Representations of 1857 Test - 1

The correct answer is option 1 i.e. Lord Wellesley.

Subsidiary Alliance

• The Subsidiary Alliance System was “Non-Intervention Policy”.
• It was introduced by Lord Wellesley who was the Governor-General from 1798 to 1805. Hence option 1 is correct.
• It was a treaty between the British East India Company and therefor the Indian princely states, by virtue of which the Indian kingdoms lost their sovereignty to the English.
• It was Marquis Dupleix, the French Governor-General who actually used it for the first time.
• The Nawab of Awadh was the primary ruler to enter into the subsidiary alliance with the British after the Battle of Buxar.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first who simply to accept a well-framed subsidiary alliance.
• An Indian ruler who was getting into Subsidiary Alliance with the British had to dissolve his own army and accept British forces in his territory.
• Indian ruler also had to pay for the British army’s maintenance. If he did not make the payment, a portion of his territory would be taken away and ceded to the British.
• In return, the British would protect the Indian state against any foreign attack or internal revolt.
• The Indian ruler, thus, lost all powers in respect of foreign affairs and therefor the military.
• India state virtually lost all his independence and became a British ‘protectorate.

The correct answer is Lucknow.

Key Points

• Begum Hazrat Mahal's band of supporters, led by Raja Jalal Singh rebelled against the forces of the British.
• After the recapture of Lucknow by rebel forces led by the Begum and her allies, she crowned her 11-year-old son Birjis Qadras the ruler of Avadh.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal's tomb is located in the central part of Kathmandu near Jama Masjid.
• On 15 August 1962, Mahal was honored at the Old Victoria Park in Hazratganj, Lucknow for her role in the Great Revolt.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Kanpur.

Important Points

• On 5th June 1857, Nana Saheb was declared as Peshwa of Kanpur.
• The original name of Nana Sahib was Dhondu Pant.
• He was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II.
• He led the revolt of 1857 in Kanpur.
• Tantia Tope was the general of Nana Saheb in the 1857 revolt.
• It is believed that Nana Sahib escaped to Nepal when the rebellion collapsed.

Additional Information

• Rani Lakshmi Bai led the revolt of 1857 in Jhansi and Gwalior.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal led the revolt of 1857 in Lucknow, Agra, and Awadh.
• Maulvi Liaquat Ali led the revolt of 1857 in Allahabad.

The Correct Answer is Option 4 i.e All of the above.

• Factors responsible for the cause of the 1857 revolt are:
  • The passing of the General Services Establishment Act 1856 abolished allowances and made it mandatory for the sepoys to serve anywhere in the British Empire.
  • British Government passed the "Religious Disabilities Act 1850" which allowed Hindu converts to Christianity to inherit his ancestral measures.
  • The promotion of Christian Missionaries created fear among Indians that they would convert all of them to Christianity.
  • The British replaced the Brown Bess with Enfield Rifle using bullets containing Beef and Pig fat was one of the immediate reasons for the cause of 1857 revolt.
  • The Abolition of Sati, legalizing widow remarriage, and promotion of education among girls were considered as undue interference in the social customs of India.
  • The British policy of annexation.

The correct answer is 1848

Key Points

• In 1848, Lord Dalhousie arrived in India as the Governor-General and was determined to extend British rule over India.
• Dalhousie occupied the Punjab and Sindh through war and brought several subordinate states directly under the Company’s rule by annexing them on the basis of the Doctrine of Lapse.  
• By the Doctrine of Lapse, if the king of a subordinate state died without a natural male heir, then the kingdom would ‘lapse’ to the British i.e. it would automatically pass into the hands of the British.
• Satara, Sambalpur, Jhansi, and Nagpur were annexed under this policy and the families of the former rulers would be pensioned off. However, Nana Saheb, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, was not given a pension.
• On grounds of maladministration, Awadh was occupied in 1856 and Nawab Wajid Ali was pensioned off and sent to Calcutta. 
• By 1856, the East India Company had brought the whole of India under its control. 

The correct answer is ​1, 3 and 5 only.

Key Points

• The 1857 revolt had gained immense momentum in a short period of time.
  • Within a month of the capture of Delhi by the rebels, the Revolt spread to different parts of the country.
• Leaders of the revolt of 1857:
  • At Delhi, the nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah though the real command was laid in the court of soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan. Hence, pair 1 is correct.
    • He led the revolt of Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi.
  • Nana Sahib was the adopted son of the last Peshwa Bajirao II who led the revolt from Kanpur. Hence, pair 2 is incorrect.
  • Begum Hazrat Mahal took over the reins at Lucknow where the rebellion broke out on 4 June 1857 and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in favour of the deposed Nawab. Hence, pair 3 is correct.
  • At Bareilly, Khan Bahadur a descendant of the former ruler of Rohilkhand was placed in command. Hence, pair 4 is incorrect.
    • Not enthusiastic about the pension being granted by the British he organised an army of 40000 soldiers and offered stiff resistance to the British.
  • In Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh. Hence, pair 5 is correct.
  • Maulvi Ahmadullah of Faizabad was another outstanding leader of the revolt.
  • The most outstanding leader of the revolt was Rani Lakshmibai who assumed the leadership of the sepoys at Jhansi.

The revolt of 1857 was the conscious beginning of the Independence struggle against the colonial tyranny of the British. Important Points The British official had improved resources and succeeded in suppressing the revolt. They had vast resources at their disposal and were helped by fast means of transport and communications.

List of British Officials Associated with 1857 Revolt:

Thus, it is clear that Hugh Rose had defeated Tantia Tope and Rani of Jhansi in Central India.

Additional Information

•  Sir Henry Havelock was a British general who is particularly associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny).
• Outram: At the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 he was recalled from Iran, given command of two divisions, and resumed his commissionership of Ayodhya. During the mutiny, he was appointed to succeed Sir Henry Havelock at Kanpur, but instead, he magnanimously asked to serve under Havelock during the first siege of that city. 

The correct answer is Mangal Pandey.

• Mangal Pandey was the Indian soldier in the British Army, one of the key figures in India's first war of Independence.
  • He is believed to be one of the key figures behind Sepoy Mutiny or India's First War of Independence in 1857.
  • He was hanged to death for attacking his officers in Barrackpore, on 29th March 1857.

Additional Information

• Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev were hanged on 23rd March 1931 in Lahore.
• They were hanged for killing one British officer John P Saunders.

The correct answer is Birjis Qadr.

Key Points

• Awadh was annexed by the Britishers in 1856.
• This angered Indians and was a cause of the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), the largest Indian rebellion against British rule.
• The rebels of 1857 crowned Birjis Qadr as the "King of Awadh".
• Birjis Qadr (20 august 1845- 14 August 1893) was the Nawab of Awadh from 1857 until 1858.
• Following the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, Qadr's mother appointed him monarch of the state in 1857 and she became his regent.

 Thus, we can say that Birjis Qadr was crowned as the "King of Awadh" by rebels of 1857.

Additional Information

• Indian Mutiny, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny or First war of independence, began in Meerut by Indian troops in the service of the British East India Company.

The correct answer is ​the Rangoon jail.

Key Points

• Unnerved by the scale of the upheaval, the Company decided to repress the revolt with all its might.
• It brought reinforcements from England, passed new laws so that the rebels could be convicted with ease, and then moved into the storm centers of the revolt.
• Delhi was recaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857.
• The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was tried in court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• His sons were shot dead before his eyes. He and his wife Begum Zinat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon in October 1858.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon Jail in November 1862.
• The recapture of Delhi, however, did not mean that the rebellion died down after that.
• People continued to resist and battle the British.
• The British had to fight for two years to suppress the massive forces of popular rebellion.
• Lucknow was taken in March 1858.
• Rani Lakshmibai was defeated and killed in June 1858.
• Tantia Tope escaped to the jungles of central India and continued to fight a guerrilla war with the support of many tribal and peasant leaders.
• He was captured, tried, and killed in April 1859.