HISTORY
Chapter 1: The First war of Independence – 1857
Syllabus: The Indian National Movement (1857 - 1917) (a) The First War of
Independence, 1857 Only the causes (political, socio-religious, economic and
military) and consequences will be tested. [The events, however, need to be
mentioned in order to maintain continuity and for a more comprehensive
understanding.]
Q1. Political causes of the Revolt of 1857:
a. The British waged many wars like The Battle of Buxar, the Battle of Plassey, etc.
to expand their territorial power and to safeguard their political interest in India.
b. Lord Wellesley through the Subsidiary Alliance, brought some Indian States under
the British control without actually annexing them.
c. By the Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, annexed
many Indian States to the Company.
d. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh to the Company’s dominions on the pretext of
alleged misrule.
e. Nawab of Awadh was deposed in a humiliating manner. Therefore, the people of
Awadh were enraged and joined the 1857 uprising.
f. The British removed the name of the Mughal King from the coins minted by the
Company.
g. Lord Dalhousie announced that the successors of Bahadur Shah Zafar would not
be permitted to use the Red Fort as their palace.
h. Lord Canning announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah, his successors
would not be allowed to use the imperial titles with their names and would not be
known as princes.
i. The British refused to grant the pension to Nana Saheb which they were paying
to Baji Rao II.
j. Indians felt that they were being ruled by the Britishers from England and they
drained the wealth of India to England. This was resented by the Indians.
k. The British refused to give the pension to Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the
last Peshwa Baji Rao II.
Q2. Socio-Religious causes for the Revolt of 1857:
Social causes:
a. Social reforms like the abolition of sati system, introduction of widow re-marriage
Act and opening of western education to girls were not welcomed by the
masses.
b. People were suspicious of introduction of modern innovations like railways and
telegraph. There were rumours that the telegraph poles were erected to hang
those who were against the British rule.
c. The police and petty officers were corrupt. The rich got away with crime but the
common man was looted, oppressed and tortured.
d. The complex judicial system enabled the rich to oppress the poor.
e. The poor were fogged, tortured and imprisoned for their inability to pay arrears
of rent, land revenue and interest on debt.
Religious causes:
a. Orthodox Indians noted that in the railway compartments the higher castes and
the lower castes were made to sit side by side. They believed that the Britishers
had introduced these practices to defy their caste and religion.
,b. The British officers dubbed Indian Muslims as cruel and unfaithful. Some
Europeans officers ill-treated and insulted Indians.
c. The British began to interfere with the local religious and social customs. They
denounced idol worship and dubbed local beliefs as ignorance.
d. The pandits and the Maulvis saw that the western education as an attempt to
discourage traditional Islamic and Hindu studies.
e. The British taxed the religious lands belonging to the temples and the mosques.
f. LAW OF PROPERTY: (2Marks) The Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 changed the
Hindu Law of Property. It enabled a covert from Hinduism to other religions to
inherit the property of his father. The Hindus regarded this as an incentive to
give up one’s religious faith.
Q4. Economic Causes of the Revolt of 1857:
a. The British made India an economic colony to serve the interests of industrial
England.
b. India was forced to export, at cheaper rates, raw materials like cotton and raw
silk that the British industries were ungently in need of.
c. India was forced to accept ready-made goods either duty free or at nominal rates
while the Indian products were subjected to high import duties in England.
d. The artisans were deprived of their income due to high export duty on their
goods.
e. The avenues of labour were reduced which led to unemployment.
f. Heavy duties on Indian silk and cotton textiles in Britain, destroyed Indian
industries.
g. The art of spinning and weaving, which for ages had given employment to
thousands of artisans, became extinct.
h. Increase in the land revenue forced many peasants into indebtedness or into
selling their lands.
i. The coming of the British led to the decline of such rulers who provided financial
support to scholars.
j. Thousands of soldiers, administrative officials and judicial members either lost
their jobs or lost their high posts due to the annexation of the native States to
the British dominion.
k. The peasants were forced to cultivate only indigo and if they cultivated anything
else, their crops were destroyed and their cattle were carried off as punishment.
l. Due to the bad administration the country suffered twelve major and numerous
minor famines between 1765 to 1857. The famines were the result of drought.
m. The landed aristocracy which included the talukdars and hereditary landlords
were deprived of their estates and the peasantry suffered due to the exorbitant
land revenue.
n. The British annexed princely states and they lost Royal patronage.
Q5. MILITARY CAUSES of the Revolt of 1857::
a. The Indian soldiers were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed under the East
India Company’s rule in India.
b. The British military authorities forbade the sepoys from wearing caste or
sectarian marks, beards or turbans, and they showed disregard for the
sentiments of the sepoys.
c. General Enlistment Act: [2marks question] According to traditional belief,
it was a taboo for a Brahmin to cross the seas. The British Parliament
passed the General Service Enlistment Act in 1856, allowed the British
rulers in India, to send the Indian soldiers overseas on duty. The
, Brahmin soldiers saw this Act as a danger to their caste. This led to the
feeling of resentment among them.
d. Refusal of the British soldiers to work under
e. Irrespective of the good performance of the Indian soldiers in the British army,
they could not rise above the rank of a subedar. The future of the Indian soldiers
was bleak without chances of promotions.
f. Indian soldiers did not receive allowances for the extra work they did in India or
in a foreign land.
g. The Post Office Act of 1854 withdrew the privilege of free postage enjoyed by
sepoys.
h. Indian soldiers were capable of fighting a war in India as well as in a foreign land
under any environmental conditions. The strategic regions like Delhi and
Allahabad were wholly held by the Indian soldiers. This gave an advantage for
the Indian soldiers to strike the British at a suitable time,
i. Poor performance of the British soldiers in the First Afghan War, the Punjab Wars,
etc. revealed to the Indian soldiers that the British Army could be defeated by
the determined Indian Army.
j. The wages of the Indian soldiers were inadequate to support their families
whereas the British soldiers received more than eight times the salary of the
Indian soldiers.
k. Immediate cause: [2 or 3 Marks question] In January there was a rumour
in the Bengal regiment that the greased cartridges used in the Enfield
Rifles had the fat of cow or pig. The Hindu and the Muslim soldiers were
convinced that this was a deliberate move to defile their religions.
Therefore, they refused to use these cartridges and staged an uprising
when they were forced to use them.
Q6. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE:
1. Provisions of the Government of India Act of 1858:
a. The East India Company rule ended and the British Crown assumed the power to
govern India directly.
b. The Company’s Board of directors were abolished.
c. The Secretary of the State for India was appointed for all matters related to the
governance of India.
d. The Secretary of the State was given a Council to advise him, called the Indian
Council.
e. Actual governance was carried on by the Governor-General who was also given
the title of Viceroy.
f. Lord Canning was appointed as the first Viceroy under the Government of India
Act of 1858.
g. Appointments to the Civil Service were to be made by the open competition
under the rules made by the Secretary of the State.
2. Promises made by the Queen Victoria’s proclamation as the
‘Empress of India’.
The proclamation promised that the Government of India would –
i. Follow a policy of non-intervention in social and religious matters of Indians.
ii. Treat all subjects -Indians and Europeans- as equals.
iii. Grant a general pardon to all those who had taken part in the war except
those who were found guilty of murder of British subjects.
iv. Do its best to advance the industries in India.
, v. Promote works of public utility in India so as to ensure the material as well as
the moral progress of the people.
3. Changes made in the army:
i. The strength of the European troops in India was increased.
ii. European troops were kept in the key geographical and military positions.
iii. To desist the Indian soldiers from rising again against the British Rule, the
sophisticated weapons and ammunitions were never placed under the charge of
Indians.
iv. Discrimination on the basis of caste, region and religion was practised in the
recruitment to the army.
v. Caste and community-based regiments were formed in order to discourage
nationalism.
vi. Newspapers, journals and nationalist publications were prevented from
reaching the soldiers to keep the Indian Army separated from the life of rest of
the population.
4. Economic exploitation of the Indians after the 1857 uprising:
i. India was turned into a typical colonial economy.
The hefty salary and allowances of the Secretary of the State and members of
the India Council, the Civil Servants and military officers was a drain on the
country’s resources.
ii. Peasants were impoverished under the British rule.
iii. Rural artisan industries such as handicrafts, spinning and weaving collapsed.
iv. The Indians had to pay heavy interests and dividends on the British capital
invested in India.
5. Other consequences:
i. Mughals and Peshwas rule came to an end.
ii. The Policy of Annexation and Doctrine of Lapse were abandoned.
iii. The British continued the policy of ‘divide and rule’ by turning the princess
against the people.
iv. The British believed in their racial superiority and they continued to maintain
a social distance to preserve their authority over the Indians.
v. The Indian foreign policy was dictated by the interests of the British
Government.
vi. After the uprising of 1857, the racial bitterness increased.
vii. The uprising of 1857 ended the era of territorial expansion and ushered the
era of economic exploitation.
viii. Due to the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British, the gulf between the Hindus
and the Muslims widened.
Q7. Why was the ‘War of 1857’ hailed as the war of National
independence?
Ans: People of different castes, communities and religions of India came together
for the first time and fought for independence, against the British.
Q8. What is Doctrine of Lapse?
Ans: This policy was followed by Lord Dalhousie. The Doctrine meant that when a
ruler of a dependent state died without a natural heir(male) the governance of
such state is passed on to the East India Company.
Q9. ‘The revolt of 1857 was an important landmark in India’s struggle
for freedom’. Explain.
Ans: (i) The revolt of 1857 was suppressed but the spirit of freedom which had
animated the revolt, was not suppressed.
Chapter 1: The First war of Independence – 1857
Syllabus: The Indian National Movement (1857 - 1917) (a) The First War of
Independence, 1857 Only the causes (political, socio-religious, economic and
military) and consequences will be tested. [The events, however, need to be
mentioned in order to maintain continuity and for a more comprehensive
understanding.]
Q1. Political causes of the Revolt of 1857:
a. The British waged many wars like The Battle of Buxar, the Battle of Plassey, etc.
to expand their territorial power and to safeguard their political interest in India.
b. Lord Wellesley through the Subsidiary Alliance, brought some Indian States under
the British control without actually annexing them.
c. By the Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, annexed
many Indian States to the Company.
d. Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh to the Company’s dominions on the pretext of
alleged misrule.
e. Nawab of Awadh was deposed in a humiliating manner. Therefore, the people of
Awadh were enraged and joined the 1857 uprising.
f. The British removed the name of the Mughal King from the coins minted by the
Company.
g. Lord Dalhousie announced that the successors of Bahadur Shah Zafar would not
be permitted to use the Red Fort as their palace.
h. Lord Canning announced that after the death of Bahadur Shah, his successors
would not be allowed to use the imperial titles with their names and would not be
known as princes.
i. The British refused to grant the pension to Nana Saheb which they were paying
to Baji Rao II.
j. Indians felt that they were being ruled by the Britishers from England and they
drained the wealth of India to England. This was resented by the Indians.
k. The British refused to give the pension to Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the
last Peshwa Baji Rao II.
Q2. Socio-Religious causes for the Revolt of 1857:
Social causes:
a. Social reforms like the abolition of sati system, introduction of widow re-marriage
Act and opening of western education to girls were not welcomed by the
masses.
b. People were suspicious of introduction of modern innovations like railways and
telegraph. There were rumours that the telegraph poles were erected to hang
those who were against the British rule.
c. The police and petty officers were corrupt. The rich got away with crime but the
common man was looted, oppressed and tortured.
d. The complex judicial system enabled the rich to oppress the poor.
e. The poor were fogged, tortured and imprisoned for their inability to pay arrears
of rent, land revenue and interest on debt.
Religious causes:
a. Orthodox Indians noted that in the railway compartments the higher castes and
the lower castes were made to sit side by side. They believed that the Britishers
had introduced these practices to defy their caste and religion.
,b. The British officers dubbed Indian Muslims as cruel and unfaithful. Some
Europeans officers ill-treated and insulted Indians.
c. The British began to interfere with the local religious and social customs. They
denounced idol worship and dubbed local beliefs as ignorance.
d. The pandits and the Maulvis saw that the western education as an attempt to
discourage traditional Islamic and Hindu studies.
e. The British taxed the religious lands belonging to the temples and the mosques.
f. LAW OF PROPERTY: (2Marks) The Religious Disabilities Act of 1850 changed the
Hindu Law of Property. It enabled a covert from Hinduism to other religions to
inherit the property of his father. The Hindus regarded this as an incentive to
give up one’s religious faith.
Q4. Economic Causes of the Revolt of 1857:
a. The British made India an economic colony to serve the interests of industrial
England.
b. India was forced to export, at cheaper rates, raw materials like cotton and raw
silk that the British industries were ungently in need of.
c. India was forced to accept ready-made goods either duty free or at nominal rates
while the Indian products were subjected to high import duties in England.
d. The artisans were deprived of their income due to high export duty on their
goods.
e. The avenues of labour were reduced which led to unemployment.
f. Heavy duties on Indian silk and cotton textiles in Britain, destroyed Indian
industries.
g. The art of spinning and weaving, which for ages had given employment to
thousands of artisans, became extinct.
h. Increase in the land revenue forced many peasants into indebtedness or into
selling their lands.
i. The coming of the British led to the decline of such rulers who provided financial
support to scholars.
j. Thousands of soldiers, administrative officials and judicial members either lost
their jobs or lost their high posts due to the annexation of the native States to
the British dominion.
k. The peasants were forced to cultivate only indigo and if they cultivated anything
else, their crops were destroyed and their cattle were carried off as punishment.
l. Due to the bad administration the country suffered twelve major and numerous
minor famines between 1765 to 1857. The famines were the result of drought.
m. The landed aristocracy which included the talukdars and hereditary landlords
were deprived of their estates and the peasantry suffered due to the exorbitant
land revenue.
n. The British annexed princely states and they lost Royal patronage.
Q5. MILITARY CAUSES of the Revolt of 1857::
a. The Indian soldiers were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed under the East
India Company’s rule in India.
b. The British military authorities forbade the sepoys from wearing caste or
sectarian marks, beards or turbans, and they showed disregard for the
sentiments of the sepoys.
c. General Enlistment Act: [2marks question] According to traditional belief,
it was a taboo for a Brahmin to cross the seas. The British Parliament
passed the General Service Enlistment Act in 1856, allowed the British
rulers in India, to send the Indian soldiers overseas on duty. The
, Brahmin soldiers saw this Act as a danger to their caste. This led to the
feeling of resentment among them.
d. Refusal of the British soldiers to work under
e. Irrespective of the good performance of the Indian soldiers in the British army,
they could not rise above the rank of a subedar. The future of the Indian soldiers
was bleak without chances of promotions.
f. Indian soldiers did not receive allowances for the extra work they did in India or
in a foreign land.
g. The Post Office Act of 1854 withdrew the privilege of free postage enjoyed by
sepoys.
h. Indian soldiers were capable of fighting a war in India as well as in a foreign land
under any environmental conditions. The strategic regions like Delhi and
Allahabad were wholly held by the Indian soldiers. This gave an advantage for
the Indian soldiers to strike the British at a suitable time,
i. Poor performance of the British soldiers in the First Afghan War, the Punjab Wars,
etc. revealed to the Indian soldiers that the British Army could be defeated by
the determined Indian Army.
j. The wages of the Indian soldiers were inadequate to support their families
whereas the British soldiers received more than eight times the salary of the
Indian soldiers.
k. Immediate cause: [2 or 3 Marks question] In January there was a rumour
in the Bengal regiment that the greased cartridges used in the Enfield
Rifles had the fat of cow or pig. The Hindu and the Muslim soldiers were
convinced that this was a deliberate move to defile their religions.
Therefore, they refused to use these cartridges and staged an uprising
when they were forced to use them.
Q6. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE:
1. Provisions of the Government of India Act of 1858:
a. The East India Company rule ended and the British Crown assumed the power to
govern India directly.
b. The Company’s Board of directors were abolished.
c. The Secretary of the State for India was appointed for all matters related to the
governance of India.
d. The Secretary of the State was given a Council to advise him, called the Indian
Council.
e. Actual governance was carried on by the Governor-General who was also given
the title of Viceroy.
f. Lord Canning was appointed as the first Viceroy under the Government of India
Act of 1858.
g. Appointments to the Civil Service were to be made by the open competition
under the rules made by the Secretary of the State.
2. Promises made by the Queen Victoria’s proclamation as the
‘Empress of India’.
The proclamation promised that the Government of India would –
i. Follow a policy of non-intervention in social and religious matters of Indians.
ii. Treat all subjects -Indians and Europeans- as equals.
iii. Grant a general pardon to all those who had taken part in the war except
those who were found guilty of murder of British subjects.
iv. Do its best to advance the industries in India.
, v. Promote works of public utility in India so as to ensure the material as well as
the moral progress of the people.
3. Changes made in the army:
i. The strength of the European troops in India was increased.
ii. European troops were kept in the key geographical and military positions.
iii. To desist the Indian soldiers from rising again against the British Rule, the
sophisticated weapons and ammunitions were never placed under the charge of
Indians.
iv. Discrimination on the basis of caste, region and religion was practised in the
recruitment to the army.
v. Caste and community-based regiments were formed in order to discourage
nationalism.
vi. Newspapers, journals and nationalist publications were prevented from
reaching the soldiers to keep the Indian Army separated from the life of rest of
the population.
4. Economic exploitation of the Indians after the 1857 uprising:
i. India was turned into a typical colonial economy.
The hefty salary and allowances of the Secretary of the State and members of
the India Council, the Civil Servants and military officers was a drain on the
country’s resources.
ii. Peasants were impoverished under the British rule.
iii. Rural artisan industries such as handicrafts, spinning and weaving collapsed.
iv. The Indians had to pay heavy interests and dividends on the British capital
invested in India.
5. Other consequences:
i. Mughals and Peshwas rule came to an end.
ii. The Policy of Annexation and Doctrine of Lapse were abandoned.
iii. The British continued the policy of ‘divide and rule’ by turning the princess
against the people.
iv. The British believed in their racial superiority and they continued to maintain
a social distance to preserve their authority over the Indians.
v. The Indian foreign policy was dictated by the interests of the British
Government.
vi. After the uprising of 1857, the racial bitterness increased.
vii. The uprising of 1857 ended the era of territorial expansion and ushered the
era of economic exploitation.
viii. Due to the ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British, the gulf between the Hindus
and the Muslims widened.
Q7. Why was the ‘War of 1857’ hailed as the war of National
independence?
Ans: People of different castes, communities and religions of India came together
for the first time and fought for independence, against the British.
Q8. What is Doctrine of Lapse?
Ans: This policy was followed by Lord Dalhousie. The Doctrine meant that when a
ruler of a dependent state died without a natural heir(male) the governance of
such state is passed on to the East India Company.
Q9. ‘The revolt of 1857 was an important landmark in India’s struggle
for freedom’. Explain.
Ans: (i) The revolt of 1857 was suppressed but the spirit of freedom which had
animated the revolt, was not suppressed.
