can the revolt of 1857 be called the 'first war of independence' ???

Answer 1

yes, the revolt can be called the first war of independance as it shook the roots of East India Company and it also arouse the national feelings among Indians........

Answer 2

This name has more to do with Indian nationalism than history. The whole process of Indian independence is clouded in myth and legends, nearly all widely accepted theories are incorrect. The main reasons for this are the romance of Gandhi, post-colonial apologists and Indian nationalism. All of these factors have meant that these periods of Indian history have been distorted to suit a particular modern view point. This is however always the way with history. There are several flaws with the name; first indian war of Independence. One, is the use of the word 'first' there were never again large uprisings against British rule so to call this the first is to insinuate there are others which is false and feeds the nationalist image of how the Indians battled for their independence. Two is the use of the phrase 'war of independence' the Sepoy's who mutinied were not seeking some great rebirth of Indian freedoms but were attempting to ensure that their pay and conditions were to their liking. The issue of the cartridges was in fact rather minor, there were larger issues that the East India Company had altered with Sepoy conditions in the years before the mutiny. These were the real cause of the revolt. Once the Sepoy's held Delhi their motives were revealed by their attempts to get the last Mogul to institute policies which benefited the soldiers not Indian independence. By the time Delhi fell the Mogul was in truth little more than a figure head to rubber stamp the policies of the senior Indian officers.

Answer 3

I suppose it doesn't matter what it's called. And it depends where you're from anyway. I'm British, so I know it as 'The Indian Mutiny'. But that expression isn't politically correct now, so we'll probably all be calling it the First War of Independence in 20 years.

Anyway, I'm inclined to consider it a mutiny for the following reasons:

1. India wasn't a country at that time. There was no united India to fight for.

2. Most of the princes did not take part in the rebellion, and the ones who did were interested in their own lands and had little interest in a united India.

3. The mutineers or rebels were from the ranks of the army, and they were defeated not by troops from Britain, but by other Indian British army units.

Like I said, history isn't going to change no matter what names we attach to things. But the 3 points I mentioned are more characteristic of a large scale mutiny than a war of independance.

Answer 4

It was the war of Independance for India. Only the British and enemies of India called it Revolt or Mutiny

Answer 5

yes and no.It was started off in a drunken attack on a British soldier but it snowballed into a wild fire and then there was no stopping it.The rebels even declared Bahadur shah zafar as the new ruler of India.They did not set up a Hindu king on the throne of Delhi but were willing to continue their slavery under the Moghuls.History books say that it was the sikh soldiers who strongly supported the British and slaughtered all the hindu rebles(most of them from UP) and the sikhs gave Delhi and India back to the British ,who had actually run for their lives towards Punjab and had even informed the Queen that they had lost Hindustan.But the sikhs did not let it happen.If the sikhs had not helped the British and killed all the rebels in Delhi the British would have left India in 1857.This is not my opinion but it is taken from authoritative books written by British and Indian authors.Of course we would then would have had no father of the Nation for which we should be grateful to the Sikhs.For giving the empire back to the British the queen ordered VIP treatment to the sikhs and that is why we see so many sikhs now in London.Ok then.You can come to you own conclusion.But the rebellion did finally transform itself into a mass movement to drive out the British ,which is after all cry for indepedence.

Answer 6

Yes, ofcourse! the revolt of 1857 is called the first war of independence.
This wil be clear from the link below-:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~amittra/mainpage.htm

Answer 7

Hey Cool Guy -- in what country did this revolt occur?

Answer 8

It's not cool to not tell which country you are talking about guy.

Answer 9

Yes, it could be

Answer 10

in most of the ways -
yes

any beginning in any form is appreciated & any sacrifice in the name of nation should be saluted