The 1857 uprising was the culmination of the recurrent, big and small local rebellions that had occurred in the preceding hundred years of British rule. (Answer in 150 words) 10
Approach:
Introduce the revolt of 1857 in brief and in next paragraph elucidate about the fact how big, small and local rebellions played role preparing a baseline for the revolt.
Model Answer
- The Revolt of 1857 was a major upheaval against the British Rule in which the disgruntled princes, to disconnected sepoys and disillusioned elements participated.
- However, it is important to note that right from the inception of the East India Company there had been several resistance from divergent section in different parts of the sub continent.
- This resistance offered by different tribal groups, peasant and religious factions remained localized and ill organized.
- There were series of civil disturbances and local uprising which were scattered, localised and mostly violent.
- Most of these movements arouse due to popular discontent with the british rule , but some of them were owing to the individual grievences.
- For about 100 years the people of India had witnessed the enormous lot and plunderr of wealth from India to Britain .
- The displeased rulers and feudal lords tried to recover their lost ground with the support of their revenue policy, which had created a class of exploitative intermediaries.
- The Tribals rebelled in resentment against disturbances and dislocation causedthem their exploitation by non- tribals.
There were also non violent religio-political uprising and disturbances aginst the British East India Company . The Sanyasi and Faquir rebellions in Bengal, The Wahabi movement, the Kukka movement in Punjab etc. belong to this category.
- Thus revolt of 1857 was not sudden, but the culmination of growing discontent. In certain cases the British could put down these uprisings easily, in other cases the struggle was prolonged resulting in heavy causalities.
- These disturbances and uprising, though did not succeed in uprooting the British power from India, became the precursors of the major Revolt of 1857.
- The revolt started as a mutiny of sepoys of East India Company’s army on 10 May 1857 in the cantonment of the town of Meerut.
- Thereafter it spread to upper Gangetic plain and central India in the form of mutinies of the sepoy and civilian rebellions Major conflict zones were confined to present Uttar Pradesh, northern Madhya Pradesh and Delhi region.