What were the causes of revolt of 1857?

Answer 1

The Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the First War of Indian Independence. The Sepoy Rebellion and the Indian Mutiny (however, see Debate over name as the issue is controversial), was a prolonged period of armed uprisings in different parts of India against British occupation of that part of the subcontinent. Small precursors of brewing discontent involving incidences of arson in cantonment areas began to manifest themselves in January. Later, a large-scale rebellion broke out in May and turned into what may be called a full-fledged war in the affected regions. This war brought about the end of the British East India Company's rule in India, and led to direct rule by the British government (British Raj) of much of the Indian subcontinent for the next 90 years, although some states retained nominal independence under their respective Rajas, or kings.

CAUSES :
The rebellion or the war for independence had diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes.

The sepoys of the Bengal Army had their own list of grievances against the Company Raj, mainly caused by the ethnic gulf between the British officers and their Indian troops. It was also rumoured that the British had started to issue new bullets that had cow and pig fat on them, which insulted both Hindus and Muslims. Other than Indian units of the British East India Company's army, much of the resistance came from the old aristocracy, who were seeing their power steadily eroded under the British.

Answer 2

The Revolt Of 1857 Causes

Answer 3

The revolt of 1857, popularly known as "The First War of Independence", burst due to many reasons. The Britishers, who were the rulers of the then India, did not care for its development. They were interested to drain the resources of the nation. For this, they formulated many policies, political, economical and religious. Lord Dalhousie formulated a policy called " Doctrine of Lapse", according to which the princely states wold be annexed to the empire, if the Head of such states did not have offspring. This resulted huge apprehensions among princes that the empire was trying to snatch their provinces somehow. The Britishers drained most of the resources of India by levying huge taxes on the native industries, because of which the Indian folk grew rivelry against the British. Religiously, the introduction of Enfield Catridges, which were coated with the fat of cow, which is pious for Hindus and pig, which is hated by the Muslims, arose anger among the soldiers as they had to uncover the coat with their mouth. This introduction widened the apprehension of the religious people that the British was trying to humiliate Hindus and Muslims.

Broadly speaking, these are the major causes for revolt of 1857.

Answer 4

The revolt of 1857 was the revolt of Sepoy Mutiny against the British.

Answer 5

This is very famously called The sipoy mutiny.were in the Indain solders were reguested to hold the rifles , which were polished on the wax of cow and pig,which was not liked by the Hindu and Muslm solders respectively , and that ignited the minds both the Hindus and the Muslims that the Britishers are invoking a bad relationship between ourself and rebelled against the Britishers.

Answer 6

u mean which revolt
if u r talking about the mangal pandey revolution
then the main reason behind that was
the introduction of rifles
as the hindus dont eat meat of cows
and muslims considered pig meat as harm
so this was the reason

Answer 7

CAUSES:

*immediate cause-greased cartiges incident
*interfearance by British in social & religious
affairs of people
*Indians were not given high posts
*Indian soldiers were treated with contempt
from their europian counterparts
*conversion by chirstian missionaries into christianity

Answer 8

political causes:doctrine of lapse;stopping pension of nanasahib
economic causes:destroying industries of india;forcing peasants to grow indigo and cash crops.
religious causes;spread of christianity;starting railwaysin which people of all religions travelled together.
military causes:no promotions for indians; no dearness allowance to indians during peace time.division of army
into regiments ie sikh and maratha regiment etc
immediate causes:refusal of indian soldiers to use greased cartridges;in which it was suspected that cows' and pigs' grease was used.

Answer 9

See your text-book.

Answer 10

The causes for the revolt of 1987 was can categorized under 1. Economic Causes 2. Political Causes 3. Social 4. Religion 5. Military and 6. Immediate causes.

1. Economic Causes:

The most important cause of popular discontent was the British policy of economically exploiting India. This hurt all sections of society. The peasants suffered due to high revenue demands and the strict revenue collection policy. Artisans and craftsmen were ruined by the large-scale influx of cheap British manufactured goods into India which, in turn, made their hand-made goods uneconomical to produce. People who made a living by following religious and cultural pursuits lost their source of livelihood due to the withdrawal of royal patronage caused by the displacement of the old ruling classes. A corrupt and unresponsive administration added to the miseries of the people.

2. Political Causes:

The British policy of territorial annexations led to the displacement of a large number of rulers and chiefs. The vigorous application of the policies of Subsidiary Alliance and Doctrine of Lapse angered the ruling sections of the society. Rani Lakshmi Bai and Nana Sahib became bitter enemies of the British and led to the revolt in their respective territories.

The annexation of Awadh, on grounds of misgovernment, was greatly resented. The Nawabs of Awadh had always been loyal to the British. The annexation was widely seen as a blatant act of back-stabbing by the British. It deeply hurt the sentiments of the Company’s sepoys because most of them came from Awadh. Moreover, even under the new regime, the people of Awadh got no relief from oppression. Peasants had to pay even higher revenue and additional taxes were imposed. The British provided no alternative source of employment to the people who lost their jobs due to the dissolution of the Nawab’s administration.

3. Social Causes:

The social reforms introduced by the British were looked upon with suspicion by the conservative sections of the Indian society. Reforms such as abolition of ‘sati’, legalization of widow remarriage and extension of western education to women were looked upon as examples of interference in the social customs of the country. The social discrimination faced by the Indians due to the British attitude of racial superiority also led to much resentment. Educated Indians were denied promotions and appointments to high office. This turned them against the British.

4. Religious Causes:

A major cause of the outbreak of the revolt was the fear among the people that the British government was determined to destroy their religion and convert Indians to Christianity. The increasing activities of the Christian missionaries and the actual conversions made by them were taken as a proof of this fear. The policy of taxing lands belonging to temples and mosques lent further support to this idea. The belief that their religion was under threat, united all sections of society against a common enemy.

5. Military Causes:

Indian soldiers formed seven-eighth of the total British troops in India. As they were an integral part of the Indian society, they too suffered the consequences of the oppressive British rule. Besides, they had other grievances. The Indian sepoys were looked upon as inferior beings and treated with contempt by their British officers. They were paid much less than the British soldiers. All avenues of the promotion were closed to them as all the higher army posts were reserved for the British.

There were other specific and more immediate causes for the discontent among the sepoys. The annexation of Awadh inflamed their strong feelings against foreign rule. They were also influenced by the general fear that their religion was in danger. The order that forbade the sepoys from wearing caste and sectarian marks hurt their sentiments deeply. So also the Act of 1816 which required the new recruits to travel overseas, if needed. The Hindu sepoys resented this as according to the popular Hindu belief, travel across the sea led to a loss of caste. Another cause of sepoy discontent was the withdrawal of the Foreign Service allowance (‘batta’), which the sepoys were getting for fighting outside the country.

6. Immediate Cause:

Discontent and resentment against British rule had been growing among the Indians for a long time. By AD 1857, the stage was set for a massive revolt. Only a spark was needed to set the country ablaze. That spark was provided by as small a thing as a rifle cartridge.

At this time, the Enfield rifle was introduced in the army. Its cartridges were covered with a greased paper cover. This greased cover had to be bitten off before the cartridge could be loaded into the rifle. The news spread that the grease was made of cow and pig fat. As the Hindus consider the cow sacred and the Muslims do not eat pit’s meat, both these communities were enraged at such a blatant attempt to harm their religion. This incident, popularly known as the Greased Cartridges Incident, became the immediate cause of the revolt.

The first soldier to protest against using the greased cartridges was Mangal Pandey. He belonged to the 34th Infantry stationed at Barrackpore. He refused to use the cartridges and was subsequently hanged. On 24 April 1857, some soldiers stationed at Meerut also refused to use the cartridges. On 9 May 1857, they were severely punished for this. This incident sparked off a general mutiny among the sepoys of Meerut. On 10 May 1857, these rebel soldiers killed their British officers, released their imprisoned comrades and hoisted the flag of revolt. This was the official beginning of the ‘Great Revolt’. The soldiers then set off for Delhi. On 11 May 1857, they reached Delhi. Here, they were joined by the local infantry. The rebels seized Delhi and declared the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor of India.