The Sepoy Mutiny

The Sepoy Uprising or the Sepoy Mutiny has been described as to possess two sides that give rise to two different stories. According to the British, it was a series that was composed of clumsy minor skirmishes on the mutineers' part that was quashed fats. However, according to the Indian nationalists it was a war that was aimed at attaining their independence and liberates themselves from the British rule as well as a social uprising.

When the conquest began in 1857, British had fancied themselves as a master piece. As a result, there rose an idea of the power state to conquer India and not stay in isolation. They therefore came up with the intention of conquering the developing countries and putting them under their rule whereby they would also emulate the British cultural and social mannerisms. The Sepoys were the native Indians who were serving for the British army. They were the same people who would destroy and interfere with peace and harmony that was early experienced in India all at once (Chattopadhyaya, 1987).

In the real sense, it wasn't as if the British were savage dictatorial rulers before the uprising. Rather, high caste Hindus were not pleased with the British conquest. This was contributed by the fact that the British were interfering with the Hindu customs and culture that were preserved and observed for many centuries. The kingdom of Oudh was annexed by the early 1857. This meant that there was lose of various privileges by the Sepoys. When the Hindus saw this happen, they stirred up nationalist feeling amongst the individual that were serving in the army as well as the citizens. However, the mobilization of the civilians and the army was met with many challenges. Some groups of Indian people like the Punjabi Sikhs collaborated with the British to fight against their own race. The British conquest was farther facilitated by the introduction of the Enfield rifle by the British army. The bullet of the Enfield riffle had to be bitten before it was loaded into the rifle for it to work effectively.  This was a crucial way in causing the Sepoys Mutiny.

There were rumors that started spreading across the Indian region amongst the Sepoys. This was in regard to the Enfield riffle. The Sepoys said that the bullet used on the riffle that apparently had to be bitten for it to work effectively was smeared in cow and pig fat. In the Muslim religion, it is a taboo to eat pork or any pig products while the Hindus believe cow is a god that should not be consumed.  As a result, these rumors caused mixed reaction among the Muslims and Hindus in regard to the bullets that were smeared on cow and pig fat. These speculations were greatly criticized as they were offensive to both the Muslim and Hindu's religious beliefs. Some of the Sepoys also rebelled against the use of the riffle. As a result, they were chained and imprisoned as a consequence for their revolt. The Sepoys' comrades were angered this move and as a result their rebelled that led to the release of the Sepoys who were initially imprisoned. As the Sepoys escaped from the prisons, many British soldiers were killed. The enormous killings experienced marked another great peace instability that would be experienced for the next six months.

With the help of the local garrison, the mutineers moved towards Delhi and captured the city. Both the civilians and the soldiers took part ion the ransacking as the uprising seared across the Northern and central India. Subsequently, the city w\of Lucknow was besieged while that Cawmpore was captured. This rebellion was met by enormous attack and brutality from the Britons.  In July 1857, Cawmpore was recaptured and so was Delhi in the same year on September. In the spring of the next year, 1858, Lucknow was freed (Stuart, 2002).

As a direct consequence of the Sepoy Mutiny, many of the Indians soldiers who were in the British army quit their jobs and joined their fellow Indians in the fight against the British.  This led to a decrease in the number of Indians in the British soldiers to half of the number that was initially in the army. The reduction in the number of the Indians in the British army saw the force of the British army diminish and the rebellion against the British army became was met by lesser force as compared to the force that was experienced when there were many Indians in the British army. Indians regiments had been given permission to exist separately before. However, they were now integrated to be part and parcel of the greater regiments of the British. High caste Brahmins and Hindus were stereotyped as being dishonest. This was due to the role that they played as nationalist sympathies and provokers. In contrast to the role that was portrayed by the Hindus and the Brahmins, the Sikhs were portrayed as soldiers and model citizens. Many Muslims were persecuted during this time due to what the British believed to be a direct attempt by the Sepoy Mutiny to restore the Moghul emperor who was the acting leader. After these occurrences, the administration of India was forwarded to the crown of British. The British army was now acting as if they were in a land that was already occupied. This was after the mutiny had been quelled by the British (Smitha, 2003).

Initially, Britain had no any intention of conquering and dividing India. However, the conquering and division was contributed by India's own actions that are still experienced even in the present. India had hundreds of states that were independent while the British ruled less than half of its area with British East India which was in charge. The move by the British to colonize India was motivated by commerce. India was a big market where the manufacturers from Britain acquired raw materials for their factories like cotton. In return, India was also a big market for the manufactured for the manufactured goods with India acquiring one tenths of Britain's exports. The manufacturers were therefore in need of conquering India so that they would have the supreme supply of raw materials for their manufacturing companies without having to process them.

The common Indians had the notion that the introduction of telegraphy and rail lines would lead to overwhelming by the British and hence caused fear among them. The Indians also had the notion that the British were aiming at Christianizing them. However, they later came to realize that it was not the intention of the British to Christianize them but it was commercially oriented. However, after the civil war, the British rule in India took another path. Queen Victoria of Britain promised an equal treatment of the Indian people under the British law. However, there remained a prevalent mistrust of the British rule in the wake of the Sepoy rebellion (Hamilton, 1898).