Question

What objections did the sepoys have to the new cartridges that they were asked to use?

Answer 1

• In Barrackpore, a young soldier, Mangal Pandey, had attacked his officers on 8th April 1857. As a result he was hanged to death.
• Few days later in Meerut, as there was lingering suspicion that cartridges were coated with the fat of pigs and cows, few sepoys of the Meerut regiment refused to carry out the army drill.
• As a result of disobeying the officers, Eighty-five sepoys were sentenced to ten years in jail and dismissed from service.
• The imprisoned sepoys were released by soldiers after they marched to the jail on 10th May.
• British officers were attacked and killed.
• The sepoys declared war on the firangis, they set fire to the properties and buildings of the British, they captured the ammunition and guns of the British.
• The sepoys were motivated and resolved to wipe out the British rule in India.
• The British were taken by surprise.
• The British assumed that the disturbances and issues which arose due to cartridges would settle down soon.
• The adopted son of the late Peshwa Baji Rao proclaimed himself as thePeshwa. He expelled the British garrison from the city and gathered the armed forces. He was living near Kanpur
• But the entire situation turned bad quickly once Bahadur Shah Zafar decided to support the rebellion.
• Lucknow, Kanpur, and Delhi were the nodal points where other troops of many other regiments assembled after carrying out mutiny.
• After the sepoys, even the people from villages and towns joined the rebellion and supported the chiefs, zamindars and local leaders to fight the British.