the indian mutiny

Question 1

Doctrine of Lapse?

Answer 1

Political:

Used by Dalhousie to annex territory claiming no blood heirs to replace Indian ruler. EIC used it to annex territory taking Nagpur, Satara and Jhansi. Mysore annexed by 1830s.

Question 2

Province of Oudh

Answer 2

Political:

EIC expanded here, the last large independent state in Northern India

Question 3

Taxation

Answer 3

Economic:

Over 250 million in Indian population, their money enriched the EIC

Question 4

Textile industry

Answer 4

EIC destroyed this, the whole industry was wiped out as the British had destroyed their looms, this was in order for the British to export their own cloth to the Indians

Question 5

Land ownership

Answer 5

Economic:

New laws on this ended communal ownership, led to growth of famines in India

Question 6

Missionaries

Answer 6

Socio-Religious:

EIC policy of imposing Christianity on Indian population

Question 7

Faith taxation

Answer 7

Socio-Religious:

Targeted Muslim Mosques and Hindu Temples but not Christian Churches

Question 8

Banning of sutee

Answer 8

Policy introduced by Bentinck in 1830s, alienating many Indians, in this such ritual the widow was burnt alive with her dead husband

Question 9

Education system

Answer 9

Socio-Religious:

Bentinck’s introduction of this angered some Indians, as it was taught on the English model, evidence of British cultural dominance

Question 10

Enfield Rifle

Answer 10

Military:

Spark of the Mutiny, the cartridge had pig and cow fat greased on it, Hindus saw cows as holy and Muslims saw pigs as unclean, Pandey rebelled against senior officer

Question 11

British defeats

Answer 11

Military:

First Anglo-Afghan war 1839-42 ended in defeat, Sepoys saw how incompetent the British were. Crimean War 1854-6 also highlighted ineptitude of British army. Mutiny was also a century after the Battle of Plassey

Question 12

Sepoy pay

Answer 12

Military:

Relatively low, Batta payments stopped when British rule extended across India, Sepoys poorly paid by 1840s. Hindu soldiers still had to pay costly purification rituals after returning from fighting abroad.

Question 13

General Services Enlistment Act of 1856

Answer 13

Military:

Indian soldiers now expected to serve the EIC across the Empire, not just in India

Question 14

Caste privileges

Answer 14

Military:

Bengali Sepoys usually from high class so given additional privileges, including ban on flogging and no mixing of castes and religions.

EIC began reforms, mixing castes and setting up Gurkha and Sikh regiments (seen as inferior to Bengali)

Question 15

Growing division

Answer 15

Military:

After 1840s, with a new Governor General of EIC (Dalhousie), attitudes changed. Dalhousie despised Sepoys and Indians and sought to impose Christianity on them.