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Barrackpore
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On 29th March 1857, Mangal Pandey, stationed at Barrackpore, revolted against his British officers. He was hanged, which created anger and resentment amongst the sepoys.
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Meerut
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On 24th April, ninety men of the Third Native Cavalry stationed at Meerut refused to use the greased cartridges. Eighty-five of them were dismissed and sentenced to ten years imprisonment on 9th May.
- The rest of the Indian sepoys reacted strongly to this, and the next day, on 10th May, the entire Indian garrison revolted.
- March to Delhi: After freeing their comrades and killing the British officers, they decided to march on to Delhi.
- It was clear that it was not merely an army mutiny, as people from surrounding areas began to loot the military bazaars and attacked and burnt the bungalows of the British as soon as they heard the shots fired by the sepoys on their officers.
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Hindu-Muslim unity
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In Meerut and Delhi, the Hindu sepoys overwhelmingly declared Bahadur Shah to be their Emperor. As a sign of respect for the Hindus’ religious beliefs, cow slaughter was banned wherever the sepoys arrived.
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Spread of Revolt
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In the next month, the entire Bengal Army rose in revolt. The Whole of North and North West India was up in arms against the British.
- Central India: Thousands of Indore’s soldiers joined the sepoy rebels in Indore. Gwalior’s troops went over to Tantya Tope and Rani of Jhansi.
- In East Punjab, Mainpuri, Bulandshahr, Danapur, Mathura. Agra. Lucknow, Allahabad, Banaras, Shahabad, Etwah, and Aligarh, wherever there were Indian troops, they revolted.
- With the revolt in the army, the police and local administration also collapsed.
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Effects of 1857 revolt
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Wherever a revolt erupted, the government’s treasury was taken away, the magazine was ransacked, barracks and courthouses were set on fire, and prison gates were thrown open.
- Telegraph lines were severed, and horsemen carrying alerts to Delhi were stopped.
- Peasants and dispossessed zamindars attacked the moneylenders and new zamindars who had displaced them from the land.
- Destroyed the government files and the accounting records of the moneylenders.
- Attacked the British-established law courts, revenue offices, revenue records and police stations.
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