Nearly Losing an Empire: The British in India, 1829-58 (The Mutiny)

Question 1

What were the immediate causes of the 1857 Rebellion?

Answer 1

1) The Annexation of Awadh
2) Rumors amongst the Sepoys that new cartridges were lubricated with animal fat.
3) The General Service Enlistment Act

Question 2

What was the long-term cause of the 1857 rebellion?

Answer 2

Cultural ignorance.

Question 3

Who led the campaign against thagi?

Answer 3

William Sleeman

Question 4

When did the campaign against thagi begin?

Answer 4

1835

Question 5

What was the name of the thagi that Sleeman captured?

Answer 5

Feringhea (also known as Syeed Amir Ali)

Question 6

When was the Thagi and Dacoity Department created?

Answer 6

1835

Question 7

How many Thagi were transported or hanged for their crimes?

Answer 7

1,000

Question 8

How many Thagi were punished in total?

Answer 8

3,000

Question 9

Where was Thagi activity most prevalent?

Answer 9

Central and Northern India

Question 10

What is Sati?

Answer 10

The tradition of self-immolation by Hindu widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands.
The tradition reflects the Hindu belief in the sanctity of the marriage bond which meant that remarriage was not an option for windows.

Question 11

Among which caste was Sati most prevalent?

Answer 11

The custom was most common among higher castes suggesting that the motivation was primarily religious belief rather than economic necessity.

Sati occurred most regularly in the Bengal presidency and the Sikh Punjabi kingdom.

Question 12

What was the Doctrine of Lapse?

Answer 12

An annexation policy devised by Dalhousie which stated that any princely state under direct influence of the British should be annexed if the ruler was incompetent or died without an heir.

Question 13

What was paramountcy?

Answer 13

The state or fact of being of greater importance than anyone else.

Paramountcy over Indian states has been claimed by the British since 1813, but Dalhousie’s policies of intervention were an extension of this principle.

After 1857, the British supported the incumbents of the princely states rather than attempting to remove them and annex their territories.

Question 14

When was Awadh annexed?

Answer 14

1856

Question 15

Who was disposed during the annexation of Awadh after being accused of maladministration?

Answer 15

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah

Question 16

How many states had already been annexed under the new Dalhousie policy?

Answer 16

6 (Awadh was the 7th)

Question 17

Why was the resentment of the annexation of Awadh so significant?

Answer 17

It was the traditional recruiting ground of the Sepoys of the Company’s Bengali army.

Question 18

Why were the rumours about the new cartridges so significant?

Answer 18

The new cartridges were lubricated with animal fat, placing both Hindu’s and Muslims at risk of defilement, as beef fat was repugnant to Hindus and pork to Muslims.

To many sepoys, it seemed to prove Britain’s dark plan for the Christianisation of India and the rumour or proved to be the spark that ignited simmering resentments held by missionaries.

Question 19

How did the General Service Enlistment Act, 1856 led to the Rebellion?

Answer 19

It broke the long held tradition by which soldiers of the Bengali army did not serve where they were unable to march, as travel over water would dilute their caste status. The act only applied to new recruits, but the sepoys feared that they would eventually be forced to serve abroad.

As recruitment in the Bengali army traditionally drew very largely from the higher caste Hindus, this was a very contentious issue.

Question 20

When were 85 sepoys court martialed?

Answer 20

9th May 1857

Question 21

Why were 85 sepoys court martialed?

Answer 21

They refused to load the new rifles.

Question 22

What happened as a result of the court martial of 85 sepoys?

Answer 22

All three sepoy regiments rose in revolt while the British were at church, freeing the original mutineers and then proceeding to massacre all the local Europeans, including women and children.

Question 23

Why were the British able to retain control?

Answer 23

• The rebels were not a cohesive force.
  The centres of revolt in Delhi, Lucknow and Cawnpore each had their own centres of power converged around the rebel leaders, two Muslim ruler and one Hindus Maratha, so once the British has regrouped they simply needed to eliminate one centre of resistance after another.
• The other two presidency armies remained loyal to the British and the area around Calcutta itself remained unaffected by the unrest

Question 24

How were the rebels punished?

Answer 24

• Entire villages were massacred.
• At Cawnpore, mutineers were forced to lick clean blood-stained buildings, before being forced to eat pork or beef and then publicly hanged.
• In Peshawar, 40 men were strapped to the barrels of a cannon and blown apart, the old Mughal punishment for mutiny.

Question 25

When was the Government of India Act passed?

Answer 25

2nd August 1858.

Question 26

How many deaths a year took place as a result of Sati?

Answer 26

600

Question 27

When was Sati banned in Calcutta?

Answer 27

1798