The Great Fear of 1857

Wagner, Kim A.:
The great fear of 1857 : rumours, conspiracies and the making of the Indian uprising / Kim A. Wagner. - Oxford ; [Bern] [u.a.] : Peter Lang Verlag, 2010. - XXVII, 312 S. : Ill., Kt. - (The past in the present)
ISBN 978-1-906165-27-7
EUR 29,70
DDC: 954.042

Beschreibung
The Indian Uprising of 1857 had a profound impact on the colonial psyche, and its spectre haunted the British until the very last days of the Raj. For the past 150 years most aspects of the Uprising have been subjected to intense scrutiny by historians, yet the nature of the outbreak itself remains obscure. What was the extent of the conspiracies and plotting? How could rumours of contaminated ammunition spark a mutiny when not a single greased cartridge was ever distributed to the sepoys?
   Based on a careful, even-handed reassessment of the primary sources, The Great Fear of 1857 explores the existence of conspiracies during the early months of that year and presents a compelling and detailed narrative of the panics and rumours which moved Indians to take up arms. With its fresh and unsentimental approach, this book offers a radically new interpretation of one of the most controversial events in the history of British India. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
List of Maps and Plates. vii
List of Abbreviations. ix
Glossary. xi
Prologue: The Ghost of Mutiny Past. xv
Preface and Acknowledgements. xxv
Maps. xxix
Introduction. 1
1. The Greased Cartridges. 27
2. Barrackpore and Berhampore. 45
3. Rumours and Chapattis. 61
4. Mangal Pandey. 79
5. Arson at Ambala. 99
6. Meerut. 107
7. Alarm at Ambala. 125
8. The Outbreak. 131
9. Meerut Ablaze. 141
10. The World Turned Upside Down. 151
11. Meerut Aftermath. 169
12. To Delhi! 185
13. The Fall of Delhi. 199
14. The Uprising. 211
15. The Great Conspiracy. 225
Epilogue: 1857 Today. 243
Notes. 247
Select Bibliography. 295
Index. 305

Autor

KIM A. WAGNER is Lecturer in Imperial and World History at the University of Birmingham. He has published extensively on crime and rebellion in British India and his first book, Thuggee: Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth-Century India, was shortlisted for the History Today Award 2008. Profile page.

Quellen: Peter Lang Verlag; WorldCat; Amazon.