The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859.
Events in the year 1857 in India.
Major John Buckley VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was the 115th recipient of the award and the first of 182 awarded during the Indian Mutiny.
Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key role in the events taking place just before the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. He was a sepoy (infantryman) in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the British East India Company. In 1984, the Indian government issued a postage stamp to remember him. His life and actions have also been portrayed in several cinematic productions.
The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was then abandoned.
During the Indian rebellion of 1857, general Bakht Khan served as a commander-in-chief in the region of the state Delhi of the Indian independent forces. He worked against the East India Company.
The Siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass uprising by the sepoys of the Bengal Army, which the company had itself raised in its Bengal Presidency. Seeking a symbol around which to rally, the first sepoys to rebel sought to reinstate the power of the Mughal Empire, which had ruled much of the Indian subcontinent in the previous centuries. Lacking overall direction, many who subsequently rebelled also flocked to Delhi.
The Central India Campaign was one of the last series of actions in the Indian rebellion of 1857. The British Army and Bombay Army overcame a disunited collection of states in a single rapid campaign, although determined rebels continued a guerrilla campaign until the spring of 1859.
Historians have identified diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The Battle of Agra was a comparatively minor but nevertheless decisive action at the end of a prolonged siege during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing into law of the Government of India Act 1858. At this latter point control of the East India Company's Bengal Presidency passed to the British Government. The first locally recruited battalion was raised by the East India Company in 1757 and by the start of 1857 there were 74 regiments of Bengal Native Infantry in the Bengal Army. Following the Mutiny the Presidency armies came under the direct control of the United Kingdom Government and there was a widespread reorganisation of the Bengal Army that saw the Bengal Native Infantry regiments reduced to 45.
The Battle of Najafgarh was a subsidiary engagement of the Siege of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. A large Indian force sortied from Delhi, intending to attack the rear of the British force besieging the city. A detachment from the besiegers marched to intercept them, and defeated them while they were disordered by difficult terrain and by quarrels among their commanders.
Sir Henry William Barnard was an officer of the British Army. He served during the First Anglo-Afghan War and the Crimean War, rising to the rank of lieutenant-general.
The siege of Arrah took place during the Indian Mutiny. It was the eight-day defence of a fortified outbuilding, occupied by a combination of 18 civilians and 50 members of the Bengal Military Police Battalion, against 2,500 to 3,000 mutinying Bengal Native Infantry sepoys from three regiments and an estimated 8,000 men from irregular forces commanded by Kunwar Singh, the local zamindar or chieftain who controlled the Jagdishpur estate.
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 a column of troops led by the commander of the 24th Regiment of Foot was sent to disarm Bengal Native Infantry units believed to be at risk of mutiny in Rawalpindi and Jhelum. At Rawalpindi, the 58th Bengal Native Infantry was disarmed peacefully, however the two companies of the 14th Bengal Native Infantry resisted the attempt by force of arms. These two companies were quickly defeated by the British, loyal native troops and the local population. In Jhelum, also garrisoned by the 14th, the concurrently timed disarmament was much more violent. Thirty five British soldiers of the 24th Regiment of Foot were killed along with a number of Loyal Indian troops, by mutinous sepoys of the 14th Bengal Native Infantry. When the mutineers realised that they, except the Sikhs, were to be disarmed, they mutinied and made a vigorous defence against the force that had arrived from Rawalpindi to disarm them. The following night a significant number of mutineers managed to slip away but most were subsequently arrested by the Kashmir authorities, into whose territory they had escaped.
Lieutenant-General Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British Bengal Army and British Army artillery officer who saw service during the Second Sikh War and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, during which he was commended for his part in the capture of Delhi and the relief of Lucknow. For his actions during the rebellion, Wilson was knighted and created a baronet. He later returned to the United Kingdom, where he became a Colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery.
The 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, also known as the 3rd Bengal Native Cavalry, was a locally recruited regiment of the East India Company's Bengal Army. Raised in 1797, the regiment took part in conflicts throughout British India, serving with distinction in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, the First Anglo-Afghan War and the First Anglo-Sikh War, earning various battle honours.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a significant uprising against British colonial rule in India from 1857 to 1858. It was directed against the authority of the British East India Company, which acted as a self-governing autonomous entity on behalf of the British Crown. Indian Muslim soldiers, known as sepoys, were instrumental in igniting the rebellion, driven by rumors that the cartridges for their rifles were greased with Pork fat, which offended their islamic religious beliefs. In regions such as Awadh, Delhi, Bihar, and Bengal, Muslim leaders emerged as key figures in the uprising. Prominent Indian muslim figures like Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, and Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah led significant uprisings against the British, symbolizing a desire for the restoration of Muslim political power.
The Oudh Irregular Force was a short-lived unit of the Bengal Army of the East India Company. It consisted of ten infantry regiments, three cavalry regiments, and four batteries, raised in 1856, all of which would mutiny during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Kingdom of Nepal 
Mughal Empire 
Henry W. Barnard 
