31 October 2023

Q1. Which of the following Leaders of the Mutiny is/are correctly matched with the areas of the Revolt:

1. Nana Sahib: Bihar
2. Kunwar Singh: Kanpur
3. Shah Mal: Pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh
4. Gonoo: Singhbhum in Chotanagpur

Select the correct answer using the code below?

1. 1 and 4 only
2. 2 and 4 only
3. 3 and 4 only
4. 1 and 2 only

C – Explanation:

• Leaders and followers: To fight the British, leadership and organisation were required. For these the rebels sometimes turned to those who had been leaders before the British conquest. One of the first acts of the sepoys of Meerut, as we saw, was to rush to Delhi and appeal to the old Mughal emperor to accept the leadership of the revolt. This acceptance of leadership took its time in coming. Bahadur Shah’s first reaction was one of horror and rejection. It was only when some sepoys had moved into the Mughal court within the Red Fort, in defiance of normal court etiquette, that the old emperor, realising he had very few options, agreed to be the nominal leader of the rebellion. Elsewhere, similar scenes were enacted though on a minor scale. In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice save to join the revolt as their leader. In Jhansi, the rani was forced by the popular pressure around her to assume the leadership of the uprising. So was Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar in Arrah in Bihar. In Awadh, where the displacement of the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the annexation of the state were still very fresh in the memory of the people, the populace in Lucknow celebrated the fall of British rule by hailing Birjis Qadr, the young son of the Nawab, as their leader. Not everywhere were the leader’s people of the court – ranis, rajas, nawabs and taluqdars. Often the message of rebellion was carried by ordinary men and women and in places by religious men too. From Meerut, there were reports that a fakir had appeared riding on an elephant and that the sepoys were visiting him frequently. In Lucknow, after the annexation of Awadh, there were many religious leaders and self-styled prophets who preached the destruction of British rule. Elsewhere, local leaders emerged, urging peasants, zamindars and tribals to revolt. Shah Mal mobilised the villagers of pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh; Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of Singhbhum in Chotanagpur, became a rebel leader of the Kol tribals of the region.

Q2. Which of the following is/are incorrect regarding the British army before 1857?

1. Sepoys were generally conservative in nature.
2. The General Service Enlistment Act dictated conditions for Sepoys on the basis of age.
3. The British Army employed Sepoys from all the castes so that they could maintain large army & avoid any discrimination.

Select the correct statements using the codes below:

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. All of the above

C – Explanation:

• The conditions of service in the Company’s Army and cantonments increasingly came into conflict with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. Restrictions on wearing caste and sectarian marks and secret rumors of proselytizing activities of chaplains (often maintained on the Company’s expenses) were interpreted by Indian sepoys, who were generally conservative by nature, as interference in their religious affairs. To the religious Hindu of the time, crossing the seas meant loss of caste. In 1856 Lord Canning’s Government passed the General Service Enlistment Act which decreed that all future recruits to the Bengal Army would have to give an undertaking to serve anywhere their services might be required by the Government. This caused resentment.
• The Indian sepoy was equally unhappy with his emoluments compared to his British counterpart. A more immediate cause of the sepoys’ dissatisfaction was the order that they would not be given the foreign service allowance (Matta) when serving in Sindh or in Punjab. The annexation of Awadh, home of many of the sepoys, further inflamed their feelings. The Indian sepoy was made to feel a subordinate at every step and was discriminated against racially and in matters of promotion and privileges.

Q3. Match the following with respect to Centre’s of Revolt of 1857 and their leaders:

  Center of Revolt                      Leader

1. Delhi                            1. Maulvi Ahmadullah
2. Bareilly                        2. Bakht Khan
3. Bihar                            3. Khan Bahadur
4. Faizabad                      4. Kunwar Singh

A          B          C          D

1. 1          3          4          2
2. 1          4          3          2
3. 2          3          4          1
4. 2          1          4          3

C – Explanation:

• At Delhi the nominal and symbolic leadership belonged to the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, but the real command lay with a court of soldiers headed by General Bakht Khan who had led the revolt of Bareilly troops and brought them to Delhi. At Kanpur, the natural choice was Nana Saheb, the adopted son of the Baji Rao II. Begum Hazrat Mahal took over the reigns at Lucknow where the rebellion broke out on June 4, 1857 and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in favour of the deposed Nawab. At Bareilly, Khan Bahadur, a descendant of the former ruler of Rohilkhand, was placed in command. In Bihar, the revolt was led by Kunwar Singh, the zamindar of Jagdishpur. Maulvi Ahmadullah of Faizabad was another outstanding leader of the revolt. The most outstanding leader of the revolt was Rani Laxmibai, who assumed the leadership of the sepoys at Jhansi.

Q4. Which of the following statement(s) is/are true regarding the consequences of the 1857 revolt?

1. The direct responsibility for the administration of the country was assumed by the British Crown.
2. The era of annexations ended and the British promised to respect the dignity of the native princes.

Select the correct statements using the codes below:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

C – Explanation:

• The revolt of 1857 marks a turning point in the history of India. It led to changes in the system of administration and the policy of the Government. (i) The direct responsibility for the administration of the country was assumed by the British Crown and Company rule was abolished. The assumption of the Government of India by the sovereign of Great Britain was announced by Lord Canning at a durbar at Allahabad in the ‘Queen’s Proclamation’ issued on November 1, 1858. (ii) The era of annexations and expansion ended and the British promised to respect the dignity and rights of the native princes. (iii) The Indian states were henceforth to recognise the paramountcy of the British Crown and were to be treated as parts of a single charge. (iv) The Army, which was at the forefront of the outbreak, was thoroughly reorganised and British military policy came to be dominated by the idea of “division and counterpoise”. (v) Racial hatred and suspicion between the Indians and the English was aggravated.

Q5. Which among the following was part of the reorganisation of army after 1857 revolt?

1. The percentage of Europeans was decreased but European monopoly over higher positions was strengthened.
2. European monopoly over key geographical locations and key departments like artillery, tanks was maintained.
3. To create divisions among various groups in army, some races like Sikhs, Gurkhas were declared non martial.
4. None of the above

B – Explanation:

• The proportion of Europeans to Indians was carefully increased at one to two in the Bengal Army and two to five in the Madras and Bombay Armies. Strict European monopoly over key geographical locations and departments, such as artillery, tanks and armed corps, was guaranteed. Even the rifles given to Indians were of an inferior till 1900, and Indians were not allowed in these high departments till the Second World War. In 1926, the Indian Sandhurst Committee was visualising a 50% Indianised officer cadre for 1952. An ideology of ‘martial races’ and ‘non martial races’, which assumed that good soldiers could come only from some specific communities, developed particularly from the late 1880s, under Lord Roberts, the commander-in-chief from 1887 to 1892. It was used to justify a discriminatory recruitment policy directed towards Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans who had assisted in the suppression of the revolt and were relatively marginal social groups— therefore less likely to be affected by nationalism.

Q6. Consider the following statements regarding ‘1857 Revolt’?

1. Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi joined the rebel sepoys and fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general of Nana Saheb.
2. Rani Avanthibai Lodhi of Ramgarh led an army of four thousand and fought against the British.

Choose the correct statements using the codes given below:

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. None

C – Explanation:

• After the British routed from Delhi the mutinies had started to spread to other parts like Kanpur, lucknow, etc., In Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai joined the rebel sepoys and fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general of Nana Saheb. In the Mandla region of Madhya Pradesh, Rani AvanthibaiLodhi of Ramgarh raised and led an army of four thousand against the British who had taken over the administration of her state.

Q7. In the context of Modern History of India, the Azamgarh Proclamation is generally associated with?

1. Sepoy Mutiny 1857
2. Swadeshi Movement
3. Rowlatt Satyagraha
4. Champaran Movement

A – Explanation:

• This proclamation was published in the Delhi Gazette in the midst of the “Great Mutiny” of 1857. The author was most probably Firoz Shah, a grandson of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, whose restoration to full power was a main aim of the rebels. It expressed complete disillusionment with the British Rule and express the fear that British missionaries were, with government connivance, attempting to Christianize India came to a head among the British East India Company’s sepoy troops. It is one of the most significant sources of information about the objective of the rebels.

Q8. Which of the following is/are the reasons for the failure of the revolt of 1857?

1. The rebels lacked a political perspective or a vision for future society.
2. The rebels were short of modern weapons.
3. The rebel units did not have common plans of military action or centralised leadership

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

D – Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct. The revolt lacked a forward-looking programme, coherent ideology, a political perspective or a vision of the future society and economy. The revolt represented no societal alternative to be implemented after the capture of power. Statement 2 is correct. The rebels were short of modern weapons and other material of war. Most of the rebels fought with ancient weapons as pike and swords. Statement 3 is correct. The rebels lacked coordination and a central leadership. They did not have common plans. Sometimes they behaved more like a riotous mob than a disciplined army

Q9. The modern educated Indians did not support the 1857 revolt because?

1. they believed that the British rule would help India modernise.
2. they were sympathetic to the old rulers and chieftens
3. they had faith in feudalistic society
4. they wanted to preserve the Indian acustoms and traditions.

A – Explanation:

• Statement (a)-The modern educated Indians did not support the revolt as they were repelled by the rebels’ appeals to superstition and their opposition to progressive social measures. They mistakenly believed that the British rule would help India accomplish tasks of modernisation, while the rebels, led by zamindars old rulers and chieftains and other feudal elements would take the country backward.

Q10. With reference to peasants’ revolts after 1857, consider the following statements:

1. They wanted to abolish system of lanlordism.
2. They did not wish to pay interest on the sums borrowed from moneylenders.
3. They rejected right of British to collect tax on land.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 3 only
2. 2 only
3. 1, 2 and 3
4. None

D – Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect : Peasants did not protest against landlordism but against eviction and undue enhancement of rent.Statement 2 is incorrect : They did not object to paying interest on the sums he had borrowed; they hit back against fraud and chicanery by the moneylender and when the latter went against tradition in depriving him of his land.Statement 3 is incorrect : They did not deny the state’s right to collect a tax on land but objected when the level of taxation overstepped all traditional bounds.