What was the Indian Mutiny

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A.� The mutiny of 1857-58 began with Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company but developed into a widespread uprising against British rule in India. It is also known as the Sepoy Rebellion.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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A.� For more than 150 years the East India Company had raised its own armed forces. The three administrative areas of India - Bombay, Madras and Bengal - each maintained�its own army, paid for entirely out of the company's Indian revenues. Together they were larger than the British Army. India, however, was developing a climate of social and political unrest. The political expansion of the East India Company at the expense of local rulers enraged both Hindu and Muslim people. Harsh policies on land ownership by Governor-General Dalhousie and his successor, Lord Canning, were threatening traditional India.

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Q.� So this was a cultural revolution in some ways

A.� Very much so. The British had been ruling India in conjunction with the local princes, but then they started to lose touch with their Indian subjects. Some historians blame the development of the steamship.

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Q.� Why

A.� Faster journeys from Britain to India meant it was now possible for officers to go home on leave - and for wives and children to come out and live with them. Before, officers had spent all their time with their sepoys - native soldiers - or with Indian mistresses. Their new domestic bliss caused them to grow apart from the Indian people. The British rulers began to renege on their deal. In 1853, Nana Sahib - leader of the Maratha people - was denied his title and pension. And Bahadur Shah II, the Mughal emperors, was told that the dynasty would end with his death.

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Q.� What about the sepoys

A.� In 1857 there were 257,000 sepoys in India and 34,000 European soldiers. The sepoys - mainly high-caste Hindus - were dissatisfied with pay as well as changes in regulations, which they thought were a plot to make them adopt Christianity. And then came the cartridge incident.

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Q.� What was that

A.� Sepoys were issued with cartridges coated with grease made from the fat of cows (sacred to Hindus) and of pigs (hated by Muslims). These were soon replaced when the British realised the gaffe. But the rumour got around that this animal fat was still being used and, in February 1857, the sepoys refused to use the cartridges.

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Q.� And it went downhill from there

A.� Yes. On 10 May the sepoys revolted at Meerut; they captured Delhi and proclaimed Bahadur Shah II the emperor of all India. The mutiny spread rapidly through north central India and, by the end of June, Cawnpore (Kanpur) had fallen to the sepoys of Nana Sahib, and Lucknow was besieged.

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Q.� How was the mutiny ended

A.� Savagely, and with the help of the Sikhs of Punjab, who did not want restoration of Mughal rule. Troops under generals Colin Campbell and Henry Havelock recaptured Delhi September 1857, and Lucknow was retaken in March 1858. The rebellion was marked by atrocities on both sides.

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Q.� And was anything learned from this bloodshed

A.� Yes. The British government realised reform was needed and promptly abolished the East India Company. India would now be ruled directly by the Crown, expropriation of land was stopped, religious toleration decreed and Indians were admitted to lower positions in the civil service.

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Q.� And did they all work

A.� Up to a point... but the�revival�of Indian nationalism had begun, and soon began to be make its mark in other ways.

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by Steve Cunningham