The Revolt And The Sepoy Rebellion

Also known as India’s First War for Independence, this rebellion was between Indian Sepoys and the British East India Company. Before this mutiny, the British East India Company had total control over Indian, however afterwards, Indian was directly controlled by the British Raj. Because of this the British government had even more control over Indian and her laws, similar to how Britain gained more control of North America after the Seven Years War. One thing that stayed the same before and after the rebellion was the rebel’s cause. Indian citizens began to continue their criticism of the unfair rule of the British, similar to how some American colonists were rebelling against the new, stricter

The Sepoy Rebellion happened due to The British East India Company’s insensitivity to the Indian culture and Britain’s attempt to create a new government. Sita Ram was a sepoy who was loyal to the British but still had his doubts about questionable actions and explains this in one of his memoirs, which states, “Interested parties were quick to point out that the great aim of the English was to turn us all into Christians and they had therefore introduced the cartridge in order to bring this about, since both Muslims and Hindus would be defiled by using it.”(Document C) This piece of evidence clearly explains Sita’s point of view on how the British’s actions led to the sepoy’s distrusting the British. By bringing up the fact that there was no Indian representative in the government the British East India Company Sita conveys why the sepoy were beginning to lose faith in British rule. Their neglect to allow an Indian representative was a mistake in the long run. Another person who believes that Britain’s past actions caused suspicion with Indian citizens. Sayyid Ahmed Khan was Muslim noble and scholar who worked as a jurist for the British East India

The Cabinet Mission sent by the British government proposed for the bifurcation of India along communal lines which Gandhi vehemently protested. But eventually he had to relent and on the eve of independence thousands lost their lives in communal riots. Gandhi urged for communal harmony and worked tirelessly to promote unity among the Hindus and Muslims. But Mahatma's act of benevolence angered Hindu fundamentalists and on January 13, 1948 he was assassinated by Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse.

In 1757, Great Britain extended its empire into India. This occupation would not fully end until 1947. In the time between, there were many movements by the Indian people to gain independence from the British. The movement that finally succeeded in winning India’s independence was led by one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi’s methods for fighting against the occupation of the British were very different from those of any of the freedom movements before. And that was why it worked. Gandhi did not agree with the general reasoning of the time: that conflicts could be solved through negotiation and forceful resistance.1 Rather, his faith led him to go

The general cause of the Indian Independence Movement was India’s desire for independence from British, French and Portuguese Rule. The aim of the movement was “Swaraj, a self-governing India” (Sharma, 2005, p. 22). One, more specific, cause of the Indian Independence Movement took place in 1905 when the province of Bengal was divided into two provinces,

The Indian resistance against the British empire is one example of opposition against imperialism. Until 1858, India was controlled by the British East India Company. Thereafter, the crown rule replaced the company rule until 1947. “The slow expansion of the Indian role in public affairs would not have occurred without mounting political pressure from Indian society” (Findley 188). The people of India had tried to cause a reform through a political channel, evident through the slow yet steady participation in political affairs from 1858-1947. In this resistance,

As our discussion post provided this week, the colonists responded with rebellion because of the new acts that were imposed upon them by the British (Schultz, K., 2013). Their attempt to reform the American colonies contributed to the growth of the Revolutionary movement because the British tried to enforce stricter policies and laws (Schultz, K. M., 2013). The British wanted to tighten the policies over the colonial officials so that it would reduce the corruption, the British wanted control over the area of land that the settlers occupied, and they wanted to raise revenue by taxing goods. Although the British were adamant about their purpose, the colonist believed that rebelling against them would help in receiving their independence.

British imperialism had a negative impact on the politics of India because of the establishment of the framework for India that leads to their downfall and the Indian Army which they used to control their own kind. According to Dr.Lalvani, the British established the framework for India’s justice system, civil services, loyal army, and the efficient loyal police. (Paragraph #6). While this is true, the framework didn’t include the Indians, because “Of 960 civil offices, 900 are occupied by English men and 60 by natives”(Doc. #2). British laws often benefited the British and were designed to limit the freedom of speech of the Indians, for example, the Rowlatt Act in 1919. (Gandhi). This evidence shows that the British, when creating the framework for the new and improved India wanted to benefit from it while trying to lower the Indian’s and limit the

(Document 5) This shows that even though Britain gave education to Indians they only gave it to who could afford it and hardly anyone could. Lalvani claims that over the 200 year span of British imperialism, India’s religions felt safer and less discriminated against. ( According to Dr.Lalvani) Although the British thought this was true it actually was not. Christians were mocking and discriminating against Muslims and Hindus. (Gandhi) Similarly Hinduism believes in nonviolence so when the protest at Amritsar took place the Indians were brutally slaughtered while being unarmed. (Gandhi) Because of their non-violence beliefs the Hindus had no defense and were killed by what they thought was their

Even if people were in poverty and couldn’t manage getting food on their tables- they were still demanding money. Where was the “civility” or “justice”?. Because of the British taking control of India’s government and forcing them into poverty, their imperial rule gave India an extremely negative

Although the greased cartridges were the trigger of the Sepoy Rebellion, the underlying cause was the realization that the Indians had lost religious control. Up until the Sepoy Rebellion, the British were in control many different sides of India, but what kept the Sepoys loyal was the fact that they felt the British weren’t encroaching upon their religion and culture. The first major violation of Indian culture, according to Historian Joseph Coohill, was the seizure of Oudh, “Oudh was such a rich and historic part of India that this seizure was seen as a cultural insult” (Doc E). The reason that this source is credible is that Joseph Coohill is American and has no relation the either party involved. Sita Ram, who was even loyal to the British, agreed with Mr. Cohill in his memoirs, “the

The British colonialism in India started in the 19th century and ended in 1947, after the Mughal Empire and the Aurangzeb (that controlled India at that time) collapsed. One of the reasons for colonizing India was trade, due to India’s great amount of raw materials. This colonization caused many negative and positive consequences. The British treatment to the Indians was derogatory, consequently, the Sepoy rebellion started.

British wanted to be in control of the American colonies so they began to places taxes on them. The British were very powerful having a great military. The American had little to no military training. However they stood their ground and rebelled against the British. After the Peace of Paris of 1763, the British were confident in their mastery of North America. However by attempting to tighten their control over their American colonies they initiated a series of poorly thought out programs and policies which resulted in a disastrous rebellion.

Although it was since proved that many were there to celebrate the Baisakhi festival. Never in all the British Empire’s history had they used military force against a crowd of unarmed people, which resulted in such a vast loss of life. One official report, clearly from the British, counted 319 dead and over 1200 wounded, but with reasonable beliefs, the Indians estimate a much higher dead count (Pletcher, n.d.; Sayer, 1991). To back-up, everything just said a painting of the massacre, which can be found at Amritsar as a memorial, shows the long-lasting effects the massacre had on India as a whole (Painting of Amritsar massacre picture, n.d). After the massacre, many had different reactions, some believing Dyer should be praised for his action and some completely disgusted with his actions. Herbert Asquith, the liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, clearly believed that the massacre was catastrophic and sinful, "there has never been such an incident in the whole annals of Anglo-Indian history nor, I believe, in the history of our Empire from its very inception down to the present day ... It is one of the worst outrages in the whole of our history" (Sayer, 1991). Though all Dyer could say in his defence was “my duty… my horrible, dirty duty.” (Sayer, 1991). This shows

This essay will focus on the decolonisation of India by the British Empire and the problems they encountered. It will also aim to bring recognition to the struggle decolonisation brought upon the world after World War II. Pierce states that “after the War concluded, a worldwide process of decolonisation commenced in which Britain granted independence to all of its major colonies, beginning notably in India” (Pierce, 2009). India had struggled with uprisings and conflicts for the many years of British occupation but when Gandhi began sharing his social efforts; the perceptions of colonialism began to change leading to the collapse of the British colonial Empire. Gandhi began changing the lives of regular Indian’s with his popular visions, he also advocated for the people of India in a non-violent