The
Indian Rebellion of 1857 refers to a rebellion in India against the rule of the British East India Company, that ran from May 1857 to June 1858. The rebellion began as a
mutiny of
sepoys of the
East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the
cantonment of the town of
Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the
upper Gangetic plain and
central India, with the major hostilities confined to present-day
Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, northern
Madhya Pradesh, and the
Delhi region. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to East India Company power in that region, and was contained only with the fall of
Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The rebellion is also known as
India's First War of Independence, the
Great Rebellion, the
Indian Rebellion, the
Indian Mutiny, the
Revolt of 1857, the
Rebellion of 1857, the
Uprising of 1857, the
Sepoy Rebellion, the
Indian Insurrection and the
Sepoy Mutiny.