Question

List the military causes of the First War of Indian Independence.

Answer 1

Explanation:

List Military Causes and elaborate

• Poor career prospects
• General service enlistment act and entailments
• Distribution of troops
• Introduction of Enfield rifles - consequences

Answer:

Military Causes of the First War of Indian Independence

Poor Career Prospects

• The salary of Indian Sepoys was 8-times less than their European counterparts.
• High ranks were reserved for Europeans.
• The highest position that an Indian Sepoy could reach was Subedar or Risaldar

General Services Enlistment

• General Services Enlistment Act (1856) was introduced by Lord Canning
• Bengal Army sepoys were asked to be ready for foreign deployment
• The batta or the extra allowances that were previously provided were stopped

Distribution of Troops

• There were Insufficient British soldiers
• Knowledge of the British facing problems outside India: Chinese War, Persian war, Crimean war
• The defeat of the British in the Afghan war shattered the image that the British were invincible.

Introduction of Enfield Rifles

• The Enfield rifles were introduced in place of Brown Bess Guns in 1856.
• The cartridges had to be bitten off before loading.
• Since it was rumoured that the cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and or pigs, the sepoys refused to use them.
• The sepoys were jailed for insubordination.
• An enraged sepoy named Mangal Pandey shot at an English officer and was hanged. This also served as the immediate cause of the war.