First War of Indian Independence

The First War of Indian Independence, as it is known in common Indian discourse, goes by many names, all of them controversial: The War of Independence of 1857, Indian Mutiny, the Great Indian Mutiny, the Sepoy Rebellion, the Great Mutiny, the Rebellion of 1857, the Revolt of 1857, and the Uprising. The debate over the title is a result of many known atrocities committed on both sides of the conflict, by soldiers of the British East India Company, and by fighters of the Indian resistance movements. Supporters of the title Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 claim that no unified Indian government existed and thus the scattered uprisings did not constitute a traditional army. It is also well documented that Indian soldiers drawn from a variety of armies and factions - including the Bengal Army, Madras Army, Bombay Army, and Sikh regiments - fought for the British forces during the struggle. However, supporters of the title First War of Indian Independence, most of them native Indian, insist that the rebelling sepoy soldiers fought for a countrywide rule by the old Mughal Empire, a national symbol of united Indian might. To this day, the debate over the title and of the struggle’s significance rages on. The conflict had its roots in the centuries old practices of the British East India Company, a business created for the precise goal of exploiting trade with the countries of the East Indies and Southeast Asia. Incorporated on December 31, 1600, the East India Company was given free reign over its holdings in the region and the right to establish a trade monopoly by the British Crown. By 1689 it had set aside administrative districts called presidencies in the Indian provinces of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. By 1784 the East India Company had become so powerful that the British government created the India Act, which established an official department to exercise political, military, and financial control over the company’s Indian affairs. In the years that followed, the East India Company suffered great financial difficulties and reached a point where if they were to increase revenue, they needed to expand British territories in South Asia. So the British government began to arrange adoption rights of native Indian princes and began massive annexation of more than a dozen independent Indian kingdoms. 80,000 square miles of land with a combined population of four to five million people were forcibly seized. The only way to manage and control these new holdings was to establish a permanent army of 200,000 South Asians under the command of 40,000 British soldiers. The concept of independent Indian states had disappeared. The flashpoint for the clash between native South Asian soldiers, or sepoys, and their British commanders is believed to have been a conflict over the new Lee-Enfield Rifle, introduced to soldiers in 1857. The rifle was developed at the Enfield arsenal by James P. Lee and it fired a .303 caliber ammunition that needed to be manually loaded before firing. Loading required the rifleman to bite the end of the cartridge, which was greased in pig fat and beef tallow. This presented a problem for native soldiers, as pig fat is a forbidden substance to Muslims, while cow fat is a forbidden substance for Hindus. This affront to the diverse cultures of the native troops perfectly symbolized more than a hundred years of British oppression and disrespect. After several months of tension, full-scale resistance finally broke out on May 9, 1857. While stationed in the city of Meerut, the sepoy soldiers of the 11th and 20th native cavalry of the Bengal Army turned on their commanding officers. From that day until June of 1858, when the uprising was quelled and British authority reestablished, the future of India was anyone’s guess.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.