But the spark was interestingly not so much of religious clashes, but the grease used in the new Enfield rifle. The revolt was sparked by a number of reasons, including economic exploitation, cultural repression, and mistreatment of Indian soldiers. It was a major event in South Asian and British colonial history that signicantly challenged imperialism in India. From the interrogation of an official at the King of Delhis court: I did hear of the circumstance. Thus, long after the chapattis reached their northern-most point of Meerut, there was another northwards distribution from Cawnpore to Fattehgarh, which was widely reported in the newspapers The circulation took place along well-established routes of transmission, which followed the main trade and pilgrimage routes between the bigger cities. By a campaign in Avadh and Rohilkhand, Campbell cleared the countryside. All Indian villages had one, and it was these men, running between their homes and the nearest neighboring settlement with chapatis, who so effectively raised panic among the ruling British. Your Privacy Rights Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and their presence gave credence to rumors of impending conversions. Advertising Notice hasContentIssue true, THE FIRING PARADE OF 24 APRIL AND ITS SEQUEL, THE OUTBREAK: (a) The Native Infantry Lines, THE OUTBREAK: (b) The Native Cavalry Lines, THE OUTBREAK: (d) The European Troop Movements and the European Lines, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511563386.003, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. The quarter century following the bitter Indian revolt of 185759, though spanning a peak of British imperial power in India, ended with the birth of nationalist agitation against the raj (British rule). McNamara, Robert. To "the cow reverencing Hindu and the pig paranoid Muslims" having to bite this was repellent, defiling and deadly to their religious prospects. Mason, Philip (1974), page 226 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. Before the rebellion, there were reports that "holy men" were mysteriously circulating chapatis and lotus flowers among the sepoys. Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played an important role in incidents prior to the uprising of 1857, known by different names like the 'Indian Rebellion of 1857,' the 'Sepoy Mutiny' and 'India's First War of Independence.'. The greased cartridges thus posed precisely the same threat to observant sepoys as would flour adulterated with the blood of pigs and cows, and though the British recognized the problem early on, and never issued a single greased cartridge to any Indian troops, fear that the Company was plotting to defile them took hold among the men of many Indian regiments and resulted in the outbreak of rebellion in the cantonment of Meerut in April 1857. The Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 was a widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against the rule of British East India Company in India which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British crown. The Revolt of 1857 eventually broke out over the incident of greased cartridges. Mike Dash The cartridge was then rammed down the muzzle of the rifle.. The chapatis were real, but no one knew for sure what they were for. They bore no message, and were identical to the breads cooked in every home in India, a staple part (even today) of the locals diet. ThoughtCo. The greased cartridges had to be opened by biting off the top with your teeth. Whether the cartridge was unballed or balled, it was necessary, in loading a muzzle-loader, to open the end of the cartridge. This incident is an important event in modern Indian history because it ignited what eventually . And, historically, much the same thing had happened before in times of trouble. Mason, Philip (1974), pages 186 and 313 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. The Bengal army of some 130,000 Indian troops may have contained as many as 40,000 Brahmans as well as many Rajputs. The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. The officers continued to be British, but they were more closely linked with their men. The revolt of 1857 was one of the greatest & most significant developments in the history of the 19th century. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox. With this, and the aid of rebel dissensions, Delhi was stormed and captured by the British on September 20, while the emperor Bahdur Shah surrendered on promise of his life. Such measures were considered a valid negotiating tactic by the sepoys, likely to be repeated every time such issues arose. [15], The varying stances of the British government, the reduction of allowances, and harsh punishments, contributed to a feeling amongst the troops that the Company no longer cared for them. However much of this sense of the invincibility of the British was lost in the First Anglo-Afghan War where poor political judgment and inept British leadership led to the massacre of Elphinstone's army (which included three Bengal regiments) while retreating from Kabul. [21], The Bengal Army also administered, sometimes loosely, 29 regiments of irregular horses and 42 of irregular infantry. There is reason to believe that this was originated by some intriguers of the old Court of Lucknow. Post this, India was directly ruled by the British government through representatives known as Governor-General. In the 1870s the British government formalized its role as an imperial power. The general factors that turned a military mutiny into a popular revolt can be comprehensively described under the heading of political, economic, social, and cultural Westernization. Has data issue: true Large numbers of native soldiers, known as sepoys, were employed by the company to maintain order and defend trading centers. A popular American illustrated magazine, "Ballou's Pictorial", published afull-page woodcutillustration showing the preparations for such an execution in its issue of October 3, 1857. Some Indians were upset with the draconian rule of the Company who had embarked on a project of territorial expansion and westernization that was imposed without any regard for historical subtleties in Indian society. Sepoys throughout India were issued with a new rifle, the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musketa more powerful and accurate weapon than the old but smoothbore Brown Bess they had been using for the previous decades. When soldiers of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857, tension had been growing for some time. ThoughtCo, Jul. The musketry books also recommended that, "Whenever the grease around the bullet appears to be melted away, or otherwise removed from the cartridge, the sides of the bullet should be wetted in the mouth before putting it into the barrel; the saliva will serve the purpose of grease for the time being" This meant that biting a musket cartridge was second nature to the Sepoys, some of whom had decades of service in the company's army, and who had been doing musket drill for every day of their service. The Great Fear of 1857: Rumours, Conspiracies and the Making of the Indian Uprising (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010);Andrew Ward. In some districts like Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Bose and Jalal argue that "the revolt took on a distinctly millenarian flavor. Once defiled, the theory went, men who had consumed the forbidden meal would be shunned by their co-religionists and would be easier to bring into the Christian fold, or could be sent as soldiers overseas (crossing the black water being forbidden to Hindus of high caste). @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. A New Type of Rifle Cartridge Caused Problems, The Indian Revolt of 1857 Brought the End of the East India Company. Revolt Of 1857 India Causes Eects History Facts N Info 1 . "[4] Those European men and women who had previously converted to Islam such as Sergeant-Major Gordon, and Abdullah Beg, a former Company soldier, were spared. When Muslim and Hindu troops learned that the tip of the Enfield cartridge had to be bitten off to prepare it for firing, a number of troops refused, for religious reasons, to accept the ammunition. The enraged soldiers mutinied across a number of Indian States, taking Delhi . Outraged by events such as the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, some British officers believed that hanging mutineers was too humane. One of the first officials to encounter it was Mark Thornhill, magistrate in the little Indian town of Mathura, near Agra. Though the revolt was suppressed later, it shook the foundation of British rule in India. The campaign then settled down to British attempts to take Delhi and relieve Lucknow. Christian organisations from Britain had additionally created 222 "unattached" mission stations across India in the decade preceding the rebellion. "The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857." This event and Pandey's subsequent punishment led to more resentment among the sepoys of the Bengal Army ultimately aiding in the Revolt of 1857.. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014. Find out more about saving to your Kindle. There has been much controversy over its nature and causes. The powder and bullet for the new rifle were put together in a paper cartridge. The immediate cause of military disaffection was the deployment of the new breech-loading Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was purportedly greased with pork and beef fat. The cartridges were wrapped in paper, which had been coated in grease which made the cartridges easier to load in rifle barrels. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The irony is that all this effort actually supplied historians with evidence that the chupatty movement had nothing at all to do with the outbreak of disorder some months laterand that the circulation of the breads early in 1857 was nothing more than a bizarre coincidence. 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greased cartridges revolt of 1857