Sepoy
Sepoy (from Persian سپاهی, ' Soldier ') is the name for the Indian soldiers of the British East India Company and the British Indian Army during British colonial rule in India . In the Portuguese colonies in India and Southeast Asia, the soldiers were called Sipaio or Cipaio .
Role of sepoys
Sepoys were trained along the lines of the British Army . In a narrower sense, the term sepoy only refers to Indian infantrymen . However, the term sepoy is often also extended to the sawār , which actually refers to Indian cavalrymen . The British East India Company, which was the instrument of rule for the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries , maintained a total of three separate armies made up of Indians. These could rise to the rank of subedar ; however, the higher officer ranks were reserved for the British.
Sepoy riot
The term sepoy has gone down in history because the Indian uprising of 1857 is sometimes referred to as the sepoy uprising . The beginning of the uprising is closely related to the abolition of the Brown Bess muskete, which was replaced by the modern Enfield rifle . This muzzle loader - rifle was loaded with paper cartridges whose folded end under UK drill regulations are bitten before loading with the teeth had. In order to protect the cartridges with the hygroscopic black powder from moisture and to reduce the contamination of the weapon when firing, paper cartridges were impregnated with grease. From January 1857 at the latest, the rumor spread among the Sepoys and Sawars that the ammunition had been treated with a mixture of beef tallow and lard. This must have appeared to believing Hindus and Muslims alike as a serious affront. The use of the rifle according to the instructions would have led to a religious impurity of the soldiers, since pork is considered unclean for both Hindus and Muslims and cattle are sacred to Hindus and therefore must not be killed, let alone consumed. The Sepoy uprising was a symptom of the anger among the population that had built up against the colonial power.
literature
- Tony A. Heathcote: The Indian Army. The Garrison of British Imperial India, 1822-1922. David and Charles, Newton Abbot et al. 1974, ISBN 0-7153-6635-1 .
- George F. MacMunn: The Armies of India. Painted by Alfred Crowdy Lovett. Black, London 1911 (several reprints).
- Boris Mollo: The Indian Army. Blanford Press, Poole 1981, ISBN 0-7137-1074-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wieland Wagner: Hunger in the palace . In: SPIEGEL HISTORY 1, 2016, pages 68–71; in support of the uprising on page 71.