India

• 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