Write the information about the freedom struggle of 1857 :(a) Causes(b) Consequences

Answer:

(a) Causes:

• Political: Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse and annexations (Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, Awadh) made the rulers insecure; Nanasaheb Peshwa’s pension was stopped.
• Economic: Heavy land revenue ruined the peasants; Indian industries and handicrafts were destroyed by British policy; zamindars lost their lands.
• Social and religious: Indians feared that the British wanted to convert them to Christianity; laws on sati and widow remarriage and the activities of missionaries created suspicion.
• Military: Indian sepoys got low pay and no promotion and were discriminated against. The immediate cause was the new Enfield rifle cartridges, said to be greased with cow and pig fat; Mangal Pande’s revolt at Barrackpore (March 1857) and the rising at Meerut on 10 May 1857 started the struggle.

(b) Consequences:

• The rule of the East India Company ended; by the Queen’s Proclamation of 1858 the British Crown took over India and the Governor General came to be called the Viceroy.
• The policy of annexation was given up and the rights of Indian princes were assured; they became loyal supporters of the British.
• The army was reorganised: the number of European soldiers was increased and the policy of ‘divide and rule’ was followed in recruitment.
• The British stopped interfering in social and religious matters. The struggle became a source of inspiration for later freedom fighters, who called it the First War of Independence.