The summer of 1857 changed the course of Indian history. For over a century, the East India Company had expanded its territorial and economic control over India. The company used coercion, deception and cooptation and seemed invincible.
But beneath the surface of deceptive calm there was dissatisfaction with foreign corporate rule. From soldiers to peasants, princely rulers to landowners, Hindus to Muslims, the most unlikely of allies came together to lead the most powerful rebellion the nation had ever seen. The British, with extreme cruelty, managed to put down the uprising. But Company Raj ended and gave way to the crown.
William Dalrymple, author of The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857, joins HT to discuss how a trading company exercised control over India; India in the 18th century; the mutiny, its roots and meaning; the role of religion in stirring up the masses; and how 1857 changed British colonial architecture and gave way to the Crown. The privatization of the empire ended and a new phase of oppression began.
Link to the podcast:https://www.htsmartcast.com/history-podcasts/1947-road-to-indian-independence/1857-the-mutiny-that-ended-company-rule/
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