Causes The largest movement against the colonial regime in British India was the popular uprising of 1857-1859. Its main reason was the cruel and predatory policy of the East India Company, which turned against itself not only the lower classes, but also many representatives of the local feudal nobility, who were forced to give up power and part of their income in favor of the British.

Under the Governor-General of the English possessions, Dalhousie (1848-1857), the situation in India escalated. In addition to the annexation of Oudh, Punjab and Pegu (in 1852), the Company's possessions during this period became a number of vassal states whose rulers died without leaving direct heirs. The next step was Dalhousie's refusal in 1851 to pay pensions to his adopted sons, which were received by their noble parents - the Nawab of Carnatic, the Raja of Tanjore and the Peshwa. The colonial authorities also significantly curtailed the privileges of spiritual feudal lords. Part of their land was confiscated, and the rest was taxed on a common basis. Thus, the number of enemies of the English colonial regime increased significantly. In 1853, the Charter of the East India Company was once again extended, depriving the directors of the right to patronage and introducing competitive exams during the lesson. vacancies. It improved the colonial apparatus, but in no way restricted its political and economic arbitrariness. Despite a number of positive changes - the reduction of taxes in the annexed territories, the construction of telegraph lines, the beginning of laying railways, the completion in 1854 of the construction of the Great Ganges Canal, the streamlining of steamship traffic between England and India - the dissatisfaction of the Indians was growing. Anti-British sentiments were fueled by the ardent sermons of the Wahhabis, who called on the Muslim population to war against the "infidels." The sepoy detachments became the center of organized resistance to the British colonial regime.

Sepoys occupied a lowered position compared to white officers: they received a much lower salary (about 8 rupees per month), access to officer positions was closed to them. In addition, Dalhousie's colonial policy and the religious propaganda of the British missionaries created fear in the sepoy units of forced conversion to Christianity.

The Bengal army, which became the core of the uprising, was formed from Muslims and representatives of the higher castes of Brahmins, Rajputs and Jats, who were among the small feudal landowners and the top of the peasantry. In the process of dispossession of land caused by tax oppression, the interests of these segments of the population suffered greatly. On the eve of the uprising in the army, salary supplements for service outside the province of Bengal were canceled and a new military regulation was introduced, which prescribed the use of these units not only in Bengal, but also outside India. The latter was unacceptable to the Hindus of the upper castes, who were forbidden to cross the sea.

The immediate cause of the uprising was the distribution in the sepoy units of cartridges for the new Enfield guns, smeared with cow fat. This grossly offended the religious feelings of the Hindus.

In April-May 1857, the colonial administration decided to disband two regiments that refused to use new cartridges. On May 9, a court in Meerut sentenced 80 sepoys to hard labor who did not obey the decision of the British authorities.

Insurrection. On May 10, an armed uprising broke out. The sepoy cavalry freed the arrested and moved to Delhi. The Muslim population of the city, who joined the rebels, killed about 500 Europeans and proclaimed Bahadur Shah, a descendant of the Great Mogul, Bahadur Shah, who had previously been a pensioner of the Company, as padishah. The government created by the padishah turned out to be unable to competently organize resistance to the British, and in the end the real power in Delhi passed into the hands of a new rebel body - the administrative chamber, which consisted of 10 people, 6 of whom were elected by the sepoys. The chamber was headed by a certain Bakht Khan who arrived from Rohilkand. However, this body, despite all efforts, failed to ensure neither the proper organization of the movement, nor significantly improve the life of the local population. Sepoys, not receiving allowances, began to leave Delhi. In September 1857 the uprising was crushed.

Almost simultaneously, starting in June 1857, the uprising spread to such important centers as Kanpur and Lucknow (the capital of Oudh). The movement in Kanpur was led by Nana Sahib (real name Dandu Pant), the adopted son of the Peshwa, deprived of hereditary privileges by the English administration. The government of Nana Sahib attempted to establish order in Kanpur by arranging for food to the best of its ability and preventing skirmishes between Muslims and Hindus. In an effort to secure support among the wealthy segments of the population, it actively endowed local zamindars with new land, which caused discontent among the peasantry, who refused to pay land taxes, sacked the estates of feudal lords and burned promissory notes. As a result, by the end of the month, an acute shortage of food and equipment began to be felt in the city. Meanwhile, the British took possession of the rebellious Allahabad, where they massacred the townspeople and by the end of June 1857 forced Sahib to leave for Oudh.

The movement in the third center of the uprising - Oud, fueled by the sermons of Maulavi Ahmadullah (Ahmad Shah), who called for jihad against the infidels, began as early as January 1857. In early June, the sepoy garrison rebelled in Lucknow, and a government was created headed by Hazrat Mahal, the regent young Nawab, enthroned. The sepoy units stationed in most of the cities of Ouda and Bengal joined the rebels, but the Madras and Bombay regiments remained loyal to the British and were subsequently used by the colonial authorities to suppress the rebellion. The English garrison of Lucknow was under siege (June 1857). Only in March 1858 was the siege lifted. The partisan stage of the war began. By November 1858, British authority in Oudh had been restored. However, in Central India, until April 1859, Tantiya Tope continued to fight.

Reasons for the failure of the popular uprising:

1) The local nature of the uprising (Central India almost did not support the rebels);

2) Lack of a single coordinating center;

3) Contradictions among the rebels of a regional, religious and caste nature;

4) The superiority of the European military organization.

A direct consequence of the uprising was the abolition in 1858 of the East India Company. The "Act for the Improvement of Government of India" of August 2, 1858 established the direct crown government of the country. The functions of the abolished Control Council and the Board of Directors were transferred to an appointed member of the British Cabinet - Secretary of State (Minister) for Indian Affairs, under which an advisory body was created - the Indian Council, consisting of major military and civilian officials of the Anglo-Indian service. Instead of the post of Governor General, the post of Viceroy was introduced with similar powers. Queen Victoria's Manifesto of November 1, 1858 declared an amnesty for participants in the rebellion who were not involved in the murder of English subjects. On July 8, 1859, peace was proclaimed on the territory of now in the full sense of the word "British" India, and the Indian rulers were forced to swear allegiance to the British.

LIBERATION UPRISING 1857-1859 IN INDIA

1. Prerequisites, causes and reason for the uprising.

2. The beginning and course of the uprising in 1857–1858; the main centers of the uprising.

3. The second (partisan) stage of the uprising.

4. The class and social composition of the rebels.

5. The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the uprising.

6. The nature of the uprising.

The Sepoy Rebellion is an uprising of Indian soldiers against the brutal colonial policy of the British in 1857-1859. The rebellion began in the north from Bengal to the Punjab and in central India. The main initiative was taken by the army and the recently ousted maharajas, but in some areas it was supported by the peasants, and it turned into a general uprising. Delhi was captured by the rebels, but was later surrounded and taken by the British. The rebellion ended the power of the British East India Company and led to its replacement by direct rule of the English crown.

Background, causes and reason for the uprising

An analysis of the causes of the uprising must begin with the general situation in India to mid-nineteenth in. As a result of a series of wars and conquests that lasted almost a hundred years, almost the entire Indian subcontinent was under the control of the English East India Company. The last Indian territories proper annexed by the British were the state of the Sikhs Punjab (1849) and the Principality of Oudh (1856). However, the power of the East India Company in India by the middle of the XIX century. was substantially limited by the British state. Legislative acts and charters of 1784, 1813 and 1833 liquidated the trade monopoly of the company and introduced the so-called. a system of “dual” management, when, along with the Board of Directors, the Control Council located in London began to play a key role in the management of Indian possessions, in which officials appointed by the British government with the sanction of parliament played a decisive role. In the armed forces of the Company, up to 4/5 were representatives of the local population. The British occupied only officer positions. Only high-caste Hindus and, to a lesser extent, Muslim Indians were accepted into the sepoy units. In general, the economic policy of the British in India not only upset the balance of traditional ways, but also destroyed the rudiments of those market relations that began to take shape here before the intervention of the West. The colonialists sought to adapt the Indian economy to the needs of the industrial society of the metropolis. After the destruction of the rural community with their direct participation in India, the development of capitalist relations began, but on a new basis. Some of the Indian aristocracy also suffered from British policy. As a result of the land tax reform in Bengal, many local ancient aristocratic families went bankrupt and were forced out by a new layer of landowners who came out of the urban merchant class, usurers, speculators, and officials. Already in given period India is turning into a key link in the British colonial system. By the middle of the XIX century. a very complex mechanism for the economic exploitation of India developed, which, thanks to the work of K. Marx, became a kind of "standard" of Western colonialism. This mechanism ensured a stable and large-scale siphoning of material resources from India, which to a large extent ensured the success of the industrial development of the metropolis. On the other hand, the economic policy of Great Britain to a large extent contributed to the development of capitalist relations in India, the formation of new forms of economic relations and the emergence of new branches of the economy. This process took place, however, very painful and contradictory.

The British colonial administration created a kind of fiscal mechanism, the basis of which was the land tax. In some regions of India, four tax systems have been formed based on various forms of land use: “zamindari”, “temporary zamindari”, “rayatvari”, “mauzavar”. during the reign of Governor General Dalhuzi, some economic measures were taken (the construction of the Ganges irrigation canal, the construction of the first railway, post office and: telegraph, etc.). These petty, minimal innovations were necessary for the British bourgeoisie to facilitate and cheapen the export of Indian raw materials and the import of English manufactured goods into India. The working masses of India have not benefited from these insignificant "benefits of civilization", calculated only for the British themselves, and even for the native exploiting elite. Moreover, the position of Indian peasants, artisans and workers worsened, since it was these classes that bore the main burden of the ever-increasing taxes, taxes and duties, which supported the bureaucracy of the British administration and the Anglo-Indian army. The monetary system of India also gradually fell into the hands of the British. In 1805, the Madras Government Bank (combining several smaller banks) was established, which issued loans and issued banknotes. The development of the national banking system of India was hampered by the dominance of merchant and usurious capital, which essentially turned into an agency of British capital. Local moneylenders often provided loans to British trading firms, actively participating in the export of raw materials and the marketing of English products. The transformation of the agrarian sector, which was the basis of the traditional Indian economic structure, as well as the destruction of handicraft production and the death of many handicraft industries, led to a sharp aggravation of the socio-economic situation in India, which was a fundamental factor for the subsequent social explosion. While destroying the old foundations of Indian society, the British colonialists did not create new conditions that could ensure India's progressive economic and cultural development. K. Marx wrote in 1853: “Civil wars, invasions, conquests, famines - all these successive disasters, no matter how complex, stormy and destructive they may seem for Hindustan, affected only its surface. England, on the other hand, has undermined the very foundation of Hindu society, and has hitherto found no attempt to reform it. The loss of the old world without the acquisition of a new one gives a tragic touch to India's present-day calamities and cuts off British-ruled Hindustan from all traditions and all past history.

Other reasons include the infringement of the interests of a significant part of the Indian nobility by the colonial authorities, whose representatives in the middle of the 19th century. en masse, under the pretext of "bad management", their possessions were taken away. In addition, the pensions paid by the British authorities to many Indian princes were reduced. It was the representatives of the Indian princely aristocracy who became the head of the spontaneous uprising that broke out. In addition, the British administration taxed the lands owned by the Indian clergy. Such a policy, of course, caused a certain irritation among the Hindu and Muslim clergy. And the clergy at that time enjoyed great influence among the people. Sepoy-Indians were dissatisfied with a significant reduction in salaries, as well as the fact that they were used in military conflicts outside of India (China, Afghanistan, Iran).

Reason for rebellion was the new Enfield rifle with a primer lock. The cartridge, which was supposed to be bitten, was allegedly soaked in a mixture of beef and pork fat (the cow was a sacred animal in Hinduism, and the pig was unclean in Islam). Although the units of the sepoys were deliberately recruited on a mixed basis, this did not prevent the conspiracy of the Hindus and Muslims. There were also "predictions" that "the East India Company would rule for 100 years" (beginning with the Battle of Plassey, 1757) and that "everything would turn crimson".

Thus, by the middle of the XIX century. there was a combination of socio-economic factors that led to a spontaneous explosion. Local uprisings against the colonial authorities took place in India throughout the first half of the 19th century. In Muslim regions, Wahhabism, which appeared at that time in India, became the leading ideology of the anti-colonial struggle.

The beginning and course of the uprising in 1857–1858; the main centers of the uprising.

Uprising 1857 - 1859 (in British historiography it was called "sepoy") was the largest anti-colonial action in the two hundred years of British presence in India. The uprising began with performances in several sepoy units in northern India.

The first stage of the uprising (spring-autumn 1857).

At the beginning of 1857, guns with new-style cartridges entered service with the Indian army. These cartridges were made at the arms factory in Dum-dum (a suburb of Calcutta); soldiers were also trained in the use of new weapons there. Soon a rumor spread among the sepoys that supposedly the cartridges were lubricated with pig and cow fat. As you know, in those days, a soldier, loading a gun, first bit the cartridge. The cow, according to Brahminist beliefs, is considered a sacred animal, and the slaughter of cows among the Hindus is prohibited. The propagandists explained to the Hindu sepoys that by forcing them to bite into a cartridge lubricated with beef fat, the British were deliberately pushing them to sacrilege; as for the Muslim sepoys, they are allegedly intended for cartridges lubricated with lard, which a faithful Muslim cannot even touch. So, the innovation was interpreted by the sepoy masses as a deliberate insult to the religious feelings of the Indian soldiers by the British. Rumors quickly spread throughout the Bengal army, as well as the population of the Ganges valley. This was the spark that led to the explosion. The British command was not fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. It believed that a harsh reprisal against several instigators of the rebellion would quickly pacify the sepoys who had fallen out of obedience. On March 13, 1857, in Barhampur and Barrakpur (Bengal), a rebellion broke out among the sepoys of the 19th and 34th infantry regiments. The rebellion was quickly suppressed, both regiments were disbanded, and the instigator of the Barrakpur incident, the sepoy Mangal-Panda, who shot three Englishmen, including an English sergeant, was hanged. However, contrary to the optimistic expectations of the British command, the massacre not only did not contribute to calming down, but produced just the opposite effect. On May 10, in Meerut, located on the banks of the Jamna, the sepoys of the 11th and 20th infantry regiments and the 3rd light cavalry regiment killed the British officers, released their comrades from prison, imprisoned for breach of discipline, and then, leaving Mirut, rushed to Delhi. The rebellion broke out spontaneously, without any organized leadership. The local garrison included significant English units: the 6th Guards Dragoon Regiment, horse and field artillery units, and a rifle battalion. But the head of the garrison, General Hewitt, showed complete confusion; the rebels left Meerut unhindered. In Delhi itself, the British managed to blow up the armories so that the rebels did not get them. But they failed to escape. When the Mirut sepoys approached Delhi, the sepoy units of the local garrison rebelled, which were joined by the population of the city. All the British, with the exception of a few who managed to escape, were killed. The capture of Delhi by the rebels was of great political importance. It was the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire, and the descendant of this once powerful Muslim dynasty, Mohammed Shah Bogdur, continued to live here as an English hostage.

From the Delhi region, the uprising spread to other cities in North India. Sepoy mutinies broke out in Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Benares. The movement in Oudh took on a particularly large scale. Here, Nana-Saib, the adopted son of the last Maratha Peshwa, who lived not far from Kanpur, became the head of the uprising. Deprived of his dignity and pension by Lord Dalhousie, he became an ardent enemy of the British and was one of the main leaders of the conspiratorial organization in Oudh. The rebellion of the sepoys in Kanpur began on June 6, 1857. The head of the local garrison, Hugh Wheeler, who fortified the Kanpur citadel in advance, transferred all the British with their families there. The rebellious sepoys laid siege to the citadel. The British held out for about twenty days, and then negotiated with Nana Sahib, agreeing to surrender the fortress on the condition that they be given the opportunity to leave the city and go to Calcutta. Nana Sahib agreed. But, when the British got into the longboats and prepared to sail down the Ganges, fire was opened from the shore. Only one boat survived, the rest perished. Nana Sahib proclaimed himself a Peshwa and solemnly announced the restoration of the Maratha state. This caused discontent among the Muslim sepoys. The Kanpur sepoys insisted on an immediate march to Delhi in order to unite with the rebel forces there. There was also a mutiny at Lucknow, near Kanpur. On June 30, at dawn, he attempted to attack the rebel forces approaching the city. Lawrence set out with a small force of 300 English infantry, 230 sepoys (who had not joined the rebels), a small number of horsemen and ten cannons. In a clash with the sepoys on the Fayzabad road, the English detachment was defeated, its remnants retreated to their shelter, which was soon blocked by the rebels. The explosion of a bomb that fell into the premises of the residence, Lawrence was killed. Nevertheless, the English garrison continued to resist and held out until November, when a detachment of General Collin Campbell finally came to its rescue. The international political situation made it difficult to fight the insurgents. The consequences of the debilitating Crimean War also made themselves felt. Military operations continued in China. The British government feared that the Anglo-Iranian war could be complicated by a serious conflict with Russia. Of course, Russia, however weakened by the Crimean defeat, could still, using the critical position of the British in India, undertake a military demonstration in Afghanistan, which was proposed shortly before these events by some Russian military leaders. And the fact that even at such a very favorable moment this was not done convincingly testifies to the absence of any intentions in St. Petersburg to undertake an invasion of India. One way or another, but the British government was forced to accumulate military reserves and military materials intended for various theaters of war, and therefore could not quickly provide the Governor General of India with significant reinforcements. Still, Canning had quite a lot of resources at his disposal. Calcutta, the capital of British India, remained unaffected by the uprising; it became the main base for conducting operations against the rebels. The authorities of the Bombay and Madras presidencies also succeeded in preventing the uprising.

The second stage of the uprising (autumn 1857-spring 1858).

Having done away with Delhi - this most important center of the uprising, the British command turned its main attention to Oudh, where the British troops fought heavy but unsuccessful battles for three months. In August 1857, General Collin Campbell, a participant in the Crimean campaign, was appointed commander-in-chief of the British troops in India. He energetically began to prepare for a campaign in Oudh. In September and October, reinforcements from the mother country arrived in Calcutta; part of these troops was intended to be sent to the Chinese theater of operations, but at the request of Canning and Campbell was left in India. Early in November, Campbell arrived at Kanpur with a force of fifty thousand, mostly English, with a minority of Sikhs. Campbell had with him strong field, siege and naval artillery for that time. Campbell marched towards Lucknow, leaving Wyndham's small detachment at Kanpur. As a result of successful actions, Campbell managed to free the garrison of the residence at Lucknow, which was blockaded by the sepoys for five months. But at the same time, news came that Wyndham's detachment had been defeated by the rebels. Fearing to be cut off from his base, Campbell hastily retreated to Kanpur. The position of the British in the area was restored, but Lucknow remained with the rebels. At the head of the rebel detachments were Moulevi, Nana Sahib and the surviving son of the Great Mogul Firuz Shah. Hostilities at Oudh dragged on through the winter of 1857/58. In the spring of 1858, Collin Campbell, having received fresh reinforcements, resumed his advance on Lucknow. A significant detachment of the Gurkhas of Nepal, led by Jeng Bahadur, came to the aid of Campbell. On March 14, 1858, after a fierce assault, Lucknow was taken. The fall of Lucknow, which after the loss of Delhi was the main base of the rebels, was a heavy blow for them. Nevertheless fighting continued in parts of Oudh, in Rohilkand, in western Bihar. In early May 1858, the British captured Barely. Moulevi was killed in the skirmish; other leaders of the rebels scattered in different directions. The uprising in North India was largely suppressed, with the exception of small detachments of the rebel army, which still continued guerrilla operations in some areas.

The third stage of the uprising (spring 1858 - spring 1859).

After that, the movement spread to Central India (Jansi, Gwalior). Here, the rebels were led by Lakshmi-bay, the widow of the ruler of the small Marat principality of Jhansi. She was one of those whom Dalhousie stripped of the throne and title. Back in June 1857, Lakshmi Bai led an uprising of the sepoy units stationed in her former possessions, and proclaimed herself the "Rani" (Princess) of Jhansi. In March 1858 Hugh Rose's detachment entered the territory of Jhansi. At the call of the Rani for help, Tantia-Topi, who was retreating from Auda, approached her. The number of his troops was about 20 thousand people. But Rose's timely attack forced Tantia-Topi to retreat. Having thus prevented the connection of Tantia with the troops of the Rani, Rose on the morning of April 3 launched an assault on the city of Jhansi (the capital of the principality). After a fierce battle that lasted a day, on April 4 the city was taken. The British failed to get their hands on Lakshmi Bai. Seeing that the city was cut off, she managed to escape before dawn with a handful of warriors and servants devoted to her. During the assault on Jansi, about 5 thousand of its defenders were killed. Lakshmi Bai joined Tantia Topi. Within a month, they managed to form a relatively large detachment from the remnants of their troops and gain a foothold in the forests, gardens and villages in the Kalpi region. However, the British, having already eliminated all the main centers of the uprising in the north, were able to concentrate significant forces on the Jansi sector. The English detachment, pursuing the rebels, surrounded their positions in Calpi. On May 23, an assault was made. The rebel troops were defeated, but still part of them, led by Tantia-Topi and Lakshmi-bay, broke through to the west, to Gwalior. The Marat Maharaja of Sindia, who reigned in Gwalior, was a loyal vassal of the British; did not count on his support. But when the rebel detachment approached, the troops of Sindia rebelled and joined the rebels. On June 18, on the heights of Lashkar, near Gwalior, a decisive battle took place between the British troops and the rebel detachment. Lakshmi-bai, on horseback, fought in the ranks of her warriors. Struck by a bullet and a saber blow, she died a heroic death on the battlefield. The British occupied Gwalior and, of course, returned the throne to their agent, the Maharaja of Sindia. Tantia-Topi survived this time as well. Again, the brave commander broke through the enemy ring and took with him several thousand soldiers loyal to him. He went to Rajputana. hoping to get help from the warlike Rajputs, these "Hindu knights." Indeed, here Tantia-Topi found a new ally Man Sing, one of the minor rajas. Offended by the ruler of Gwalior, who had taken away part of his possessions, Man Sing had long been waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on his enemy and his patrons - the British. Meanwhile, the British troops completed the liquidation of the remnants of the rebel detachments in Ouda and other areas of Northern India. By the end of 1858 this operation was completed. Nana-Saib managed to hide in the mountains. His further fate remained unknown: there are suggestions that he took refuge somewhere in Nepal. In November 1858, one of the closest assistants of Tantia-Topi, Navvab Benda, defected to the British, and some other rebel leaders followed his example. Man Sing has so far remained loyal to his ally, but it was he who later turned out to be the main traitor. On April 2, 1859, Man Sing appeared in the camp of the British and, having reprimanded himself and his family for safety and honorable treatment, expressed his humility. Two weeks later, on the instructions of Man Sing, the hideout of Tantia-Topi was discovered in the jungle, near Sipri. He was captured and sentenced to hang. The two-year liberation struggle of the Indian people against the British enslavers ended in defeat.

The class and social composition of the rebels.

English dissatisfaction. colonial power that embraced the Pattidar and petty feuds. a layer of the population of the district for the recruitment of sepoys, penetrated into Beng. army. It was strengthened by the fact that shortly before 1857 the British took away the beng. sepoys a number of privileges (for example, the right to serve only within India) and reduced salaries. The oppression of the colonialists was keenly felt by the artisans, who were ruined as a result of the penetration of the English into India. manufactured goods. To the displeasure of the people the dissatisfaction of many large feudal lords, whose princes and estates were taken away by the British by force or on the basis of the law on "escheat possessions" carried out by the governor-general Dalhousie, was added to the masses. Various classes of India took part in the uprising, but the driving force was the most numerous. class - the peasantry, as well as artisans. The peasantry had the goal of getting rid of the tax and usurers. exploitation and return hereditary rights to land. The feudal lords, who played a large role in leading the uprising, sought to expel the British only in order to restore the monopoly right they had lost to exploit the Indian people.

The reasons for the defeat and the significance of the uprising.

What were the reasons for the defeat of the uprising?

Historiography highlights a number of factors that predetermined the defeat of the uprising:

1. Despite the large territory of distribution, the uprising did not become truly united. Its individual centers (Delhi, Agra, Kanpur) actually existed in isolation from each other.

2. Extremely weak military organization of the rebels. The sepoys, being well-trained soldiers, had practically no skills in leading military operations and organizing large-scale military operations.

3. The essentially utopian idea of ​​the revival of the Mughal Empire, which arose after the victory of the uprising in Delhi, did not meet with support from a significant part of the rebels, and primarily from the Hindus. Moreover, this idea was received with suspicion or hostility in Central and Northern India, Punjab, Nepal and a number of other regions. Because of this, the uprising covered only part of northern India.

4. The traditional disunity of the Indian population along confessional, ethnic, and caste criteria has played its role. The factor of traditional contradictions between different groups of the Indian population was most effectively used by the British colonizers.

In general, the uprising of 1857-1859. was a spontaneous reaction typical of Eastern societies to the process of forced structural adjustment caused by the policies of the Western powers. Such spontaneous movements, based largely on the ideology of a retrograde utopia (return to some "ideal" orders of the past) were characteristic of many eastern states(Taipings in China, Babids in Iran, etc.). There are various assessments of the uprising in historiography: K. Marx and F. Engels considered it as a national liberation movement of the Indian people against British colonialism. Later, this assessment became dominant in Soviet historiography. British historians interpreted the events of 1857-1859. in India solely as an attempt by "reactionary" forces to hinder the progressive development of Indian territories under British rule." It is noteworthy that a similar assessment was shared by some Indian scientists and public figures. However, despite the difference in estimates, almost all researchers agree that this event was one of the turning points in the history of India.

Reasons for the defeat

The main reasons for the defeat of the sepoys: the military superiority of the British colonialists over the rebellious people; differences in the goals of the rebels, primarily peasants and feudal lords; the continued disunity of the peoples of India helped the colonialists to isolate the main center of the uprising and mobilize all the resources of the Deccan, Bengal and Punjab to suppress it

The meaning of the uprising.

The Sepoy Rebellion ushered in a new stage of British colonial policy in India. Since then, a strong alliance has been formed between the British colonial administration, on the one hand, and the feudal-aristocratic elite of Indian society, on the other. Bought by handouts and privileges, Hindu and Muslim princelings, large landowners and high clergy become the mainstay of the British colonial regime; they actively help the British to suppress the people's liberation movements, to oppress and exploit the working masses of India. At the same time, the British administration is making every effort to kindle strife between Hindus and Muslims and thus thwart or at least slow down the development of the nationwide liberation struggle in India. However, despite the fact that the first major Indian national uprising ended in a tragic defeat, it still caused considerable damage to the military and financial power of the Anglo-Indian government and significantly undermined its international political prestige. Over the next ten to fifteen years the British were forced to somewhat weaken their expansionist policy in India, which discovered in 1857-1859. its obvious weakness.

Having suppressed the uprising, the British authorities proceeded to brutal repression. Captured rebels, and along with them peaceful Indian peasants and townspeople, were hanged, tortured, shot, tied to the muzzles of cannons. Entire villages and city blocks were swept off the face of the earth. On the other hand, the aristocratic circles involved in the movement not only did not suffer punishment, but were treated kindly and showered with favors. The Anglo-Indian administration system was reorganized. The Act for the Improvement of Government of India, passed by the English Parliament on August 2, 1858, liquidated the East India Company, which in fact had long since lost its former importance, and annexed India to the possessions of the British crown. Instead of the former Control Council in London, which carried out the supreme management of Indian affairs, a special Ministry for Indian Affairs was established. The Governor General of India received the title of Viceroy. All the armed forces in India, hitherto in the service of the East India Company, were transferred to crown service. According to a plan worked out by a special commission, the ratio between the "native" and the English contingents of troops was set at 2:1 in Upper India and 3:1 in the rest of the regions.

However, the transfer of the army to the crown service, the conditions of which were less favorable and more severe than the service of the company, caused grumbling and discontent among the English soldiers. In the summer of 1859, in many units there were cases of disobedience to commanders, and in Barampur the 5th European Bengal Regiment raised an open rebellion. The indignation was quickly contained, but these incidents revealed the unreliability of those European troops, who had hitherto been considered the unshakable support of the Anglo-Indian government. It was decided to radically reorganize the armed forces in India. The Anglo-Indian army, which until then had been supposed to be kept as a separate autonomous unit, was merged with the English army of the mother country. Its European contingent in 1876 amounted to 76 thousand people, and the Indian - 120 thousand people. (including 131 infantry battalions and 36 cavalry regiments).

Causes of the uprising

The rebellion of the Indian sepoys broke out in 1858, and was crushed by the British colonialists in 1859. The reason for the uprising is a predatory policy and a cruel attitude towards the local population. They systematically destroyed Indian national crafts and traditional trade relations, contemptuously treated Indian beliefs and customs. caste system kept, but it was done for their own interests. The English East India Company often interfered in the affairs of Indian states, ignored the interests of the nobility, forcing them to relinquish power and taking away part of the income of Indian businessmen.

sepoys

Sepoys were Indian soldiers in the British army operating in the colonies of India. The army consisted of forty thousand Europeans and fifteen thousand Indian sepoys of various castes and religions. The position of the sepoys among white Europeans was unenviable: they could never get an officer's rank, their salary was much less, rather meager. Colonial policy, British missionaries gave rise to the fear of forced conversion to Christianity in the ranks of the sepoys and the entire local population. Therefore, the Indian rulers, also suffering from the arbitrariness of the British colonialists, began to incite the sepoys to revolt.

Reason for rebellion

Once the sepoys were given cartridges lubricated with beef fat. The colonialists, of course, knew that the cow in India is a sacred animal, it can not only be killed, but also disturbed, and even taking a substance taken from the corpse of a cow into the mouth is a blasphemous crime. To load the weapon, the cartridges had to be bitten. But the sepoys even refused to take them in hand. Among the sepoys were also disgruntled Muslims who joined the Indians, hoping that Delhi would someday be the center of an Islamic state.

The course of the uprising

In the spring (April-May 1857), the colonial administration dismissed all those who refused to use new cartridges, and eighty of them were sentenced to hard labor by a court in Meerut (the main fortress of the northeastern provinces). On May 10, an armed uprising began. Having freed the arrested, the sepoy cavalry moved towards Delhi. The Muslim population joined the rebels, exterminated about five hundred Europeans and declared one of the descendants of the Great Moghuls as the sultan. At the same time, the sepoys launched military operations in Kanpur and Lucknow. In Kanpur, the revolt was led by Nana-sagib (Dandu Pant), who was deprived of hereditary rights by the decision of the British administration. Kanpur, where the English and their families lived, was besieged by the sepoys for nineteen days, but then surrendered. Nana-sagib dealt with the Europeans: he shot the men, and took women and children hostage. And Lucknow, the British were more fortunate. They held the siege for three months (June-September), until the arrival of reinforcements. The sepoys in the cities of Ouda and Bengal joined the rebels, while the Bombay and Madras regiments remained loyal to the British and were used by the colonial authorities in suppressing the uprising. The rebellion covered the territory of the Ganges valley.

The rebels were not supported by such Indian states as the Maratha Confederation and Hyderabao. The Sikhs of Punjab leaned towards the British because of their anti-Muslim sentiment. Beginning on the fourteenth of August, the assault on Delhi lasted a whole week. The British took the city. The rebels were punished, many were executed. Nana-sahib held Kanpur for a long time, but, leaving the city, destroyed the hostages - the wives and children of the British. Lucknow was saved by General Colin Campbell with his units, who arrived here to suppress the uprising. In the spring of 1859, with the help of Campbell's units, the rebellion was finally crushed. Nana Sahib fled to Nepal. The British administration announced an amnesty to all participants in the uprising, provided that they were not involved in the murder of English subjects. Indian rulers took an oath of allegiance to the British. The uprising of the sepoys had the following consequences: the East India Company was abolished and crown administration was introduced in the country.