The text of this easy-to-read Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 20 pages, first appeared in the esteemed multi-volume reference work “World Book: Organized Knowledge in Story and Picture,” 1919 edition (history of India through World War I) and in the U.S. Department of State’s 2012 publication “Background Note: India” (history of India Since World War I).
Sample passage:
In 1857 occurred the Sepoy Rebellion, a mutiny of native troops in India, beginning in May 1857 and followed in 1858 by the transfer of the government of India to the British sovereign. In its effects it may be regarded as the most important episode in the history of British India. The underlying cause was discontent because of the introduction of Western ideas and the disregard of the English for native customs and religious beliefs. The climax came when the English ordered the Sepoys, as the native troops were called, to use greased cartridges. The Hindus had religious scruples about tasting anything prepared from the meat of a cow, and consequently about biting the casings from the cartridges, but these ideas were held in contempt by the British officers. On May 10, 1857, the native troops at Meerut, a town near Delhi, rose in frenzied revolt, freed from prison their countrymen who had refused to use rifles loaded with the obnoxious cartridges, and massacred the Europeans; they next seized Delhi.
About the author:
A. McCaleb was a staff editor and writer for “World Book: Organized Knowledge in Story and Picture.”
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