Chapter 4 The Freedom Struggle of 1857 Solutions

Bakshi Jaganbandhu Bidyadhar

Bahadur Shah

Kajarsingh

Shankarshah

(c) Vellore

(d) Lord Dalhousie

(b) Rangoon

(c) Tatya Tope

When the news that Mangal Pandey was arrested and hanged reached Meerut cantonment, the entire regiment of the Indian sepoys rebelled against the British.

After Delhi, the revolt spread in Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Banaras, Bareli and Jhansi.

The Crimean war was fought between Britain and Russia.

The British adopted the policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ to pollute the minds of the Indians.

1. Exploitation was on a large scale during the Company’s rule in India. There was rising discontent among the Indians. Sanyasis-Fakirs rebelled in the | Bengal province. 2. Umaji Naik organised the Ramoshis and the local youth and gave a strong fight to the British in Maharashtra. 3. They drafted a declaration and appealed to the people to support them in their fight against to overthrow the British government. 4. People in Ahmednagar, Satara, Pune, Nasik, Solapur and Bhor were inspired by them. 5. Umaji Naik was arrested and hanged to death in 1832 at Pune.

After the struggle of 1857, the British Parliament made the following changes in the administration of India :

Rani Laxmibai, Kunwar Singh, Ahmedullah laid their lives on the battle field.

Tatya Tope fought for ten months but was caught by betrayal and hanged to death.

Nanasaheb Peshwa and Begum Hazrat Mahal took shelter in Nepal.

The reasons of 1857 freedom struggle : Economic :

There was rising discontent among the Indians which led to many struggles before 1857 :

1. Mangal Pandey shot a British officer at Barrackpore cantonment who forced him to use cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs. 2. Mangal Pandey was arrested and hanged. News spread like fire to other cantonments. 3. The entire regiment of Indian soldiers at Meerut battled and marched towards Delhi. 4. On reaching Delhi, the rebels proclaimed Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of India. 5. It spread to the whole of north India. The soldiers in the cantonments from Bihar to Rajput ana participated in the revolt. 6. The revolt spread to Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Banaras, Bareli and Jhansi. 7. It spread to the whole of north India and in Nagpur, Satara, Kolhapur and Nargund, Khandesh in western India. 8. Many princely states, peasants and about 400 female Bhills participated in revolt at Khandesh to free themselves from the oppressive rule of the British. 9. The struggle was led by Bahadur Shah the Mughal Emperor, Nanasaheb Peshwa, Rani Laxmibai, Tatya Tope, Kunwar Singh of Bihar and Begum Hazrat Mahal of Ayodhya.

The reasons for the failure are as follows : 1. The struggle remained limited to the Northern part and it did not spread all over India at the same time. 2. Its intensity was severe in North India but Rajputana, Punjab but parts of Bengal and North-west India remained aloof. 3. Many princely states remained loyal to the British which reduced its intensity. 4. The majority of the rulers of the Indian states and the educated Indians kept away from the struggle. 5. Though the soldiers were brave they did not use military tactics. 6. As there was no commonly accepted leader to fight the British, there was no uniformity of the struggle. 7. On the other hand, the British had economic strength, experienced generals, disciplined army, latest weapons and modern means of transport and communication which made movements of the British swift. 8 The naval strength of the British was vast, while rebels were isolated.

We learnt the following lesson from the struggle of 1857 : 1. Any challenge in front of the nation should be faced unitedly. 2. Each and every member of the society should keep in mind that if two people or groups disagree or have difference in opinion there are chances of third party creating misunderstanding and taking advantage of it. We need to be careful with such tendencies. 3. If the means to earn livelihood is taken away it creates discontent. Therefore, all should get means to earn livelihood. 4. The division in army, government offices and business should not be based on caste, race and religion. It should be based on merit and equality.