Today in History: The first war of Indian Independence began in 1857

The revolt of 1857 against the British East India Company was an important but unsuccessful event in the Indian history. The first war of Indian Independence (as it is called) arouses the hidden sentiments among the people for the active freedom movement. The rebellion began on May 10, 1857in the form of mutiny of sepoys of the Company’s army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 miles 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 considerable 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 formally to have ended until 8 July 1859.