Mutiny War 1857

In 1600, after the death of Aurangzeb Alamgir, the empire of Mughals begun to Trumbell. Muslims started facing the downfall but not in a definite order. The downfall begun when East India Company entered Subcontinent for the trade purposes. When they noticed that the Mughal Government has become too much lazy in governance and they do not pay attention on the defense of their territory. East India Company gradually increased its military numbers in the name of the security of their trade goods. They were required the permission of the Mughal Government to increase their military. As the Mughlas were too easy on their borders, they happily agreed to increase their military. After some of the years, East India Company properly invaded in some parts of subcontinent and conquered them. In 1757, East India Company invaded subcontinent from Bengal, they conquered it. After that the path was open for East India Company to invade in any part of the subcontinent. It is quite strange to know that before East India Company, every of the invader who invaded subcontinent, he never used Bengal route to invade, whether they used Sindh like Mohammad Bin Qasim and others. So, as the time passed, a proper was started. This war is often known as Rebellion war, Mutiny or War of Independence. Their were certain causes of war which included political, social, economic, military and religious affairs. It is important to remember that this war was not initiated all over the subcontinent. It was only limited to Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lukhnow etc. The main event which became the immediate cause of war was the refusal of sepoys to use the grease covered catridges on 23 January, 1857 on 23 January, 1857. At the same time an Indian Sepoy killed two British Militants. The case was investigated and the Sepoy was hanged to death on April 8th, 1857. This news spread like fire of jungle. On 6th May, 1857 85 of 90 soldiers refused to use catridges, all those soldiers were court martialled and their badges were removed in front of the entire public. This raised fierce among Indians. On 10 May, 1857 the Indian Soldiers at Meerut open a revolt against East India Company. They released their companions and killed the Britishers. On the night of 11th may the mutineers marched towards Delhi and reached Delhi on 12th may. The revolutionaries entered Delhi on 11th may and the small garrison of Delhi was not able to resist against them and they fell into their hands within 2 days. The Mughal emporer Bahadur Shah Zafar was the proclaimed emporer of India. In order to regain Delhi Sir John Lawrence sent a strong force to Delhi in the command of John Nicolson. After a long siege of 4 months Britishers managed to regain Delhi. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was captured his two sons were assassinated before him and he was kept in Rangoon jail where he died later in 1862. At Kanpur the struggle was led by Nana sahib. He was generous firstly but when he came to know the actual behavior of Britishers, he killed the English refugees. General Havelock took Kanpur from Nana Sahib but later on in December 1857, Britishers managed to take it back. Then talking about Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh. He played a prominent role in the war. He died on 27th April, 1858. Most of the European historians have pointed out that it was a revolt of Indian Soldiers who were offended at the use of greased catridges. They further assert that it was not a national war of independence, in as much as the revolt was confined to a particular region and not to the whole country. One can admire the efforts of revolutionaries. The revolt left an impression on the minds of the Indian people and thus paved the way for the rise of a strong national movement.