Meera, a history student, is studying the first weeks of the uprising of 1857 for a class project. Her notes show that in May and June 1857 the revolt spread from town to town, and that it followed much the same course in many different places. She has collected three kinds of material: a remark by a British officer on what happened to Company rule in those two months, accounts of how news of the rising reached distant army posts, and a Delhi Urdu Akhbar account of 14 June 1857 on daily life in the city. She now has to judge what each source tells her.
Which of the following describes how the British responded in the months Meera is studying?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → They had no answer to the rebels, and individual Britons tried to save themselves and their families.
Option (1) They had no answer to the rebels, and individual Britons tried to save themselves and their families. — Correct. In May and June 1857 the British had no answer to the rebels. Individual Britons only tried to save their own lives and the lives of their families.
Option (2) They recaptured Delhi within a few weeks with fresh troops brought down from the Punjab. — Incorrect. Delhi was taken back only later in 1857. In these two months British rule was falling apart.
Option (3) They handed the towns over to local zamindars and taluqdars, who were asked to keep order. — Incorrect. No such handing over took place. British officials in these weeks were running for their lives.
Option (4) They asked the Mughal emperor at Delhi to calm the rebel sepoys in the towns. — Incorrect. Bahadur Shah was the ruler the rebel sepoys themselves turned to as their leader. The British stood against him.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.1 How the mutinies began … |