Class 12 history chapter 11 notes, Rebels and the raj notes

Rebels and the raj notes: Class 12 history chapter 11 notes

Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 12
Subject	History
Chapter	Chapter 11
Chapter Name	rebels and the raj notes
Category	History Notes
Medium	English

Class 12 history chapter 11 notes, Rebels and the raj notes here we will discuss the cause, place and all related to the Revolt of 1857.

Firangi : –

🔹 Firangi, a term of Persian origin, possibly derived from Frank (from which France gets its name), is used in Urdu and Hindi, often in a derogatory sense, to designate foreigners.

Mutiny : –

🔹 Mutiny is a collective disobedience of rules and regulations within the armed forces.

Revolt : –

🔹 Revolt is a rebellion of people against established authority and power. The terms ‘revolt’and ‘rebellion’ can be used synonymously.

Revolt in terms of 1857 : –

🔹 In the context of the revolt of 1857 the term revolt refers primarily to the uprising of the civilian population (peasants,zamindars, rajas, jagirdars) while the mutiny was of the sepoys.

1857 Revolt : –

🔹 The 1857 Revolt is an important part of the Indian history that began as a sepoy mutiny of the British East India Company. Though it was first started in the town of Meerut but later it was erupted into all the other mutinies. The major aggressions were happened to the present day northern Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi region.

List some of the important centres of revolt : –

🔸 The most prominent centres were : – (1) Delhi (i) Bareilly (iii) Kanpur (iv) Lucknow (v) Azamgarh (vi) Jhansi.

🔸 Some other important centres were : – (i) Meerut (ii) Allahabad (iii) Banaras (iv) Barrackpur (v) Satara (vi) Jabalpur (vii) Saharanpur (viii) Calcutta.

Main sources for the reconstruction of the revolt of 1857 : –

🔹 The primary sources for reconstruction of the event of 1857 are :

• Records on rebel point of view: rebel proclamations and notifications, and also some letters of rebel leaders.
• Official accounts memo’s and notes of officials, versions of colonial administrators and military men in letters, diaries, autobiographies and official histories.
• Stories of the revolt published in British newspapers, and magazines.
• Pictoral images produced by the British and Indians paintings, pencil drawings, etchings, posters, cartoons, bazaar prints.

Beginning of the Revolt ( Revolt In Meerut ) : –

🔹 Late in the afternoon of 10 May 1857, the sepoys in the cantonment of Meerut broke out in mutiny. It began in the lines of the native infantry, spread very swiftly to the cavalry and then to the city. The ordinary people of the town and surrounding villages joined the sepoys.

Results of the Meerut rebellion : –

🔹 The sepoys captured the bell of arms where the arms and ammunition were kept and

• proceeded to attack white people,
• and to ransack and burn their bungalows and property.
• Government buildings the record office, jail, court, post office, treasury, etc. were destroyed and plundered.
• The telegraph line to Delhi was cut.

🔹 As darkness descended, a group of sepoys rode off towards Delhi.

Revolt In Delhi : –

🔹 On May 11, 1857, the cavalry army reached Delhi and requested Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Namaz to accept the leadership of the rebellion against the British. It was the month of Ramzan.

🔹 Surrounded by the sepoys, Bahadur Shah had no other option but to comply. The revolt thus acquired a kind of legitimacy because it could now be carried on in the name of the Mughal emperor.

🔹 Through 12 and 13 May, North India remained quiet. Once word spread that Delhi had fallen to the rebels and Bahadur Shah had blessed the rebellion, events moved swiftly. Cantonment after cantonment in the Gangetic valley and some to the west of Delhi rose in mutiny.

Revolt of 1857 a symbol of Unity : –

🔹 In 1857, the Rebels established unity among themselves by : –

• The rebel proclamations in 1857 repeatedly appealed to all sections of population irrespective of their caste and creed.
• The Nawabs and Muslim rulers took care of the sentiments of Hindus too.
• The rebellion was seen as a war in which both Hindus and Muslims had equally to lose or gain.

Reasons for the rebellion of 1857 : –

🔸 Economic Causes : – The British imposed heavy taxes on the peasants and exploited the Indian resources for their own benefit. They also disrupted the traditional trade and commerce of India by imposing tariffs and monopolies.

🔸 Political Causes : – The British annexed many Indian states by applying the Doctrine of Lapse and the policy of misgovernance. They also interfered in the succession and administration of the native rulers.

🔸 Social and Religious Causes : – The British introduced reforms that were seen as an attack on the customs and beliefs of the Indians. They banned practices like sati and widow remarriage, and promoted western education and Christianity. They also disrespected the religious sentiments of the sepoys by issuing cartridges greased with animal fat.

🔸 Military Causes : – The Indian sepoys were discriminated against by the British officers in terms of pay, promotion, and privileges. They were also required to serve overseas, which violated their caste rules.

Nature of leadership and supporters in Revolt of 1857 : –

🔹 The revolt involved various sections of Indian society, such as peasants, artisans, zamindars, nawabs, and religious leaders. The revolt also had different regional and local leaders, who fought against the British in different parts of India. Some of the prominent leaders of the revolt were : –

🔸 Bahadur Shah Zafar : – The rebels needed leadership and organization to fight against the British. They appealed to the old Mughal emperor to accept the leadership of the revolt. At first Bahadur Shah rejected this demand. But when the sepoys defied the Mughal court etiquette in the Red Fort, he agreed to be the nominal leader of the rebellion.

🔸 Rani Lakshmi Bai : – In Jhansi, Rani lakshmi Bai assumed the leadership of the uprising. She resisted the British invasion of Jhansi and fought bravely with her troops. She later joined forces with Tantya Tope and died in the battle of Gwalior.

🔸 Nana Saheb : – He was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, who had been deprived of his pension and title by the British. He led the revolt in Kanpur and declared himself the Peshwa. He was assisted by his commanders Tantya Tope and Azimullah.

🔸 Birjis Qadr : – In Awadh, the displacement of the popular nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the annexation of the state were still very fresh in the mind of the people. In luck now; people celebrated the fall of British rule by declaring Birjis Qadr, the young Nawab as their leader.

🔸 Kunwar Singh : – He was a zamindar of Jagdishpur in Bihar, who had been dispossessed by the British. He joined the revolt at the age of 80 and fought against the British in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. He died of his wounds in 1858.

🔹 Shah Mal mobilised the villagers of pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh; Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of Singhbhum in Chotanagpur, became a rebel leader of the Kol tribals of the region.

How the mutinies began : –

🔹 The sepoys began their action with a signal: in many places it was the firing of the evening gun or the sounding of the bugle. They first seized the bell of arms and plundered the treasury.

🔹 Proclamations in Hindi, Urdu and Persian were put up in the cities calling upon the population, both Hindus and Muslims, to unite, rise and exterminate the firangis.

Steps taken by the rebels in the rebellion : –

• They attacked government buildings the jail, treasury, telegraph office, record room, bungalows – burning all records.
• Everything and everybody connected with the white man became a target.
• When ordinary people began joining the revolt, the targets of attack widened.
• In major towns like Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, money- lenders and the rich also became the objects of rebel wrath.
• Peasants not only saw them as oppressors but also as allies of the British. In most places their houses were looted and destroyed.

Reasons why Moneylenders and rich people along with the white became objects of rebel : –

🔹 wrath during the revolt of 1857 because : –

• Peasants saw them along with the white as oppressors and source of injustice.
• They were seen as allies of the British. Thus everything and everybody connected with the white became rebel target.

planning and coordination of revolt : –

• There was communication between the sepoy lines of various cantonments
• Sepoys or their emissaries moved from one station to another.
• People were thus planning and talking about the rebellion.
• panchayats were a nightly occurrence in the Kanpur sepoy lines.
• the sepoys lived in lines and shared a common lifestyle and that many of them came from the same caste, it is not difficult to imagine them sitting together to decide their own future.
• The sepoys were the makers of their own rebellion.

Role of common people in spreading the message of rebellion : –

🔹 Not everywhere were the leaders people of the court ranis, rajas, nawabs and taluqdars. Often the message of rebellion was carried by ordinary men and women and in places by religious men too.

🔹From Meerut, there were reports that a fakir had appeared riding on an elephant and that the sepoys were visiting him frequently. Elsewhere, local leaders emerged, urging peasants, zamindars and tribals to revolt.

Shah Mal : –

🔹 Shah Mal was a peasant leader who rebelled against the British East India Company during the Indian Revolt of 1857. He was based in the village of Bijrol in Uttar Pradesh and led the Jats of Baraut pargana in attacking the British forces and their allies.

🔹 He also established contact with the rebels in Delhi and made Baghpat a strategic supply base for them. He died in a battle with the British troops in Baraut on July 18, 1857. He is remembered as one of the heroes of the uprising and a symbol of peasant resistance.

Role of Rumours and prophecies in the Revolt of 1857 : –

• Some of the rumours and prophecies that circulated before and during the revolt were:

🔹 The cartridges of the new Enfield rifle were greased with the fat of cows and pigs, which would pollute the caste and religion of the Hindu and Muslim sepoys who had to bite them before loading the gun.

🔹 The British had mixed the bone dust of cows and pigs into the flour that was sold in the market, which would also defile the religious purity of the Indians.

🔹 The British wanted to convert the Indians to Christianity by destroying their temples, mosques and sacred places.

🔹 The British rule would come to an end on the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, on 23 June 1857, as predicted by astrologers and seers.

🔹 The lotus and chapati, which were symbols of resistance and communication, were distributed among the villages and cantonments to spread the message of revolt.

🔹 These rumours and prophecies aroused the emotions and sentiments of the people, and motivated them to join the revolt against the British.

Why did people believe in the rumours?

🔹 Rumours circulate only when they resonate with the deeper fears and suspicions of people.

🔸 Example : – It seemed to the people that all that they cherished and held sacred – from kings and socio-religious customs to patterns of landholding and revenue payment was being destroyed and replaced by a system that was more impersonal, alien and oppressive. This perception was aggravated by the activities of Christian missionaries. In such a situation of uncertainty, rumours spread with remarkable swiftness.

Resident : –

🔹 Resident was the designation of a representative of the Governor General who lived in a state which was not under direct British rule.

Subsidiary Alliance : –

🔹 Subsidiary Alliance was a system devised by Lord Wellesley in 1798. All those who entered into such an alliance with the British had to accept certain terms and conditions:

• The British would be responsible for protecting their ally from external and internal threats to their power.
• In the territory of the ally, a British armed contingent would be stationed.
• The ally would have to provide the resources for maintaining this contingent.
• The ally could enter into agreements with other rulers or engage in warfare only with the permission of the British.

Awadh in Revolt : –

🔹 Dalhousie described the kingdom of Awadh as “a cherry that will drop into our mouth one day” Awadh was formally annexed into the British empire in 1856 by Lord Dalhousie. The conquest happened in stages.

🔹 The Subsidiary Alliance had been imposed on Awadh in 1801. By the terms of this alliance the Nawab had to disband his military force, allow the British to position their troops within the kingdom, and act in accordance with the advice of the British Resident who was attached to the court. Thus the Nawab became dependent on British.

Reasons which prompted British annexation of Awadh : –

• It was seen as a source of not just additional revenue, but its soil as ideally suited for investment of private capital for cultivation of indigo and cotton.
• The region was ideally located as a potential market for upper India.

Displacement of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah : –

🔹 Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was displaced and exiled to Calcutta. He was so admired by his people that his subjects. followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament. There was widespread emotional upheaval at his dethronement.

🔹 Contemporary writers observed that “The life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless…”Folk song mourned that “the honourable English came and took the country”.

Impact Of The Acquisition Of Awadh By The British On The Local People : –

🔹 Due to the acquisition of Awadh by the British, the local people turned against the British rule because the removal of the Nawab destroyed the court and its culture. The livelihood of musicians, dancers, poets, artisans, cooks, servants, government employees and many others had ended.

Why was the revolt particularly widespread in Awadh?

• Awadh annexed under Subsidiary Alliance.
• Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh dethroned and deported to Calcutta.
• Britishers assumed that Wajid Ali Shab was not popular among his subjects.
• On the contrary people loved the Nawab.
• The end of a world with the exile of Nawab.
• Dissolution of the court and its culture by the removal of the Nawab.
• Emotional upheaval among the people of Awadh

Reasons what prompted the peasants, taluqdars and zamindars to join the revolt : –

• A chains of grievances in Awadh linked prince, taluqdar, peasant and sepoy.
• The British land revenue policy undermined the power of the taluqdars.
• The taluqdars were dispossessed of their lands.
• The dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order.
• The ties of loyalty and patronage between peasants and the taluqdars got disrupted.
• No trust of peasants towards British rulers.
• Peasants aggrieved due to over assessment of revenue and in flexible methods of collections.
• The grievances of the peasants were carried over to the sepoy lines.
• Mamy sepoys were recruited from the villages of Awadh
• For decades the sepoys had complained of low level of pay and difficulty of getting leave.
• The relationship of sepoys with their superiors had affected the revolt.
• Peasants poured into town and joined the soldiers and the ordinary people of the towns in on the rebellion.

Conflict between Britishers and taluqdars : –

🔹 The British annexed the lands and regions of the taluqdars, disarmed them of their army and forts were destroyed. The revenue settlement undermined the position and authority of the taluqdars because now the talukdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land. The taluqdars were oppressors in the eyes of the peasants but appeared to be generous father figures in times of difficulty.

British government annex the power of taluqdars of Awadh during 1857 ( in point ): –

• Awadh annexed under Subsidiary Alliance
• Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah dethroned and exiled to Calcutta.
• Nawab of Awadh was declared unpopular among his people and allegation of mis governance made on him.
• The position and power of taluqdars also undermined.
• The countryside of Awadh dotted with estates and forts of taluqdars.
• Talaqdars controlled land and power in the countryside.
• Maintained armed solders.
• Enjoyed autonomy by acceptions sareranity of the Nawab and by paying revenue on time.
• British unwilling to tolerate the power of the Talugdars.
• Taluqdars disarmed immediately after annexation.
• British revenue settlement, known as the summary Settlement imposed in 1856.
• Taluqdars considered as interlopers.
• No stake in the land.
• Established their hold Through force and fraud.
• The Taluqdars dispossed of their lands under Summary Settlement.
• Talugdars of southern Awadh were hardest hit.
• In pre-British times talugdars had held 67 percent & total no. of villages in Awadh.
• By the Summary Settlement it came down to 38 percent.
• Dispossession of taluqdars meant the breakdown of an entire social order.

Summary Settlement : –

🔹 The first British revenue settlement, known as the Summary Settlement of 1856, was based on the assumption that the taluqdars were interlopers with no permanent stakes in land: they had established their hold over land through force and fraud. The Summary Settlement proceeded to remove the taluqdars wherever possible.

Example of Summary Settlement : –

🔹 Figures show that in pre-British times, taluqdars had held 67 per cent of the total number of villages in Awadh; by the Summary Settlement this number had come down to 38 per cent. The taluqdars of southern Awadh were the hardest hit and some lost more than half of the total number of villages they had previously held.

Relation between the white and Indian officers : –

🔹 Prior to the uprising of 1857, the relationship between the white and Indian officers was cordial-the former were well. versed in Hindustani, fenced and wrestled with their Indian counterparts and often went out hawking with them, and were thus, disciplinarian and father figure rolled into one.

🔹 In the 1840s, this relationship underwent a drastic change, with the British officers considering their Indian sepoys as racially inferior and riding roughshod over their sensibilities.

Close links between the peasants and sepoys : –

🔹 The grievances of the peasants were also discussed within sepoys lines as most of the soldiers were recruited from the peasantry.Awadh was called “the nursery of the Bengal Army”.

🔹 The sepoys also complained about the difficulty of getting leave misbehavior and racial abuse of their white officers. Thus, their discontent spilled over into the ranks peasantry. When the sepoys took up arms they were joined by the peasants.

What did the Rebels want? ( In short points)

• The rebels wanted an alternative to the British Raj.
• Zamindars wanted these lands and there power back.
• Merchants and traders wanted freedom to do bussiness in India.
• Government officials wanted promotions and pay hike.
• The artisans and craftsmen wanted permanent employment in the service of King’s, the rajas and the rich under the Badshahi Government.
• The kings and Nawabs wanted back their states.
• All sections of the society wanted their place and self-respect regained from the British Administration.

What did the Rebels want? ( In detail )

🔹 The rebels who participated in the revolt of 1857 had different motives and goals, but they generally wanted to overthrow the British rule and restore the pre-colonial political and social order. Some of the common demands of the rebels were : –

• To reinstate the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as the sovereign ruler of India.
• To restore the rights and privileges of the native princes, nawabs, and zamindars who had lost their power and lands to the British.
• To protect their religious and cultural traditions from the interference and reforms of the British.
• To end the economic exploitation and oppression of the British, who imposed heavy taxes, unfair trade policies, and disrupted the traditional rural economy.
• To improve the conditions and status of the sepoys, who were discriminated and mistreated by the British officers.

The vision of unity : –

• The rebel proclamations appealed to all sections of the population.
• proclamations issued by Muslim princes took care to address the sentiments of Hindus.
• The ishtahars harked to the pre-British Hindu-Muslim past.
• Rebellion seen as a war in which both Hindu & Muslims were in loss.
• The proclamation that was issued under the name of Bahadur Shah appealed to the people to join the fight under the standards of both Muhammad and Mahavir.

Example of vision of unity in revolt 1857 : –

🔹 It was remarkable that during the uprising religious divisions between Hindus and Muslim were hardly noticeable despite British attempts to create such divisions. In Bareilly in western Uttar Pradesh, in December 1857, the British spent Rs 50,000 to incite the Hindu population against the Muslims. The attempt failed.

The vision of different social groups : –

🔹 In many places the rebellion against the British widened into attack on all those who were seen as allies of the British or local oppressors.

🔹 The rebels deliberately sought to humiliate the elites of the city. In villages, they burnt account books and ransacked moneylenders’ houses.

🔹 This was an attempt to overturn traditional hierarchies, rebel against all oppressors, which presents a glimpse of an alternative vision of a egalitarian society.

🔹 Such visions were not articulated in the proclamations which sought to unify all social groups in the fight against firangi raj.

The Search for Alternative Power : –

🔹 After the collapse of the British rule in 1857, the rebels tried to establish some structure and authority in Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. Through these structures, attempts were made to appoint people to important posts and to collect revenues, and orders were issued to stop loot and raids.

🔹 Plans were made to fight the British army. At most places, these structures and institutions were not able to resist the British troops for long. Only Lucknow was able to offer prolonged resistance to the British.

Repression of the Revolt : –

🔹 The British took a series of steps to repress the revolt of 1857. These were : –

• They sent out troops to reconquer North India and passed several laws to help them to suppress the revolt.
• By June 1857, the entire Northern India was put under martial law. Not only British military officers but even ordinary Britons were given the powers to punish Indians suspected to be part of the revolt.
• The British forces tried to reconquer Delhi from two sides-from Calcutta and Punjab.
• Losses on both sides were heavy. One reason was that the rebels from north India had come to Delhi to defend the capital.
• The British used their military power on a large scale to quell the rebels.
• At many places, they announced big rewards to loyal zamindars and dispossessed zamindars who had revolted.
• Many landholders died fighting against the British or escaped to Nepal where most of them died either of illness or starvation.

Acts of Terror : –

🔹 The rebels were executed brutally after the revolt. They were blown from guns and hanged from the gallows. Images of their executions were widely circulated.

Contribution of art and literature make in reviving the memory of 1857 : –

• To view the leaders of the revolt as heroes who are leading the nation towards a battle.
• Picturisation of the headers of revolt against the suppressive imperialist rule.
• Representation of Rani Laxmi Bai with a sword in one hand and reins of the horse in the other.
• Heroic poems written about the valour of the queen.
• Rani of Jhansi represented as a masculine figure is public image.
• Such representation – a symbol of the determination to resist injustice and alien rule.
• Images indicate the thoughts of the painter.
• Through paintings the thought and the feel of the masses can be analysed.
• Whether people appreciated or criticized the images.
• Bought copies to put up at their homes.
• Images often reflected the emotions and feelings of their times.
• Nationalist imageries of the revolt shaped nationalist imagination.