East and West Company (1st), War of Independence 1857 (2nd)

 

East and West Company (1st)

England was the superpower at that time when, In 1600, She found the need to go towards east and west, for trading purposes, which later was evolved into political purposes to make their colonies and to govern the subcontinent. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, Britain created two companies. One was going toward the east means Subcontinent and the other was going toward the west which was America.BeforeBritish east India Company, most other companies from different countries were also in the subcontinent. East India Company somehow managed to kick them out of the subcontinent. The main aim was to colonize both America and Subcontinent. However, in 1776, America fought and took her freedom from Britain. East India Company entered from Bengal and gradually took control over Subcontinent. There are two battles that play a decisive role in the rule of the British in the subcontinent and they are the battle of Plessey in 1757 which is the first battle of the British with the Indians, just 100 years before the 1857 war of Independence, and the battle of Buxar in 1763 in Bengal. The hero of the Battle of Plessey from India was Siraj-udDulah.

East and West Company (1st), War of Independence 1857 (2nd)

Three Important battles of Panipat

• The First Battle of Panipat (1526) fought between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi

• Second Battle of Panipat (1556), fought between Hemu and Akbar

• Third Battle of Panipat (1761), fought between the Maratha and the Ahmad Shah Abdali

War of Independence 1857 (2nd)

Places

it started from Meerut, and then Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi and Gwalior and ended in Bihar.

Mutiny or War

It is a controversial topic that whether to call that a war or mutiny. Britain Historian says that it was mutiny because it fought on a smaller scale, while at the same time subcontinent historian call that a war. 

War of Independence 1857

Causes of War

There were cultural, political, religious, economical causes and these were the followings.

• East India Company showed them with the aim to trade only, however they gradually took over the subcontinent and started governing there. The prince of different states was jailed and many people were killed by them badly. This was a political cause.

• The doctrine of lapse was introduced by the British, in which it was stated that the empires which don’t have natural hire would directly move under the British Government. It is for this reason Princess of Jansi fought. This was also a political reason.

• Introduction of Enfield Refile, to fire that one must bite the lubricated cartridge which was greased with the pig and cow fats. Pig for Muslim was considered taboo and Cow was holy to Hindus. Soldiers reject to use the refiles. They were jailed and killed for that. This was the Army cause.

• Since Subcontinent was a Muslim and Hindu state, it could not bear any other religion which was preached. So British who were preaching Christianity made the Indians gain anger. This was a religious cause.

• The language which is culturally a very important factor was changed in the subcontinent. In 1845, Lord Macaulay made an education policy to change the language from native to English. This was a cultural cause.

• They extract raw material and their finished product would be sold at an expensive price to the locals. They charged taxes on unnecessary products like salt. This was the economical reason.

Causes of failure of the war

• Limited numbers of Army.

• Better Equipment of British

• Native rulers lacked leadership.

• Intelligentsia was against the war

• Lack of strategy was there. No good planning and miscommunication were the reason for failure.

• The diplomacy of the British was one of the tools that lead to failure. They were keen to divert the people from the main cause. For example, they would make people of India that your main aim is to get shelter, water, food, and clothing. In addition, they were using the divide and rule policy.

Aftermath

• East India Company was replaced with the direct rule of the British government.

• They continued their journey to control more areas.

• Introduced a civil service act 1861.

• The whole Indian army structure was changed.

• They continued economic exploitation by taxing and exporting raw materials to the British. GDP of India before British was 24 and after was just 4.