Imperialism In India

1. Imperialism In India

2. TIME LINE • 1600’s- English East India Company began setting up trading post around the Indian sea. • 1757- East India Co. Troops defeated allied Indian forces • 1845- East India Co. gained more control over Sindh province • 1848- Second Anglo-Sikh War and the company took control over Punjab • May 10, 1857- Rebellion Begins • July 16, 1857- Britain captures Cawnpore • November 1857- Sepoys outflanked by British • March 1858- Sepoys outflanked again • 1859- The Rebellion Ends from lost hope in the Indians • 1947- End of British Rule in India or the end of the Raj

3. Key People • Lord Aberdeen- British Prime Minister who opened the Indian Civil Service to native Indians but was viewed as an insufficient reform • General George Anson- Commander in Chief in India who was in charge of the troops during the Enfield Rifle controversy • Jemadar Ishwari Prasad- was ordered to arrest Mangal Pandey but he refused to arrest him • Bahadur Shah II- last Mughal emperor of India, political figurehead, completely controlled by the British East India Company and was convicted of complicity and was exiled • Hadrat Imdadullah Mahajir Makki- was a great Muslim saint of the Chishti Order in nineteenth century India. Bahadur Shah II

4. Areas of Support and Opposition • The war was mainly centered in northern and central areas of India. Delhi, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Jhansi, Bareilly, Arrah and Jagdishpur were the main centers of conflict and the most populated areas. The Bhojpurias of Arrah and Jagdishpur supported the Marathas. The Marathas, Rohillas and the Awadhis supported Bahadur Shah Zafar and were against the British.

5. Early English Imperialism in India • Beginning in the 1600’s the British East India Company began setting up trading post in the area around the Indian sea. • In 1757 East India Company troops fought and won against the allied Indian forces, this was the first uprising against the British. • From that time on the East India Company was in control of India.

6. __ ______ ____ ___ ____ • Britain was the strongest country in the world and they tried to take over every country because they wanted to become the largest empire. • Britain was the world’s workshop of the Industrial Rev. and India was a major supplier of raw materials for those workshops. • They also saw a lot a profit potential in India in the beginning.

7. Sepoy Rebellion • One of the most well-known • uprisings during the British colonization of India. It was a mutiny of the native troops known as “Sepoys". • It began on Sunday, May 10, 1857

8. ______ ___ ___ ________ • The friction between the British Officers and the Indian troops created tension that led to the Rebellion • The British interference in the government, culture and economy messed up India. • Rumors said that British soldiers had started to issue new bullets that had cow and pig fat on them, which insulted both Hindus and Muslims.

9. Conditions During the Sepoy Rebellion • British officers were allowed to brutally torture Indians. Concerning matters of extortion in collecting public revenue, officers had free reign of any methods at their disposal • In addition the Company put extremely large taxes on the Indians. A man could not travel twenty miles without paying toll at a river ferry. • There was also a great famine during the use of cash crops

10. Enfield Rifle Conflict • Sepoys were issued a new rifle, the Enfield rifle, a more powerful and accurate weapon. Cartridges issued with the rifle were greased with pork and beef fat. This was offensive to Hindu and Muslim soldiers alike, who were forbidden by their religions to eat beef or pork. • Loading procedure involved biting off the bullet from the cartridge so one hand can hold the musket while the other hand pours the charge of powder into the barrel.

11. 3rd Light Calvary at Meerut • May 9th, 85 troopers of the 3rd Light Cavalry at Meerut refused to use their cartridges. They acted in defense of their religious beliefs. They were imprisoned, sentenced to ten years of hard labor, and stripped of their uniforms in public. They acted in defense of their religious beliefs. • When the 11th and 20th native cavalry of the Bengal Army assembled in Meerut on May 10th, they turned on their commanding officers. They killed and attacked all the Europeans they could find for revenge for the 3rd Light Cavalry.

12. The Resistance • The British were very racist to the Indians and economic troubles did not help their relationship. • After the Enfield Rifle grease conflict the Sepoys had enough. There was fierce fighting between the British and the Sepoy armies. • The Indians did not make another attempt to end the Raj until the age of Gandhi.

13. Results of the Rebellion • The economics of India were improved by the controlling rule of the British. They made the economy more organized and profitable. The conversion to cash crops resulted in loss of self-sufficiency for villagers which caused famine. • Social life was deeply scarred from the British attempt to convert the Indians to a new way of life. The racist attitude of most British officials threatened traditional Indian life. • The British created an organized and simple way of running India, but did not let the Indians run their country on their own. • Railroads helped to modernize the economy of India. India became extremely valuable to Britain because the railroads made trade much easier and faster. After the railroad was established, then came the modern road network, telephones, telegraph lines, dams, bridges, and irrigation canals

14. Conclusion of the Rebellion • The "unorganized peasants" of India fought the British Empire which was the most powerful empire in the world to near defeat using limited resources and training. The lesson of the Sepoy War is not one of victory or justice, but failure. • Though the exact cause of the Sepoy War has yet to be agreed upon, and it is likely that there were many complex causes rather than one, it is clear that the British interference in the governments and the oppression of the Indian people, religious and economic, created the basis of a bloody revolution. • People once pushed into a corner, will fight for nothing more than the freedom to fight, and live, if not for religion then for their basic right to live in freedom. • By 1947 the British fully pulled out of India. This gave India freedom, and now they are becoming one of the world’s largest democracies.