20/20 , A* gained in the 2018 Edexcel A-Level Option 35: Britain Losing and Gaining a Empire , Question 1 Source question.
Source is attached at the end of the document.
Assess the value of the source for revealing the causes of the Indian
Rebellion of 1857 and the nature of British response to it.
(2018 Paper 3 Question 1- 20/20 gained)
Source at the end of the DOCUMENT
This source is incredibly useful for revealing the causes of the Rebellion of 1857
as they acknowledge the British failures of treating the Indians’ culture and
religion with respect. They also acknowledge the nature of British response to be
a violent and cruel but also aims to persuade the British in adopting a more
lenient policy for the long term.
The source highlights that one cause for the Rebellion was the lack of tolerance
for British customs and traditions. The source says, “native traditions had not
been respected” and “[British] force them to abandon their own faith and
become Christians”. This is convincing as there was provocation from the British
in their attempt to proselytize the Hindu Brahmin and Muslims sects to
Christianity in order to strengthen their leadership by weakening the dominant
religious classes. This led to a destabilization of local social systems and became
a point of disturbance for locals. As the source points out the “over-zealous
missionaries” attempted a modernizing program and gave “ill-advised
statements” such as their futile attempt to educate the Indians in the British
native language in the Education Act of 1835. It also led to a Bengal renaissance
led by Ram Mohan Roy where Western Ideas would become prominent within
traditional ancient culture. The missionaries were initially banned by the EIC but
through the Clapham Sect an influential evangelist Christian group such as
William Wilberforce and Henry Thornton they managed to remove the blanket
ban on missionaries under the Charter Act 1813. This created an influx of
missionaries and showed their power over government policy consequently
leading to greater pressures for religious reform. The presence of missionaries
within the local community, as they were poor and lived alongside them, was a
source of local tensions especially when their local grievances became national
bans such as Thagi and Sati. The Manchester Guardian is happy to take a radical
viewpoint and stand up to the British imperialist ideas, this makes it convincing
as they are happy to have an objective viewpoint criticizing the British and their
policies unlike other pro-imperialist newspapers making them convincing. This is
seen through them agreeing with the grievances of the Indian rebels and
highlighting the flaws of the British government making them helpful when
revealing the causes of the Rebellion.
The source points out that the British were often oblivious to the beliefs and
traditions of the natives and this insensitivity/ignorance led to the creation of a
greater more resentful native class. The source highlights, “anger at the ruthless
application of the doctrine of lapse”. This is convincing as unlike the presence of
evangelicals these changes led to immediate reactions. Dalhousie’s doctrine of
lapse and paramountcy (right to intervene) was an annexation policy that led the
British to have direct control of an area if the existing ruler was incompetent or
died without an heir. This was a convincing point of tension as the lapse doctrine
led to the takeover of princely states of Satara (1848), Jhansi (1854- led to Queen
Jhansi revolutionary figure), Nagpur (1854) but the worst annexation and most
violent resistance came in the form of Awadh. This was annexation in 1956 which
removed Nwab Shah under the means of maladministration. This led to Awadh
becoming a center for the rebellion and was a serious destabilizing factor.
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