The war of independence

• How the East India Company established its rule on the subcontinent


  1. Took control of all major trading posts run by other European companies: dutch portuguese and french

  2. Had a large army and navy, and even its own coins

  3. Became known as the East India Company

  4. Had army units based in the company's three presidencies: Bengal, Madras, and Bombay

  5. Had many Indian soldiers, called 'sepoys'

  6. Ruled about two-thirds of the subcontinent
• Although many Indians seemed to accept British rule, and large numbers served in the East India Company's armies, others were unhappy about some British-style social reforms
• Presence of Christian missionaries


  Cause of concern for most Indians who thought the British wanted to convert people to Christianity
• Spread of western education


  Cause of unrest in the subcontinent
• A British politician, historian, and scholar, Lord Macaulay, played a significant role by working on his belief that the key to India's progress was through the education of its people
• Lord Macaulay's goal


  To create a class of educated elite in India who would be 'Indian in blood and colour but English in taste'
• Indian Council Acts of 1861 and 1892


  Intended to include more Indians in civil administration, but Indians found them unsatisfactory as political and legislative power still resided with the British
• Doctrine of Lapse


  Introduced by Lord Dalhousie in 1852, allowed East India Company to interfere with traditional system of inheritance in India, causing resentment amongst Indian nobles and rulers who could not recognise the adopted children of indian rulers, as their legal heirs. it was through the policy that that the titles and land of many indian nobles soon beacame the property of of east india company. in somecases they even abolished the pensions of the adopted heirs.
• Through the Doctrine of Lapse, the East India Company took over numerous princely states such as Jhansi and Satara
• Policies and high taxes imposed by East India Company on Indian landowners and peasants


  Caused widespread discontent felt by Indians
• British annexation of Indian states and territories and introduction of new land settlement policies


  Led to widespread resentment among the Indian population
• Introduction of new military reforms by the British, including use of Enfield rifles, without considering Indian sentiment


  Created resentment
• Mistreatment and discrimination faced by Indian soldiers in the British army, and policy of sending Indian troops to fight in distant lands


  Contributed to the resentment that led to the outbreak of the war
• Greased cartridges in rifles

  1. New type of rifle issued to Indian soldiers

  2. Grease allowed cartridges to be slipped into rifle easily

  3. Suspected grease was made from animal fat

  4. Hindus and Muslims refused to touch cartridges

  5. British officers punished sepoys in front of regiment for disobeying orders

  6. Sepoys in Meerut broke into open revolt and marched to Delhi, taking over the city
• The attitude of the sepoys shocked the British army officers, who were used to being able to control any conflict in the subcontinent
• Some historians think the British underestimated the intensity of the resentment felt by many Indians including a large group of sepoys who set the imprisoned sepoys free, and attacked their officers
• Bahadur Shah Zafar


  The last Mughal Emperor
• The sepoys marched from Meerut to Delhi


  on night of 11 May 1857
• Bahadur Shah Zafar


  82 years old, living in his palace in Delhi on a pension provided by the British, no longer ruled an empire
• Sepoys persuaded Bahadur Shah Zafar


  1. To be their leader - even if only in name

  2. Proclaimed him 'Emperor of the Whole of India'
• Centres of the War of Independence

  • Delhi
  • Kanpur
  • Lucknow
• When the sepoys arrived at Bahadur Shah's palace in Delhi


  1. Many Indians in the Red Fort joined the war

  2. Some of the soldiers of the Bengal Native Infantry, who were stationed nearby, also joined the war

  3. Those who did not join in refused to obey orders to take action against the Indians
• British officers in Delhi

  1. Blew up their arsenal of weapons to stop the rebels getting hold of them

  2. Explosion killed many people nearby

  3. As a result the sepoys stationed around Delhi joined the war

  4. They managed to get some of the weapons from the arsenal

  5. Captured a store of 3000 barrels of gunpowder not far from Delhi
• Delhi was recaptured by the British

  20 September 1857
• Bahadur Shah Zafar


  1. Arrested and exiled to Burma

  2. Spent the remaining days of his life there

  3. Buried in Burma
• An old drawing of the battle between the sepoys and British soldiers outside the walls of Delhi in May, 1857
• The remains of the British residency at Lucknow
• The Bombay University established by the British government in 1857
• Independence was over
• War of Independence

  • Not a coordinated effort by the people of the subcontinent and hence could not gain momentum across all parts of the subcontinent
  • Apart from Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Jhansi (where the Rani of Jhansi put up a brave fight), other important cities such as Bombay, Madras, and the Deccan, did not participate
  • The Muslims and Hindus were not united against their common enemy and many sepoys remained loyal to the British forces