The Great Fear of 1857: Rumours, Conspiracies and the Making of the Indian UprisingThe 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. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Greased Cartridges | 27 |
Barrackpore and Berhampore | 45 |
Rumours and Chapattis | 61 |
Mangal Pandey | 79 |
Arson at Ambala | 99 |
Meerut | 107 |
Alarm at Ambala | 125 |
Meerut Ablaze | 141 |
The World Turned Upside Down | 151 |
Meerut Aftermath | 169 |
To Delhi | 185 |
The Fall of Delhi | 199 |
The Uprising | 211 |
The Great Conspiracy | 225 |
The Outbreak | 131 |
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The Great Fear of 1857: Rumours, Conspiracies and the Making of the Indian ... Kim A. Wagner No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
19th BNI 20th BNI 34th BNI 3rd BLC Ahsan Ullah Khan Ambala amongst the sepoys APAC armed artillery attack Bahadur Shah Barrackpore Bengal Army Bengal Native Infantry Berhampore bite the cartridges Brahmin British British officers British rule British troops bungalow Calcutta Captain caste cavalry Cawnpore chapattis circulation cited in Kaye Colonel colonial comrades conspiracy Craigie crowd Delhi Gazette Depositions taken Eckford Enfield rifle fear fire FSUP Gough Government greased cartridges Greathed guard Havildar Hewson Hindu ibid Indian Mutiny Isuree Pandey Jemadar Kaye Papers killed later Lieutenant Lieutenant-Colonel London Mainodin Major-General Malleson Mangal Pandey Martineau Minto Mughal murder Muslim Nana Sahib Native Narratives native officers native troops Oudh outbreak at Meerut panic parade ground plot plunder Punjab rebel religion religious reported rulers rumours Savarkar servants Singh Smyth soldiers sowars station Sudder Bazaar taken at Meerut Trial troopers Tytler unrest V. D. Savarkar village warning