greased cartridges revolt of 1857

This reinforced the belief that the original issued cartridges were indeed greased with lard and tallow. It was against this backdrop of uneasiness in which the mutiny erupted in 1857. As further evidence, he observes that the Urdu sources of the pre- rebellion and post- rebellion periods usually refer to the British not as angrez (the English), goras (whites) or firangis (foreigners), but as kafir (disbeliever) and nasrani (Christians). The mutiny and great revolt of 1857-59. The system was subject to abuse, and the company used it to annex territories in a questionable manner. By the 1850s the East India Company controlled much of India. Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the English East India Company (EEIC) also contributed to the anger of the sepoy mutineers, and within weeks, dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. Narasimha Rao, The BJP becomes the largest party in the Lok Sabha, BJP reelection bids and tensions in Kashmir, Addressing COVID-19 and its economic impact. Mutiny Memoirs of an Old Officer (London: Folio Society, 1984);Troy Downs. Thereafter he headed the National Mineral Water Company in Muscat, Oman. This movement became much more than a military mutiny. Later, the attitudes of British officers changed with increased intolerance, lack of involvement and unconcern of the welfare of troops becoming manifest more and more. That rate was particularly disconcerting because it was vastly swifter than the fastest British mails, and urgent inquiries were made as to the source and meaning of the movement. They yielded the information that the breads were being distributed far more widely than anyone in Agra had yet realized, and that the Indians who received them generally took them as some sort of a sign. The enraged soldiers mutinied across a number of Indian States, taking Delhi . The uprising was officially declared over on July 8, 1859. What are the major holidays and festivals of India? An uprising in several sepoy companies of the Bengal army was sparked by the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February 1857. The revolt failed in overthrowing British Rule. Lands were confiscated from the landlords and auctioned. There was also a general feeling that English officers were losing touch with the Indian troops under them. Stbere im grten eBookstore der Welt und lies noch heute im Web, auf deinem Tablet, Telefon oder E-Reader. In addition, the General Service Enlistment Act of 1856 required recruits to serve overseas if ordered, a challenge to the castes who composed so much of the Bengal army. is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings To save content items to your account, This took the form of Muslim millenarianism, with preachers in Lucknow foretelling the end of the raj. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. It is not known who first projected the plan. Some people said that it was a propitiatory observance to avert some impending calamity; others, that they were circulated by the Government to signify that the population throughout the country would be compelled to use the same food as the Christians, and thus be deprived of their religion; while others again said that the chupatties were circulated to make it known that Government was determined to force Christianity on the country by interfering with their food, and intimation of it was thus given that they might be prepared to resist the attempt. A popular American illustrated magazine, "Ballou's Pictorial", published afull-page woodcutillustration showing the preparations for such an execution in its issue of October 3, 1857. One popular story, widely believed, suggested that the British were attempting the mass conversion of their subjects to Christianity by adulterating their flour with bone meal from cows and pigs, which was forbidden to Hindus and Moslems, respectively. [8], Unlike the Madras and Bombay Armies of the BEIC, which were far more diverse, the Bengal Army recruited its regular soldiers almost exclusively amongst the landowning Bhumihars and Rajputs of the Ganges Valley. This war of Independence marked the end of rule by the British East India company. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Numerous explanations were considered. Mason, Philip (1974), page 264 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. [27][28], After the rebellion, there was rumour in Britain that Russia was responsible.[28]. Some time in February 1857, a curious occurrence took place. Government was ostentatiously neutral, but Hindu society was inclined to regard the missionaries as eroding Hindu society without openly interfering. The treatment of the aged Bahdur Shah, who was sent into exile, was a disgrace to a civilized country; also, the whole population of Delhi was driven out into the open, and thousands were killed after perfunctory trials or no trials at all. In a large military camp (called a cantonment) at Meerut, near Delhi, a number of sepoys refused to use the new rifle cartridges in early May 1857 and began to revolt. As time passed, the powers of the commanding officers reduced and the government became more unfeeling or distant from the concerns of the sepoys. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. 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It is however also possible to enclose within the paper container the bullet as well as the powder and the cartridge then becomes a balled cartridge. A cartridge of this kind, containing powder and nothing more, is often specified as an unballed cartridge. Though paid marginally less than the Bombay and Madras Presidency troops, there was a tradition of trust between the soldiery and the establishment the soldiers felt needed and that the company would care for their welfare. By a campaign in Avadh and Rohilkhand, Campbell cleared the countryside. When Muslim and Hindu troops learned that the tip of the Enfield cartridge had to be bitten off to prepare it for firing, a number of troops refused, for religious reasons, to accept the ammunition. A. Mason, Philip (1974), page 226 "A Matter of Honour", London: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston. This book is essentially about the heroes - Tatya Tope, Nana. Throughout May and June 1857 more units of Indian troops mutinied against the British. They later stood in Chandni Chowk, the main square, and asked the people gathered there, "Brothers, are you with those of the faith? The Sepoy Mutiny was a violent and very bloody uprising against British rule in India in 1857. He was informed that they had been brought in by one of his Indian police officers, who had received them from a puzzled village chowkidar (watchman). The uprising was put down, but the methods employed by the British were so harsh that many in the western world were offended. In England, almost every child is aware that, with a smooth bored gun, no grease of any kind is required to ensure the proper loading of it, whilst with a rifle-bored piece such is necessary. So writes Mrs Peile, one of those who escaped from Delhi on 11 May 1857. Extensive inquiries into the meaning of the breads produced plenty of theories but few facts; even the runners and watchmen who baked them and carried them from village to village did not know why they had to run through the night with chupatties in their turbans, though they took them just the same. The immediate cause of military disaffection was the deployment of the new breech-loading Enfield rifle, the cartridge of which was purportedly greased with pork and beef fat. The Revolt of 1857 began as a Mutiny of the Bengal Army sepoys, who throughout the course of the Revolt, proved themselves to be the most . It consisted of the distribution of many thousands of chapatisunleavened Indian breadsthat were passed from hand to hand and from village to village throughout the mofussil (interior) of the subcontinent. But the only evidence for either of these was the circulation from village to village of chapatis, or cakes of unleavened bread, a practice that, though it also occurred on other occasions, was known to have taken place at any time of unrest. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/sepoy-mutiny-of-1857-1774014. [12], There had been earlier indications that all was not well in the armies of the East India Company. 1857 revolt started firstly on 29th March 1857 from Bairakpur (West Bengal) by Mangal Pandey. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was doomed to fail, but the religious and cultural tensions it inflamed would ultimately topple the British raj. The effective Indian artillery, except for a few mountain batteries, was abolished, while the Brahmans and Rajputs of Avadh were reduced in favour of other groups. Illustrations of events tended to reinforce Victorian notions of honor and bravery. The ratio of British to Indian troops was fixed at roughly 1:2 instead of 1:5one British and two Indian battalions were formed into brigades so that no sizable station should be without British troops. Prior to the outbreak of the Revolt, Bahadur Shah Zafar lived in Delhi as a Pensioner of the British. This made them more accurate and gave them a longer range. The East India Company had been active in India for nearly 250 years, but the violence of the 1857 uprising led to the British government dissolving the company and taking direct control of India. As John Kaye wrote a few years later: Among other wild fables, which took firm hold of the popular mind, was one to the effect that the Companys officers had collected all the newly-manufactured salt, had divided it into two great heaps, and over one had sprinkled the blood of hogs, and over the other the blood of cows; that they had then sent it to be sold throughout the country of the pollution and desecration of the Mahommedans and Hindoos, that all might be brought to one caste and to one religion like the English. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers "pandies." Western inventions such as the telegraph and railways aroused the prejudice of a conservative society (though Indians crowded the trains when they had them). Singhs coalitionits brief rise and fall, Congress government of P.V. Your Privacy Rights Books and articles about the bloody fighting and heroic deeds by British officers and men were published for decades in London. What are the oldest known civilizations of India? Match the Country with Its Hemisphere Quiz, Baron Strathnairn of Strathnairn and Jhansi. Wild stories circulated freely in the panic-stricken atmosphere of 1857, and there were enough real massacres and murders to make almost anything seem possible. Then came the Western innovations of the now overconfident British. At some point the chapattis passed beyond the limits of their meaningful transmission and simply continued through the country as a blank message. In sum, this combination of factors produced, besides the normal tensions endemic in India, an uneasy, fearful, suspicious, and resentful frame of mind and a wind of unrest ready to fan the flame of any actual physical outbreak. What was the issue of cartridges? @kindle.com emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. The events of 1857 have been considered the first outbreak of an independence movement against British rule. Famous For: Revolt of 1857. Many Indians felt that the company was asking for heavy tax from the locals. As early as 1806, concerns that the sepoys' caste may be polluted had led to the Vellore Mutiny, which was brutally suppressed. Prior to the period of British rule, any refusal to proceed on service until pay issues were resolved was considered a legitimate form of displaying grievance by Indian troops serving under Indian rulers. He is on the expert panel on weapons for several museums of Rajasthan. Mike Dash is a contributing writer in history for Smithsonian.com. Richard Barter. He survived and was put on trial and hanged on April 8, 1857. The Bengal army of some 130,000 Indian troops may have contained as many as 40,000 Brahmans as well as many Rajputs. Pandey rebelled by shooting a British sergeant-major and a lieutenant. The mutineers, on the other hand, lacked good leadership until nearly the end, and they had no confidence in themselves and suffered the guilt feelings of rebels without a cause, making them frantic and fearful by turns. Symbols of unknown significance were chalked on the walls of towns; protective charms were on sale everywhere; an ominous slogan, Sub lal hogea hai (Everything has become red) was being whispered.. The magistrates tried to stop it, but, in spite of all they could do, it passed along to the borders of the Punjab. The campaign then settled down to British attempts to take Delhi and relieve Lucknow. [6]. Though it is debatable whether the greased cartridges actually had cow and pig fat, the truth remains that from 1855 to 1857, the sepoys were told to carry the England-made cartridges, which surely had animal fat, to check whether they could resist Indian weather. During the late eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century, the armies of the East India Company, in particular those of the Bengal Presidency, were victorious and indomitable the term "high noon of the sepoy army" has been used by a military historian. The rebels were . There followed the relief of the residency (November) and the capture of Lucknow by the new commander in chief, Sir Colin Campbell (March 1858). No one seems to know the meaning of it. It is not known where it originated, by whom or for what purpose, whether it is supposed to be connected to any religious ceremony or whether it has to do with some secret society. Coconuts had passed at great speed from village to village in central India in 1818, at a time when the mofussil was being ravaged by large bands of merciless looters known as the Pindaris. In an elaborate ceremony, Lord Lytton, the serving viceroy of India, honored a number of Indian princes. An uprising in several sepoy companies of the Bengal army was sparked by the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February 1857. Along with the previously mentioned illustration in Ballou's Pictorial, numerous American newspapers published accounts of the violence in India. On March 29, 1857, on the parade ground at Barrackpore, a sepoy named Mangal Pandey fired the first shot of the uprising. Thornhill came into his office one morning to find four dirty little cakes of the coarsest flour, about the size and thickness of a biscuit lying on his desk. By the time the British came to examine the causes of the rebellion, therefore, the chupatty movement had assumed a fresh significance. [15], The varying stances of the British government, the reduction of allowances, and harsh punishments, contributed to a feeling amongst the troops that the Company no longer cared for them. Setting out from Allahabad, Sir Henry Havelock fought through Kanpur to the Lucknow residency on September 25, where he was besieged in turn. The army so far had been quipped with the smooth-barrelled musket, which had a protracted loading procedure and was not accurate over long ranges. Indian soldiers in the East India Company's armies believed they risked defilement because the new rounds were being issued greased with the fat of pigs and cowsuntrue, but sufficient to spark the most dangerous uprising against British imperial rule since the American Revolution. In the altercation, Pandey was surrounded by British troops and shot himself in the chest. His unit in the Bengal Army, which had refused to use the new rifle cartridges, was about to be disarmed and punished. 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