Chapter 3 Chapter Three Indian Soldiers Riot
A few words are enough to give us a general understanding of India at that time, especially for the large-scale Indian soldier riot.But below, we still need to talk about some important historical facts.
In 1600, the British Empire under the rule of Queen Elizabeth was at its peak.There are 200 million people living in this sacred land of Jari Avarta, of which 112 million believe in Hinduism.The prestigious "East India Company" was established during this period, and its English nickname was "Old John's Company".
At first, it was just a simple meeting among merchants who traded with India, and the person in charge was the Duke of Kemberan.
At that time, the once powerful Portuguese power in India had declined.Therefore, the British took advantage of this opportunity to launch political and military offensives in the Bay of Bengal area.The capital there, Calcutta, will become the ruling center of the new government.First, the 39th Regiment of the Royal Army would travel across the ocean from England to occupy the area.The motto of the year is still printed on the flag of this regiment: India's Primus stove (a portable stove used for cooking, boiling water, etc.).
But at the same time, a French company headed by Kerber was also established.It has the same purpose as the firm of a London merchant.The commercial competition between the two companies inevitably brings conflicts of interest.In the long ups and downs of the business world, the outstanding Duplex family, the Labourdore family and the Larry Tollendal family emerged.
In the end, the French failed and had to abandon Karnadic on the Indian peninsula and its eastern fringe.
After defeating all competitors, Cliff no longer worries about the pressure from Portugal and France.So he decided to attack the Bay of Bengal, with Lord Hasting as the commander in chief.Although the East India Company carried out a series of effective and tough reform measures, the former strength and attractiveness were still short-lived and no longer existed. A few years later, in 1784, Peter revised the original plan again. .But his power is actually in the hands of his counselors.The end result: in 1813 the company faced the loss of its monopoly on Indian commerce, followed by the loss of the Chinese market in 1833.
But Britain was no longer involved in commercial competition on the peninsula. The main reason was that it had to endure continuous bitter battles. At one time, the original landowners wanted to recover the lost land, and at the same time, the new conquerors coveted the land. Three feet.
In 1784, under Corvaris, there was a war with Thibaut Saib, who was killed at Saihangabadan by General Harris on May 4, 1799 In the last attack launched.The noble-blooded Maarats, who were quite powerful in the eighteenth century, and the brave Bandarises, both fought against the British that year.In addition, the British continued to fight with the Gurgakas in Nepal, but the latter became a loyal ally of the British in the ordeal of 1857.Finally there was the war with the Biermans which lasted from 1823 to the following year.
In 1828, the English were masters of the world--directly and indirectly occupying vast tracts of land.Britain under William Bentinck entered a new era.
After some reorganization, the Indian army was divided into two major parts, the European Army and the Indian Army.The former formed the royal army, including regiments of cavalry, companies of infantry, and European infantry belonging to the Indian Army; the latter was the native force, including infantry, cavalry, all local soldiers under the leadership of British officers.In addition, there is an artillery unit belonging to the Indian Army, which is all British soldiers except for a few companies.
What about the personnel of these regiments?As far as the infantry is concerned, the Bengal regiments number eleven hundred men, and those of Bombay and Madras eight or nine hundred; as for the cavalry, almost each regiment has only six hundred men.
In short, India in 1857, as Mr. de Walbusen has mentioned in detail in his book "The British and the New Indian", had 200,000 native troops and 450,000 European troops. This is all the troops in the three Indian regions.
But the Indian soldiers, who were subject to British officers, were very disgusted with the European military regulations that they were forced to obey.As early as 1806, perhaps influenced by the son of Thibault Saib, the Madras local army stationed in Vellore killed the sentries and officers of the 69th Regiment of the Royal Army He and his family members burned the barracks, rushed into the hospital and shot all the wounded soldiers.What was the cause of this riot? — At least on the surface?It was ostensibly a matter of beards, hoods, and earrings, but in reality it was a matter of hatred for the invaders.
But the riot was soon suppressed by the Royal Army's garrison in Asco.
And the riots of 1857 were for similar reasons - or pretexts - but much more terrible.If the local armies in Madras and Bombay had joined the uprising, British power in India would have been weakened.
But in any case, we should point out that this riot was not universal.First of all, Indians in rural and urban areas will never intervene in riots.Secondly, the scope of the riots was limited to some provinces in central and northwestern India and the Ude Kingdom, which were semi-independent areas.But Britain has many loyal followers in India.For example, in the Punjab region where three Indian Caucasus regiments are stationed, the Sikes are at the bottom of society and are discriminated against in Delhi, and there are 12,000 Gurkhas who migrated to Lucknow under the rule of the Nepalese maharajas.In addition, the Malayans of Gwalior and Patiala, the Indian Maharajas of Rampur and the Indian Princesses of Bhopal were loyal to the British. They were loyal to the British rule. In the words of the local Indians, they were " Be faithful to the salt".
The riot happened precisely when Mr. Gan Ning was the chief executive.Perhaps he had anticipated this massive movement.For several years now, the United Kingdom star has been visibly outshone in Indian skies.The abdication of Cabourg in 1842 lowered the prestige of the conquerors of Europe.The performance of the British army in the Crimean War really damaged its military prestige.Therefore, the time has finally come for the Indian soldiers who are familiar with the situation in the Black Sea to plan a riot.Bards and Brahmins exchanged words and songs for the hearts of the people, but now it only takes a single spark to ignite thousands of hearts that are already ready to move.
The time finally came in 1857.This year, the Royal Army was forced to reduce its personnel due to some external factors.
At the beginning of the year, Nana Saib, who lived near Kanpur, the head of Du Pont, came to Delhi and then to Lucknow, presumably for the purpose of instigating this insurrection.
The same is true of the fact that shortly after Nana left, the riots kicked off.
At this time, the British government had just equipped the Infield short guns for the aboriginal army, and the guns had to use oiled bullets.One day, rumors spread throughout the army that the Indian soldiers used bullets coated with butter, while the bullets used by the Muslims were coated with lard.
In a country where people can refuse to use soap because it contains the fat of animals they admire or despise, such taboo-coated bullets--to be used, must be torn with the mouth--are naturally difficult for people to use. accept.Suddenly, protests erupted.The government made some concessions in the face of this situation; but it was in vain to change the manufacturing method of bullets and claim that the bullets did not contain taboo animal fat. It failed to persuade Indian soldiers to use them with confidence.
On January 24, at Berlampur, Indian soldiers of the 34th Regiment refused to use bullets, and in mid-March, a sergeant was killed and the whole regiment was disbanded.After a bloody massacre, the fury of riots spread to neighboring areas.
On May 10, at Meerat, a city north of Delhi, the 3rd, 11th, and 20th Regiments rioted.They killed the colonel and several staff officers, looted the whole city, and headed straight for Derry.The prince of Delhi, a descendant of Timur, joined the rioting soldiers, who seized the arsenal and killed all the officers of the fifty-fourth regiment.
On May 11, in Delhi, Colonel Foraman and his officers did not escape the machetes of the Meerat riot soldiers, and even the commander's residence was looted.On May 16, forty-nine prisoners, regardless of gender, age or age, were all murdered by swords.
On May 20, the 26th Corps, stationed in Lahore, killed the port commander and European staff sergeant.
Horrific massacres followed one after another.
On May 28th, at Nurabad, European officers were martyred.
On May 30, the brigade commander, entourage and some other officers of the garrison in Lucknow were killed.
On May 31, at Roylkand at Bareilly, several officers were raided and killed before they could resist.
On that same day, at Strajakhanpur, Indian soldiers of the 38th Corps killed recruits and many officers.On the next day, on the Belwa side, a group of officers, women, and children were massacred on their way to Siwapur Station, a mile from Oranbald.
At the beginning of June, some Europeans were killed at Pobar, and at Jhansi, where the Queen's property had been dispossessed by the English, the killings were of unheard-of cruelty, and the women and children had to take refuge in the dense woods.
On June 6, in Allahabad, eight young lieutenants were killed by Indian soldiers.
On June 14, in Gwalior, two Indian regiments rioted and officers were killed.
On June 27, in Kanpur, victims of all ages, men, women, and children were shot or drowned—a scene of frenzied massacres that will be repeated in a few weeks.
Thirty-four Europeans, including officers, women, and children, were killed on July 1 at Holka, and the city was looted and then set on fire. On the same day, at Ugual, the twenty-third The colonel of the regiment and his adjutant were killed.
On July 15, Kanpur suffered a second massacre.On this day, Nana Saib himself ordered the inhumane massacre of several hundred women and children—Mrs. Moreau among them—and recruited Muslim butchers from the abattoirs to carry out the bloody task.Then, all the bodies of the victims were thrown into a mysterious dry well.
On September 26, in a square in Lucknow, now known as the "Martyr's Square", the wounded who survived death were lying everywhere.
In addition, even some remote cities and villages were stained with blood, and the entire riot was a brutal massacre.
The British side quickly took retaliatory actions against these massacres-retaliation may be inevitable, after all, the rioters who were retaliated had to be afraid of the British, but it was also bloody.
In Lahore at the beginning of the uprising, Chancellor Montgomery and Brigadier Kolbe disarmed the Eighth, Sixteenth, Twenty-sixth, and Forty-ninth Regiments without firing a single shot.In Murdan, the 62nd and 29th Indian Regiments also surrendered their guns and were unable to participate in the riot.Likewise, at Peshawar, Brigadier S. Colton and Colonel Nicholson disarmed the 24th, 27th, and 51st Regiments before the riot.However, the officers of the Fifty-first Army fled into the mountains in fear. After being wanted, they were captured by the mountain people and returned to their barracks.
The revenge has only just begun.
Colonel Nicholson led a detachment that attacked the insurgent army marching on Derry.Soon they were routed and scattered by the British, and one hundred and twenty prisoners of war were taken to Peshawar.Without exception, they were sentenced to death; but only a third were executed.A prisoner of war was stuffed into each bore of the ten cannons lined up on the execution ground. The ten cannons fired five times in total. .
In Mr. de Walbson's view, almost all condemned prisoners can be executed with heroic ease, and Indians are always good at dying without fear.A beautiful Indian soldier who was only twenty years old caressed the death penalty with his hands casually, and said to an officer executing the execution: "Dear Captain, you don't have to tie me up, I don't want to run away."
Scenes of horrific executions like this can be seen everywhere.On the same day in Lahore, after the execution of two Indian soldiers of the 55th Corps, Brigadier Chamberlain said:
"You have just seen living men stuffed into embrasures and blasted to pieces; this is the punishment for traitors. You should know what they will suffer in another world. They are sentenced to death by cannon. Not by hanging, because I don't want to expose them to the shame of being executed by a hangman, and it's proof that our government doesn't want to do any harm to your religious and social stereotypes, even at this critical moment."
On July 30, 1,236 prisoners of war were executed one after another, while another fifty were starved or suffocated to death in prison.
On August 28, among the 870 Indian soldiers who fled to Lahore, the royal army mercilessly killed 659 of them.
On September 23, after Delhi was occupied, the three princes of the Indian royal family, the heir to the throne, and his two cousins surrendered unconditionally to General Alderson.The general sent only a small detachment of five to place the three princes in a large contingent of five thousand Indians—a huge disparity of one to one thousand.But on the way, Alderson asked the princes to stop the carriage, boarded it himself, ordered them to bare their chests, and killed the three princes with a dagger.Mr. de Walbsen said: "This execution, personally carried out by British officers, will surely receive the highest admiration in the Punjab."
After Delhi was taken, three thousand prisoners of war were shot or hanged, including twenty-nine members of the royal family.In the battle for Derry, 2,251 European soldiers and 1,686 local soldiers were killed.
In Allahabad, not only Indian soldiers were massacred, but even ordinary people were involved in the frenzied catastrophe.
On November 16, in Lucknow, 2,000 Indian soldiers who were handed over by Skander Bagh were massacred. Their bodies filled a room of 120 square meters.
After the Kanpur massacre, Colonel Rael used to force the prisoners to lick with their tongues every drop of blood left in the houses of the victims of the massacre before they were sent to the gallows.For Indians, this is undoubtedly a great shame and humiliation before death.
In central India, the gunfire of the death penalty also continued one after another, and countless Indian soldiers were shot dead.
On March 9, 1858, the British army attacked the "Yellow House". After the second siege of Lucknow, they adopted a terrorist policy of drawing one out of ten to kill many Indian soldiers, and often used Sik The Sri Lankans burned them alive.
On the 11th, the corpses of fifty Indian soldiers filled the moat of the Queen's Palace in Lucknow, and the British army who completely lost their minds did not spare even the wounded soldiers.
During the twelve-day battle, a total of 3,000 Indian soldiers were hanged or shot, of whom 380 fled to Idaspur Island, and then transferred to Kashmir Island.
In short, in this extremely cruel revenge operation in which all prisoners of war were executed, not counting the Indian soldiers who died on the battlefield, no less than 628 Indians were killed by the military in a single battle of Punjab. Bulleted or shot by order, 1,370 were officially executed, and 386 were hanged by simultaneous orders of both authorities.
At the beginning of 1857, it is estimated that no less than 1.2 million Indian soldiers and 2 million local residents were killed, and the latter were only weak participants in the ranks of the insurrection.Mr. Gladstone protested this terrible reprisal vigorously in the British Parliament, and he is obviously not without reason.
These death figures are indispensable for the following narrative.Because it can make readers understand that if the Indians hate the British, the British also hate the Indians. Ten years later, there are still people mourning the victims of Kanpur and Lucknow.
As for the campaigns waged to quell the insurrection, a brief enumeration follows.
The first was the first battle in the Punjab, in which Mr. John Lawrence was unfortunately killed.
Then there was the siege of Delhi, the epicenter of the riots. Thousands of deserters joined in to strengthen the city's defenses, and Muhammad Shah Bahadur was crowned emperor of the Indian peninsula.In his final telegram to the commanding officer, the exasperated Governor ordered: "End Derry!" The lives of two generals, De and John Nicholson.
Simultaneously, Nana Saib proclaimed himself king and had his coronation held in the castle of Bile Ur.After hearing the news, General Havelock led the army to Kanpur without stopping.But by the time we reached Kanpur, it was already July 16, and neither the last massacre had been prevented nor Nana had been captured, who had already fled with 5,000 troops and forty cannon.
In this case, Havelock had to fight the first battle in the Kingdom of Ud, and then marched towards Lucknow via the Ganges River on July 28 with the remaining 1,700 soldiers and ten guns.
Now comes Mr. Corran Campbell and the Chief of the General Staff, James Utlong.During the eighty-seven-day siege of Lucknow, Harry Lawrence and General Havelock lost their lives.So Kelan Campbell had to temporarily flee to Kanpur, which had been taken back, to prepare for another fight.
At the same time, several other forces captured Moir, a city in central India, and conquered Malwa, so that British dominance in the Ud kingdom was re-established.
In early 1858, Campbell and Utlong launched a second campaign against Ude.The four infantry detachments were commanded by the two chiefs of staff, James Utterang himself and Édouard Lucard, and the two brigade commanders, Walpole and Franks.The cavalry led by Hope Grand and the special forces led by Wilson and Robert Napier totaled more than 25,000 people. In addition, the 12,000 Gurgkas soldiers led by the Maharaja of Nepal will Join them.However, there are no less than 120,000 insurgents in China, and Lucknow has 700,000 to 800,000 residents.The battle between the two sides began on March 6th.In the next few consecutive battles, Captain William Peel and Major Hodson of the British army died in battle. By the 16th day, the British army had occupied a large area of the Gumti River Basin.Despite this, Begom and her son remained at the Musa Bagh Palace at the northwest end of Lucknow, while the mutinous Muslim leader Mulvi lurked in the center of the city and refused to surrender.On the 19th, Utrang attacked again. On the 21st, the British army won a great victory, thus completely destroying this important stronghold of the Indian riots.
In April, the riots came to an end.British troops began an expedition against Roylkander, where a large number of Indian deserters had gathered.Bareilly, the capital of the kingdom, naturally became the first choice for the commanders of the royal army to attack.At first, the British army lost one after another.Defeated at Jaspur.Brigadier Adrian Hope also died in battle.But at the end of the month, Campbell's army arrived in time and captured Shah Yahampur in one fell swoop. On May 5, he attacked Bareilly and took the city by force, but the insurgents took the opportunity to slip through. fish.
At the same time, General Ug Oz was also fighting in central India.At the beginning of January 158, he led his army through the Kingdom of Bhopal, quelled the local Indian army riots on February 3, then marched to Songol, and occupied the city of Jurakota ten days later. The fortress came to the Mandanpur Pass through the Wendiya Valley, and then to the city of Jhansi through Betwa. The Queen of Jhansi personally led 11,000 rioters to guard the city. , the heat was unbearable, the general surrounded Jhansi, and then took 2,000 soldiers from the besieging team to stop the 20,000 troops from Gwalior led by Tontia Topi. The general's troops won a great victory , defeated the famous leader of the rebel army.The attack began on April 2nd. The British army broke through the walls and captured the castle, but the queen had already abandoned the city and fled. Then they attacked Fort Carpi, where the queen and Tontia Topi fought to the death. After a hard fight, Taking the 22nd of May, the Queen and her associates were driven to Gwalior, and on the 16th of June, the General's two brigades, joining forces with Brigadier Napier's, destroyed all the insurrectionary forces at Morar. On the 18th, he was ready to go again and returned to Mumbai as a victor.
It was on the battlefield of Gwalior that the queen died.This terrible queen, loyal to the Big Head, was his most loyal companion throughout the whole rebellion.Colonel Edward Morrow killed her himself.In Kanpur, Nana Saib massacred Lady Moreo, and in Gwalior, Colonel Moreo killed the Queen himself.The two men are respectively the embodiment of riot and repression. If they can meet, the deep hatred between the two enemies will lead to terrible consequences!
By this time, we can think that except for a few places in the Ude Kingdom, the entire riot has basically been quelled.Campbell returned to the battlefield on November 2, captured the last few strongholds of the insurgents, and forced some leaders of the insurgents to surrender.But one of them, Bernie Madeo, escaped.In December, it was heard that the person was hiding somewhere along the Nepalese border.It is also learned that he stayed with Nana Saib, Balau Low, and Begom of the Kingdom of Ud.By the end of the year, there were rumors that they had fled to Laputi, on the border between Nepal and the Ude Kingdom.With Campbell in hot pursuit, they crossed the border.It was not until early January, 1859, that a British brigade overtook them in Nepal.Among them was the regiment commanded by Colonel Moreau.Bernie Madeo was killed and Udbegom and her son were captured and allowed to remain in the capital of Nepal.As for Nana Saib and Balau Low, they were always believed to be dead.But this is not the case.
In any case, the vigorous riots are over.Tontia Topi was betrayed by his lieutenant Man Singer to the British Army, made a condemned prisoner, and executed at Shipley on April 15th.Mr. de Valbesson once commented, "He was indeed an outstanding figure in the heroic Indian riot, with courage and strategy, and full political genius." The rioter died heroically under the guillotine at the end.
But if the Indian rebellion had covered the entire peninsula, especially if it had been universal, the rebellion might have cost the British India.The end of the riots actually declared the collapse of the East India Company.
As early as the end of 1857, Mr. The Consul of Palmerston addressed the court that the empire was on the verge of decline.
On November 1, 1858, a statement printed in twenty languages announced that Queen Victoria Beatrix of England was now ruling India and that a few years later she would be crowned queen.
This is the proud work of the Consul of Stanley.The position of supreme ruler was changed to governor.In addition, there is a Secretary of State, fifteen members of the central government and members of the Indian Parliament independent from the ministries. The local governors of Madras and Bombay are appointed by the Queen, and the members and ministers of the Indian ministries are appointed by the Secretary of State. This is the main composition of the new government.
As for military power, the current royal army has 17,000 more soldiers than before the Indian riots, with a total of fifty-two infantry regiments, nine archer regiments and a large artillery unit, and each cavalry regiment has Five hundred cavalry sabers, and each infantry regiment had seven hundred bayonets.
The native troops consisted of one hundred and thirty-six infantry regiments and forty cavalry regiments, but the artillery was without exception European.
This is the current administrative and military situation on the peninsula, and it is also the entire force of personnel guarding 400,000 square meters of land.
Mr. Grandittier once said: "British people are lucky to meet a gentle, dexterous, civilized people who submit to any restraint in this vast and magical country. But they should be careful, there is a limit to gentleness." Yes, the bondage is not unlimited, and one day this nation will raise its head and smash it to pieces."
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