Books
History
Item Code: IDK274by Rudrangshu Mukherjee and Photo Research and Editing: Pramod KapoorPaperback (Edition: 2008)Roli Books ISBN 9788174364708 Size: 17.1" X 11.0" Pages: 144 (Illustrated Throughout In B/W) |
Price: $50.00 Shipping Free - 4 to 6 days 
|
times since 1st Feb, 2011Untraceable in their origin and unverifiable in their import, the rumours of 1857-forcible conversion, greased cartridges, end of the Company's rule at the centenary of Plassey, the disarming of native regiments moved in a powerful current through the bazaars and sepoy lines making the sepoys as well as the local citizenry unsure of their future. The revolt against the Raj was the end of Mughal rule as well as the East India Company's rule in India replacing it with direct rule of the British government. Though the causes were many, ranging from social to cultural, and from economic to political, the uprising of the people against 'all things British' was the first event in the history of Hindoostan when people from different religions, castes and economic backgrounds came together to redeem their own past.
| Dateline | 10 |
| Introduction | 14 |
| The revolt of 1857 was the most serious challenge that British rule faced before the coming of the national movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Violent and aimed to destroy all things British, it was concentrated in North India and began in the sepoy lines, but very swiftly became an uprising of all sections of the population. | |
| Barrackpore | 44 |
| Most historians have argued that the revolt began to Barrackpore where on 29 March, a sepoy named Mangal Pandey defied his British officers. It was a dramatic moment and Mangal Pandey was hanged Was he the first rebel? | |
| Meerut | 48 |
| The uprising actually began in Meerut on 10 May. The sepoys attacked and killed British officers and their families. They destroyed government buildings and all property owned by Britons, and were joined in this carnage by peasants from the surrounding villages. | |
| Delhi | 52 |
| In Delhi, the sepoys prevailed upon the aging Bahadur Shah Zafar to accept the nominal leadership of the revolt. Once Bahadur Shah had accepted, rebellion engulfed Delhi and it fell to the rebels. It was only at the end of September that the British succeeded in recapturing Delhi after heavy fighting. | |
| Lucknow | 80 |
| In Lucknow the rebellion centered around Begum Hazrat Mahal and Birjis Qadr. The sepoys were joined by taluqdars and their men from the districts. It was the scene of fierce fighting and the British occupied the city in the winter of 1857, but the revolt continued for a few more months. | |
| Kanpur | 120 |
| In Kanpur the rebels carried out two massacres of the British to whom they had promised safe passage down the river to Allahabad. It thus became the site of the most terrible revenge on the part of the British. | |
| Jhansi | 136 |
| Jhansi is famous for Rani Lakshmibai who fought to save her kingdom, when she was surrounded on all sides by rebellious sepoys and an avenging British Army. | |
| Notes | 140 |
| Bibliography | 143 |
