Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

FREEDOM MOVEMENT Freedom is my birthright and I will have it’

I- PHASE 1857-1885

The Great Uprising of 1857

- Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

It is often referred to as the First War of Indian Independence. The accumulated hatred against the British rule burst into a mighty rebellion. It was the outcome of the changing conditions of the time. The Revolt of 1857 was an uprising that was waiting to happen. One hundred years of British imperialism had created a ferment across the land that was fuelled by a combination of political, economic, social, religious and military factors. The Revolt was suppressed but it marks a turning point in the history of India. It led to the growth of a new national consciousness which found expres- sion in the formation of the Indian National Con- gress, the Muslim League, the Home Rule League, the Swarajist Party and other organisations. The real awakening of India took place after the parti- tion of Bengal in 1905. The agitation against the partition led to its annulment in 1911. The ‘divide and rule’ policy actively pursued by the British and the crystallisation of the idea of Pakistan after it first found expression at the Allahabad session of the Muslim League in 1930 resulted in the partition of the country when independence came in August 1947.

1861 Indian Councils'Act

. India's freedom movement has a unique place not just in national history but in the History of the World.

1878 Vernacular Press Act

Our presentation of this epic struggle is studded with visuals and gripping first hand accounts culminating in the historic midnight of freedom 14-15th August, 1947. The period 1857-1950 is split into four phases.

1879 I.C.S. (Indian CiVil Service) Established initially only by nomination for loyalists. 1882 Lord Ripon issued Resolution on Local Self-Government.

I.

1857-1885 The great uprising.

II. 1885-1905 Dawn of Nationalism : Congress Era.

III. 1905-1918 Gathering Storm

IV. 1918-1950 Age of Gandhi, Subhas, Nehru,Patel

1 . Peshawar 2 . Roorkee 3. Meerut 4. Delhi 5. Aligarh 6 . Mathura 7. Bharathpur 8 . Gwalior 9. Jhansi 10. Nasirabad 11 . Indore 12. Kolhapur 13. Cuttack 14. Sambalpur 15. Barrackpore 16. Chittagong 17. Dacca 18. Hazaribagh 19.. Ranchi 20. Gorakhpur 21 . Azamgarh 22 . Allahabad 23. Lucknow 24. Agra 25. Shahjahanpur

Major centres of Revolt

TantiaTope

Begum Hazrat Mahal

Rao Tula Ram

Mangal Pandey

January 1857 Sepoys of Dum Dum refused to accept greased cartridges * May 10,1857 Uprising starts in Meerut.

March 1857 Mangal Pandey executed at Barrackpore

As Lord Canning who seems to have had a

premonition

of

the

trouble

ahead,

had

put it, ‘In the sky of India, serene as it is,

a small cloud may arise, at first no big-

ger than a man's hand, but which, grow-

ing larger and larger, may at last threaten

to burst and overwhelm us with ruin. ’

But the outburst he feared came much

Scene depicting the battle between the British infantry and the rebel cavalry outside Kanpur

too soon and in an unexpected manner.

Red Fort-the rallying point of rebels at Delhi

The greatest and the most widespread armed uprising in Northern India which shook the foundations of British rule in India took place in 1857. The chief protagonists were the Indian soldiers of the British army, zamindars and the general populace affected by British policies. This rebellion is also called the “Sepoy Re- volt”.

British officers.

Lord Dalhousie managed to demoralize the Bengal Army, through his assault on the smaller land-holders of Avadh nearly 40 percent of whom were griev- ously hurt by arbitrary evictions. Lord Canning's General Services En- listment Act requiring the sepoys to serve in any part of the world was seen

ii)

The causes of the revolt can be grouped into five heads - political, economic, social, religious and military. i) The morale of the Indian soldiers had been declining. Salaries were meagre, chances of promotion were bleak. They had to suffer the contempt of feckless

iii)