Indian Mutiny, 1857 - 1858

Background

To the British: the Indian Mutiny – to many others, India’s First War of Independence.

Since its formation as a trading venture in 1600, the British East India Company had controlled an increasing area of the sub-continent. British efforts to improve trade by introducing law, order and taxes, while bringing prosperity to many, were less than universally popular. But India before 1857 was a disjointed collection of principalities rather than a single country.

At the height of its strength, the Company controlled 130 ships and 200,000 troops.

Various hostilities had occurred between rival European countries vying for trade and territorial domination, and also due to challenges to British control by local rulers – the most notable battle being Robert Clive’s decisive victory at Plassey (1757), against the Nabob of Bengal and the French.

A century later, there were two serious causes for resentment.

First, the British had introduced the Doctrine of Lapse, which allowed the Company to annex the principality of any Indian ruler who died without a natural heir or one who was manifestly incompetent. In 1856 the Oudh, one of the biggest and richest States was taken under British rule in this way.

Secondly, the activities of British missionaries were seen by the local population as attempts to replace their religions with Christianity.

The introduction of a new Enfield rifled musket in the Company’s regiments provided the spark that started the conflagration. The rifle used a paper cartridge, initially covered in tallow, an animal fat. Too late, this was replaced by vegetable fat. The rumour had already spread that pig and cow fats had been used. Indian troops were not convinced that no animal fat was to be used, partly no doubt because of the growing belief that the British were promoting Christianity at the expense of the native religions, including Islam and Hinduism.

Massacre and Slaughter

In May 1857, 85 troopers of the Bengal Light Cavalry at Meerut (in Oudh) refused to load the new Enfield rifle cartridges. They were publicly stripped of their uniforms and imprisoned. The next day their comrades broke rank, turned on their commanding officers, released the prisoners and killed all the Europeans they could find in the cantonment.

It was the start of a rebellion that would witness appalling savagery not only by the rebels, but by British troops, loyal sepoys and Sikhs as well.

The mutiny quickly spread, and was joined by other disaffected groups. Delhi fell on the second day of the uprising and was in rebel hands until September. Fighting was characterised by the massacre of British soldiers their families, other civilians and servants. The revulsion this caused led to the slaughter of rebels when cornered.

Lucknow was besieged from July until relieved and evacuated in November; Cawnpore was taken by the rebels in June but recaptured the following month.

There were initially only 35,000 British soldiers in the whole sub-continent and these were widely scattered. Fortunately for the British, the (military) Mutiny was almost exclusively confined to the Bengal Army. The Company’s Madras and Bombay Armies were relatively unaffected and other units, including Sikhs, Punjabi Moslems and Gurkhas, remained loyal.

Meanwhile reinforcements were being sent out from England. The mutineers never appeared to offer a coherent alternative to British rule and so failed to persuade other native factions to join them. As the fighting was mainly confined to the central northern region, it was clearly only a matter of time before superior military force prevailed.

Following a series of running fights, the British under Colin Campbell won an emphatic victory at Bareilly in May 1858. When the charismatic young Rani of Jhansi was killed fighting at the head of the rebels at Gwalior in June, the mutiny was effectively over.

Aftermath

The most direct and obvious result of the Mutiny was the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, government being transferred to the India Office in London – perhaps the first stepping stone in the path to Independence in 1947.