The spirit of revolt undoubtedly had been stimulated by the trend of Lord Dalhousie's policy, which alarmed men's minds. The cause of the Mutiny, expressed in the most general terms and without regard to specific grievances, was the revolt of the old against the new, of Indian conservatism against European innovation. The displeasure at the recent annexation had something to do with this fact, but much of the trouble in Oudh must be attributed to the lawless condition of the kingdom after a century of gross misgovernment. Oudh was the only province in which the insurrection became general, and nearly every great landholder rebelled. Accordingly he was exasperated at the introduction of British rule in Oude. He was no longer the great man of the family or village he could no longer demand the special interference of the British Resident in their behalf. This was resented by the sepoy as a grave indignity. When, however, the country was brought under British administration the complainants were referred to the civil courts. So long as Oude was under Muhammadan rule, every complaint from an Oude sepoy, that his family or kindred were oppressed, was forwarded to the British Resident at Lukhnow, and promptly redressed. Under Lord Dalhousie the Punjaub and Oude had been annexed, and it might well seem to an Indian mind that the English were bent on entirely subduing the whole of Hindostan, regardless of the dictates of faith or justice. In the deposed King of Delhi, Bahadur Shah, there was an ever-festering canker of rebellion and center of disaffection which was rendered more dangerous than ever by Lord Dalhousie's (1848-56) threat of removing the Mogul's family from its old seat at Delhi. The second was the British blunder in using cartridges for the Lee-Enfield rifle that were allegedly greased with animal fat, which was offensive to the religious beliefs of Muslim and Hindu sepoys. First, was the annexation in 1856 of Oudh, a wealthy princely state that generated huge revenue and represented a vestige of Mughal authority. Until the rebellion, the British had succeeded in suppressing numerous riots and "tribal" wars or in accommodating them through concessions, but several events triggered the violent explosion of wrath in 1857. Undoubtedly, it was the culmination of mounting Indian resentment toward British economic and social policies over many decades. Precisely what led to the great Mutiny will perhaps never be determined.
The uprising, which seriously threatened British rule in India, has been called many names by historians, including the Sepoy Rebellion, the Great Mutiny, and the Revolt of 1857 many people in South Asia, however, prefer to call it India's first war of independence. The rebels marched to Delhi to offer their services to the Mughal emperor, and soon much of north and central India was plunged into a year-long insurrection against the British. On May 10, 1857, Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army, drawn mostly from Muslim units from Bengal, mutinied in Meerut, a cantonment eighty kilometers northeast of Delhi.
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