How far dalhousie was responsible for the revolt of 1857?
Answers
The great Revolt of 1857 is considered as the India’s first war of independence.
Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of British India from 1848 to 1856. He was not holding any position during the revolt (1857)
There are many causes of the revolt. One of the political Causes was the very famous “Doctrine of Lapse”. Lord Dalhousie used this policy very aggressively and annexed many princely states.
Doctrine of lapse means, the Britishers can annex any state which is under the paramountacy of the British East India company will be automatically annexed if the ruler is either “manifestly incompetent or died without a male heir”
The company took over many princely states of Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambalpur (1849), Nagpur and Jhansi (1854), Tanjore and Arcot (1855) and Udaipur (Chhattisgarh) under the terms of the doctrine of lapse.
This made Indian very angry and furious. This was one of the reasons of the Great Revolt, 1857.
Dalhousie’ aggression to annex states through Doctrine of Lapse can be considered as one the reasons of revolt.
Revolt is not the consequence of immediate exploitation or persecution. People of India were encountering a lot of difficulties from the opening days of the British imperialism but during the governorship of Lord Dalhousie it was entirely filled up and that explosion drive to the consequence of revolt of 1857 as there was ammunition in the fire which was the playful and heartless policy of Lord Dalhousie which lead toward the revolt.
As per historians, he was recognized as ‘Father of Modern India’. In his ownership, the second Sikh war (1848–49) was encountered in which Sikhs are overwhelmed and Dalhousie was victorious in appending the whole of Punjab to the British administration. He also inaugurated the “Doctrine of Lapse” according to which in nonexistence of natural heir, the supremacy of Indian States was a failure to British and such ruler was not authorized to foster a son to acquire their kingdoms. That’s the principal reason behind the rebellion from Rani Laxmi Bai.