Delhi, Lucknow and many other places. The killings of children and women angered the British and in the fear of such an event, the British officers started killing the soldiers. They took severe measures to prevent any such happenings. Hundreds of sepoys were killed using cannons for avenging the deaths of Europeans.
The rebel soldiers were able to establish their control over Delhi and proclaimed Bahadur Shah as their head. A new administration was set up in Delhi. The person who prominently coordinated the new establishment was Mirza Mughal – the eldest son of Bahadur Shah. Later, the administration shifted to Bakht Khan, who took over the leadership of the rebels. Bakht Khan was an experienced officer in the artillery wing. Subsequently, On 6 June 1857, British soldiers successfully defeated rebels at Badli-ki-Sara.
After Delhi was captured by the Indian revolters, the British were not in a position to launch a counterattack. The British army was not aligned properly for an attack and was spread across the country. It took them quite some time to gather their resources and assemble an army to fight back – a force of Gurkhas was joined with two columns. The makeshift army somehow occupied a ridge on the outskirts of Delhi, but it wasn’t large enough to launch an aggressive attack. At that time, there were around 8000 revolters inside the city – they all were loyal to the Mughal king, Bahadur Shah.
Kashmiri Gate
September 1857 can be remembered as the end of an era. The Mughal Empire was already on the verge of a downfall. After 5 months of intensive rebellion by the Indian soldiers, the British troops finally managed to enter the city through ruins in the Civil lines. It was 11th September 1857, and they finally attacked Kashmiri Gate. They stormed the gate and took control of the whole place. John Nicholson led the attack and was soon wounded and died.
They were met with strong resistance from the Indian sepoys. The day of the attack coincided with a solar eclipse, and many sepoys decided to stay inside and comprehended it as a sign – the beginning of an end. With less opposition, the British soldiers easily walked inside and took over the power capital. By September 20th, 1857, the whole city was besieged by the British army and rebels were defeated. This incident changed the course of the Indian freedom struggle. Delhi was declared captured on September 21, 1857.
This led to a series of massacres of the rebels and citizens of Delhi. The troops went on killing ordinary people for about a week. It would be difficult to mention the exact number of people killed but one can guess the intensity of this massacre from the fact that nearly 1400 people were killed in Kucha Chelan – a locality in Delhi. The sadistic brutality carried on, the main targets were of course the rebels and soldiers but as a result, the entire population of the city was driven out. Even senior citizens and differently-abled people were evicted by the orders of military officials. After a few months, people were allowed to enter the city in phases.
Revolt of 1857
By 1858, the British officers were planning different strategies to punish people who rebelled against them. The proposal for sabotaging the entire walled city and erecting a memorial in place of it was under consideration. However, the plan was rejected after some serious thought. But large areas around the Red Fort were demolished, and people inhabiting that piece of land had to relocate, it meant the destruction of the pockets of land that served as important literary and cultural hubs for the place. Residents were also kept under house arrest for several years after the incident and huge properties were confiscated from the owners.
After the seizure of Delhi by the revolters, the British acted in three phases to suppress the movement. The first phase was to suppress the movements of the rebels at Delhi, Lucknow and Kanpur; then the operations in the winter of 1857 in Lucknow under the leadership of Sir Colin Campbell; and finally the campaigns by Sir Hugh Rose.
After the end of the revolt in the Mughal capital, the restoration of peace seemed far-fetched. The struggle continued in many states of India. Some of the massacres that took place in the history of the Indian freedom struggle took place at the beginning of 1858 (Lucknow, Gwalior, Jhansi, Bareilly and Shahabad). The capture of Delhi by the British soldiers was a major setback for the Indian freedom fighters, and it was only after a long time that the momentum of the freedom struggle resumed its pace.
However, some significant developments took place as a result of the revolt of 1857 – it was the beginning of the policy of consultation with Indians. The Legislative Council of 1853 had only Europeans as members and gained authority as a full-fledged parliament. It was believed that the lack of Indian presence in the council further fuelled the revolution. An Indian perspective could have helped to pacify the agitation. As a result, the new council of 1861 had Indian participation.
The primary task to reconstruct the infrastructure demolished during the revolt took many years. The first step was to reach a point where peace can be reinstalled. The Britishers tried not to bother the princes who remained neutral or sided with them during the revolt. After the revolt of 1857, every attempt was made to show the princes that their true interests lay with the East India Company, and their position would remain intact if they did as directed– although they would not have any real power. Realising that the fear of religious conversions was one of the main reasons behind the origin of the revolt, Queen victoria proclaimed,
“Firmly relying ourselves upon the truth of Christianity and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the desire to impose our convictions on any other subjects."
Finally, the people of India were affected collectively by the revolt that did not succeed in driving away the alien administration of the Europeans. The traditional society of soldiers, farmers and revolutionaries attempted full-heartedly to free the nation, but the failure was disappointing. Natural leaders, zamindars and princes either did not participate in the revolt or failed in their attempts. The failure was ingrained in the minds of the people to the extent that all hope of independence was lost in oblivion. The traditional Indian system began to lose its hold and Westernisation strengthened its root, giving rise to a sense of heightened nationalism among the Indian middle class
Source: Indian Culture Portal