The 1857 revolt of May 10, 1857, during the British rule in India, began as a mutiny by the sepoys in the cantonment of Meerut and then the uprising spread swiftly to the ordinary people in the town and the surrounding villages through the entire Gangetic plain.Lord Canning was the Governor-General of India during the War of Independence in 1857 (also known as Revolt/Rebellion of 1857 or Sepoy Mutiny).

REASONS FOR REVOLT

POLITICAL

• The dispossession and exile of the ruling Nawab(Awadh) also other states like Satara, Jhansi.
• Nana Sahib denied pension as he was the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao 2

MILITARY

• Indian soldiers paid low salaries; racially insulted; could not rise above the rank of subedar.

RELIGIOUS

• British social reforms (widow remarriage, abolition of sati; Christian missionaries seen by people as interference in their religious practices.

Awadh a major center of the revolt; the undermining of the powerful taluqdar class, and the grievances of the soldiers of the Bengal army, many of whom recruited from Awadh, all added up to general disaffection in the region.

29 March 1857: Mangal Pandey killed his British Commander and hanged at Barrackpore.

The reason that triggered the mutiny was Rumour, that circulated in north India. The sepoys in the cantonments believed that the cartridges of the Enfield rifle coated with the fat of cows and pigs.

The overthrow of British rule and the restoration of the traditional ruling powers was the main aim of the rebels. The revolt suppressed by the British by force of arms, often after a bitter struggle. The British slowly regained control by steadily re-conquering portions of territory

CAUSES OF FAILURE

• Lack of coordination and central leadership
• Limited territorial and social base
• Rebel leader lacked resources and experience as compared to British
• British power remained intact in the Eastern, Western, and Southern parts of India
• Mutiny Impact

The suppression of the revolt of 1857 brought about major changes at the level of administration. The fiction that the English East India Company ruled India came to an end and India brought directly under the Crown. The India Act of 1858 India governed in the name of the Crown. The latter would act through a secretary of state who aided by a council of 15 members. In India, the central administration vested in the hands of the Governor-General in Council. But by the Royal Proclamation of November 1, 1858, the Governor-General given the exalted title of Viceroy

After the revolt, the British pursued the policy of divide and rule.

Marked the end of British Imperialism, and Princely states   assured against annexation. The doctrine of Lapse withdrawn.

V.D Savarkar called it the First War of Independence