India's First War of Independence (term)
The First War of Indian Independence is a term that predominantly used in India, to describe the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which has been described variously outside of India as "uprising", "revolt" and "mutiny". A fringe view in India considers other events as the first war of Independence.
[edit] History
The English colonial establishment and natives of England referred to the events as the Sepoy Mutiny. Contemporary 'anti-imperialists' viewed this term as propaganda, and pushed to characterize it as more than just the actions of a few mutinous native soldiers. Karl Marx was the first Western scholar to call the 1857 revolt a "national revolt",[1][2] though he used the term "Sepoy Revolt" to describe the event.[3]
In India, the term "First War of Independence" was first popularized by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1909 book The History of the War of Indian Independence, which was originally written in Marathi.[3][4][5]
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, insisted on using the term "First War of Independence" to refer to the event, and the terminology was adopted by the Government of India.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Marx, Karl; Friedrich Engels (1959). The first Indian war of independence, 1857-1859. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House. OCLC 9234264.
- ^ Prakash Karat. 1857: In The Hearts And Minds Of People
- ^ a b K. Natwar Singh (2004-08-23). "Marx, Nehru and Savarkar on 1857". Asian Age. http://www.asianage.com/presentation/columnisthome/natwar-singh/marx,-nehru-and-savarkar-on-1857.aspx. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ a b Inder Malhotra. "The First War of Independence". Asian Age. http://www.asianage.com/presentation/columnisthome/inder-malhotra/the-first-war-of-independence.aspx. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ Amberish K Diwanji (2004-08-23). "Who was Veer Savarkar?". The Rediff Special (Rediff.com). http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/23spec1.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
[edit] Further reading
- Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The Indian War of Independence –1857
- Embree, Ainslie Thomas (1963). 1857 in India; mutiny or war of independence?. Boston: Heath. OCLC 870396.
