A mighty popular revolt broke out is Northern and Central India in 1857 & nearly swept away the British rule.

It began with the mutiny of sepoys but soon engulfed wide regions & involved the masses. Millions of peasants, artisans and soldiers fought heroically for over a year and by their exemplary courage wrote a glorious chapter on the history of Indian people.

The revolt of 1857 marked that it was a challenge to the mighty British Empire. The spread, intensify of the revolt, and the measures taken by the British to suppress it brings out its challenging nature.

The first challenge was in terms of the very geographical spread of the revolt. The whole of North India from Punjab to Bihar rose against the British. In many of the princely states, rulers remained loyal to their British overlord, but the soldiers revolted. Many small chiefs of Rajasthan & Maharashtra revolted with the support of people who were quite hostile to the British. Local rebellions also occurred in Hyderabad & Bengal.

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Everywhere in Northern & Central India, the mutiny of the sepoys triggered popular revolts of the civilian population. Different sections of society like peasants, workers, traders, old zimindars, religious mendicants & soldiers ensured by their participation that the uprising was of massive nature and a real challenge to the British. This was in total contrast to the early uprisings of peasants & tribal’s in which a narrow section of the society participated.

Further, the participation of soldiers, who had been trained and paid by the British proved to be a mighty challenge to the British. The sepoys had been instrumental in building the British empire in India, but during the revolt, they turned the weapons and tactics learnt from the British against their masters themselves, which shocked the British.

The success of the rebels also shows that it was a mighty challenge to the British. In many places like Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, the British power was overthrown. In Delhi, the Mughal King Bahadur Shah II was declared as the emperor of Hindustan.

Further many of the able military generals. Like Nicholson, Wheeler proved incapable during the revolt. The British had to channelise all their resources for the suppression of the revolt, which shows its mighty character. Moreover, the administrative, military & policy changes made after the revolt were all intended to prevent such outbreak in future.

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The revolt of 1857 stands as beacon light of incipient Indian Nationalism and served as perennial source of inspiration for freedom struggle.