![]() ![]() By 1858 the official policy had become more conciliatory. Britain’s initial response to the rebellion was savage, especially after stories circulated about the rape and murder of British women and children. “What began as a mutiny in some regiments of the EIC army quickly escalated to include a number of forms of resistance including renewed loyalty to the Mughal Emperor, or local political manoeuvring designed to restore rights lost to the EIC. The rebellion created a legacy of racial hatred which permeated all aspects of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled”.ĭr Jane Samson, The British Empire (OUP 2001), comments: The British in India bayed for even more bloody revenge. The rebels committed acts of great brutality and were suppressed in equally brutal ways. The result of complex and multiple causes, the rising expressed the accumulated anger of many sections of the population in north and central India – dispossessed princes, disgruntled soldiers, and a harassed peasantry from whom the company’s army was largely recruited. “The Empire was nearly destroyed by the great rebellion of 1857, described inaccurately as the Mutiny. Tapan Raychauduri, Emeritus Fellow, St Antony’s College, Oxford writing in The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (1996 Cambridge University Press), observes: The majority of the diaries in this part are concerned with the Mutiny itself and the years either side of the rebellion which had far-reaching consequences. The princes kept their privileges but had to cooperate with the British. The remaining provinces were ruled by princes and the East India Company drew up treaties with them, beneficial to both parties. The concept of remodelling the country along Western lines flew directly in the face of native religions and customs and the complex network of local privileges.īy the time of the Mutiny in 1857 almost two-thirds of India was under British control. However, it was at this point that changes in British policy and attitudes began to store up major problems for the future. In part, success in India compensated for the loss of America in 1783. They comprise about three hundred collections of British statesmen, soldiers, administrators, scholars, missionaries, businessmen and others, and some three thousand smaller deposits.”įormer Curator of European Manuscripts, The British Libraryīy 1819 British supremacy in India was undisputed and became a source of great patriotic pride in the post-Waterloo years. ![]() “The European Manuscripts of the Oriental and India Office Collections of the British Library are probably the world’s largest collection of private papers relating to India and South Asia. ![]() Part 2: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, 1819-1859 Part 1: Diaries and Related Records Describing Life in India, c.1750-1842 Though the revolt failed to achieve the desired goal, it sowed the seeds of Indian nationalism.INDIA DURING THE RAJ: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTSĭiaries and Related Records Held at the British Library, London It united, though in a limited way, many sections of Indian society for a common cause. The revolt of 1857 was an unprecedented event in the history of British rule in India. Maulvi Ahmadullah (He declared the Revolt as Jihad against English) Nana Sahib, Rao Sahib (nephew of Nana), Tantia Tope, Azimullah Khan (advisor of Nana Sahib) Hakim Ahsanullah (Chief advisor to Bahadur Shah II)īegum Hazrat Mahal, Birjis Qadir, Ahmadullah (advisor of the ex-Nawab of Awadh) Important leader Associated with the Revolt of 1857
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