Page 46 - SST Class 08

CAUSES OF FAILURE OF THE REVOLT q The telegraph and railway services proved very
The revolt was massive, but it had inherent in it
the seeds of failure from the very beginning.
q The revolt started before its scheduled date, i.e.,
31 May, 1857 in a very unplanned manner.
q The revolt was limited in extent. It chiefly
occurred in North India, in the area of present
day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam,
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Other areas
either witnessed revolt of a minor nature or not
at all.
q The revolt lacked the unity of purpose. Many
rulers did not cooperate with the rebels, rather
some of them cooperated with the British for
their selfish ends.
q Many Indian sepoys remained loyal to the
British, such as the Sikh sepoys, Rajput sepoys
and Gurkha sepoys. It was with their assistance
that the British were able to put down the
revolt.
q All sections of the society did not take part in
the revolt. Rather, many of them remained
loyal to the British.
q All people were fighting with their own
purpose in view. The Hindus were fighting to
make India a Maratha state, while the Muslims
wanted to restore the Mughal rule. Also,
different rulers had their own axes to grind.
q The rebels were organised at the local level,
and not at the national level. They lacked a
common plan of action. On the other hand,
the British acted under a unified command.
q The rebels lacked resources. They had no
means of supplies and reinforcements. This
proved to be the turning point in the favour of
the British, because they could bring in
reinforcements whenever and wherever they
needed them.
q The rebel leaders were not effective generals.
They lacked training and qualities of
leadership. On the other hand, the British
officers were good generals. Bahadur Shah
Zafar was not a good choice because he was
old and could inspire nobody.
Contemporary Social Science-8
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helpful to the British because they could send
men and material from one place to another,
while the rebels had to do this stealthily.
q The rebels often lacked arms and ammunition.
At times, they fought with swords and lances,
which could face the modern British artillery
and infantry in no way.
Info Bits
Info Bits
The Wahabis set up a centre for religious education
at Deoband (in Uttar Pradesh) to encourage love
for freedom and opposition against the British.
PARTICIPATION OF THE ELITE AND PEASANTS
You have read that peasants had taken to arms on
several occasions before the outbreak of the
Revolt of 1857. They participated in this revolt
also, but their chief contribution was with supplies
and news.
On the other hand, as a result of English
education, a new middle class had taken root in
India. This class comprised of teachers, traders,
industrialists, intellectuals, government servants
etc., who did not participate in the revolt, rather
they cooperated with the British. Not only this,
this class thought that the British rule was better
than the Indian rule. They were of the view that
India could progress only under the British.
This educated class was disillusioned with the
rebels because the rebel leaders raised obsolete
issues and favoured the Sati custom and child
marriage. The middle class supported these
reforms by the British.
NOMENCLATURE : MUTINY OR
FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
What should the Revolt of 1857 be called—a
Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Independence?
It is but natural for the British to undermine the
significance of the revolt, so they declared it to be
a Sepoy Mutiny in which only a section of Indian
sepoys participated.