Revolt of 1857: This revolt was followed by many small incidents that took place in the past which emerged as one of the initial wars for the independence of India by its people.

This revolt was started over the incident of greased cartridges which were made up of cows' skin and in India, cows are worshipped as a mother which made Indians furious.

Revolt of 1857: Mangal Pandey incident

On February 1857, this revolt emerged from the Berhampore when the sepoys of 19th Natives refused to use the newly Enfield rifle.

This was later followed by the Indian Sepoy revolt on 29TH March 1857 at Barrackpore when the sepoys were forced to bite the cartilage and Mangal Pandey responded by killing 2 British officers.

After this, a mutiny of 85 sepoys marched towards Dehli for help from Bahadur Shah Zafar and this revolt get known as "Sepoy Mutiny".

On 11th May 1857, the mutiny reached Dehli and appealed to the Nawab of Dehli Bahadur Shah Zafar to help them out and in return, they will help him to become "Shahensha-e-Hind".

Revolt of 1857: Important centres of revolt and its main leaders

Bahadur Shah Zafar ordered Bakht Khan ( Army commander of Delhi) to start the revolt and to write letters to each and every centre of India to initiate war.

• The revolution in Dehli was taken care of by Bakht Khan.

• Kanpur's revolutionaries initiated the revolt under Nana Saheb and Tatya Tope.

• Begum Hazrat Mahal started the revolt in Lucknow.

• Khan Bahadur Khan revolted from Bareilly.

• While the revolt also started in Jhansi led by Rani Laxmi Bai.

Revolt of 1857: Causes of Revolt

• Social and Religious Causes: Abolition of Sati (1828), Hindu Widow Remarriage Act (1856)

• Economic Causes: High tax on goods produced in India, capturing of lands from Zamindars, and discouraging handicrafts of India.

• Political Causes: Subsidiary Alliance of William Wellesley, and Doctrine of Lapse by Lord Dalhousie.

Revolt of 1857: Lack of coordination led to the end

It is said that if this revolt had worked out with coordination, we would have gotten our independence way before we actually did. But because of this lack of compatibility, Britishers worked out and suppressed the revolts easily.

By the end of the 20th of September, Britishers again took over Dehli and by the end of 1859, they suppressed every centre of the revolt.

On the same date, Britishers took Bahadur Shah Zafar as a prisoner of war and were sent to Rangoon Jail, where in 1862 he died. His family members were killed at the gunpoint in front of everyone by lieutenant Hudson.