There is many things that Ways of the World didn't cover on the Sepoy Rebellion, that other sources did. This source that I used other than the book, was the handout that we were given in class, and I found that it varied greatly from the book reading.
When I read the pages from Ways of the World, I got the impression that the Indians were only mad at the British because of the animal fat smeared cartridges. I know that it was really offensive to the Indian's because of there religion, but it was hard to believe that just this triggered such a massive rebellion. It was only after I read the handout that I was fully able to understand the Indian's situation. It took many years of the British pushing the Indian's around for the Indian's to react.
It all started with the Evangelical Christians who had no respect and were ignorant about India's ancient faiths. One way in which the disrespect by the Christians is shown is the Act of XXI which would only let Christian's inherit lands. This was a way for the Christians to force the Indian's into doing something that they did not want to do and that was dropping their ancient faiths. The British were really rude and arrogant towards the Indian's, even though the British were the ones inside foreign lands. Unfair government systems set up by the British would let crimes committed by the British slip by, and Indians would be the only ones getting arrested. The last thing that the British did before the Cartridges incident occurred, was that they completely impoverished the Indian's by setting administrative laws that only they would benefit from.
It was all of this that got the Indians fired up, and not just the animal fat cartridges. The cartridges incident just helped the Indians come to their senses and realize that they would no longer take the unfairness of the British.
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