The Great Uprising

A volume in the Worlds of the East India Company series, edited by Huw Bowen The events of 1857-58 in India are seen here through a series of untold stories which show that they were much more complex than hitherto thought. Drawing on sources in Britain and India, including contemporary East India Company records, together with oral memories from India illustrated with a number of nineteenth century photographs, the author tells of the murder of the British Resident in the princely state of Kotah; of Indians who opposed the Mutiny, and suffered at the hands of the "mutineers"; of a small, but significant, number of Europeans who fought with the Indians against the British; and of the infamous "prize agents" of the East India Company - licensed looters whose rapacity seemed limitless. The book conveys vividly what it was like for different kinds of participants to live through these traumatic events, bringing to life their anxiety and desperation, the grisly bloodshed, and the vast devastation - illustrating overall, as one Indian soldier who served in the East India Company's army put it, "the wind of madness". Dr ROSIE LLEWELLYN-JONES is author and editor of numerous books on India, including The Nawabs, the British and the City of Lucknow (1985) and Portraits of the Indian Princes (forthcoming).

Offers a rich description of the impact of the 1960s race riots in the United States whose legacy still haunts the nation.

‘The punishment for Mutiny,’ said John Nicholson, Commander of the Movable Column, ‘is death’. As India marks 150 years of the 1857 Uprising, this meticulously researched and vivid work recounts a time both tragic and compelling. Many-staged and many-charactered, this volume searches for the key issues, causes and effects, figures and developments that culminated in the massacres of Cawnpore, Satichaura and Bibighar, the ensuing counter-massacres, and the gory retribution dealt out by the British on their subjects. Beginning with an account of the state of the British Raj in 1857, Pramod Nayar moves on the ‘A Gathering Storm’, the strife that led to the Uprising, ‘The Summer of Discontent’, recounting the Mutiny, ‘The Retreat of the Native’ which tells us how the British won back lost ground, and ‘The Raj Rises Again’, explaining the repercussions the Mutiny had on the administrative plans of the empire. He also delves into the real causes of the Uprising, more complex than what conventional history upholds. Detailed descriptions of the Mutiny’s main figures, including Henry Lawrence, John Nicholson, Lord Canning, Nana Sahib, the Rani of Jhansi, and the tragic king of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, are interspersed with quotes, facts and anecdotes that reanimate the past. An overview and analysis of the Mutiny is flavoured with references to the literature of the time and includes an appendix on how the events of 1857 influenced European literary imagination. Kanpur and Jhansi, violence and counter-violence, heroism and savagery – this every-person’s guide to 1857 captures the most tumultuous years of British India and re-enacts the drama of the first stirrings of nationalism.

"For nearly 200 years Britain and India shared a common history. This publication commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Great Rebellion, known to the British as the Indian Mutiny, and to some Indians as the First War of Independence. The rebellion marked the end of the influence of the traditional ruling elite in India, and the beginning of her development as a modern state. This process culminated in India's independence from Britain in 1947 and her emergence today as an economic superpower"--Back cover.

The Indian Uprising of 1857 had a profound impact on the colonial psyche, and its spectre haunted the British until the very last days of the Raj. For the past 150 years most aspects of the Uprising have been subjected to intense scrutiny by historians, yet the nature of the outbreak itself remains obscure. What was the extent of the conspiracies and plotting? How could rumours of contaminated ammunition spark a mutiny when not a single greased cartridge was ever distributed to the sepoys? Based on a careful, even-handed reassessment of the primary sources, The Great Fear of 1857 explores the existence of conspiracies during the early months of that year and presents a compelling and detailed narrative of the panics and rumours which moved Indians to take up arms. With its fresh and unsentimental approach, this book offers a radically new interpretation of one of the most controversial events in the history of British India.

During 1763 and 1764, a loose coalition of Native American tribes ranging from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River and from the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes revolted against the oppression and neglect of their newly installed British masters. This Great Uprising ranks among the most successful wars in Native American history with the assault and capture of nine forts, the siege of Forts Detroit and Pitt, and, finally, a negotiated peace that met most of their demands. Yet, the victories proved to be fleeting as tribal enthusiasm waned. Within a generation, another wave of settlers and a frontier war would conquer much of what the unfortunate tribes would cling to with their victory. There would be no simple solution to the conflict. Now nearly dependent on the white man's technology and trade, tribal leaders were forced to face the prospects of an uncertain future. Supplies captured from the forts would last only so long, and the war had diverted valuable manpower from the yearly hunt. While the British had managed to quell the uprising, they did so largely through diplomacy, and they paid a high political price with negotiations conceding nearly every tribal demand. However, within a generation yet another wave of settlers and a frontier war would conquer much of what the unfortunate tribes would cling to with their victory.