The Revolt Of 1857

OutBreak: On March 29,1857, a solider named Mangal Pandey attacked and fired at his senior at Barrackpur in Bengal (in 19th and 34th Native infantry). On May 10, there was a mutiny of sepoys at Merrut (3rd native cavalry). .The mutiny spread throughout UP along with some other parts of the country. .march to Delhi’ became the battle cry of the rebels. At Delhi, the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II has proclaimed the Emperor of India.

Important Persons: Bakht Khan(captured Delhi, was from the Barreily unit of the army). .Nana Sahib alias Dhodhu Pant (from Kanpur, along with Tantia Tope and Azimulla). .Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh (declared her son as the Nawab of Awadh). .Rani Lakshmibai, the windowed queen of Raja Gangadhar Rao of Jhansi(Tantia Tope joined her, and they defeated the Scindia of Gwalior, but both are defeated by Sir Hugh Rose.She died on June 17, 1858, while Tantia was later captured and executed). .Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh (Bihar). .Maulavi Ahmedullah(First Awad and then Rohilkhand). .Devi Singh of Mathura. .Kadam Singh of Meerut.

Causes Of Failure: Scindia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore,the Nizam of Hyderabad, the raja of Jodhpur, the award of Bhopal, the Patiala, Singh and Kashmir and the Rana of Nepal provided active support to the British.

Impact of the Revolt: The revolt was mainly feudal in character carrying with it some nationalist elements. The control of India’s administration was passed on the British crown by the Govt. of India Act,1858. The army was carefully reorganized to prevent the recurrence of such an event.