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The British Raj is an informal term for the period of British rule of most of the Indian subcontinent, or present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It lasted from 1858, when the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown, until 1947, when the independence of British India was granted and Pakistan was formed. From 1886 it included Burma, now called Myanmar.
1 Sepoy Rebellion, 1857- 1859
Main article: Indian Mutiny
On May 10, 1857, Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, drawn mostly from MuslimA Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits and implies complete submission to the will of God ( Allah). Muslims believe that nature is itself Islamic, since it follows natural laws placed by God. Thus, a Muslim s units from BengalFor the breed of cat, see Bengal cat; for the tiger, see Bengal Tiger. Bengal Banga Bangla Bangadesh or Bangladesh in Bengali) comprises a region in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, today divided between the independent country of Bangladesh and, mutinied in MeerutMeerut is a city to the north west of New Delhi. Its claim to fame lies in the fact that the famous chant of "chalo Dilli" (Move to Delhi) was taken up first from here during the Great Uprising of 1857 against the East India Company. It is one of the bigg, a cantonment eighty kilometers northeast of DelhiDelhi historically known as Dilli along with a few other neighbouring districts forms the 'National Capital Territory' of the Republic of India. It contains the newer city of New Delhi which is no longer a distinguishable urban area, but contains many of. The rebels marched to Delhi to offer their services to the Mughal emperor, and soon much of north and central India was plunged into a year-long insurrection against the British.
The uprising, which seriously threatened British rule in India, has been called many names by historians, including the Sepoy Rebellion, the Great Mutiny, and the Revolt of 1857; many people in South AsiaSouth Asia is a subregion of Asia comprising the modern states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. It covers about 4,480,000 kmē, or 10 percent of the continent and is also known as the Indian subcontinent . These s, however, prefer to call it India's first war of independence. Undoubtedly, it was the culmination of mounting Indian resentment toward British economic and social policies over many decades. Until the rebellion, the British had succeeded in suppressing numerous riots and "tribal" wars or in accommodating them through concessions, but two events triggered the violent explosion of wrath in 1857.
First, was the annexation in 1856 of Oudh, a wealthy princely state that generated huge revenue and represented a vestige of Mughal authority. The second was the British blunder in using cartridges for the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle that were allegedly greased with animal fat, which was offensive to the religious beliefs of Muslim and Hindu sepoys. The rebellion soon engulfed much of North India, including Oudh and various areas once under the control of Maratha princes. Isolated mutinies also occurred at military posts in the center of the subcontinent. Initially, the rebels, although divided and uncoordinated, gained the upper hand, while the unprepared British were terrified, and even paralyzed, without replacements for the casualties. The civil war inflicted havoc on both Indians and British as each vented its fury on the other; each community suffered humiliation and triumph in battle as well, although the final outcome was victory for the British. The last major sepoy rebels surrendered on June 21, 1858, at Gwalior ( Madhya Pradesh), one of the principal centers of the revolt. A final battle was fought at Sirwa Pass on May 21, 1859, and the defeated rebels fled into Nepal.
The spontaneous and widespread rebellion later fired the imagination of the nationalists who would debate the most effective method of protest against British rule. For them, the rebellion represented the first Indian attempt at gaining independence. This interpretation, however, is open to serious question.
