İngilizlere Başkaldırı: Sipahi İsyanında Bengal Ordusunu İsyana Götüren Sebepler

Öz

Bu çalışma İngiliz Doğu Hindistan Şirketi tarafından kurulan Bengal ordusu askerlerini ele almaktadır. Hintli askerlerden oluşan bu ordunun 1857 yılında isyan etmesinin altında yatan sebeplerin tespit edilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Çalışma ile Bengal ordusunda görev almış Hindu ve Müslüman askerlerinin yetiştikleri toplum, kast sistemi içindeki sınıfları, dini inanış ve yaşamlarının isyana etkileri tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. İsyanın en büyük sebebinin, yerel askerler ile İngiliz komutanlar arasında olması gereken güvene dayalı iyi ilişkilerin ortadan kalktığı ve orduda İngilizlere karşı nefret dalgasının önü alınamaz şekilde artmış olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bengal ordusu askerlerinin aldıkları maaşlardan, ordu içindeki terfilerine kadar İngilizler tarafından haksızlığa uğratıldıklarına inandıkları ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Askerlerin İngilizlerin kendilerini dini inançlarından yavaş yavaş kopararak onları Hıristiyanlaştırmak istedikleri fikrine kapıldıklarına dikkat çekilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İngiliz Doğu Hindistan Şirketi
• Bengal Ordusu
• İsyan
• Hindu
• Müslüman

Rebellion to the British: Reasons That Led the Bengal Army to the Sipahi Rebellion

Abstract

This work deals with the Bengal army troops established by the British East India Company. It is aimed to determine the reasons of the rebellion of the army of Indian soldiers in 1857. With this study, the society in which the Hindu and Muslim soldiers were trained in the Bengali army, the classes in the caste system, their religious beliefs and their effects on the rebellion were determined. The biggest reason for the uprising was that the relations between the local soldiers and the British commanders were bad, and the wave of hatred against the British in the army was inevitably increased. It has been discovered that Bengali soldiers believe that they have been wronged by the British, from their salary to their promotion in the army. It was pointed out that the soldiers had the idea that the British wanted to Christianize them by slowly breaking away from their religious beliefs.

Keywords

• British East India Company
• Bengal Army
• Mutiny
• Hindus
• Muslims

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