Sepoy Rebellion Research Paper

The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 is also known as the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and India’s First War of Independence. There are several contributing factors to the spirit of rebellion that inspired the Indian Sepoys to rise up against their British Officers, the most famous of which is the lubricated cartridges in the Sepoy’s rifles. This failed rebellion marks a significant change in the social and political relationship between The United Kingdom and British Controlled India that would create the long lasting tension between the groups and would eventually lead to India’s independence.
The British East India Company, originally known as The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, was unique in the fact that it was the only corporation to ever rule a nation. (Landow, “The British East India Company”). The corporation received its start on December 31st 1600 when a group of merchants received a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth for a monopoly on all trade in the East Indies (Lal). The formation of the company marked a difference in trade that was occurring at the time. Previously, all trade with Asia was done by land routes through the Middle East (Landow, “The British East India Company”). This all changed when the Portuguese, under the rule of Prince Henry the
Despite the arguments of The British East India Company’s lawyer, John Stuart Mill, the corporation was disbanded (Lal). The India Office in London controlled India directly, working through a Viceroy and reorganized its extensively (Kuah). The army and financial sectors were especially revolutionized to deal with the after effects of the mutiny (“Indian Mutiny”). The Indian colony became known as the Raj and it was ruled in this way until the colony gained its independence in 1947 when it split into the sovereign nations of India and Pakistan