What are the causes for war of independence?

[Arooj Chaudhry]

Causes behind war of Independence
Following are the main causes of war:

1. political causes
   2)Socio-religious causes
   3)Economic causes
   4)Military causes
   5)Emmidiate causes
   Political causes
   Following are the main political causes:
   1) British policy of expansion:
   The British expanded their political power in India in the following four ways;

• By outright war:
  To expand their territory in India, British fought many wars such as
  War of Buxar(BBO)
  Anglo Mysore War
  Third Anglo Maratha War
  Second Anglo-Sikh War
  2) System of Subsidiary Alliance:
  Lord Wllesley introduced the system in which Indian States were brought under the British control without annexing them. Under this system, Indian rulers agreed to;

1. Accept British as Supreme Power
2. End foreign relations and wouldn’t enter any alliance/wars.
3. British resident at their HQ and couldn’t employ any European without consulting.
4. Maintain British troops at their own coast.
5. Virtually lost independence.
   3) Doctrine of Lapse;
   Lord Dallhouse annexed many Indian states using Doctrine of Lapse according to which heirs adopted without consent of the company could inherit only the private property of the deceased ruler and his territory would come under the Company’s rule.
   Examples:

• in 1853, ruler of Jhansi died without natural heir. Widow Rani was retired and their adopted son Anand Rao wasn’t recognized as the successor to the throne.
• States of Satara, Nagpur, Udaipur, etc had same problems.
  **4) On the pretext of Alleged Misrule
• Annexation of Awadh:**
  Lord Dallhouse annexed Awadh on 13 February, 1856 on the pretext of Alleged Misrule. British broke thier promises given to ruling chiefs.
  People had to face more hardships, had to pay higher taxes, and revenues, problems of unemployment arose, property was confiscated, 75,000 were worst affected and didn’t like what British did in Awadh.
  Disrespect shown to Bhadur Shah:
  Bahadur Shah, a mughal ruler was under protection of the company but after his death, Lord Dallhouse announced that ruler’s widow Zeenat Mahal and successor can’t Red Fort as Palace and in 1956 Lord Canning announced that the successors can’t use the imperial titles. This hurt sentiments of Muslims.
• Treatment given to Nana Sahib And Rani Luxmi Bai:
  Baji-Rao-|| the last Pashwa was under the protection of Company but after his death, they refused to pay the grant to the ruler’s adopted son i.e Nana Sahib. He was sent to Kanpur away from Poona. He then travelled to create awareness about British policies.
  Rani Luxmi Bai of Jhansi- victim of Doctrine of Lapse became bitter enemy. Other rules also had a double role in the British.
• Absentee sovereignty of the British( Indians wealth drained to England):
  India was being ruled by British from England, Unlike other rulers like Mughals who sent the revenue collected from India in India. But, in case of the British, Indians felt that wealth of the India was drained to England and wasn’t used for the welfare of Indians.