The document summarizes the key causes, participants, and events of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The main causes were the exploitative economic policies of the British, socio-religious reforms that interfered with Indian traditions, and resentment among sepoys over unequal treatment. The rebellion began with sepoy mutinies in Meerut and Delhi in May 1857 and drew participation from rulers, peasants, artisans, and religious groups across North and Central India. Key leaders and centers of revolt included Bahadur Shah II in Delhi, Nana Saheb in Kanpur, and Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. The rebellion was suppressed by 1859, ending Mughal rule and leading the British to formally

1. 1857
Causes?
 Expansionist policies of colonial rule (political)
 Economic exploitation (economic)
 Administration innovation (socio cultural)
Affected section?
Rulers of Indian states, Sepoys
Zamindars/ Taluqdars, Peasants
Traders, artisans
Pundits, Maulvis

2. Economic causes
• East India company destroyed traditional economic fabric
of Indian society
• New Revenue settlement impoverished peasantry, heavy
taxation imposed, left on mercy of moneylenders/traders,
new landlord class emerged through this revenue system,
peasant highly indebted
• British goods promoted at cost of Indian handicraft,
destroyed Indian artisans & handicraftsmen, new jobs not
created, no development of modern industry
• Traditional landed aristocracy of zamindars & taluqdars
destroyed their estates confiscated , condemned to penury
• Awadh , storm center of revolt 21,000 taluqdars estates
confiscated & were left without any source of income

3. Political causes
British expansion policies
Effective control
Subsidiary alliance
Doctrine of lapse
Right of succession was denied to Hindu princes
Mughal prince Faqirrudin was forced to renounce
regal title
Led to collapse of Indian rulers and erstwhile
aristocracy

4. Administrative causes
Rampant corruption in company
administration

5. Socio religious causes
•Activities of Christian missionaries
•Socio religious reforms s.a. “sati” , widow re-
marriage, woman’s education were considered
as the interference in their socio religious life by
the people
• Change in the inheritance laws & other
customs by legislations like Religious disabilities
act 1856.

6. External events
•First Afghan war 1838-42
•Punjab wars 1845-49
•Santhal rebellion 1855-57

7. Sepoy’s discontentment/ spark
•Service conditions in company’s army in conflict with their religious
belief, Racial discrimination in promotion and privileges
•Lord Canning’s General services enlistment act 1856 made it
compulsory to serve anywhere outside India for new recruits to
army, Hindu’s considered crossing sea against their caste system
•Unhappy with emoluments compared to their British counterparts
•No more foreign service allowance (bhatta)to be given
•Annexation of Awadh, home of many sepoys (peasant in uniform)
led to resentment in them

8. Beginning the spark
•Introduction of enfield rifles whose cartridges made of
beef &pig fat to be bitten off before loading , served as the
spark of the revolt
•Revolt began at Merrut on 10th may,1857as the mutiny in
Indian soldiers, it became epicenter of revolt
•Before Merrut also incidents occurred like mutiny in feb
1857 at Berhampur, in april 1857 Mangal Pandey kills
sergeant major in Barrakpore, may 3 Awadh regiment
defied its officers .
•Merrut mutiny soldiers killed their officers & set off for
Delhi, local infantry in Delhi joined them & killed political
agent “Simon Fraser”
•Bahdur Shah Zafar aged & powerless last Mughal emperor
was proclaimed the emperor of India and leader

9. Participation of all
•Delhi became the centre of great revolt
•Mughal dynasty the traditional symbol of India’s political unity,
Zafar made supreme leader of the revolt
•Bengal,Awadh,Rohilkhand,Doab,Bundelkhand, Central India,
large part of Bihar, east Punjab center of the revolt
•Revolt of the sepoys accompanied by civil population rebellion
in north west province and Awadh
•Peasants , artisans , shopkeepers , day laborers , zamindars,
religious mendicants, priests, civil servants joined the revolt
•Peasants attacked moneylenders & destroyed their debt
records
•Of 1,50,000 who died fighting the English in Awadh over
1,00,000 were civilians

10. Revolt centers & leaders
•Delhi ,Bhahadur Shah , general Bakht Khan led Barreily troops to Delhi
•Kanpur,Nana saheb adopted son of last peshwa Baji rao II , was refused
family title and banished from poona, proclaimed him peshwa
acknowledged Bahadur shah as emperor of India , sir Hugh Wheeler
commanding the station surrenders
•Lucknow, Begum Hazrat Mahal of the deposed Nawab took reins of revolt
•Barreily, Khan Bahadur descendant of former ruler of Rohilkhand ,
resentment over meagre pension given by British
• Bihar, Kunwar Singh ,zamindar of jagdishpur , Arrah , was deprived off his
estates
•Faizabad, Maulvi Ahmadullah
•Jhansi, Laxmibai , Lord Dalhousie refused to allow her adopted son to
succeed to throne after her husband Raja Gangadhar rao died & her state
was annexed through “Doctrine of lapse”
•Tantia tope close associate of Nana Saheb joined Rani Laxmibai after loss
of Kanpur

11. Suppression of revolt
• Delhi was captured on Sept 20,1857
• Bahadur Shah taken as prisoner,exiled to Rangoon
where he died
• Nana Saheb defeated in Kanpur escaped to Nepal
• Tantia tope was captured and killed
• Laxmibai died in battlefield , Jhansi was recaptured by
Sir Hugh Rose
• Begum of Awadh was compelled to hide in Nepal
• By 1859 Kunwar singh,Bakht Khan, Khan Bahadur
Khan,Rao Saheb(brother of Nana saheb) & Maulavi
Ahmadullah were all dead, by the end of 1859 British
authority over India was fully re-established

12. Causes of failure of revolt
•Limited territorial spread, north & middle India
•Big Zamindars,Taluqdars , rulers, middle class
intelligential did not participate
•Not more than one fourth of total area and one
tenth of population participated
•Indian soldiers poorly equipped
•Poor organization & coordination
•Lack of unity among Indian as no nationalism at
this time

13. Hindu Muslim Unity Factor
•Bahadur Shah was Muslim , complete
cooperation at all levels
•Everyone accepted Mughal as emperor
•People & politics before 1858 was not
communal in India

14. Nature of Revolt
•Was it mere sepoy mutiny? As per British
historian
•Military outbreak ………………. Dr K.Datta
•Planned war of national independence…..
V.D. Savarkar in his book “First war of Indian
independence”

15. Consequence
•British crown took direct responsibility of
administration , company rule was abolished
•Lord canning announced it at Allahabad
durbar in “Queen’s proclamation” issued on
nov 1, 1858
•British ended era of annexation & expansion
•Indian states to recognize paramountcy of
British crown
•British followed “divide & rule policy”

19. Lord Dalhousie (1848-1856)
•Second Anglo Sikh war 1848-49
•Annexation of Burma 1852
•Introduction of “Doctrine of Lapse” & annexation of Satara
(1848), Jaipur ,& Sambhalpur(1849), Udaipur(1852), Jhansi(1853),
Nagpur(1854), Awadh(1856)
•Wood’s Dispatch 1854 & introduction of Anglo Vernacular
schools & colleges
•1st Railway line connecting Bombay & Thane 1853
•Post office act 1854 & reforms
•Telegraph lines to connect Calcutta with Bombay, Madras with
Peshawar
•Ganges canal opened 1854
•Widows remarriage Act 1856

20. Lord Canning 1856-57
•3 universities at Calcutta ,Madras, Bombay
1857
•Revolt of 1857
• First Viceroy(representative of crown) cum
Governor general
•Transfer of control from East India company
to Crown through Govt of India Act 1858
•White mutiny by European troops 1859
•Indian council act 1861