Today’s history: 51 years before the revolution of 1857, Indian soldiers did the first rebellion against the British, captured Vellore fort overnight

When it comes to India’s first freedom struggle, we remember the revolt of 1857, but on this day in 1806, the Indian soldiers in Vellore first revolted against the British. Indian soldiers attacked about 200 British soldiers at Vellore Fort. After freeing the fort from the British, Tipu Sultan’s son was declared the king there. In history this event is known as Vellore Rebellion.

The reason for this rebellion was the new dress code of the British. In this dress code, Hindu soldiers were forbidden to apply tilak, while Muslim soldiers were ordered to cut their beards. Along with this, the soldiers were also ordered to wear a crested hat.

Indian Hindu soldiers could not stop applying tilak and Muslim soldiers could not shave their beards. The soldiers opposed this order of the British, but the British lashed out at the opposing soldiers and dismissed them from the army.

Vellore Fort where Indian soldiers revolted.

The anger of the soldiers increased due to this move of the British. On 9 July 1806, a daughter of Tipu Sultan was married in the fort of Vellore. In fact, Tipu Sultan died in 1799 and his family was now running on the pension of the East India Company. The British had given this family a part of the Vellore Fort to live in.

The rebel soldiers also gathered in this marriage and decided that the fort would be liberated from the British.

Here the marriage ended and there the Indian soldiers started executing their plan. The soldiers targeted their British officers first.

After this the soldiers spread all over the fort and one by one all the British started being killed. The commander of the fort, John Fancourt, was also killed and by morning the fort came under the possession of Indian soldiers. The Mysore Sultanate flag was hoisted on the fort and Tipu Sultan’s son was declared the king.

There was a British army camp at Arcot, about 25 km from Vellore. Somehow this news reached Arcot. The British immediately sent troops with ammunition to attack Vellore Fort. The British army entered the fort and started massacre the Indian soldiers. Whoever showed up was shot. Within no time, hundreds of Indian soldiers were martyred.

1962: The world’s first communication satellite was launched

On this day in 1962, NASA launched the Telstar-1 satellite. It was the world’s first communication satellite, which could transmit signals up to thousands of kilometers away. Along with this, it was the first satellite that could transmit a TV signal.

The launch of this satellite had revolutionized the communication world. Even today Telstar is considered the mother of all other communication satellites in the world. In fact, even before this satellite, signals were transmitted through microwaves, but the problem was that these signals could not be sent across the ocean.

Because of the circumference of the Earth, this could only be done via satellite. This satellite was made jointly by the US, France and British broadcasting agencies, whose responsibility was on the shoulders of Bell Labs researcher John Pearce.

Telstar-1

John had installed the most complex electronic circuit of that time in this satellite weighing 77 kg and 3 feet long. There were 1000 transistors in this circuit which could amplify any signal 10 thousand times. To run this satellite, which looks like a big football, 3600 solar cells were installed.

The satellite could transmit up to 600 phone calls and a black and white TV signal at once. Stations were built in America and Europe to send signals to satellites and receive signals from satellites.

On this day in 1962, the satellite was launched into the Earth’s low orbit through a Delta rocket.

The satellite would orbit the Earth in about two and a half hours, but only 20 minutes of this two and a half hours would remain in such a position when signals could be transmitted between America and Europe. The satellite was launched and was working fine.

Two days later, a signal was transmitted from the Andover Earth Station in the US. It was transmitted well by satellite and this signal was caught by Telecom Center of Brittany France. This was the first signal transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.

Although this satellite could work only for a few months and its circuit stopped working due to radiation, but this satellite gave birth to a revolution in the communication world.

The day of 10th July is remembered in history because of what other important events…

On this day in 2020, Turkish President Erdoan converted the Hagia Sophia Church into a mosque.

2019: Volkswagen has announced the end of production of its first car model, the Beetle, 81 years old.

1995: Myanmar’s pro-democracy dissident and house arrest leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest after nearly six years.

1991: Boris Yesenin became the first President of Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

1938: Howard Hughes set a record by circling the whole world in 91 hours through Lockheed-14.

1856: Nikola Tesla was born. The standard unit of flux is named Tesla after him.

1553: At the age of 15, Lady Jane Gray became Queen of England. Although she remained in this position for only 9 days, hence she is also known as the queen of 9 days.