India

Cards (22)

  • William Sleeman's campaign against Thagi


    • Thagi befriended travellers to gain their trust, then robbed them
    • They had gangs of up to 400
    • 1835 - Thugee and Dacoity Department set up
    • 1000 Thagi transported or hung for their crimes
    • 3000 tried and punished in total
  • Attacks on Sati

    • Hindus didn’t believe in remarriage, so widows burned themselves alive with their husbands
    • Estimated 600 deaths in British territory
    • Abolished in 1829
    • Outlawed in all of India in 1861
    • Indians saw it as an interference of culture
  • Missionaries

    • The Baptist mission concentrated on education and translation of the Bible into Bengali
    • Charter Act 1813 removed British blanket on missionaries and more protestants started arriving
    • Indians saw it as an attempt to westernise them
  • Economic causes for rebellion

    • 1813 and 1833 Charter Acts opened India to free trade as the EIC lost its monopoly
    • This benefitted British merchants more than Indians
    • India’s cotton trade suffered as they were swamped by cheap imports of cloth from England
    • De-industrialisation and impoverishment were rife
  • Political reasons for rebellion

    • 1848 - The Doctrine of Lapse meant that Britain could take over territories of Indiana princes if they died without a legitimate heir
    • This united Indian rulers in resentment of the British
    • Awadh was taken by the doctrine and in 1857 had widespread uprisings
    • However - also goes against Hindu tradition of heirs, so could be a religious reason
  • Rebellion failing due to disunity of rebels

    • Were not a cohesive force
    • Made up of mutineers, landowners, peasants and unhelpful local leaders
    • Religious divisions between the Muslims and the Hindus
    • The other 2 presidency armies remained loyal to the British
  • Rebellion failing due to Britain's ruthless response

    • 82% of soldiers killed in the retaking of Delhi were Sepoys
    • Punishment in Cawnpore - licking blood off walls, eating pork and beef and being hung
    • Punishment in Peshawar - 40 men in cannons blown apart
    • Had modern weapons like the 1853 Enfield rifle
  • Rebellion failing due to loyalty to the British

    • Many civilians saw British rule as better than the alternative, for example the taxes were lighter than under local leaders
    • The EIC army supported supported tax collection, so they had no reason to hate the British
    • The other 2 presidency armies remained loyal to the British
  • Rebellion failing due to Delhi

    • 11th May - Bahodour Shah II was reluctantly restored to his imperial position in Delhi
    • This was not a successful as he wasn’t young and ambitious enough to be a symbol of rebellion
  • Rebellion failing due to Lucknow

    • Sir Henry Lawrence survived an Indian siege for 5 months due to food and ammunition
    • Died on the 4th July by an exploding shell
    • But relief came with a force of over 3000, arriving on the 25th of September, 87 days after the siege began
    • Was a victory for the British and made the Rebels look weak
  • Rebellion being a success due to Cawnpore

    • British held out for 18 days till they surrendered on the 27th of June
    • They were promised safe travel down the river, but fighting broke out and 400 were killed
    • 200 British women and children remained, they were held hostage till the 15th of July, when they were massacred before relief arrived the next day
    • Showed the rebels were serious and relentless
  • The role of the East India Company

    • The Charter Act 1813 - ended their monopoly on trade, except with tea and with China. Missionaries allowed to teach English
    • The Charter Act 1833 - ended the Company's commercial activities completely and reorganised the administrative system of the British territories
  • The importance of Bengal

    • Its president was the governor general of all of EIC territory following the Government of India Act 1833
    • Army of the Bengal presidency was 2x bigger than the other 2 armies
    • Land in Bengal was divided into districts under a collector and landlords were settled with rights to land in return for fixed tax liberties
  • Outbreak of rebellion in Meerut

    • Rumours of new animal fat gun cartridges spread among sepoys
    • proved to many of the British plan for Christianisation
    • 85 sepoys refused to load the new rifles in Meerut on 9 May 1857
    • Led to all 3 sepoy regiments rising up while the British were at church
    • Massacred local Europeans, including women and children
  • The positive reforms of Dalhousie
    • Dedicated Utilitarian and devoted to improving India
    • Punjab pacified and locked into Company rule, its fertile soil yielding a substantial revenue surplus
    • First Indian railroads constructed
    • First telegraph line was laid
    • Penny Post introduced
  • The negative reforms of Dalhousie
    • Doctrine of lapse allowed Britain to control princely states if:
    • The ruler died without an heir
    • If the British deemed it as misgoverned
    • Ruler's titles and powers changed as non-hereditary, making them vulnerable to interference
  • Dalhousie's annexation of Awadh 1856
    • Nwab Wajid Ali Shah was the 7th annexed ruler after being accused of being dishonest, despite conforming to Company control
    • The British then announced they would be taking land away from landowners
    • Seen as an attack on social order, Awadh had widespread participation in 1857 rebellion
  • Rebellion ending EIC rule
    • Government of India Act 1858 ended their rule
    • India placed under rule of the British Crown under a viceroy
    • Indians promised religious toleration, equal rights and protection of their rights to their native lands
  • Rebellion resulting in changes to the army
    • Proportion of sepoys was limited by 40% and British trooped increased by 50%
    • Ration went from 9:1 to 3:1
    • Sepoy recruitment changed to come from loyal regions like Sikh Punjab and Muslim North-west
    • Troops were allowed to use whatever grease they wanted for guns
  • Long term lessons of the rebellion
    • Modernisation and westernisation would not work in India
    • Policy had to be more cautious
    • Shifted focus onto infrastructure and railways
    • Built 1500 miles of railway track by 1861
    • British imperialists thought India would suffer from famine and chaos if they left, so they stayed
  • Clash of culture
    • Christians tried to convert Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs whilst destabilising their social systems
    • British women trying to find husbands, interracial marriage and mixed race children rejected by Indian society
    • British saw themselves as racially superior
  • General Service Enlistment Act
    • Passed in 1856 by Governor General Canning
    • Wanted to use the Bengal army with other EIC armies in Burma
    • Act broke the tradition of Bengali soldiers not serving where they couldn't march as they believed travelling over water would pollute the caste system
    • Act only applied to new recruits, but the Sepoys feared it would spread