Q: Describe the events of the War of Independence.

[4]
Ans.
In March 1857, the Hindu sepoy Mangal Panday was executed after he had defied his officers. In
May, sepoys in Meerut refused to touch the new greased cartridges. They were court-martialled and jailed,
but their fellows freed them. Several British officers were killed in Meerut. The Mughal King Bahadur Shah
Zafar became the unifying symbol for all the rebels. They soon captured many important cities in northern and
central India. In September,the British began to recapture the lost towns, and the war ended in June 1858.

Q: What happened at the Battle of Kanpur? [4]

Ans.
In November-December 1857, the rebels led by Nana Sahib Peshwa, captured Kanpur, near Lucknow
and held it out for three weeks. They killed the British officers and slaughtered 300 women and children while
taking several as captives. The British sent reinforcements and recaptured the city. Nana Sahib escaped. The
captured rebels were given horrible punishments in revenge.

Q: Who was Rani of Jhansi/Lakshmibai? [4]

Ans:
Her name was Laxmibai, and was queen of the North Indian state of Jhansi.In the initial phase of the
War of Independence, she remained friendly with the British. Relations, however, got strained soon after the
British regained control of Lucknow. She led rebel sepoys, assisted by another Indian general Tatya Topi,
against the British. The British, led by Major Hugh Rose, attacked Jhansi, in March 1858. She escaped to
Gwalior and was finally,killed in her last battle, in June 1858.

Q. Who was Mangal Panday? [4]

Ans.

Mangal Panday was the famoud Indian sepoy in the Bengal Native Infantry of the EIC. He defied the
British officers in March 1857, mobilized many rebels for the 1857 war. He attacked and wounded the British
Gen. Baugh and then another office Hewson. The matter was reported to Gen. Hearsey who immediately
controlled the situation. Mangal Panday was trialed and executed on 8 April 1857. With this, the War of
Independence beganand spread to many parts of India.

Q.

The war of independence was caused by the introduction of social reforms by the british . Do you agree ?Explain
your answer (14)
Social reforms were resented by the Indians. British introduced a series of social
reforms most of which were disliked by the Indians. When the Hindu custom of Sattee was banned and
remarriage of the widow was encouraged the Hindus reacted strongly. In Sattee the widow was burned alive in
the cremation ceremony of her dead husband. Most of the widowed women in Hindu community were
supposed not to remarry. Therefore, when British changed these traditions, Hindus took this step as
interference in their religious traditions. Similarly the introduction of the co-education system and a
discouraging attitude of the observance of Hijab/Purda was resisted by the Muslims for whom these steps
were against their socio-religious traditions.
British started a number of social development schemes such as roads, railways and
telecommunications. Though they benefitted India in general, many in the north-western parts of India thought
that British had introduced the railway system only to ensure quick movement of troops in case of Russian
attack through Afghanistan.
Westernization of Indian educational system was also not welcomed by a majority of Indians because
of Lord Macaulay’s contemptuous remarks about the Indian educational standard. When English began to
replace Urdu and Hindi as the official language, in 1834, both Hindus and Muslims opposed this as they took
such measures as an onslaught on local cultural traditions. Generally, the British were derogatory towards
Indians.
 Growth of the activities of the Christian missionaries during the second half of 19 th century also
promoted a sense of insecurity among Indians specially when there were reports of forcible conversion of
Indians into Christianity. Christian missionaries were active at all public places like, schools, parks, markets
and they believed it was their duty to impose a superior culture and religion on all Indians.
In military affairs too, the British officers treated Indian subordinates in an arrogant way and they
were denied any promotion regardless of their services for the British. Indian sepoys were given lesser salaries
as compared to the British soldiers. This inculcated hatred and frustration among Indians. When an ordinance
was issued about the services of Indians anywhere in the world, both Hindus and the Muslims felt offended.
According to Hindu belief, a caste Hindu would become a Sudra if he travelled overseas. Muslim troops were
reluctantto fight the fellow Afghan Muslim troops in the Company’s army.
British policy of annexation was also very alarming for Indians, specially the way the Doctrine of lapse
was enforced in 1852 by Lord Dalhousie. Under this, any state whose ruler didn’t have a son was annexed by
the EIC. States of Nana Sahib Peshwa (Kanpur) and Rani of Jhansi were unjustly annexed as both had sons.
Many states were annexed by force or on weak pretexts such as Sindh and Bengal. After entering Delhi in
1803, the EIC shifted the Mughal royal family from the Red Fort to Qutub Sahib. This too promoted anger
among Indians.
Heavy taxation on Indians and exploitation of local raw materials and wealth for the British factories
in England was another major reason. As factory made better cotton began to replace the local hand
processed cotton, millions of hand weavers of cotton were rendered jobless and suffered from starvation and
died.
Finally, by the start of 1857, new cartridges for the Enfield rifles were introduced. It was rumored
that they were wrapped in the fat of cow and pig and they had to be chewed out before use. Hindus accorded
motherly status to cows whereas for Muslims pig was Haram (forbidden). So, both Hindu and Muslim troops
refused to use these cartridges. Mangal Panday was the first soldier to have refused them in March 1857 and
with this the revolt spread to other parts of India.
It seems the introduction of social reforms was the most important reason because the social and
cultural values were very dear to Indians who took them as the first and most
important mark of their identity. So, when the EIC tried to change them the Indian reactionwas in proportion
to the British efforts.

Q: To what extent were economic reforms the main cause of the War of Independence in 1857?
Explain your answer. [10]
Ans:Economic exploitation of India by the British was a major reason of the War of Independence. In the
beginning the British traders conducted trade in a way that benefited Indians, too. However, as they got
control of several Indian states, they introduced new trading laws and revenue reforms that were aimed at
exploiting Indian resources and wealth. They imposed heavy taxes on Indian peasants and small landowners to
fill their treasury. Lord Warren Hastings introduced the concept of putting the tax collectors up for auction. This
tempted many locals to acquire the post by paying heavy money to the Company. Once the ambitious
candidates got the desired position of tax collector, they would use all tactics to extort taxes from the Indians.
This resulted in poverty and starvation among Indians that whipped up angerand resentment against the British
with the passage of time. Moreover, exploitation of local raw materials and wealth for the British factories in
England was also noticed with great concern by the Indians. As factory made better cotton began to replace the
local hand processed cotton, millions of hand weavers of cotton were rendered jobless and suffered from
starvation and died.

Social reforms were resented by the Indians. British introduced a series of social reforms most of
which were disliked by the Indians. When the Hindu custom of Sattee was banned and remarriage of
the widow was encouraged the Hindus reacted strongly. In Sattee the widow was burned alive in the
cremation ceremony of her dead husband. Most of the widowed women in Hindu community were
supposed not to remarry. Therefore, when British changed these traditions, Hindus took this step as
interference in their religious traditions. Similarly the introduction of the co-education system and a
discouraging attitude of the observance of Hijab/Purda was resisted by the Muslims for whom these
steps were against their socio-religious traditions.

British started a number of social development schemes such as roads, railways and
telecommunications. Though they benefitted India in general, many in the north- western parts of
India thought that British had introduced the railway system only to ensure quick movement of
 troops in case of Russian attack through Afghanistan.

Westernization of Indian educational system was also not welcomed by a majority of Indians because
of Lord Macaulay’s contemptuous remarks about the Indian educational standard, when English
began to replace Urdu and Hindi as the official language, in 1834, both Hindus and Muslims opposed
this as they took such measures as an onslaught on local cultural traditions. Generally, the British
were derogatory towards Indians.

Growth of the activities of the Christian missionaries during the second half of 19 th century also
promoted a sense of insecurity among Indians specially when there werereports of forcible conversion
of Indians into Christianity. Christian missionaries were active at all public places like, schools, parks,
markets and they believed it was their duty to impose a superior culture and religion on all Indians.

In military affairs too, the British officers treated Indian subordinates in an arrogant way and they
were denied any promotion regardless of their services for the British. Indian sepoys were given
lesser salaries as compared to the British soldiers. This inculcated hatred and frustration among
Indians. When an ordinance was issued about the services of Indians anywhere in the world, both
Hindus and the Muslims felt offended. According to Hindu belief, a caste Hindu would become Sudra if
he travelled overseas. Muslim troops were reluctant to fight the fellow Afghan Muslim troops in the
Company’s army.

British policy of annexation was also very alarming for Indians, specially the way the Doctrine of
lapse was enforced in 1852 by Lord Dalhousie. Under this, any state whose ruler didn’t have a son
was annexed by the EIC. States of Nana Sahib Peshwa (Kanpur) and Rani of Jhansi were unjustly
annexed as both had sons. Many states were annexed by force or on weak pretexts such as Sindh and
Bengal. After entering Delhi in 1803, the EIC shifted the Mughal royal family from the Red Fort to
Qutub Sahib. This too promoted anger among Indians.

Finally, by the start of 1857, new cartridges for the Enfield rifles were introduced. It was rumored
that they were wrapped in the fat of cow and pig and they had to be chewed out before use. Hindus
accorded motherly status to cows whereas for Muslims pig was Haram (forbidden). So, both Hindu
and Muslim troops refused to use these cartridges. Mangal Panday was the first soldier to have
refused them in March1857 and with this the revolt spread to other parts of India.
It seems the economic reforms became the main reason of the 1857 war because with rising poverty,
unemployment, hunger and starvation, the Indians felt themselves being pushed to the wall. The
cumulative anger and frustration finally burst into a collective though desperate uprising against the
British.

Q: Why did the Indians not achieve independence in 1857?

or
Explain the reasons for the failure of the War of Independence. (7) Ans. Indians were disunited in
the War. The divide between Hindus and Muslims was visible as Hindus were not sincere in restoring the
Mughal rule. In different places different groups fought for different reasons, thus weakening their own
strength. The Punjab and Sindh had been recently annexed by the EIC with the help of troops from Bengal
and Central India. So, when the same troops rebelled against the British, the
two provinces were uninterested in helping the rebellion and the Punjab actually sent troops and
supplies to help the British. The Maharaja of Kashmir also sent troops forthe same purpose.
There was no general plan before the start of the War that started abruptly by the defiance of a
single soldier Mangal Panday. The rebels perhaps forgot that they were fighting against a very strong
nation and that required a well thought out war plan. During the course of the War, this lack of
planning and coordination became more prominent as various rebel groups did not know how to
proceed in case of any success. This helped the British to regain their control within a year. Rebels
began to plunder their fellow countrymen after taking control of many cities. Thus the affected
people preferred to leak information to the British about the rebels.
The British had a professionally trained army with several experienced commanders who had been
trained to deal with such emergencies. They had been familiar with themodern methods of fighting a
huge army with a lesser number of troops. Moreover,
the British had a strong sense of success as they were one of the most powerful nations of the world
at that time. So, their confident and disciplined army took little time in overcoming the revolt.