What was the Indian Rebellion of 1857 ?

Kanpur was recaptured by the British after fresh reinforcements arrived. The revolt was suppressed with terrible vengeance.

Nana Saheb escaped. But his brilliant commander Tantia Tope continued the struggle. Tantia Tope was finally defeated, arrested and hanged.

Jhansi:

In Jhansi, the twenty-two-year-old Rani Lakshmi Bai led the rebels when the British refused to accept the claim of her adopted son to the throne of Jhansi. She fought gallantly against the British forces. But she was ultimately defeated by the English.

Rani Lakshmi Bai escaped. Later on, the Rani was joined by Tantia Tope and together they marched to Gwalior and captured it. Sindhia, a loyal ally of the British, was driven out. Fierce fighting followed. The Rani of Jhansi fought like a tigress. She died, fighting to the very end. Gwalior was recaptured by the British.

Suppression of the Revolt:

The Revolt of 1857 lasted for more than a year. It was suppressed by the middle of 1858. On July 8, 1858, fourteen months after the outbreak at Meerut, peace was finally proclaimed by Canning.

The southern provinces did not take part in it. It failed to have the character of an all-India struggle.Important rulers like Sindhia, Holkar, Rana of Jodhpur and others did not support the rebels.

The revolt was mainly confined to the Doab region. Sind, Rajputana, Kashmir, most parts of Punjab.

Although the revolt was fairly widespread, a large part of the country remained unaffected by it.

The rebels lacked an effective leader. Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope and Rani Lakshmi Bai were brave leaders, no doubt, but they could not offer effective leadership to the movement as a whole.

The rebels lacked resources in terms of men and money. The English, on the other hand, received a steady supply of men, money and arms in India.

The English educated middle class, the rich merchants, traders and zamindars of Bengal helped the British to suppress the revolt.

The great uprising of 1857 was an important landmark in the history of modern India.

The revolt marked the end of the East India Company’s rule in India.

India now came under the direct rule of the British Crown. This was announced by Lord Canning at a Durbar in Allahabad in aproclamation issued on 1 November 1858 in the name of the Queen.

Thus, Indian administration was taken over by Queen Victoria, which, in effect, meant the British Parliament. The Governor General’s office was replaced by that of the Viceroy.

In the mid-19th century, India was very different from the nation state we know today.

It didn't exist as a country, but instead consisted of different territories controlled by a variety of rulers.

The greatest of these was the British East India Company which governed two thirds of the subcontinent.

Originally formed in 1600 purely to trade with the Mughal Empire, the Company needed to secure its commercial posts at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

It purchased land from Indian rulers to build its settlements on, and recruited native armed forces to protect them.

Eventually, these evolved into the Bengal, Bombay and Madras Armies.

By the mid-18th century, the previously dominant Mughal Empire was collapsing as native and European states attempted to carve out their own power bases.

After successfully battling the French for trading supremacy, and simultaneously involving itself in local politics,