Essay Paper

Submitted By chito1202
Words: 921
Pages: 4

India’s
Indepen
dence
Moveme
nt

April 24

2013

The Indian independence movement affected the many different sections of its society. It went through many different processes of evolution. The basic ideas of the movement was anti­colonial, or against the expansion of colonies in one territory by the people from another. At a certain point the movement on a different view. There was lots of influence by the INC which moved it more towards a socialist movement. The rights of Muslims were soon protected by the
All­Indian Muslim League against the INC, and there was a Muslim voice I the British government. Europeans first reached India in 1498. In the 17th and early 18th centuries the British started to take an interest in the politics of India. The Battle of Plassey played an important role in the
British rule of India. India had lost this war and that’s when the British established itself in
Indian affairs. They then gained many administrative rights which helped them have control over the country. The regions in which the British had rights over were Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha.
Most of the country was under the company’s rule. The British then fought Anglo­Sikh wars in which they won and gained control of Punjab, which was one of the last areas to fall under
British rule.
On July 10, 1806 Sepoys, or Indian soldiers, shot down European sentries and killed 115 British men. The commander of the fort, Colonel St. John Fancourt was also killed. By dawn the rebels had control of the fort. But one of the British officers escaped and informed the closest garrison.
They went to the fort and fought killing about 350 rebels and wounding another 350. The British had regained control of the fort, and if they had delayed even a short amount of time they would have lost.

The rebellion of 1857 was a large rebellion that mainly took place in Northern and Central India.
This rebellion was against the British East India Company’s rule. This was then calmed down and the British Government took control of the company.
The company’s army conditions came into conflict with the beliefs of the Sepoys. The Sepoys had heard rumors of the company secretly converting them into Christianity, which greatly angered them. The Sepoys were also mistreated as they received lower salaries and were racially discriminated against by the British officers in promotions and special privileges. What greatly impacted the Sepoys was the use of Cows and Pig fat in the rifle cartridges. This impacted them because it religiously offended the Muslim and Hindu soldiers.
A young Sepoy of 29 years by the name of Mangal Pandey was believed to be the one who was responsible for inspiring other Sepoys to rise against the British soldiers. He killed a officer higher than him in his regiment and the British to introduce the rule. He was then captured and killed and the British took control once again.
This rebellion was major event in the history of India today. It led to a lot of important changes in the way India was controlled by the British. The company was no longer involved in ruling
India and was transferred back to the authority of the British government. They were promised equality and the British also stated they would respect the rights of the prince’s. The British stopped taking land and let the Indians into the civil service, they were almost equal but they were not allowed to handle artillery.

The shah died in 1862, and in 1876 Queen Victoria took the title of Empress of India.

Mohandas