WHAT WAS WAR OF INDEPENDENCE? 4

the war began in May 1857

it was fought between Indians and british

this war is also known as Sepoy mutiny, Indian Mutiny or famously the revolt of 1857

the mutiny started from the city of meerut and spread all over india

it ended 3 months later in August

reasons/causes Leading Up to the war [14][7]

  1. Main reason was of greased cartridges british introduced guns, which had a cartridge that had to be chewed off by the soldier, this cartridge was made of cow fat and pig fat, pig unholy for muslims, which they cant even touch. and cow holy for hindus. sepoys at meerut refused to touch the weapons. 85 soldiers were imprisoned for this. their fellow soldiers, mutinied and rescued their friends and killed all of their officers. they then went to delhi and took over delhi.
  2. Doctrine of Lapse this policy was introduced by lord Dalhousie, in 1852. this policy suggested that if a landowner didnt have a male heir to be in charge of the land after the death of the owner, then the land will be confiscated by the british. adopted son wasnt allowed. due to this, many states like Jhansi Nagpur and Oudh were Annexed by British
  3. Industrial Revolution industrial revolution took place in britain, and their machinery reqd cheap raw materials and goods, which britishers took cheaply from India to England. the product was brought back to india and sold even cheaply than the local product. this destroyed local markets local products didnt sell and there was unemployment
  4. Christian missionaries the british thought their culture to be superior and indians were considered inferior, hence christian missionaries came to india to convert locals to christianity and to set up christian schools these missionary schools taught christianity and expected locals to give up their religion.
  5. Religious reforms (mainly targeting hindus) Indians were forced to abandon purdha BANNING OF SUTTEE. the ritual of burning indian women on funeral of their husbands was banned by british, this was not liked by hindus co-education started. they even banned killing of baby daughters, but this wasnt imposed. an act was passed by which widows cud remarry. again smthn hindus were against.
  6. Western education LORD Macaulay, believed that european ideas of education were superior, so he imposed western education, hence, english became the medium of education, religious studies were stopped, co-education began. they overall imposed western values. lord macaulay said: a class of men, Indian in race and color, but british in intellect and values.
  7. Mistreatment of mughal empire the last king bahadur shah zafar, who had lost all power and was mere a symbolic figure. british moved his family to a lesser known Qutub sahib, from the main Delhi palace this was a disrespect, and enraged muslims.
  8. Language issue in 1832 British replaced Persian and Sanskrit with english as the official language. persian was the official language of sub-continet and was thought to be muslims voice and sanskrit was official for hindus. replacing these cultural languages deeply annoyed the locals.

CAUSES OF FAILURE

  1. Military Disadvantages