Homage to all those who were part of the events of 1857

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to all those who were a part of the events of 1857 for their outstanding courage.

• On May 10, in 1857 began the historic First War of Independence, which ignited a spirit of patriotism among our fellow citizens and contributed to the weakening of colonial rule.

The Revolt of 1857:

• The first expression of organised resistance was the Revolt of 1857.
• It began as a revolt of the sepoys of the Company’s army but eventually secured the participation of the masses.
• Main events of the revolt: Soon there was a rebellion in the Meerut Cantonment. The Meerut Mutiny (May 9, 1857) marked the beginning of the Revolt of 1857. The Indian sepoys in Meerut murdered their British officers and broke open the jail. On May 10, they marched to Delhi.
  • Capture of Delhi:
    • In Delhi the mutineers were joined by the Delhi sepoys and the city came under their control.
    • Next day, on 11th May, the sepoys proclaimed the ageing Bahadur Shah Zafar the Emperor of Hindustan.
    • But Bahadur Shah was old and he could not give able leadership to the sepoys. The occupation of Delhi was short-lived.
  • Fall of Delhi:
    • The British finally attacked Delhi in September. For six days there was desperate fighting.
    • But by September 1857, the British reoccupied Delhi. Thousands of innocent people were massacred and hundreds were hanged.
    • The old king was captured and later deported to Rangoon where he died in 1862. His sons were shot dead. T
    • hus ended the imperial dynasty of the Mughals.
  • Centres of the revolt and leaders:
    • Delhi - General Bakht Khan
    • Kanpur - Nana Saheb
    • Lucknow - Begum Hazrat Mahal
    • Bareilly - Khan Bahadur
    • Bihar - Kunwar Singh
    • Faizabad - Maulvi Ahmadullah
    • Jhansi - Rani Laxmibai
    • Baghpat - Shah Mal
  • Nature
    • C. Majumdar and S.N. Sen— “Not an organised ‘national’ revolt”
    • C. Majumdar— “Neither first, nor National War of Independence”
    • D. Savarkar—“War of independence”
    • Eric Stokes—“Elitist in character”
    • Lawrence and Seeley—“Mere sepoy mutiny”
    • R. Holmes—“A conflict between civilisation and barbarism”
    • James Outram—“A Mohammedan conspiracy making capital of Hindu grievances”
    • Percival Spear—Three phases of the revolt

Timeline of the Revolt of 1857