Imperialism is a Latin word, derived from the era of the Roman Empire. The definition of Imperialism is one "country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country".¹ The era of 1800 and 1914 has commonly been called the the Age of Imperialism, and involved the European powers spreading out into other areas of the world to establish world empires. There was several causes of this Imperialism: nationalism which prompted rival European nations to build empires in competition to gain power, the Industrial Revolution in Europe created a great need for raw materials and expanded markets, and religious fervor and racial superiority feelings prompted Europeans to impose their cultures on distant lands.² In this paper I will be focusing on the British empire in India, and their quest to spread their power and authority into South Asia. The key event that I want to focus on, the causes sepoy Rebellion, will be looked at though a discussion of the origins of British involvement in India, and what led up to the Rebellion in 1857.

The story of the sepoy rebellion started with the rise of the East India Company. Queen Elizabeth I of England, in1600, granted a charter to a merchant company based in London. This company involved themselves in trade centered around the East Indies.³ In order to establish trading posts they had to obtain permission from the Mogul Empire which ruled parts of Northern and Southern India at the time.⁴ The main rival of the English, in the early 1700’s, were the French. As the struggle between the French and English heightened, both of which had trading posts in India, the Emperor of the Mogul Empire in India were losing authority and strength.⁵ This decay allowed for the rise of Princes, who were elected by the Mogul Emperor as nothing more than governors, to seize control over provinces in India. The Moguls’ lack of control over the subcontinent was fertile ground for English domination.⁶

Recognizing the instability of India, and seeing the need to maintain a foothold for the economic purposes of trade, both Britain and France strengthened their defenses. Both countries utilized native Indian soldiers, trained in European tactics to fight along European troops brought in to keep the peace. Using the instability of the situation in India to their advantage, both France and Britain endeavoured to manipulate and influence local rulers and Princes. This tactic was implemented in order to favor their country and thus alienate the other side. This ultimately led to a "world-wide" French and British duel between 1740 and 1763 which inevitably involved India.⁷ The English were victorious in these battles, and thus inherited vast kingdoms in India.

After taking care of any European competitors in India a major development occurred to ensure British power in India. The British became involved in a war with the ruler of Bengal and defeated him at Plassey in 1757. Setting up their own government in his place, the Mogul empire officially recognized the East India Company as the ruler of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765. Orissa and Bihar were two areas adjacent to Bengal that Britain had gained control of, as a result of their victory.⁸

In the 1760’s the three main centers of British power were located in Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Each city had its own governor but both Bombay and Madras became subservient to the Calcutta governor located in Bengal. The first governor of Bengal was Robert Clive, and the British ruled during this time through round about measures. They made it appear that the Indian Nawab, or ruler, still reigned though they held the true power. The British using this front demanded money from the territories. In this chaos those British and Indians who were cunning enough could make themselves rich through trading privileges, loans, rents and bribes. Lord Clive writing about Calcutta stated: "Corruption, Licentiousness & a want of Principle seem to have possess’d the minds of all the Civil Servants, by frequent bad Examples they have grown callous, Rapacious & Luxurious beyond Conception."⁹ He said this though suffering from his own moral shortcomings. Upon returning to England he was accused of misusing power through oppressive and corrupt means in India. This so depressed him that he soon after killed himself.¹⁰

Clive’s suicide shook up the Parliament and made them realize that they were obligated to share the responsibility and power of the East India Company. The first Act of Parliament called the Regulating Act, to legislate British activity in India, was passed in 1773. This required Parliament to supervise what was occurring in India. The Regulating Act also made the Governor of Bengal Governor-General, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay became subservient to him. A Supreme Court in Calcutta, established to try to dispense justice was also established by this Act, and began a long series of events to impose the laws and ideas of the British on India.¹¹ Though these may or may not have been better than the Indian ways, they were often misunderstood and resented by many Indians.

In 1784, another Regulating Act was imposed by the British to help clarify and strengthen the vagueness of the previous Act. This Act set up a Board of Control to supervise the Directors of the East India Company. The power of the Governor-General was increased, however, he was subject to the will of the Board of Control. Given the incredible distance from London to Calcutta it would take on average six months for letter and instructions to be passed, and often the Company’s officials would often act first and then ask for permission later. This began a seventy-year time period (1772-1842) where India was legally controlled by Parliament but in reality controlled by the Company’s men.¹² In this period, men like Warren Hastings, who became Governor of Bengal in 1772, ruled India. These men wanted to rule well and fairly but were not afraid to use their authority vigorously. They generally assumed, except for Hastings, that British civilization was in every way superior to Indian. The most important posts in all branches of the administration of British India were reserved for British men. They soon began to regard themselves as a race of rulers, separated from the people they ruled.¹³

The feelings of superiority were nourished by the succession of victorious wars that made the Company ruler of the greater part of India. The empire grew at an astounding rate, and despite one or two failures, the progress of the British was incredible. The British saw themselves as taking part in a vital civilizing work, disregarding the feelings of the Indians, who needed to learn and accept the superior ways their British masters were bringing to them. It did not seem in doing my research on this paper that Britain set out to conquer the whole of the subcontinent, but as their rule was established they were dragged into alliances with Indian states. This inturn dragged Britain into wars in which they almost always won and held firmly what they took. This brings us back to the Indian troops, the sepoys, who were the Company’s main weapon of war.¹⁴

Units of Indian sepoys were first raised by the East India Company in Bombay, then in Madras, and finally in Bengal. The governor of each of these areas developed the armies separately from one another, in accordance with the special needs of the area. The Bengal army, first raised up by Clive in 1757, soon became the largest and most powerful, due to its enormous task of conquering and keeping at bay the whole of north India. Throughout the 19^th century there were around 40,000 British troops at most with an army of 200,000 Indian troops. The irony of it is the Indian troops were the ones who brought India under British control. The Rebellion of 1857 occurred only in the Bengal army, and thus I will examine the origin and grievances of this army to understand why the mutiny happened.¹⁵

As Clive began to form and recruit his sepoy army, he enlisted mercenaries from all over the Mogul Empire. He overlooked the Bengalis, because of their apparent lack of military toughness. These mercenaries were a fierce people from Bihar, Oudh, Afghanistan, and Rajasthan. These soldiers were those of many different nations and faiths, including Jats, Pathans, Rajputs, Hindu and Muslim.¹⁶ One of the main compulsions for joining the British was the honor associated with bearing arms. After teaching religion, bearing arms was the most honorable of Indian professions. This has its roots in the ancient caste system where the Brahman or religious leader resides at the top and the Kshatriyas, or warrior caste was next from the top. The caste system was brought into India with the Aryans around 1500 B.C, and thus was a system which had found deep roots in the people.¹⁷

The sepoys in Clive’s Bengal army were given the same uniforms and weapons as the British and were drilled in the same tactics and disciplines of war. As the decaying Mogul empire led to less and less control of the subcontinent, Clive would raise more and more regiments for security reasons. The Directors of the Company back in London, though not liking the raising of the sepoy army, knew of the expense of running a new colony. Looking at the profit margin, they knew it was cheaper than sending over British troops. In 1765 Clive divided up the Sepoys into three brigades each of which contained six sepoy regiments of 1,000 troops each. Thus there were 6,000 troops in each brigade in which resided equal numbers of Hindus and Muslims. They were placed in different companies to encourage competition in the acquisition of military qualities, but also to lessen the chances of their combining together against their officers.¹⁸

Due to the conflicts with Mysore and with Mahrattas, the Bengal army had grown to thirty-five regiments by 1780. As the number of sepoys increased so the number of grievances and misunderstandings became more numerous. In 1782 and 1795 some regiments which had refused to be transported by sea were disbanded. This was an issue deeply rooted in contractual as well as religious ideals. The sepoys had not contracted to serve overseas, and the Hindu sepoy according to strict adherence to the caste system would become an outcaste if he left Indian soil. The Indian caste system is built around the idea of performing ones duty or dharma in this life, and thus ensuring that you will be reborn in a higher caste. Thus according to the Hindu sepoy it was not an option to leave the continent. The British did not seem to be able to figure this out, and is a good example of why Imperialism was not successful.¹⁹

In 1824 a rather serious mutiny occurred among the sepoy regiments who were to be sent by sea to fight for the British in Burma.²⁰ This was coupled with the growing lack of leadership and understanding on the part of the British officers. Many of these officers had grown old and were motivated not by their men but by the money they could make being in India. The sepoy pay was also not keeping pace with the cost of living, and he was growing more unable to house, feed, and equip himself from his small salary. Thus we see the seeds of discontent forming among the sepoy army of Bengal.²¹

In 1842, the sepoy army of Bengal underwent an incompetently managed war in Afghanistan that resulted in a disastrous retreat from the capital Kabul. The entire Indian and British army of 16,000 was completely wiped out. This prestige of the British officers and the morale in the sepoy army sank lower and lower.²² In 1843 a new campaign for the conquest of Sind was launched causing several Sepoy regiments to refuse to march. This refusal was based on pay, as the sepoys thought they receive the customary extra duty pay called, foreign service allowances. This pay was customarily given for any battles not taking place on the homeland They reasoned that any activity which occurs beyond the Indus River over a thousand miles from home should be considered foreign service and thus should receive the extra pay. In the refusal to march on Sind the British, though usually crushing any mutiny with great severity, refused to act against the sepoys.²³ The British knew that the grievance against them was a real one and many English newspaper in India began to support the sepoys. The Naval and Military Gazette wrote, "Whenever a mutiny occurs among the Bengal troops there has been some mismanagement either in the officers or in the Government."²⁴

In 1845 the Sikhs from the Punjab region invaded the East India Company’s area of occupation. Though the fighting only lasted two months it was some of the fiercest the Company’s army had known. After another confrontation in 1849 the Punjab was finally annexed by the Company. The Punjab, being across the Indus River, was considered foreign service for the sepoys. The refusal by British officers to give foreign servicce allowances caused further mutinies. In 1852, troops to be taken across the sea to Burma refused. By the early 1850’s the sepoys in India had lost respect for the British leadership and were very unhappy with the situation in the army.²⁵

As we have looked at the treatment of the sepoys in leading up to the great mutiny of 1857, it is also important to look at how the improvements rode rough shod over the traditional customs of the people. When Lord Dalhousie became Governor-General of Bengal in 1848 the wanted to clean up India by removing all of the small states, allowing only the large ones to remain. The large states maintained only semi-independence subjected to British control. This was seemingly, in the eyes of the British, done with good intentions as some of the states were poorly governed by their rulers. The peasants who farmed the land were often harshly treated with unfair taxation on their crops. The irony of this is that the British would often exaggerate stories of unfair treatment and they often would tax their own peasants more harshly.²⁶

Dalhousie turned the heat up some more by subverting a time-honored tradition recognized by Hindu law. Instead of allowing the ruler of an Indian state without an heir to adopt one, the Company would seize his territory and annex it to that of the British. This policy was called the doctrine of lapse, and brought in some of the richest Hindu states: 1848 Satara, 1849 Jaipur and Sambalpur, 1850 Baghar, 1852 Udaipur, 1853 Jhansi, and 1854 Nagpur.²⁷

The Muslim kingdom of Oudh is a great example of English pushing the envelope on control by greedily annexing lands without regard to the owners. From the 1750’s the kings of this important state on the Ganges river had always kept their side of many unequal treaties signed with British. In 1856 the British finally annexed Oudh on the grounds of misrule by the king, which was proven to be accurate. The annexation, however, disregarded all treaties between the British and the state. The king’s personal army of 60,000 troops was disbanded and they drifted back to their villages to spread disaffection against the Company. The great Oudh landowners, who had always acted as semi-independent chieftains, were forbidden to fortify their castles or to arm their followers. Many of the landowners in Oudh had their land taken from them by the British, being unable to produce the proper land titles, though they had lived there for many generations. New taxes were also imposed on everyone in the state.²⁸

Though the Mogul Empire was on its downhill slide it still held prestige in the minds of the people. Dalhousie struck a huge blow when he made the heir of the Mogul Emperor promise not to claim his Mogul title or palace. The pension he was entitled to was also denied him.²⁹ Even though it seems that the British were curbing the power of the rich and powerful who had oppressed the poor, it is interesting to look at how the ordinary Indian viewed what was occurring. Where the British ruled the land was divided into districts, and each district had officials appointed to rule it. This meant collecting taxes, keeping order and administering justice. Though there were times when the British officials were hard-working, and honest people the opposite was also true at times. The Zemindar system was the most notorious example of this. Zemindars were tax-collectors, or tax farmers who took the tax from the peasants who farmed the land and then each year paid the British government a fixed sum for their land. The British recognized the Zemindars as owners of the land, and the Zemindars saw their opportunity to squeeze their peasants for money, even when the harvests were bad. On account of this they often had to go to the village money lenders who charged high interest beginning an ugly debt cycle for many Indian peasants.³⁰

To many of the peasants, who made up about two-thirds of the population of India, the British improvements did not seem to mean much. They had little use for the first railway or telegraph linking together parts of India.³¹ What the peasants needed was protection from cruel landlords, tax-collectors, and moneylenders but the British frequently failed to give this protection. Many peasants expressed devotion to the old order of traditional beliefs, customs, and leaders. The British sweeping away these old orders was a source of anger and resentment. The overwhelming thought as I read accounts of the British treatment of the Indians, was the apparent lack of British attempts to understand the customs and feelings of the people. Many Indians felt that the British were trying to force Christianity on them, and they had good reason to think this. Some military and civilian officials would encourage the Bible and put down the holy Indian books. Several Indian religious customs were suppressed, namely thuggee, a cult of ritual murderer’s who for centuries had killed harmless travelers in the name of Kali, the goddess of destruction. Another was Sati, the custom of burning Hindu widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Another custom was the killing of female babies to avoid the expense of marriage dowries. These British regarded these activities as crimes. The traditional Indian caste system put people in categories in society, at the top being Brahmin and the bottom untouchables. The British put all Indians at the same level before the law as this appeared to the British as the only fair and just way. This threatened the traditional ordering of Hindu society, since the Brahmin and untouchables were on the same level ³²

The overseas duty threatened the religious beliefs of the Bengal army, as seen earlier in this paper. Innovations in uniform, like forbidding of caste marks, the cutting of hair, the wearing of leather (forbidden to Hindus) and so on, all produced uneasiness and sometimes mutiny. The importance of the caste dharma or duty needs to be reiterated to understand the importance of religion to the Hindus in the army. If a man does not perform his duty and breaks his caste he is removed from all contact with his family and people and will suffer horrors in the next life. Many of the Sepoys were Brahmins, and any attack on their religion affected them most seriously. Muslim sepoys were also affected as they could not help but wonder if their religion was being affected. Many of the Muslim sepoys came from the kingdom of Oudh where they were very offended by the way the kingdom had been treated. Thus we see incredible seeds of discontent waiting for the spark to set if off into outright mutiny.³³

It was the introduction of the Enfield rifle, a longer-range and more accurate weapon, and with it a new cartridge, which in 1857 provided the spark for the rebellion. The new rifle both the powder and the bullet were enclosed in a paper cartridge which was greased to keep its contents dry. In order to load the weapon, the cartridge was pulled open in the soldiers’ teeth and its contents rammed into the rifle. The sepoys believed that the grease was made of the mixture of cow and pig fat, which offended the Hindus who see the cow as sacred. This also offended the Muslims whom find the pig an

offensive and abominable creature. In February 1857 a sepoy regiment refused to accept the new cartridges and they were disarmed and disbanded. On the 23 of April, 1857 eighty-five members of a sepoy cavalry refused to accept the cartridges. A court-martial composed of Indian officers sentenced them to long terms of imprisonment. On the 9^th of May the British commander ordered them to be paraded in their chains in front of the whole garrison. The next day, a Sunday, while most of the British were at a church parade, the sepoys broke open the jail, released the prisoners, burned housed and killed some British officers and their families. This sparked a rebellion that was eventually crushed by the British two years later.³⁴

It is beyond the scope of this research paper to go into any details about the rebellion itself. My goal is to analyze why this rebellion or mutiny occurred and try to make some generalizations about Imperialism in general. It seems clear to me that there was some very well meaning British military and governmental leaders in India in both the 18^th and 19^th centuries. It is also very clear that there were those who thought of the Indians as lower class citizens who needed to accept the improvements the British wanted to bring to them. The overall lessons of this Rebellion revolve around a basic respect and understanding for the culture and religions of different people. The British failed to understand how their policies affected not only the sepoys in the army, but also the general population of India. British leaders in India were either too ignorant, or stubborn to adjust British policy to the evident realities of the time. To take beliefs and tenants of religions that have guided peoples’ lives for thousand years or longer and then just get rid of them for a supposed higher morality or better organized society is simply pride. This is evident in many cases of Imperialism around the world, and a great reason why it failed.