Understanding the causes and consequences of a historical event can be complicated. Often, the history of an event can be told from multiple perspectives. In this activity, you’ll analyze the causes of the 1857 Indian Uprising to investigate how and why this rebellion took place when and where it did. By doing so, you’ll see how historical events and processes can be interpreted in different ways, not only by those involved in the actual events, but by the historians who analyze the events long after they’ve taken place. Historians not only bring their own perspectives to the analysis, they apply historical thinking practices differently as well.

In this activity, you’ll read an article about the 1857 Indian Uprising against the British East India Company. Indian soldiers (called sepoys) rose up in protest against the regulations imposed by the British company, regulations that violated their religious beliefs. Using the information in the article, you’ll then complete the Causation Tool, which is included in the Causation – Indian Uprising worksheet. Next, you’ll use the information from the tool to construct a causal map with both the causes and consequences of this event. You’ll also answer follow-up questions that ask you to evaluate this event from multiple perspectives. Finally, you’ll write a one- to two-paragraph response for a causation prompt.

Causation can be messy! There are almost always multiple causes of any historical event. To further complicate matters, any cause can be seen in a different light depending on your perspective of the event. Imagine that you and your classmates lead an uprising against the school administration to push back the time that you start school each morning. You decide to take over the school and chain yourselves to the front doors at 6 a.m. in protest. In the process of doing so, school property is damaged. The police are called, and you’re all arrested for trespassing and vandalism. The school administrators and you and your fellow classmates each tell your version of events to the police. Do you think the accounts of what happened would be the same, or would they all reflect different perspectives of the event in question? It’s likely there would be many versions of the event, its causes, and its consequences. Historical analysis of the uprising that occurred in India in 1857 is no different. As a class, have a brief discussion about whether you think it might be difficult to assess the causes of an event when there are often multiple perspectives as to why that event took place.

Then, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Causation – Indian Uprising worksheet and the “1857 Indian Uprising” article. As you read the article, take notes or highlight the causes and consequences of this event. After everyone has finished reading, share the causes and consequences you found with another student. Then, use your causes to complete the Causation Tool.

After everyone has completed the tool, you’ll create a causal map using your causes. Make sure to leave room for the consequences of this event. The event in the middle of the causal map should be labeled as 1857 Indian Uprising. If you need a refresher on how to create a causal map, you can review one of your previous causation activities, in particular Causation – The Black Death from Unit 2. Share your causal map with the class and discuss the similarities and differences you see as these are presented.

Then, your teacher will ask you to answer the following questions. Be prepared to share your answers with the class.

1. What were the reasons for the uprising from an Indian perspective?
2. What were the reasons for the uprising from a British perspective?
3. How did nineteenth-century views about imperialism and “civilization” play a role in these different perspectives?

Finally, working on your own, write a one- to two-paragraph response to this prompt: What was the most significant cause AND what was the most significant consequence of the 1857 Indian Uprising? Remember to use the acronym ADE to help determine historical significance.

Your teacher will collect your worksheets and paragraphs and use them to assess how your causation skills are progressing.

The East India Company was a British business that ruled much of India as if it were an independent imperial power. In 1857, many Indians, especially soldiers technically employed by the EIC, rose up in rebellion. Historians debate why this uprising happened at this time. Was it a result of dissatisfaction in the military? Religion? De-industrialization? After the rebellion was put down, the British government ended EIC’s rule in India and established direct colonial rule of India from London.

The Unit 6 Problem asks: How were industrial empires created and contested, and how did those processes shape our world today? In this lesson, we look at the “contested” part of the problem. This article provides important evidence at the national level to help you respond to the Unit Problem. Colonized peoples often resisted colonial rule. In some cases, like the 1857 uprising, they did so violently. As you read consider: How did colonialism and colonial resistance reshape communities?

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who ruled much of India in 1857?
2. What was the doctrine of lapse?
3. Where did most of the East India Company’s soldiers come from? How did the EIC treat them?
4. What was the “spark that lit the fire” for the 1857 uprising?
5. What, according to the author, were some of the other explanations for the uprising?
6. What was the outcome of the uprising?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Why does it matter whether historians call the 1857 uprising a “mutiny,” a “revolt,” or a “war of independence”? Why do titles matter?
2. This revolt failed, but some historians think that it was the beginning of the Indian national independence movement. Why do you think the memory of this revolt would have lived on in the minds of Indians living under direct British rule?

This is a biography of Azizun, a nineteenth-century courtesan (Tawa’if) turned anti-colonial fighter in northern India. The British saw the status of Tawa’if as backward, but she found it empowering. The British annexation of her home, the Kingdom of Awadh, and the expulsion of the king in 1856, threatened her status and livelihood. By becoming a leader of the resistance to British rule, Azizun showed how some women fought colonial rule.

One of the important questions we ask in this unit is how colonized people—so-called “colonial subjects”—reacted to empire. Azizun’s story helps us to understand resistance to colonialism through an individual’s eyes. In particular, it is evidence for you to consider when evaluating the idea of a “civilizing mission” as a justification for colonial rule.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads – Graphic Biographies worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Where did Azizun live, and what was its status in 1856?
2. What was a Tawa’if? What did the British believe they were?
3. How did Azizun react to the occupation of Awadh in 1856 and the rebellion that broke out in 1857?
4. How does the artist use the image in the last panel to demonstrate that Azizun was breaking the rules, both of Awadh and British ideas, about how women should act?

Evaluating and Corroborating

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in the course.

1. How does this biography of Azizun support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about the “civilizing mission” and about resistance to colonial rule in this period?

Industrial imperialism was powerful, with its modern weapons and technologies and a vast economic reach. But it didn’t completely dominate the lives of most colonial subjects. They found ways to respond using the tools that they had—by hiding, avoiding, using deception, and sometimes cooperating carefully. Examples from three regions of Southeast Asia demonstrate these strategies.

The Unit 6 Problem asks: How were industrial empires created and contested, and how did those processes shape our world today? In this lesson, we look at the “contested” part of the problem. This article provides important evidence about a variety of strategies and experiences from Southeast Asia.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How did people in Southeast Asia use corn and cassava as tools of resistance?
2. What does the author argue were some of the goals of colonial subjects?
3. How did some inhabitants of Hanoi use rats as tools of resistance?
4. How did French education in Indochina backfire in some ways, according to the author?
5. How and why did some aristocrats in the Dutch East Indies try to accommodate Dutch rule?
6. Why was stealing a curtain an act of resistance by Raden Mas Adipati?
7. What were some strategies that people in the Southeast Asian highlands used to avoid taxation and labor?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. The author of this article lists many types of actions and activities as acts of resistance. Do you agree that these were all acts of resistance? What does resistance mean to you?
2. Think about the people in this article using the communities frame. What were their goals? Were they trying to build new communities? Maintain old ones? Resist imperial communities? Or do something different?

In this activity, you’ll continue to build on your claim-testing skills by crafting supporting and refuting statements for a set of claims. As you evaluate the claims, you’ll also analyze the quality of the statements put forth by your classmates. This will help you gain experience in using evidence to support your own claims as well as devising ways to refute statements that might argue against your claims. In addition, these skills will help you develop your writing and critical thinking skills.

In this claim-testing activity, you are given four claims about imperialism. You are asked to work with these claims in three different ways:

1. Find supporting statements for the claims.
2. Evaluate the strength of the supporting statements provided for the claims.
3. Provide statements that refute (argue against) the claims.

Get into small table groups. Each group should have a complete set of Claim Cards in the middle of their table. Listen for your teacher’s directions for when to start.

Round 1

1. Grab one Claim Card from the center of the table.
2. On the card, write down a statement that supports the claim. You can use prior knowledge or course materials for this.
3. Pass your Claim Card to the person to your right.
4. Write down a statement that supports the claim on the card that you now have. It can’t be the same as any of the supports already written on the card.
5. Repeat the process until each group member has written a supporting statement on each card.
6. Put the Claim Cards back in the center of the table.

Round 2

1. Grab one Claim Card from the pile and stand up.
2. Find at least three other students who have the same claim as you and get into a group with them (if there are more than six people in your group, let your teacher know).
3. Look at all the supporting statements that were written for your claim. Decide which supporting statements are strongest (that is, they best support the claim).
4. Write the strongest supporting statements on the whiteboard so everyone can see them.

Round 3

1. With the same group you were in for Round 2, consider any historical exceptions to your claim. What can you offer to refute the claim?
2. Add at least one refuting statement, what we often refer to as a counterclaim, on the board so everyone can see it.
3. Write both your strongest supporting statements and the exception to the claim as an exit ticket—be sure to explain your reasoning for choosing your supporting statements and refutations. Your teacher may also have you share your statements and counterclaim with the class.

Asian intellectuals were quick to identify the rise of European industrial power and imperialism. They proposed responses ranging from copying Europeans to rejecting their innovations, with lots of room in between for debate. When viewed through the work of Asian writers and philosophers, we can get a different perspective on what empire looked like and how it was understood.

The second half of this unit focuses on responses to colonialism, and many other articles and videos in this lesson have looked at how people responded physically or through actions. This video examines the responses of Asian intellectuals. It will help you to prepare an answer to the Unit Problem, which focuses not only on the creation and operation of empires, but also how people responded to them.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video.

1. Why do we often end up relying on sources from intellectuals when studying imperialism?
2. What did Asian intellectuals recognize as the principal reason for European dominance at this time, according to John Green?
3. How does John Green describe the “modernization” response that many Asian societies followed?
4. What strategy did Kang Youwei suggest that China follow in response to European industrial might?
5. What important political transformation did Sayyid Jamal Ad-Din Al-Afghani propose?
6. Why was Japan not a great model for many other Asian states in this era, according to John Green?
7. What non-Western sources of strength did Sayyid Jamal Ad-Din Al-Afghani and Liang Qichao propose for Asian regions?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Why is it important to look at modernization and imperialism from perspectives other than the colonizers? How does it cause us to revise our understanding of imperialism—in terms of communities, networks, and production and distribution?
2. This video deals with people who did a lot of thinking. These intellectuals wrote and argued for new forms of resistance, but not many of them got out in the streets and drove pirate vans or became resistance fighters. Of the types of resistance you’ve read about so far, which seems most effective?

Dadabhai Naoroji was born in what was then British India. Despite being a subject under colonial rule, Dadabhai went on to become very successful. He helped to establish organizations such as the Indian National Congress and was even the first Asian elected to Parliament. Even so, he understood the pain and suffering that was caused by colonialism first hand.

This biography provides an unusual perspective—that of a man who was at once very successful, and also a subject under British colonial rule. This perspective will help you gain understanding of colonialism, therefore providing context for one of the Unit 6 Problem questions: What were the different ways colonial subjects responded to colonialism? Studying this biography through the communities frame will help you to think about the effects of colonialism on various scales, including how it affected those living under colonial rule, as well as the greater global impact of colonialism.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. When and where was Dadabhai Naoroji born?
2. According to the biography, what did Dadabhai do in 1855? What was he doing in the 1870s?
3. What “first” did Dadabhaiachieve in 1892? What issues did he use his new power to support?
4. What does the biography suggest Dadabhai did in his life that gave him the power to stand up for the rights of Indian people?
5. How does the artwork show us the differences between Dadabhai’s two contrasting worlds?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. What evidence does Dadabhai Naoroji’s provide to help you to evaluate both the way that empires controlled people’s lives? What does it tell you about the possibilities of challenging that control? How does that evidence support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about empire in this period?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

Make sure you have the UP Notebook worksheets that you partially filled out earlier in the unit.

This is a continuation of the UP Notebook activity that you started in this unit. As part of WHP, you are asked to revisit the Unit Problems in order to maintain a connection to the core themes of the course. Because this is the second time you’re working with this unit’s problems, you are asked to explain how your understanding of the unit’s core concepts has changed over the unit. Make sure you use evidence from this unit and sound reasoning in your answers.

Fill out the second table on your partially completed worksheet from earlier in the unit. Be prepared to talk about your ideas with your class.

Colonialism had a lasting impact on people’s minds as well as their economic and physical well-being. In the last years of the long nineteenth century, networks of intellectuals across the colonized world began to share ideas about this impact. W.E. B DuBois and Anna Julia Cooper in the United States, and Frantz Fanon in North Africa, were among the philosophers who participated in these networks. Among their most important ideas was the concept of dual consciousness.

The Unit 6 Problem asks: How were industrial empires created and contested, and how did those processes shape our world today? In this lesson, we look at the “contested” part of the problem. This article looks at networks of colonial subjects who contested empire by focusing on the concept of dual consciousness. You may also note how this concept is still relatable to the world in which we live today.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of “double” or “dual consciousness”?
2. How did Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois differ in their approach to the problems of people of color in the United States?
3. What was Anna Julia Cooper’s particular contribution to this debate?
4. What was the first Pan-African Congress in 1900?
5. What did Frantz Fanon believe about the concepts of blackness and race?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. What does this article tell us about colonial subjects and networks in the Long Nineteenth Century?
2. Can you use the concept of dual consciousness to help explain anything about our world today?

This activity will provide additional evidence to help you respond to the Unit Problem: How were industrial empires created and contested, and how did those processes shape our world today? You will reflect on what you’ve learned during this unit by exploring the geography of industrialization and empire. You will evaluate three political maps to evaluate change and continuity over time and review your predictions from the Part 1 activity. Finally, you’ll investigate a map highlighting connections between industrialization and imperialism as you discuss how these connections reshaped our world.

This activity begins with an identification opening in which you’ll identify 10 colonies of industrial empires in the year 1914 CE. Next, you will compare political maps for the years 1750, 1871, and 1914, evaluating how empires changed through the long nineteenth century. Finally, you will reflect on your guesses and predictions from the Part 1 activity and write a response to a prompt about the connections between empires and industrialization.

Step 1

Identify the colonies associated with the numbers on the black-and-white map of the world in 1914 CE and record your answers on the worksheet. Be sure to indicate both the name of the colony and the empire that controlled it.

Step 2

In small groups, examine the 1750, 1871 and 1914 Political Maps. Compare these three maps and provide three examples of how empires changed over the long nineteenth century. Pay special attention to the changes in the two particular empires for which you made predictions in the Part 1 activity. How close were your predictions?

Step 3

Now, look at the Industrialization and Imperialism Thematic Map. You saw this map in a previous mapping activity, but this time around you should pay special attention to the annotations on the map, which make explicit connections between industrialization and imperialism. As a group, discuss something you’ve learned in this unit that could be added as an annotation on this map, connecting industrialization and imperialism.

Finally, in small groups, prepare a short paragraph or bullet list in response to the prompt below:

The industrial imperialism of the long nineteenth century is often referred to as “the new imperialism.” Using the maps you encountered in this unit as evidence, explain how industrialization created a new kind of imperialism. Provide at least two specific historical examples of significant changes during the long nineteenth century.

Download the Sentence Starters worksheet (optional)

As you did in the last writing activity, you will identify and revise aspects of a student-written essay to improve it. Specifically, you’ll look at the Analysis and Evidence and the Applying WHP Concepts rows of the WHP Writing Rubric. As with all the writing progression activities, the goal is to help you improve your writing skills so you are able to clearly communicate your position on different topics.

Here we go again! In this writing activity, you will again analyze and revise a student essay to improve upon that essay. Today, you will be focusing in on Analysis and Evidence and Applying WHP Concepts in an essay that was the response to the Unit 3 DBQ, “Evaluate the extent to which the Columbian Exchange transformed the Americas from c. 1500–1750 CE.” As needed, review the criteria for these sections of the rubric with your class.

Then, take out the Writing – Analysis and Evidence and WHP Concepts Part 2 Worksheet and annotate and revise the essay according to the worksheet instructions. Your teacher may also hand out Sentence Starters Worksheet to give you some ideas about how you might revise some of the writing in this essay. As usual, first find the major claim or thesis statement. Then, look for analysis and evidence, note where these could be improved, and revise those areas. Then, grade and comment upon the use of WHP concepts in the essay. Be prepared to share your answers with the class!

DBQ Prompt: Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which responses to colonial rule were effective c. 1850 to 1950 CE.

Have the Comparison, CCOT, and Causation tools available (find all resources on the Student Resources page)

This DBQ is another opportunity for you to show how your historical thinking skills and reasoning practices are developing. This will help you become better at making and supporting historical claims and will also help you on standardized tests that ask you to analyze documents in response to a specific prompt.

Comparison, contextualization, sourcing, reading, writing
All DBQs require you to contextualize, source documents, and of course as part of this, read and write. This particular DBQ asks you to make a historical comparison between different responses to colonial rule.

Day 1

It’s time for another DBQ. The prompt is: Develop an argument that evaluates the extent to which responses to colonial rule were effective c. 1850 to 1950 CE. Start out by using the Question Parsing Tool to help you figure out what this question is really asking so you can write an appropriate response.

Then, take out the DBQ and skim the documents quickly. Pick the thinking tool you want to use to help you analyze the documents (comparison, causation, or CCOT). Then, read each document a bit more closely and write down or underline the information you think you might use in your essay, along with any additional sourcing you have time for. Write your ideas in your chosen tool as you work through the documents.

Next, create a major claim or thesis statement that responds to the prompt. The notes you have taken should help you form a defensible thesis statement.

Finally, it’s time to contextualize. As you likely know, all historical essays require this. If needed, you can use the Contextualization Tool to help you decide what to include.

Day 2

This second day is your writing day. Feel free to use your tools and notes from any prewriting work you completed as you craft your essay response. Make sure you have a copy of the WHP Writing Rubric available to remind you of what is important to include in your essay. And don’t forget to contextualize: Think of the entire time period, not just the time immediately preceding the historical event or process you are writing about. Your teacher will give you a time limit for completing your five- to six-paragraph essay responding to the DBQ.

In order to improve your writing skills, it is important to read examples—both good and bad—written by other people. Reviewing writing samples will help you develop and practice your own skills in order to better understand what makes for a strong essay.

Your teacher will provide sample essays for this unit’s DBQ prompt and provide instructions for how you will use them to refine your writing skills. Whether you’re working with a high-level example or improving on a not-so-great essay, we recommend having the WHP Writing Rubric on hand to help better understand how you can improve your own writing. As you work to identify and improve upon aspects of a sample essay, you’ll also be developing your own historical writing skills!