The General Service Enlistment Act was a general order issued by the Government of India on 25 July 1856. It required every soldier enlisting in the Bengal army from that point forward to go overseas for deployment if required. The order was brought just before the

Anglo-Persian War The Anglo-Persian War, also known as the Anglo-Iranian War (), was a war fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Qajar Iran, Iran, which was ruled by the Qajar dynasty. The war had the British oppose a ...

. The British were reluctant to send a force overland to

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

, reminiscent of the disasters of the first Anglo Afghan War. So instead, the Government in India decided to launch a maritime expeditionary force to attack the general area of

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, the primary port of entry into Persia at the time. For this reason

Lord Canning Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning (14 December 1812 – 17 June 1862), also known as the Viscount Canning and Clemency Canning, was a British politician and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the first ...

, the

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of India, decided to pass the act that forced deployment literally overseas, as he was aware of the resistance he would face because of the Kala pani taboo. It was thus one of the main causes for the Great Uprising of 1857.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Service Enlistment Act Military of British India 1856 in India Resistance to the British Empire