where did the sepoys break out in open revolt on may 10 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857 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 miles northeast of Delhi (now Old Delhi). It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India,[b][7][c][8] though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east.[d][9] The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region,[e][10] and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.[11] 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.
Causes of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 The sepoys, a generic term used for native Indian soldiers of the Bengal Army derived from the Persian word sepāhī (سپاهی) meaning "infantry soldier", had their own list of grievances against the British East Indian Company (BEIC) administration, caused mainly by the ethnic gulf between the European officers and their Indian troops. The spark that led to a mutiny in several sepoy companies was the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle in February, 1857. A rumour was spread that the cartridges were made from cow and pig fat. Loading the Enfield required tearing open the greased cartridge with one's teeth. This would have insulted both Hindu and Muslim religious practices; cows were considered holy by Hindus while pigs were considered unclean by Muslims.[1] Underlying grievances over British taxation and recent land annexations by the BEIC were ignited by the sepoy mutineers and within weeks dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. The old aristocracy, both Muslim and Hindu, who were seeing their power steadily eroded by the East India Company, also rebelled against British rule. Another important discontent among the Indian rulers was that the british policies of conquest had created unrest among many indian rulers. The policies like the doctrine of lapse, Subsidiary Alliance deprived Indian rulers of their power and status.