Sepoy Rebellion

The causes

In the mid-19th century, the British East India Company controlled much of the subcontinent, and its army relied mainly on Indian soldiers, the sepoys. Territorial annexations, taxes and reforms bred discontent among princes, peasants and soldiers. The rumour that the cartridges of the new rifles were greased with pork or beef fat shocked both Muslims and Hindus. This suspicion set off the revolt at Meerut in 1857.

In the 1850s, the East India Company applied the doctrine of lapse, which annexed states whose ruler had no direct heir, such as Jhansi; it also annexed Awadh in 1856, on the grounds of its ruler's mismanagement. A law of 1856 required Indian soldiers to serve overseas, which clashed with religious taboos linked to crossing the sea. The Nana Sahib, adopted by the last peshwa, whose pension had been abolished, harbored deep resentment. British officers also displayed a contemptuous sense of superiority toward Indian customs, while the Bengal army recruited many soldiers from Awadh, whose annexation frustrated many families.

The course of the war

On 10 May 1857, at Meerut, sepoys mutinied and killed British officers and civilians. They made for Delhi, where they proclaimed the elderly Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar leader of the revolt. Further mutinies broke out in the garrisons at Kanpur and Lucknow, and the revolt spread to civilians and local leaders. At Jhansi, Rani Lakshmi Bai, whose state had been incorporated into British possessions, took the lead of the revolt in her region.

The British, reinforced by troops from Great Britain and by Indian regiments that had stayed loyal, retook Delhi in autumn 1857 after fierce fighting. The Rani of Jhansi was killed in battle in 1858, and the revolt died out shortly after. Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried, deported to Burma and died in exile. In 1858, the Government of India Act transferred the Company's authority to the Crown, and Queen Victoria issued a proclamation to her Indian subjects.

After Meerut, at Kanpur, the sepoys and the troops of Nana Sahib besieged the British garrison in June 1857, and the garrison's surrender was followed by the killing of many prisoners, an episode that remains highly sensitive in the memory of both countries. At Lucknow, the British residency was besieged from June 1857 to March 1858, with a first relief force arriving in November. At Delhi, General John Nicholson, one of the most respected British commanders, was mortally wounded during the assault on the city, in September 1857.

In 1858, General Hugh Rose led a campaign in central India, which retook Jhansi, then Gwalior in June 1858. In Awadh, the recapture of Lucknow in March 1858 by Colin Campbell restored British control over a region whose countryside had largely taken part in the revolt. The rebels, deprived of a single command, dispersed into small groups that continued guerrilla warfare in the countryside. Tantia Tope, one of the last leaders, was arrested and then executed in April 1859, which ended the major operations.

The British relied on new means: the telegraph linked the garrisons, and the first railway lines, opened since the early 1850s, facilitated the arrival of reinforcements from the ports. Sikh and Gurkha troops who remained loyal played a decisive role. After the revolt, several Indian regiments were disbanded or reorganized, and the British authorities strengthened the presence of their own troops. The repression, marked by summary executions and the destruction of villages, left a lasting mark on the northern countryside.

The consequences

The Company lost its political powers, and India was administered directly by the British Crown, headed by a viceroy. The army was reorganised to limit the risk of a new mutiny, in particular by giving British troops a larger role. The revolt left a lasting memory: in the 20th century, Indian independence movements presented it as a first national uprising.

Historians debate the very name of the event: the British call it the "Mutiny", while V. D. Savarkar, in a 1909 work, presented it as a "war of independence", later taken up by the Indian national movement. Other researchers stress the diversity of motives and of local leaders, from peasants and landlords to soldiers. After 1858, the Indian army was reorganized around regiments known as "martial races", recruited preferably from among the Sikhs, the Gurkhas and the Muslims of the Punjab. Queen Victoria promised that the religion of her Indian subjects would no longer be subject to interference, which did not prevent the continuation of British control.

Timeline

1. 1857Meerut mutiny, the start of the revolt
2. 1857The British retake Delhi
3. 1858Death of the Rani of Jhansi, Lakshmi Bai, in battle
4. 1858The Government of India Act transfers the Company's authority to the British Crown
5. 1858Queen Victoria's proclamation to her Indian subjects

Key figures

• Bahadur Shah Zafar, last Mughal emperor, proclaimed leader of the revolt in Delhi
• Lakshmi Bai, Rani of Jhansi, a fighter killed in 1858
• Mangal Pandey, sepoy who attacked British officers at Barrackpore in 1857
• Nana Sahib, leader of the revolt at Kanpur