The East India Company had established its control over almost all parts of India by the middle of the 19th century. There were numerous risings in the first hundred years of British rule in India. They were, however, local and isolated in character. Some of them were led by the nobility who were refusing to accept the changing patterns of the time and wanted the past to be restored. But the risings developed a tradition of resistance offoreign rule, culminating in the 1857 revolt.
The Revolt of 1857, which was called a Sepoy Mutiny by British historians and their imitators in India but described as "the First War of Indian Independence" by many Indian historians, shook the British authority in India from its very foundations.
The Revolt of 1857, an unsuccessful but heroic effort to eliminate foreign rule, had begun. The capture of Delhi and the proclamation of Bahadurshah as the Emperor of Hindustan are a positive meaning to the Revolt and provided a rallying point for the rebels by recalling the past glory of the imperial city.
On May 10, 1857, soldiers at Meerut refused to touch the new Enfield rifle cartridges. The soldiers along with other group of civilians, went on a rampage shouting 'Maro Firangi Ko'. They broke open jails, murdered European men and women, burnt their houses and marched to Delhi. The appearance of the marching soldiers next morning in Delhi was a'signal to the local soldiers, who in turn revolted, seized the city and proclaimed the 80-year old Bahadurshah Zafar, as Emperor of India.
Within a month of the capture of Delhi, the Revolt spread to the different parts of the country. Kanpur, Lucknow, Benaras, Allahabad, Bareilly, Jagdishpur and Jhansi. In the absence of any leader from their own ranks, the insurgents turned to the traditional leaders of Indian society. At Kanpur, NanaSaheb, the adopted son of last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, led the forces. Rani Lakshmi Bai in Jhansi, Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow and .Khan Bahadur in Bareilly were in command. However, apart from a commonly shared hatred for alien rule, the rebels had no political perspective or a definite vision of the future. They were all prisoners of their own past, fighting primarily to regain their lost privileges. Unsurprisingly, they proved incapable of ushering in a new political order.
Government of India Act 1858
Queen Victoria issued a proclamation on November 1, 1858, placing India under direct government of the Crown, whereby:
(a) A viceroy was appointed in India
(b) Princes were given the right to adopt a son (abolition of Doctrine of Lapse)
(c) Treaties were honoured
(d) Religious freedom was restored and equality treatment promised to Indians
The Proclamation was called the 'Magna Carta of Indian Liberty'. The British rule in India was strongest between 1858 and 1905. The British also started treating India as its most precious possession and their rule over India seemed set to continue for centuries to come. Because of various subjective and objective factors which came into existence during this era, the feeling of nationalism in Indians started and grow.
Indian National Congress (1885)
Although the British succeeded in suppressing the 1857 Revolt, they could not stop the growth of political awareness in India. The Indian National Congress was founded in December 1885. It was the v.........................more details
