Question

Political causes of the revolt of 1857 (In points)

Answer 1

➠ AnSwer :-

➝ The following are the economic, political and social causes for the revolt of 1857:

1. Economic Causes: the high revenue demand and the strict policies adopted by the colonial government for the collection of taxes adversely affected the peasants and other section of Indian society. The machine made goods from Britain ruined the local artisans and craftsmen.
2. Political Causes: the British government adopted the "Doctrine of Lapse" and the "policy of Annexation" to merge many Indian kingdoms under the colonial territory. For this many of the leaders such as Rani Lakshmi Bai and Begum Hazrat Mahal fought to save their territories from the occupation of the British.
3. Social Causes: The revolt got the support of common people as the Colonial government made attempts to change the existing social systems for instance, through various acts they abolished the prevalent system of Sati and introduced the Widow Remarriage act.

Answer 2

$\huge{\red{\underline{\underline{\bf{\blue{Solution}}}}}}$

• 1. a) Due to the British expansionist policies, most of the Raja’s, Nawab’s and the zamindar’s, were either dispossessed from their state or became subsidiary to the British. b) The East India Company (EIC) had a planned way of expansionism and many Indian states easily fell prey to the policies of the East India Company. c) The policy of Trade and Commerce subjugated the state, the policy of indirect subordination (subsidiary alliance), policy of war and annexation, policy of direct subordination (doctrine of lapse), policy of misgovernance (in which Awadh was annexed). d) These policies greatly hampered the interests of the rulers of the native states, and they one by one became victims of British expansionism. e) Therefore, those rulers, who lost their states to the British, were naturally against the British and took sides against them during the revolt. f) However, some of the rulers were in active connivance and collaborated with the British in suppressing the revolt.
• 2. The period of Dalhousie (1848-1856) is marked as a major factor in the revolt of 1857. A famous policy under his period was ‘Doctrine of Lapse’. Under this, many states, like Satara, Jaitpur, Sambhalpur, Jhansi, were captured by the British who expanded recklessly. Thus the political factors, i.e. expansionary policy of the British greatly contributed towards the revolt of 1857. 3. The other factor was that Indian judges were not allowed to try the criminal cases of Europeans- thus discrimination was at all levels.