First, was the annexation in 1856 of Oudh, a wealthy princely state that generated huge revenue and represented a vestige of Mughal authority.

Until the rebellion, the British had succeeded in suppressing numerous riots and 'tribal' wars or in accommodating them through concessions, but two events triggered the violent explosion of wrath in 1857. Undoubtedly, it was the culmination of mounting Indian resentment toward British economic and social policies over many decades. The uprising, which seriously threatened British rule in India, has been called many names by historians, including the Sepoy Rebellion, the Great Mutiny, and the Revolt of 1857 many people in South Asia, however, prefer to call it India's first war of independence. In any case, many sepoys refused to use the new rifles and this was viewed as insubordination by the British commanders. The rumor was reportedly started by an 'untouchable' arsenal worker who was angry about being refused a drink by a higher-caste sepoy soldier. The cartridge were in fact greased with wax and vegetable oil. A similar rumor was spread among the Muslims, except it was pig fat, not beef fat. The sepoys took up arms against their British when a rumor was spread that sacred cow fat was being used in the cartridges of the Hindu soldiers. It began when sepoys were issued new Enfield rifles that used cartridges that had to be bit open to use. The Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 Indians say was the first serious Indian rebellion-some say war of independence-against the British. Sepoys are Indian soldiers who belonged to native regiments. Most of the lower ranked soldiers were sepoys. Nearly all of the officers and upper rank soldiers were British. In the mid 19th century, the private army of the British East Indian Company consisted of 46,000 British and 223,000 sepoy soldiers. They were only one year off and the sepoys briefly controlled much of Northern India. Īstrologers had predicted the end of East India Company rule 100 years after the Battle of Plassey in 1758. The rebels marched to Delhi to offer their services to the Mughal emperor, and soon much of north and central India was plunged into a year-long insurrection against the British. On May 10, 1857, Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, drawn mostly from Muslim units from Bengal, mutinied in Meerut, a cantonment eighty kilometers northeast of Delhi.

The sepoy mutiny