The document summarizes the impact of British rule in India in the mid-19th century, including the loss of power and authority experienced by Indian kings and rulers. It describes how various groups like peasants, sepoys, and religious communities grew unhappy with British policies. This led to a major rebellion in 1857 starting in Meerut, and spreading across northern and central India. Though the British eventually suppressed the rebellion by 1859, it changed their approach to ruling India going forward.

1. 1857 And After
Made By –
Deepansha Singh
Class – VIII A
Roll No. - ⑭

2.  Introduction
 Loss Of Power For The Nawabs
 Failed Negotiations Of Ruling
Families
 Annexation Of Awadh
 Plans To End The Mughal Dynasty
 The Peasants And The Sepoys
 Belief Against Sea Voyage And Its
Impact
 Responses To Reforms
 Mutiny To Popular Rebellion
 From Meerut To Delhi
 Execution Of Mangal Pandey
 The Backlash
 Anointment Of The New Leader
 Political Importance Of Bahadur
Shah Zafar
 The Spread Of Rebellion
 Spread Of Rebellion
 Widespread Rebellion
 Rise Of New Leaders
 The Company Fights Back
 The Counter Attack
 Arrest Of The Last Mughal
Emperor
 The Long Battle
 Shifting Loyalties
 Aftermath
 Summary

3.  When East India Company established power in India it
affected the life of Indian Kings, Queens, Landlords, Peasants,
Tribals and Soldiers in many ways.
 Many of them revolted against the policies enforced by the
British.
 The Nawabs, who ruled the land till then, slowly lost all their
power.
 The Nawabs and the Rajas lost all their authority and honour.
 British Residents were stationed in all the courts to monitor
the proceedings, thus, undermining the authority of the
Nawabs.
 The Nawabs’ armies were disbanded and the freedom of the
rulers was reduced.
 The revenue collected by the Nawabs
was taken by the British and their
territories were also seized.

4.  Many ruling families tried to negotiate with the company in
order to protect their interests.
 Rani Laxmi Bai wanted the Company to recognize her adopted
son as the heir to the kingdom after the death of her husband.
 Nana Saheb was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji
Rao II. When Peshwa Baji Rao II died, Nana Saheb
pleaded with the British Company to give him his
father’s pension. The British refused to do so, as
they had military power to defeat him, in case he
revolted.
 In 1801, a subsidiary alliance was imposed on Awadh. Governor
General Dalhouise declared that the state was being
misgoverned by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and imposed British rule
for a proper administration. In 1856, Awadh was taken over by
British. It was one of the last territories to be annexed by the
British.

5.  Bahadur Shah Zafar II was last of the Mughal Emperors.
 In 1849, Governor General Dalhouise announced that after the
death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the family of the king would be
shifted out of the Red Fort and given another place to live in
Delhi.
 In 1857, after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Governor
General Canning decided that his descendants would not be
recognized as kings but would be called only princes.
 Thus, slowly but decisively the power of all the Nawabs were
taken by the British.
Lord Dalhousie

6.  Since the mid-eighteenth century, the power of Nawabs and
rajas had been eroding. The authority and the honour which
they earlier commanded were gradually waning away.
 The British had appointed Residents in many courts.
 The freedom of the Indian rulers was reduced and their
armed forces were disbanded.
 The Company also took away their revenues and territories
in stages.

7.  Many ruling families tried to negotiate with the Company to
protect their interests but they failed.
 Let us take the example of Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi. After
the death of her husband, she wanted her adopted son to be
recognized as the heir to the kingdom.
 Similarly, Nana Saheb who was the adopted son of Peshwa
Baji Rao II, wanted his father’s pension when the Peshwa
died.
 But the Company always turned
down such requests.
Jhansi Ki Rani – Lakshmi Bai

8.  A subsidiary alliance was imposed on Awadh in 1801 and it
was fully taken over in 1856.
 Misrule by the nawab was given as the reason for
annexation of Awadh.
Nawab of Awadh
“Wajid Ali Shah”

9. Sons of Bahadur Shah Zafar
 The Company was also working on its plan to bring the
Mughal dynasty to an end.
 It removed the name of the Mughal king from the coins.
 In 1849, it was announced by Governor General Dalhousie
that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar the family of
the king would be shifted out of the Red Fort. It was
announced that they would be given another place in Delhi
as residence.
 In 1856, it was decided by Governor
General Canning that Bahadur Shah Zafar
would be the last Mughal king. After his
death, none of his descendants would be
recognized as kings. They would be
called “princes”.

10.  The peasants were not happy with the high taxes and the rigid
methods of revenue collection. Many peasants had lost the
lands they had been tilling for generations because of their
failure to repay their loans.
 The Indian sepoys were not happy about their pay, allowances
and conditions of service. Some of the new rules violated their
religious sensibilities and beliefs.

11.  The Hindus believed that crossing the sea would mean that they
would lose their religion and caste. In 1824, when the sepoys
were told to go to Burma by the sea route they refused to
follow the order. However, they agree to go by land route. For
this, the sepoys were severely punished. The Company passed a
new law in 1856. The new law made it mandatory for a sepoy to
agree to serve overseas if required.
 Most of the sepoys were from rural background. They had
families living in the villages. So, they also reacted to what was
happening in the countryside

12.  The British took several steps to reform the society. New
laws were passed against the practice of sati. A law was
also passed to encourage widow remarriage. The Company
officially promoted the English language. After 1830,
Christian missionaries were allowed to function freely and
they could even own land and property. In 1850, a new law
allowed an Indian who had converted to Christianity to
inherit property of his ancestors. This law made it easier
to convert to Christianity.
 A feeling was developing among most of the Indians that
the British were trying to destroy their religion, social
customs and traditional way of life. However, there were
some others who wanted to get rid of many of the social
evils.

13.  The rebellion of May 1857 threatened the Company’s very
presence in India.
 The mutiny which started from the cantonment in Meerut
engulfed a large part of northern and central India.
 People from different sections of society rose up in rebellion.
 Many historians regard it as the biggest armed resistance to
colonialism in the nineteenth century anywhere in the world.

15.  Mangal Pandey was a young soldier at the cantonment in
Barrack pore. He was the culprit of attacking his officers. On
29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey was hanged to death for his
crime.
 Within a few days, some sepoys of the regiment at Meerut
refused to use the new cartridges during an army drill. It was
rumoured that the new cartridges were coated with the fat of
cows and pigs. For their refusal to obey the orders, eighty five
sepoys were dismissed from
service. They were sentenced to
ten years in jail. This incidence
happened on 9 May 1857.

16.  The other soldiers in Meerut responded in extraordinary way.
 On 10 May, the soldier marched to the jail and released the
imprisoned sepoys.
 They attacked and killed British officers.
 They captured guns and ammunition.
 They set fire to the buildings and properties of the British.
 They declared a war on the “firangis”.

17.  After creating mayhem in Meerut, the soldiers rode
throughout the night of 10th May and reached Delhi the
next morning. When the regiments in Delhi heard the
news, they also rose up in rebellion. The soldiers gathered
around the Red Fort and demanded to meet Bahadur Shah
Zafar. The emperor was hesitant to challenge the might of
the British but the soldiers persisted in their demand. They
forced their way into the palace. They proclaimed the
Badhshah as their leader.
 The emperor had no choice but to agree to their demand.
He wrote letters to all the chiefs and rulers of the country
to come forward. He asked them to form a confederacy of
Indian states to fight the British. This step of the emperor
had great implications.

18.  It is important to remember that the Mughal dynasty had ruled
over a very large part of the country for a long period. Most of
the smaller rulers and chieftains had been ruling over their
territories on behalf of the Mughal ruler. They hoped that if
the Mughal ruler could once again resume power, they would
also be able to rule their own territories once again.
 The British had initially taken the revolt at Meerut quite
lightly. But the decision by Bahadur
Shah Zafar to support the rebellion had
dramatically changed the entire
situation. People were emboldened by
an alternative possibility.

20.  The rebellion gradually spread to other parts of
the country. Various regiments mutinied and
marched to join other troops at nodal points like
Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. The people in the
towns and villages also revolted and rallied
around local leaders, zamindars and chief. For
the local leaders, zamindars and chiefs it was an
opportunity to assert their authority.
 Nana Saheb gathered armed forces and expelled
the British garrison from the city of Kanpur. He
declared himself as a governor under the Mughal
Emperor.
 Birjis Qadr proclaimed himself the new Nawab in
Lucknow. He was the son of the deposed Nawab
Wajid Ali Shah. He also acknowledged the
suzerainty of Bahadur Shah. His mother Begum
Hazrat Mahal actively organized the uprising
against the British.
 Rani Laxmi Bai joined the rebel sepoys in Jhansi.
She fought the British along with Tantia Tope who
was the general of Nana Saheb.

21.  The British were greatly out-numbered by the rebel
forces.
 They got defeat in a number of battles.
 The changing situation convinced the people that the
British rule had collapsed for good.
 This gave them the confidence to join the rebellion.
 Widespread popular rebellion developed especially in
the region of Awadh.

22.  Ahamdullah Shah was a maulvi from Faizabad. He prophesied
that the end of the rule of the British was imminent. A large
number of supporters rallied behind him. He came to Lucknow
to fight the British.
 A large number of ghazis or religious warriors came together to
wipe out the white people in Delhi. Bakth Khan was a soldier
from Bareilly. He took charge of a large for Kunwar Singh was an
old zamindar in Bihar. He joined the rebel sepoys and battled
with the British for many months.

24.  The Company decided to suppress the revolt with all its
might.
 Reinforcements were brought in from England.
 New laws were passed to make it easy to convict the rebels.
 The Company then moved forces into the storm centers of
revolt.
 Delhi was recaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857.

25.  Bahadur Shah Zafar was arrested.
 He was tried in a court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
 His sons were shot dead before his eyes.
 He was sent to prison in Rangoon, along with his wife Begum
Zinat Mahal, in October 1858.
 The last Mughal Emperor died in the Rangoon jail in November
1862.

26.  It took almost two years completely control the
situation.
 Lucknow was recaptured in March 1858.
 Rani Laxmi Bai was killed in a battle in June 1858.
 Tantia Tope escaped to the jungles of central India. He
continued to wage a guerilla war with the support of
many tribal and peasant leaders. He was captured, tried
and killed in April 1859.

28.  The defeat of the rebel forces encouraged desertions from the
ranks of the rebel forces.
 The British also tried to win back people’s loyalty.
 Rewards were announced for loyal landholders. The loyal
landlords were allowed to enjoy their traditional rights over the
land.
 The rebels were told that if they submitted to the British, they
would remain safe and their claims and rights would not be
denied.
 But there was a condition that they had not killed any white
people.
 Hundreds of sepoys, rebels,
Nawabs and rajas were tried and
hanged.

29.  The British could regain the control of the country by the end
of 1859. But the situation had changed to such an extent that
they were not in a position to rule the country with their
earlier policies. Many changes were introduced by the British.
 A new Act was passed in 1858 by the British Parliament.
 The new Act transferred the powers of the East India Company
to the British Crown. This was done to ensure a more
responsible management of Indian affairs.
 A member of the British Cabinet was appointed as the
Secretary of State for India. He was given the responsibility of
all matters related to the governance of India.
 A council, called the India Council, was given to him.
 The title of the Governor General of India was changed to the
title of Viceroy of India. The Viceroy was a personal
representative of the British Crown.

30. • Thus, the British government accepted the direct responsibility of
ruling over India.
• All ruling chiefs of the country were assured that their territory
would never be annexed in future. They could not pass on their
kingdoms to their heirs; including adopted sons. But they had to
acknowledge the British Queen as their Sovereign Paramount. The
Indian rulers were to hold their kingdoms as subordinates of the
British Crown.
• A decision was taken to reduce the proportion of Indian soldiers in
the army and to increase the proportion of European soldiers. A
decision was also taken not to recruit soldiers from Awadh, Bihar,
central India and south India. The decision to recruit more soldiers
from among the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans was taken.
• The Muslims were treated with suspicion and hostility and their
land and property was confiscated on a large scale.
The British decided to respect the customary religious and social
practices of Indians.
• Policies were made to protect the landlords and zamindars and
give them security of rights over their lands.

31.  When East India Company established power in India it affected
the life of Indian Kings, Queens, Peasants, Landlords, Tribals and
Soldiers in many ways.
 Many of the rulers revolted against the policies enforced by the
British.
 Even the peasants and the zamindars lost all their power after
the Nawabs and the rulers.
 The sepoys were unhappy about their pay, allowances and
conditions of service.
 After the British established power in India, they passed many
laws to reform the Indian society.
 Many Indians started feeling that the English were destroying
their religion, social customs and their traditional way of life.
 The anger of the peasants quickly spread amongst the sepoys.
 The Sepoy Mutiny which started in 1857 threatened British East
India Company’s very presence in India.

32.  The British were shaken by this rebellion that began spread all
over India.
 By the end of 1859, the British regained control over the
subcontinent.
 The British decided to respect the customary and the social
practices of the Indian people.
 Policies were made to protect landlords and zamindars and give
them security of rights over their lands.