The Indian War Of Independence 1857

Veer Savarkar was the first man who called the mutiny of 1857 'A War of Independence'. Until his time, no Indian had dared to say so. The martyrs of 1857 are really fortunate that they got such a historian to tell their history who himself was both a historian and a creator of history. At times, we visualise Veer Savarkar coloured in the red colour of that revolution, as if he himself was present on the battlefield and participated in the heroic war. At other times, we see him patiently analyse the strengths and weaknesses of both sides—why the mutineers lost and why the British won. The way he analyses the politico-military aspects of the revolution shows his wisdom as a youth of 26 years. The Indian War of Independence, 1857, is a step by step account of the uprising of Indian Hindus and Muslims against the ruthless British rulers. Tracing footsteps of the barefooted, undernourished and almost unarmed Indian masses challenging the British bullets by the sheer force of their will power, the author establishes beyond an iota of doubt that the uprising was a War of Independence and not a mere Sepoy Mutiny as dubbed by the British.Some glaring truths about this book:• This book became the Bible for Indian revolutionaries.• The book was proscribed by the British Government before its publication.• The book was smuggled into India and England after it was published in Holland.• The demand for this book was so enormous that it used to be sold and resold at the stupendous price of Rs. 300 (in 1910).___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ContentsThe Original Publisher's Preface—Pgs. 5The Story of this History—Pgs.7PART—I The VolcanoThe Indian War of Independence—Pgs.19Swadharma and Swaraj—Pgs.23The Chain of Causes—Pgs.32Nana Sahib and Lakshmi Bai—Pgs.41Ayodhya—Pgs.52Adding Fuel to Fire—Pgs.61Lit up the Sacrificial Fire—Pgs.71Secret Organisation—Pgs.74PART—II The EruptionShahid Mangal Pandey—Pgs.99Meerut—Pgs.104Delhi—Pgs.111The Interlude and Punjab—Pgs.119Aligarh and Nasirabad—Pgs.144Rohilkhand—Pgs.149Benares and Allahabad—Pgs.158Cawnpore and Jhansi—Pgs.180Oudh—Pgs.205The Summing Up—Pgs.219PART—III The ConflagrationThe Fight in Delhi—Pgs.239Havelock—Pgs.254Behar—Pgs.262Delhi Falls—Pgs.274Lucknow—Pgs.286Tatia Tope—Pgs.309The Fall of Lucknow—Pgs.319Kumar Singh and Amar Singh—Pgs.340Moulvie Ahmad Shah—Pgs.360Ranee Lakshmi Bai—Pgs.371PART—IV Temporary PacificationA Bird's Eye View—Pgs.401The Culminating Offering in the Sacrificial Fire—Pgs.421Conclusion—Pgs.435GLOSSARY—Pgs.439List of Important Books Consulted—Pgs.447