Hi Kaliya!
INDIA has lived through numerous wars fought for its resources since time immemorial. Vested interests of the indigenous rulers that led to greedy annexation of disintegrated states, supported by the British and other imperial players with an intent of total subjugation of Indian subcontinent. It would be apt to state that Indian rulers craved for short term returns without acknowledging its long term effects. It is imperative to know the reason for participation of the indigenous in such an act which cannot be termed as treason (mainly because INDIA was reduced to a fragmented nation without a centralizing power). The reason for such an outbreak lies prior to the "Mangal Pande and the enfield rifle" episode which many christen as the beginning of the revolt, it was rather a culmination of acute exploitation by English East India Company(EEICo) and its mal-governance. A proclamation issued at Delhi elucidates its immediate cause: "It is well known that these days all the English have entertained these evil designs- first to destroy the religion of the whole HINDUSTANI Army, and then to make the people by compulsion Christians. Therefore we solely on account of our religion have combined with the people and have not spared alive one infidel and have re-established the Delhi dynasty on these terms." The work conditions of Indian sepoys were in constant conflict with their hard held religious beliefs and they were predominantly enlisted from the upper caste of the society. It is natural code of conduct that the upper caste to distance from lower caste in erstwhile Indian society and thus in the infantry they were to fight alongside the lower caste sepoys which created further animosity between the sepoys and their English commanders. Excessive and continuous taxation, unemployement from dwindling cottage industries, exploitative policy like Doctrine of lapse and annexation of princely states like Oudh under false pretext of mal-administration were some of the key issues which sowed the seeds for such an uprising. Though these problems affected the general populace who were under crony EEICo rule with the exception of few rest of the rulers patronized the English. The revolt was confined to regions around the gangetic valley, lack of communication and critical intel checked its spread to southern and western states. Other than the shared animosity for alien rule the dissenters had no political mandate or a futuristic framework for a unified nation.The intelligentsia were first to recognise this lacuna and thus stayed away from this uprising. Next in line were the traders/merchants who not only distanced themselves from the revolt but actively supported the English. In fact half of the Indian infantry fought against their brethren (Recapture of Delhi with 1700 English officers and 3200 Indian sepoys). The madras army remained completely loyal to the English. Rulers like Sir Dinkar Rao of Gwalior , Salar Jung Nizam went out of their way to supress the rebellion. Money lenders and zamindars were partisans of EEICo, some like Man singh vacillated between the dissenters and EEICo. The Final blow came when the Centralising figure who was hailed as "Shehenshah-E-Hindustan"(Emperor of India) Bahadur Shah Zafar took refuge in HUMAYUNS tomb in Delhi fearing persecution lest he opposed the EEICo. Thus The rebellion came to an end and went into the annals of history as a Popular uprising, Unsuccessful but certainly it paved way for numerous battles yet to come!
Wish you the best of luck!
