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The Revolt Of 1857 And Its Representations

Question
CBSEENHS12027739

Discuss immediate or military causes of the revolt/upheaval (or the revolution) of 1857.

Solution

I. Military causes of the Revolt of 1857:

(a) Low Salary and Less Chance of Promotion : The Indian soldiers in the British army were treated differently from their English counterparts. The Indian sepoys were not allowed to get their bhattas etc. if they had actively involved in duties other than their headquarters. As per the Post Office Act of 1854 the privilege of sending letters on free of cost to their relatives was stopped. The Indian sepoys could rise upto the rank of Subedar above this all the other ranks were reserved for the British sepoys. At the same time salary to the Indian sepoys was much less than their counterparts. The English sepoys never mixed with the Indian sepoys.

(b) Ratio of Indian troops and British troops : The disparity between the Indian troops and British troops was very high. In the Indian army there were 2,33,000 native troops and 45,322 British troops.

(c) Uneven distribution of troops : The British troops were not properly distributed. Important places like Delhi and Allahabad had no British troops. Apart from this England was engaged in many wars with the European countries, China and Persia. So the British troops were divided and sent to these battle fields. Knowing the difficulty of the British the Indian soldiers determined to strike as it was a very suitable opportunity for them.

II. Immediate Cause of the Revolt : The immediate cause of the revolt was the introduction of Enfield Rifles. The new type of cartridges to be used for the rifle were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. As we know that the cow is the sacred animal for the Hindus and the Muslims consider the pig as a forbidden animal. So the sepoys refused to touch the greased cartridges. The information about the greased cartridges spread like a wild-fire. The soldiers those who refused to use those cartridges were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. On 9th May 1857 they were publicly degraded and deprived of their uniforms and they were put in jail.

This incident created panic among the soldiers of the Bengal Army. On 10th May in Meerut all the sepoys broke into open revolt. They broke open the gates of the jail where their comrades were put and released them. Apart from this they also released the other prisoners from the jail. They killed all the Europeans and set fire to their houses. Thus started the Revolt of 1857.