The Revolt of 1875 in India

1. The Revolt of 1857
India’s First War Of Independence

2. What is the Revolt of 1857 ?
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 refers to a rebellion in India
against the rule of the British East India Company, that ran from
May 1857 to July 1859. The rebellion began as a mutiny of
sepoys of the East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the
cantonment of the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into
other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper
Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities
confined to present-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northern Madhya
Pradesh, and the Delhi region.The rebellion posed a
considerable threat to East India Company power in that region
and was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858.
The rebellion has been known by many names, including the
Indian Mutiny, India's First War of Independence, the Great
Rebellion, the Indian Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the
Rebellion of 1857, the Uprising of 1857, the Sepoy Rebellion,
the Indian Insurrection and the Sepoy Mutiny.

3. Causes of the Revolt
Military Causes
Political Causes
Social Causes
Economic Causes
Religious Causes
Administrative Causes

4. Leaders of the Revolt
Rani Lakshmibai (In Jhansi)
Nana Saheb ( was helped by Tantia Tope)(In
Kanpur)
Mangal Pandey(In Meerut)
Bahadur Shah Zafar(In Delhi)
Birjis Qadr along with his mother Begum Hazrat
Mahal(In Awadh/Oudh/Lucknow)
Rani Avantibai Lodhi(In Ramgarh, Mandala, M.P.)
Ahmadullah Shah(In Faizabad)
Bakht Khan(In Bareilly)
Kunwar Singh(In Bihar)

5. Map 1 – Various European Settlements
in India

6. Map 2 – The British Empire

7. Map 3 –
Centres
of Revolt

8. Centres of Revolt
Meerut
Delhi
Kanpur (Cawnpore)
Lucknow
Gwalior/Jhansi
Bihar
Faizabad
Bareilly

10. Troops of the Native Allies (the Sikhs
and the Gurkhas ) of the British

11. Conclusion of The Revolt of 1857
After two long and bloody years of the Revolt,
it was finally suppressed.
 The Company tried to suppress the Rebellion
on it’s own at first but since the number of
rebels were greater than the number of loyal
soldiers in the British army, it asked for help
from the British Crown.
The British Crown sent a 7-mile long siege
train to help the Compny.

12. Conclusion of The Revolt of 1857
The reinforcement/siege train comprised of
cannons and ammunition pulled by elephants.
The British Crown also passed laws so that rebels
could be convicted with ease.
Delhi was recaptured from the rebel forces in
September 1857.
The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar
the second, was tried in court and sentenced to
life imprisonment. He and his wife Begum Zinat
Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon in October
1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar died at Rangoon jail in
November 1862.

13. Conclusion of The Revolt of 1857
Lucknow was taken in March 1858.
Rani Lakshmibai was defeated and killed in June
1858.
Rani Avantibai awaited a similar fate. She chose
to embrace death when surrounded by the
British on her four sides.
Tantia Tope escaped to the jungles of central
India and continued to fight guerilla war with the
support of many tribal and peasant leaders.He
was captured, tried and killed in April 1859.

14. Conclusion of The Revolt of 1857
The British too tried their best to win back the
loyalty of the people.
The announced rewards for loyal landholders
would be allowed to continue to enjoy traditional
rights over their lands.
Those who had rebelled were told that if they
submitted to the British, and if they had not killed
any white people, they would remain safe and
their rights and claims to land would not be
denied.
Nevertheless, hundreds of sepoys, rebels,
nawabs and rajas were tried and hanged.

15. The Siege/Reinforcements Train

16. The rebellious sepoys being punished

17. Rebels being hanged

18. Blowing of Mutinous sepoys through
cannons

19. Bahadur Shah Zafar and his sons being
captured by the British

20. Rani Lakshmibai fighting the Battle of
Gwalior

21. Aftermath of the Rebellion
The British had regained control
of the subcontinent by the end of
1859, but they could not carry on
ruling the land with the same
policies so they changed some of
the policies along with adding
some new ones.

22. A video on the Rebellion of 1857