Revolt of 1857: A Detailed Study For PSC

Apr 2020|🟢Current|12 min read|53 entries

Key Takeaway

The revolt of 1857 is considered as the First War of Indian Independence.

Last verified: 12 Feb 2026·Source: www.pscarivukal.com

Revolt of 1857: A Detailed Study For PSC(53)

Item	Detail
Despite the fact that there had been numerous small-scale uprisings throughout the country prior to the 1857 revolt, such as theVellore mutiny in 1806, the uprising at Bareilly in 1816, the Barrakpore mutiny in 1824, the 22nd Infantry mutiny in 1849, and so on, the 1857 uprising was the first large-scale countrywide uprising against British rule in India.It instilled patriotism in the Indians and served as a springboard for later uprisings and revolts. That is one of the reasons why it is referred to as the"First War of Indian Independence."Synopsis of the Revolt of 1857Date	May 11, 1857
Place	Meerut
Dubbed as	Devil’s Wind (by English)
First Martyr of theRevolt of 1857	Mangal Pandey
First Female Martyr of 1857	Pritilata Waddedar(പ്രീതിലത വഡേദാർ,Bengal)
Governor-General	Lord Canning*
Commander-in- Chief of British Forces	Colin Campbell
Mughal Emperor	Bahadur Shah II.(the last Mughal emperor, later exiled to Rangoon)British Empress–Queen Victoria
British Prime Minister	Lord Palmerston*
Symbol of 1857 Revolt	Lotus & Bread(Chapati)
Prominent Leaders & Centers of Revolt of 1857:Jhansi	Rani Lakshmi Bhai
Kanpur	Nana Sahib
Gwalior	Tantia Tope
Bareilly	Khan Bahadur
Lucknow	Begum Hazrat Mahal & Ahmadullah
Jagdishpur (Ara)	Kunwar Singh
Delhi	Bahadur Shah II & General Bhakth Khan
Joan of Arc of theRevolt of 1857	Rani Lakshmi Bai
Grand Old Man ofthe Revolt of 1857	Kunwar Singh
Ambassador of the Revolution of 1857	Azimullah Khan
Other Epithets	Krantidoot,Prophetof the Revolution of 1857, Master brainof the Revolt of 1857
Theannexation of Awadh- Awadh being the strongest alley of British	on the charge of misgovernance, became another cause for the rebellion
Commanding Officer(Merrut)	General Hewitt
Officer-in-charge of Delhi	Lieutenant Willtashby
Lack of Organisation & popular support	Only North & Central India participated, the other presidencies particularly the southern region & Sikhs remained largely uninvolved
Government of India Actwas introduced in the British Parliament by then Prime Minister	Lord Palmerston*
Famous Books on the Revolt of 1857The History of the War of Indian Independence	Vinayak D. Savarkar(1909)
Dastanbuy: A Diary of the Indian Revolt in 1857	Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
The First Indian War of Independence- 1857-59	Karl Marx
Awadh in Revolt, 1857-58: A Study of Popular Resistance	Rudrankshu Mukherjee
The Politics of Popular Uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857	Tapti Roy.A History of Sepoys War in India –Sir John W. Kaye
Great Rebellion	Ashok Meta
The Queen of Jhansi	Mahasweta Devi
The Devil's Wind	Manohar Malgonkar(Story of Nana Sahib)
Amritham Thedi (Malayalam)	Malayattoor Ramakrishnan
Maza Pravas/ Majha Pravas (Marathi)	Vishnubhat Godse
Famous Quotes regarding the Indian Rebellion of 1857‘National Rising’	Benjamin Disraeli.‘A battle of Blacks against the Whites’ –Sir J.W. Kaye.‘Neither first nor national war of Independence’ –R.C Majumdar.‘Revolt of 1857 was an extension of social progress the English had already initiate’ –Karl Marx(on New York Tribunal).‘The outbreak was more a rebellion and rebellion of the people than merely a mutiny of the soldiers’ –John B. Norton("Topics for Indian Statesmen", 1858).‘Merely a mutiny of the soldiers, which took the shape of revolt of the people in certain areas’ –Charles Raikes.'The revolt of 1857 swept the Indian sky clear of many clouds'–Sir Legal Greffin.‘There was no popular outbreak;even the soldiers would not have mutinied but for the Meerut punishments. I, therefore, think that the mutiny of 1857 was not a popular rebellion’ –Syed Ahmed Khan(1864)
Director	Ketan Mehta
Mangal Pandey (Lead role)	Amir Khan
Also Refer:Previous Year Repeated Questions on the Revolt of 1857📝SideNotes:"Lighthouse of Rebellion"	Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah."Lion of Bihar"–Kunwar Singh."Butcher of Delhi"– SirJohn Nicolson."Danka Shah (the maulvi with the drum)"–Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah
Birthplace of Mangal Pandey	Uttar Pradesh
Sergeant shot dead by Mangal Pandey	Major Hudson
Hanging of Mangal Pandey took place at	Barrackpore on May 9,1857
The real name of Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai	Manikarnika
The real name of Nana Saheb	Dhondu Pant
The real name of Tantia Tope	Ramachandra Pandurang
Guerilla Warfare in 1857 revolt was introduced by	Tantia Tope
The revolt started at Dum Dum on	Jan 23, 1857
First British person who admitted that the sepoy mutiny was the first national movement of India	Benjamin Disraeli
Modern Indian historian coined the revolt of 1857 as "First War of Indian Independence"	V.D. Savarkar
British historian who described the revolt of 1857 as "Sepoy Mutiny"	John Lawrence, Earl of Stanley
Vellore Mutiny	the revolt of 1857(50 years before)on 10th July 1806 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu was against the replacement of turban by a leather cockade and lasted only for a day. It was the first major mutiny organized by the Indian soldiers in the East India Company army
Bibighar Massacre / Satichaura Ghat massacre (Kanpur)is associated with	Nana Sahib(in which he killed more than 200 Europeans including women and children in the Cawnpore entrenchment)."A bright spot against a dark background," Who describes Jhansi Rani as such? Jawaharlal Nehru(Previous Year PSC Question –Confidential Assistant, 2015)Thanks for reading!!!

Despite the fact that there had been numerous small-scale uprisings throughout the country prior to the 1857 revolt, such as theVellore mutiny in 1806, the uprising at Bareilly in 1816, the Barrakpore mutiny in 1824, the 22nd Infantry mutiny in 1849, and so on, the 1857 uprising was the first large-scale countrywide uprising against British rule in India.It instilled patriotism in the Indians and served as a springboard for later uprisings and revolts. That is one of the reasons why it is referred to as the"First War of Indian Independence."Synopsis of the Revolt of 1857Date

May 11, 1857

Place

Meerut

Dubbed as

Devil’s Wind (by English)

First Martyr of theRevolt of 1857

Mangal Pandey

First Female Martyr of 1857

Pritilata Waddedar(പ്രീതിലത വഡേദാർ,Bengal)

Governor-General*

Lord Canning

Commander-in- Chief of British Forces

Colin Campbell

Mughal Emperor

Bahadur Shah II.(the last Mughal emperor, later exiled to Rangoon)British Empress–Queen Victoria

British Prime Minister*

Lord Palmerston

Symbol of 1857 Revolt

Lotus & Bread(Chapati)

Prominent Leaders & Centers of Revolt of 1857:Jhansi

Rani Lakshmi Bhai

Kanpur

Nana Sahib

Gwalior

Tantia Tope

Bareilly

Khan Bahadur

Lucknow

Begum Hazrat Mahal & Ahmadullah

Jagdishpur (Ara)

Kunwar Singh

Delhi

Bahadur Shah II & General Bhakth Khan

Joan of Arc of theRevolt of 1857

Rani Lakshmi Bai

Grand Old Man ofthe Revolt of 1857

Kunwar Singh

Ambassador of the Revolution of 1857

Azimullah Khan

Other Epithets

Krantidoot,Prophetof the Revolution of 1857, Master brainof the Revolt of 1857

Theannexation of Awadh- Awadh being the strongest alley of British

on the charge of misgovernance, became another cause for the rebellion

Commanding Officer(Merrut)

General Hewitt

Officer-in-charge of Delhi

Lieutenant Willtashby

Lack of Organisation & popular support

Only North & Central India participated, the other presidencies particularly the southern region & Sikhs remained largely uninvolved

Government of India Actwas introduced in the British Parliament by then Prime Minister*

Lord Palmerston

Famous Books on the Revolt of 1857The History of the War of Indian Independence

Vinayak D. Savarkar(1909)

Dastanbuy: A Diary of the Indian Revolt in 1857

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib

The First Indian War of Independence- 1857-59

Karl Marx

Awadh in Revolt, 1857-58: A Study of Popular Resistance

Rudrankshu Mukherjee

The Politics of Popular Uprising: Bundelkhand in 1857

Tapti Roy.A History of Sepoys War in India –Sir John W. Kaye

Great Rebellion

Ashok Meta

The Queen of Jhansi

Mahasweta Devi

The Devil's Wind

Manohar Malgonkar(Story of Nana Sahib)

Amritham Thedi (Malayalam)

Malayattoor Ramakrishnan

Maza Pravas/ Majha Pravas (Marathi)

Vishnubhat Godse

Famous Quotes regarding the Indian Rebellion of 1857‘National Rising’

Benjamin Disraeli.‘A battle of Blacks against the Whites’ –Sir J.W. Kaye.‘Neither first nor national war of Independence’ –R.C Majumdar.‘Revolt of 1857 was an extension of social progress the English had already initiate’ –Karl Marx(on New York Tribunal).‘The outbreak was more a rebellion and rebellion of the people than merely a mutiny of the soldiers’ –John B. Norton("Topics for Indian Statesmen", 1858).‘Merely a mutiny of the soldiers, which took the shape of revolt of the people in certain areas’ –Charles Raikes.'The revolt of 1857 swept the Indian sky clear of many clouds'–Sir Legal Greffin.‘There was no popular outbreak;even the soldiers would not have mutinied but for the Meerut punishments. I, therefore, think that the mutiny of 1857 was not a popular rebellion’ –Syed Ahmed Khan(1864)

Director

Ketan Mehta

Mangal Pandey (Lead role)

Amir Khan

Also Refer:Previous Year Repeated Questions on the Revolt of 1857📝SideNotes:"Lighthouse of Rebellion"

Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah."Lion of Bihar"–Kunwar Singh."Butcher of Delhi"– SirJohn Nicolson."Danka Shah (the maulvi with the drum)"–Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah

Birthplace of Mangal Pandey

Uttar Pradesh

Sergeant shot dead by Mangal Pandey

Major Hudson

Hanging of Mangal Pandey took place at

Barrackpore on May 9,1857

The real name of Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai

Manikarnika

The real name of Nana Saheb

Dhondu Pant

The real name of Tantia Tope

Ramachandra Pandurang

Guerilla Warfare in 1857 revolt was introduced by

Tantia Tope

The revolt started at Dum Dum on

Jan 23, 1857

First British person who admitted that the sepoy mutiny was the first national movement of India

Benjamin Disraeli

Modern Indian historian coined the revolt of 1857 as "First War of Indian Independence"

V.D. Savarkar

British historian who described the revolt of 1857 as "Sepoy Mutiny"

John Lawrence, Earl of Stanley

Vellore Mutiny

the revolt of 1857(50 years before)on 10th July 1806 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu was against the replacement of turban by a leather cockade and lasted only for a day. It was the first major mutiny organized by the Indian soldiers in the East India Company army

Bibighar Massacre / Satichaura Ghat massacre (Kanpur)is associated with

Nana Sahib(in which he killed more than 200 Europeans including women and children in the Cawnpore entrenchment)."A bright spot against a dark background," Who describes Jhansi Rani as such? Jawaharlal Nehru(Previous Year PSC Question –Confidential Assistant, 2015)Thanks for reading!!!

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Revolt of 1857: A Detailed Study For PSC

Key Takeaway

Revolt of 1857: A Detailed Study For PSC(53)

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