The British had become intoxicated by their power.  They sobered up quickly when the Indians rebelled against them.  The English were able to control India because they respected the Indian.  As the Moghuls did, the English tolerated the religion of the indigenous people.  However, when they began to feel evangelical, India exploded in their faces.

     The British army was split into the following three parts: Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay.  The Madras and Bombay armies did not revolt and helped put down the Bengali army.  The Bengalis revolted because the British were insensitive to  their needs.  

     The Bengal army was primarily composed of Hindus of high caste.  They felt that military service was an honor.  In offense to the Hindus, the British told them that they would have to travel across the ocean if the empire required them to do so.  They refused because they believed it would pollute them.  The English threw out those who refused, further offending them.

     The Englishmen offended them to a high degree by introducing a new gun that used animal fat as a lubricant.  The Hindus that refused use the guns were stripped of their uniforms and thrown in jail.  Later that night their colleagues broke into the jail and slaughtered the officers and took arms.  The mutiny spread as the Indians felt their religion was being threatened.

     The mutiny changed British India forever.  The British became more racist in their policies afterward.  They would bring in low class soldiers and would protect them when they did bad acts to the Indians.  Indians no longer had access to high tech weapons.  These policies alienated the Indians and made them restless.

     The outcome of the mutiny did have some good effects.  It prompted Queen Victoria to call Indians equal to the British.  Some Indians took this literally and expected to be treated as such.  Also, it showed the British that the Indians were not happy under their rule.  This caused them to make changes in their policies, but not for a long time.

     The British could have avoided the Indian mutiny if they had been more sensitive to the religious needs of the Bengali soldiers.  Their evangelic views caused them to believe that if the soldiers had no alternative they would become Christian.  They were wrong, and as a result the Indians violently revolted.  This started India's slow transition from being British governed to being self-governed.

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