{"id":173,"date":"2020-03-28T15:09:40","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T15:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/?p=173"},"modified":"2020-03-28T15:12:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T15:12:44","slug":"indian-national-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/2020\/03\/28\/indian-national-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian National Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Revolt Of 1857: Fall Of Delhi And After<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British could not remain idle spectators to\nthe turn of events. Lord Canning immediately called upon the troops from\nMadras, Bombay and Rangoon and despatched a big force to Banaras under the\ncommand of General Neill. He also ordered General Anson, the Commander-in-Chief\nat Simla, to march upon Delhi. General Anson led a large contingent of English\nand Sikh soldiers. It was, indeed, unfortunate that the Sikh rajahs<\/em> as\nwell as the people of Punjab did not actively participate in the great revolt\nof 1857, but lent their support to the British Raj. This was largely because of\nthe mischievous propaganda made by Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of\nPunjab, that the Mughal rulers in Delhi had always been anti-Sikh and that\nBahadur Shah had ordered the indiscriminate massacre of Sikhs all over India.\nHe also floated loans on behalf of Company at the lucrative rate of six percent\ninterest which attracted huge investments. This made the rich feel having a big\nstake in the continuance of the British Raj in India. On his part, emperor\nBahadur Shah left no stone unturned in winning over the Sikh chiefs to the\ncause of the revolution. He sent to them his special envoy, Tajuddin, with\npersonal letters, but there was no response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bahadur Shah taken prisoner by the British soldiers.\nPhoto : NCERT<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahadur Shah II (1775-1862)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last of the Mughal Emperors Abu Zafar\nMuhammad Sirajuddin Bahadur Shah succeeded his father, Akbar Shah II, to the\nthrone in 1837. Well-versed in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, an excellent\ncalligraphist, Bahadur Shah earned fame as a poet and adopted Zafar as a poetic\nsobriquet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiers of the 3rd Native Cavalry who launched\nthe revolt in Meerut on May 10, 1857, marched to Delhi, rallied around Bahadur\nShah and proclaimed him the Shahenshah-i-Hindustan. Every rebel leader in the\ncountry raised the banner of revolt in his name. When Delhi was recaptured in\nSeptember 1857 by the British, Bahadur Shah was ousted, tried by a military\ncourt and exiled to Rangoon (now Yangon).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March to Delhi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British forces which had started from Ambala\non May 25, 1857 under the command of General Anson to march upon Delhi\ncould not make much headway. General Anson himself died of cholera at Karnal on\nMay 27, 1857. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Barnard. There were two fierce\nencounters between the British forces and the revolutionaries near Hindon and\nBundelay Ki Serai but neither side won. The revolutionary forces would launch\nan attack on the enemy in the day and retire to the walled city at night. They\nwere also getting support from the new contingents coming to Delhi from\ndifferent quarters; wherever revolt took place against the Company, the sepoys\nstarted their journey to Delhi to pay their homage to the emperor and support\nthe cause of the revolution. On the other hand, the British had the support of\nthe Gorkhas and Sikhs. The great offensives launched by the revolutionaries on\nthe British forces on June 17 and 20, 1857 completely foiled the plans of\nCommander-in-Chief, Barnard, who also died of cholera on July 5, 1857.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrival of Subedar Bakht\nKhan at Delhi with a large army of 14,000 infantry, three regiments of cavalry,\nwith sizeable loads of arms and ammunition and a big purse of rupees four lakh\ngave a new momentum to the revolutionary command. Bakht Khan was an able\nmilitary leader, an outstanding administrator as well as a strict\ndisciplinarian. The emperor had already heard of his extraordinary military\ntalent and organisational capabilities. He was, therefore, pleased to appoint\nhim as the head of both the army command and civil administration. He also\nconferred upon him the title of Sahib-i-Alam Bahadur (Lord Governor General).\nThe new leader reorganised the entire administration and launched massive\nonslaughts on the enemy. The revolutionary attack on the English forces on July\n9 and 14, 1857 caused heavy casualties in the enemy camp which led to the\nresignation of General Reid on July 15, 1857 on grounds of illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next General to lead the British forces in\nIndia was General Wilson. He assumed the responsibility of the command at a\nvery critical hour when the morale of the British soldiers was extremely low.\nFortunes, however, changed for the better for the Britishers when General\nNicholson arrived at Delhi with a contingent of 5,000 Sikhs and Gorkhas, 3,500\nBritishers and 2,500 Kashmiri soldiers. Coupled with this, the failure of Bakht\nKhan to launch successfully his planned attack on the British forces at\nNajafgarh on August 25, 1857 and the intrusion of the foreign spies in the\nroyal household through Mirza Elahi Baksh, a close relation of the emperor,\nencouraged the British Commander to start new offensives. From September 7 to\n13, 1857, the British forces made repeated attacks upon Delhi but were unable\nto make any headway except a few cracks in the city wall after losing hundreds\nof lives. On September 14, 1857, General Wilson planned another assault by\ndividing his forces under five divisions, each placed under the best military\ncommander\u2014General Nicholson, Colonel Campbell, Brigadier Jones, Major Reid and\nBrigadier Longfield. The revolutionaries fought ferociously. Every inch of\nadvance by the British forces was keenly contested. Facing heavy firing,\nNicholson climbed upon the ramparts to declare the British victory. He was\ngrievously wounded and died a few days later. The Kashmere Gate was blown up\nand the English Forces entered the city. It was still not an easy task as\npeople fought the enemy gallantly at every house, lane or street which the\nBritishers tried to enter. It was only after a week or so that the British\nforces were fully able to capture and control the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emperor in Custody<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meanwhile, Bakht Khan\ndecided to leave Delhi and fight the enemy from some other place. He felt that\nthe country was still ablaze with the fire of revolution and there was absolutely\nno cause for dejection. He requested the emperor to accompany him and continue\nto guide the revolutionary struggle. Unfortunately, the British came to know of\nhis plans. They knew well that as long as Bahadur Shah was alive and led the\nrevolutionaries, they would never be able to crush the revolt. They made use of\nthe services of the treacherous Elahi Baksh to prevail upon the emperor to\nreject the proposals of Bakht Khan and help them take him into their custody.\nElahi Baksh played his part well for which the Government rewarded him and his\ndescendants with a monthly pension of Rs. 1,200 paid up to 1930. The\nemperor declined to accompany Bakht Khan and by doing so, he sealed his own\ndestiny as well as the destiny of the country. Captain Hudson lost no time to\ntake him into custody along with Begum Zeenat Mahal and Prince Jawan Bakht from\nHumayun\u2019s Tomb and lodged them in confinement in the Red Fort. He also caught\nhold of three royal princes, Mirza Mughal, Mirza Akhtar Sultan and Mirza\nAbubakar with the help of Elahi Baksh, stripped them of their clothes and shot\nthem dead. His animal passion for revenge was still unquenched. He got them\nbeheaded and presented the severed heads to the emperor with the remark, \u201cHere\nis the Company’s nazar (tribute) to you which had not been presented for\nyears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bahadur Shah was later tried by a military\ncommission. The trial lasted from January 27 to March 9, 1858. The\nprincipal charge against him was that being a subject of the British\nGovernment, he proclaimed himself as the sovereign of India and waged war\nagainst the Government. Juristically speaking, Bahadur Shah was the de jure <\/em>sovereign\nwhile the East India Company was de facto<\/em>. Ironically, the de facto <\/em>deposed\nthe de jure<\/em> and sentenced him to life imprisonment. They humiliated him\nby making him live in squalor, reduced to the object of a peep show for the\nEuropean visitors to Delhi. Considering his stay at Red Fort as a potential\ndanger to the security of the State, the Government deported him in captivity\nto Rangoon in October 1858, where he died in 1862. His poetry, however, kept\nalive his memories and the plaintive ghazals of the King proved as equally\neffective weapons as the onslaughts of the revolutionaries on the British in\nthe national struggle for freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The\nvictors, who entered Delhi after an exhausting struggle of about four months,\nwere thirsty for blood of the people as well as their possessions. Mass killing\nand plunder ensued. Neither the Hindus nor the Muslims were spared. They killed\neveryone whom they suspected to have helped the revolutionaries. Lamenting over\nthe mass slaughter, the famous Urdu poet, Ghalib, wrote mournfully, \u201cHere there\nis a vast ocean of blood before me. God only knows what more I have still to\nbehold\u201d. The soldiers also plundered whatever and wherever they could find.\nThere were also house-diggings to get hold of the hidden treasures. Places of\nworship were defiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mosques became barracks.\nThe entire population was driven out of the city. For disposal of the movable\nevacuee property, the Government established Prize Agencies. They collected the\nmovables from every house and auctioned them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Battle for Lucknow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the fall of Delhi, the\nBritish made their plans for suppression of the revolt elsewhere. Lord Canning\nhad already made Allahabad his emergency headquarters. Havelock captured Kanpur\nfrom Nana Sahib after two fierce battles by the end of July 1857, as a result\nof which the latter left Bithoor with his treasury and the remnant forces.\nHavelock then started for Lucknow, barely 45 miles from Kanpur, but could not\nreach there for many days because of fierce resistance en route<\/em> from the\nrevolutionaries until the recapturing of Bithoor by Nana Sahib compelled him to\nretreat on August l2, 1857. There was another encounter between Nana Sahib\nand the British forces but without any decisive result. Havelock again started\nfor Lucknow on September 20, 1857 accompanied by veteran British\nGenerals\u2014Neill, Outram and Cooper. He reached Alambagh on the outskirts of\nLucknow on September 23, 1857 where he had to fight a pitched battle with the\nrevolutionaries lasting 36 hours in which hundreds of soldiers were killed.\nHavelock had, therefore, to abandon his plans to capture Lucknow and reached\nthe Residency with utmost suffering because of the heroic resistance by the\npeople at every step of his journey. At Khas Bazaar, a stray bullet from the\nrevolutionaries killed General Neill on the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having reached the Residency,\nHavelock found that instead of rendering assistance to the besieged, he had\nhimself become a captive for months until a large British force led by Sir\nCollin Campbell, the Commander-in-Chief, along with Generals Grant and Great\nHead, reached Lucknow in November 1857. It was only after a fierce fight for\nnine days from November 14 to 23, 1857 that the thrust of the revolutionary\nforces on the Residency could be broken and the two forces of Campbell and\nHavelock were united. General Havelock died the very next day. Before Campbell\ncould do anything further to capture Lucknow from the revolutionaries, he\nreceived the disturbing news that Tantya Tope had captured Kanpur for the\nrevolutionaries. That compelled him to go back to Kanpur. The revolutionaries\nkept ablaze the fire of revolution at Lucknow under the stewardship of Moulvi\nAhmed Shah of Faizabad, a resident of Madras who had come to northern India\nonly a few months before the advent of the revolution. He soon became an ardent\nsupporter of the revolution and was very popular among the people. The British\nconsidered him one of their most formidable foes for whose treacherous murder\nthey paid a reward of Rs. 50,000 to Raja Jagan Nath Singh of Pavan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task before Sir Collin\nCampbell at Kanpur proved to be very formidable. The forces of Tantya Tope and\nNana Sahib fought vigorously for a week on the banks of the Ganges against the\nBritish forces from December 1 to 6, 1857 before Campbell could recapture\nKanpur from them. The Britishers had, therefore, to make extensive preparations\nfor war before they could embark upon another offensive against the\nrevolutionaries at Lucknow. Campbell again started for Lucknow with a large\nforce comprising 17,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and an artillery of 134 guns\nassisted by General Jang Bahadur at the head of a contingent of 9,000 Gorkha soldiers.\nHe reached Lucknow on March 11, 1858. The revolutionaries, against whom he\nhad to fight, had also a big force of 30,000 regular sepoys and 50,000 armed\nvolunteers. Barricades were erected at every nook and corner and heavy guns\nwere positioned at every barricade. Begum Hazrat Mahal personally led the\nattack against the enemy. But after fierce fighting for days together, the\nBritish forces were able to make their entry into Lucknow on March 14, 1858.\nMoulvi Ahmed Shah left the city (along with Begum Hazrat Mahal and the minor\nNawab, Birjees Qadar) to continue the struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rani of Jhansi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Britishers now attempted to capture Jhansi,\nanother stronghold of the revolution. As Sir Hugh Rose reached near Jhansi\nalong with a massive force on March 20, 1858, Rani Lakshmibai started\nelaborate preparations for fighting the British forces. She adopted the\n\u2018scorch-earth\u2019 policy, i.e., destruction of the countryside on the route of the\nenemy but as the Britishers were supported by Maharaja Scindhia of Gwalior and\nRaja of Tehri-Tikamgarh, it did not prove of much avail. The brave Rani\nLakshmibai personally supervised all the war preparations like erection of\nbarriers and barricades as well as mounting of guns on the ramparts of the\nfort. She started the offensive with shelling at the enemy force by a Jhansi\ngun known as Ghangaraj <\/em>(Thunderer) on March 24, 1858. She also sought\nthe help of Tantya Tope who attacked the enemy from the rear. The fierce duel\ncontinued for more than a week in which heavy losses were sustained by both\nsides. Ultimately, the Britishers were able to capture the fort, not through\nany act of bravery but through treachery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakshmibai left Jhansi along with a few\nadherents to fight the Britishers from another place. She along with other\nrevolutionary leaders like Rao Sahib and Tantya Tope gave another tough fight to\nthe British forces at Kalpi. She captured Gwalior from Maharaja Jiyaji Rao\nScindhia along with other revolutionary leaders and established there a new\nstronghold of revolution. Maharaja Scindhia with his Minister Dinkar Rao sought\nthe British protection at Agra. How could the Britishers treat such a sad\nspectacle with indifference ? They \nlaunched a strong attack on Gwalior led by Sir Hugh Rose. The\nrevolutionaries fought heroically for four days. Rani Lakshmibai fought\npersonally in the thick of the battle along with her two brave feminine\nattendants, Mandra and Kashi. She was in the saddle dressed in male attire from\ndawn to dusk and made heavy charge on the enemy with her sword. The battle on\nJune 17, 1858 was a day of her victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enemy attacked the next day with\na much stronger force led by General Smith and Sir Hugh Rose. The proud Rani\nfought with utmost valour. Alone but quite undismayed, she continued the fight\nsingle-handed till one British horseman attacked her on the head from the rear\nand another wounded her chest. Severely wounded, she was still fighting for the\nfreedom of her country. She was able to kill her two assailants before she\nfinally collapsed and fell on the ground. Her loyal servant Ramachandra Rao\nDeshmukh immediately removed her body from the battlefield and lit the funeral\npyre. Rani Lakshmibai, thus, died with a sword in her hand waging war for\nindependence of her country. Her name ranks among the great patriots and would\nalways inspire her countrymen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spirit of Revolutionaries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The great merit of the revolutionary leaders was\nthat they did not lose heart and continued their struggle for long despite\nheavy odds. They gave tough fight to the British in various encounters at\nSitapur, Rae Bareli and Dhundiya Khera and their heroic struggle continued till\nApril 1859 despite Queen Victoria\u2019s proclamation on November 1, 1858.\nUltimately, Nana Sahib, Bala Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal and minor Nawab Birjees\nQadar sought shelter in Nepal, but they remained defiant till the last days of\ntheir lives. In his last letter to General Hope Grant, Nana disputed the\nauthority of the British Government to take possession of India. He bluntly put\na poser to them, \u201cWho gave you the authority to rule over India ?\u201d Tantya\nTope, who had the magic of converting the sepoys to the revolutionary cause\nwherever he came across them, was a constant source of danger to the British\npower in India. He baffled all the British efforts to capture him and crossed\nNarmada near Hoshangabad in October 1858. Six of the ablest British\nGenerals\u2014Roberts, Homes, Parke, Mitchell, Hope and Lockheart\u2014were making\nstrenuous efforts to capture him but without success. The Times<\/em> of London\nwrote admirably about him on January 17, 1859 :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our most amazing\nfriend Tanyta Tope is so troublesome and so cunning an enemy that it is\nimpossible to admire him enough. He has trampled upon our places, plundered our\ntreasuries and emptied our magazines. He has collected armies and lost them. He\nhas fought battles and sustained defeats. He has seized guns of the native\nrulers and lost them. He has seized some more and lost them too. His marches\nseem to be like lightning flashes. One moment he was on one side of Nurbudda,\nthe next he was on the other. He has got away even when our troops faced him,\nsometimes right through them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was unfortunate that such a\ndashing revolutionary did not get the support of Nagpur. He had, therefore, to\nswim through Narmada again to reach northern India. He arrived at Indragarh on\nJanuary 13, 1859. The British troops were attempting to encircle him from\nall points of compass\u2014Napier from the north; Showers from the north-west,\nSomerset from the east, Smith from the south-east, Mitchell and Benson from the\nsouth and Bonner from south-west and west. They could not capture him and he\nreached Shikarji near Alwar along with Rao Sahib and Prince Feroze Shah. He\nfell into the hands of the British through the treachery of Man Singh who\ndelivered the sleeping Tantya Tope into the hands of the government for a promise\nof jagir to be bestowed upon him. Tantya was executed on April 18, 1859. He\nmounted the scaffold with a smile and himself put the noose around his neck.\n\nThe great 1857 uprising failed, but not the spirit of\nthe revolutionaries. They might not have lived for too long, but their heroic\ndeeds have always inspired and motivated others to fight for the freedom of the\ncountry.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revolt Of 1857: Fall Of Delhi And After The British could not remain idle spectators to the turn of events. Lord Canning immediately called upon the troops from Madras, Bombay and Rangoon and despatched a big force to Banaras under the command of General Neill. He also ordered General Anson, the Commander-in-Chief at Simla, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}