When People Rebel 1857 and After Test - 4

Among the given options princely states Satara, Nagpur and Sambalpur were annexed by rejecting adopted successors of the rulers through the Doctrine of lapse introduced by Lord Dalhousie. But Ayodhya/Awadh was annexed on the basis of maladministration.

Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (19 November 1828 – 18 June 1858) was an Indian queen and warrior. She was one of the leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became for Indian nationalists a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in India.

First War of Indian Independence is a term predominantly used in India to describe the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The event challenged and ended the power and control of British East Indian Company in India to be replaced by nine decades of British colonial rule, known as the British Raj.

All higher positions in employment were reserved for the British, irrespective of their performance. Even the Indian soldiers formerly occupying high positions in the armies of native princes could not rise above the rank of as Subedar. The future of the Indian soldiers was bleak without chance of promotions.

British historians called it the Sepoy Mutiny, Indian historians named it the Revolt of 1857 or the First War of Indian Independence. The Revolt of 1857 had been preceded by a series of disturbances in different parts of the country from the late eighteenth century onwards.

Sir John Nicholson surrounded Delhi and after four months of attack captured Delhi. The emperor Bahadur Shah was found guilty of aiding the movement. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and deported to Yangon (Rangoon) in Myanmar where he died in 1862.

The British officers were rude and arrogant towards the Indians. They believed that they were superior to Indians and followed a policy of contempt towards the Indians. They dubbed the Muslims as cruel and unfaithful. Some European officers ill-treated and insulted Indians.

The East India Company established the British Empire in India with the help of Indian soldiers. Despite the fact that Indian soldiers were as efficient as their British counterparts, they were poorly paid, ill-fed and badly housed. British military authorities forbade the sepoys from wearing caste or sectarian marks, beards or turbans; and they showed disregard for the sentiments of the sepoys.

C. Bahadur Shah Zafar

Bahadur Shah Zafar  was the last Mughal emperor. The son of Mirza Akbar Shah II and Lalbai, who was a Hindu Rajput, Zafar became Mughal Emperor when his father died on 28 September 1837.

Rebellion broke out in Berhampur in Bengal when a soldier called Mangal Pandey attacked a British sergeant and wounded an adjutant while his regiment was in Barrackpore. General Hearsey ordered another Indian soldier to arrest Mangal Pandey but he refused. Later the British arrested Mangal Pandey and the other Indian soldier. The British killed both by hanging them because what they had done was thought to be treachery. All other soldiers of that regiment lost their places in the army.