The war of Indian Independence

It was the ruling period of English East India Company. Their policy of conquest and annexation of empire was creating a huge unrest among the Indian People. The wealth of India was being looted and their administration and economical principles resulted in decline of Traditional Indian Trades. Further their disrespect towards the religious sentiments of people was adding fuel to the people's wrath. They ruled as if there were no one to oppose them. But everything changed on that fateful day......

29th March, 1857, Barrackpore Parade , Calcutta..

A young Sepoy, Mangal Pandey started his own rebellion against the English East India Company against the unjust actions of the Company. What fueled his anger was the new E-23 rifle...

Wait...What is this rifle about?

During that time, E-23 rifle was newly introduced. It was rumored that the Cartridges which is to be bite open were wrapped in Cow and pig fat...Cow was holy to the Hindus and the Muslims detested the pork..This created a huge unrest among Sepoys..

When Mangal Pandey protested, he was simply shot and later hanged to death..As the company thought that it was over, they never saw it coming....

This incident created a huge unrest among the sepoys in Agra, Allahabad and Ambala. Barrack buildings which used E- 23 rifles and European officer's building were set on fire.But this was just the beginning...

In Meerut ,85 Sepoys were court Martialled for not accepting the rifles and they were brutally tortured by stripping off their uniforms and placed in Shackles. On the very next day, the Meerut cavalry broke into revolt.. Europeans officers and even some of their children were not spared...Meerut came under the control of the Cavalry..

On 11th May,the cavalry reached Delhi..They killed large number of European men, women were killed and their houses were burnt...Bahadhur Shah Safar, the last descendant of Mughal dynasty was proclaimed as the Emperor of India..

By this time, the revolt had been already been spread all over North India..Though some didn't supported the revolt, many states joined the revolt...The main centers of the revolt were Lucknow, Delhi,Meerut and Jhansi.

Very soon after the events of the Meerut, rebellion erupted in Oudh.The British Commissioner Sir Henry Lawrence residing at Lucknow was killed by the rebels.

But this rebel was weakened by the relief column of Sir Henry Havelock and Sir James Outram which was known as "Relief of Lucknow"..The further rebellion was further completely suppressed by Sir Colin Campbell with his large army.

It took some time for the overseas army to reach India..The army under the command of Sir John Nicholson got his foothold into Delhi after lots of difficulties of about 3 weeks. The army finally reached the Red fort.

The army looted and plundered the city. Large number of Indian citizens were killed in retallation for slaughtering of European people. Bahadur Shah has already fled to his ancestor, Humayun's tomb. He was finally arrested, charged with high treason and exiled to Rangoon where he died after few years.

The rebellion at Lucknow was led by Nana Saheb and Tantya Tope. They besieged the Kanpur European Entrichment. Owing to lack of rations, the Europeans were allowed to move in small arms in a boat to Allahabad. But they were brutally massacred on the banks of Ganges and the further hostages were killed in Bibigarh.

These incidents hardened British attitude towards Sepoys. Kanpur was finally recaptured by Lieutenant Neil. In retaliation for the above mentioned incidents, the villages along Grand Trunk Road were burnt . Sepoys and the people were hanged to death and some were made to stand in infront of the cannon and fired(old Mughal punishment). Nana Saheb disappeared at the end of rebellion and further no details were available about him.

The rebellion at Jhansi was led by the brave queen Rani Lakshmi Bhai. Though she fought bravely , she died heroically in the second day of Gwalior battle by the force of Sir Hugh Rose.

Even the company soldiers admired her courage and still today, she is being held as one of the Greatest freedom fighter. She is even compared to Joan of Arc by some commentators.

The revolt took a huge toll on the country. About 150000 Indians were killed and they were severe casualty on both sides. Though both sides performed killings, the brutal massacres performed by the company soldiers left the world in shock.

Many soldiers of the company had followed the policy of "No prisoners". The pages recorded by the officer Edward Vibart and another officer Thomas Owe describes the brutality of the company. An article published in the Bombay Telegraph and further reproduced in a British press testifies the Indian casualty.

There were so many reasons for failure of the mutiny. First of all, the rebellion was not spread to all over India. Major part of South India didn't participated in the rebellion. The Mutineers lacked the ammunition. Further the Railways helped in fast movement of company troops all over India and also there were not proper planning and unity.

After the rebellion, India was directly placed under the control of British and the rule of English East India company came to the end. A Royal proclamation by Queen Victoria granted amnesty to all except those who took part in direct part in murdering of British subjects.The Governor General of India was now entitled as "Viceroy of India" . Huge positive reforms on Economics and Administration were carried out.

The rebellion left the people in shock and it made the people unified for the cause of freedom. It sowed the seeds inside people for the desire of self ruling power. The people under the leadership of great leaders attained their dream on the midnight of August 15, 1947.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister

Though Britishers comment the rebellion as Sepoy Mutiny , the people of India rightly describe as the First war of Indian Independence.