Editing History of India (section)

=== Rebellion of 1857 and its consequences ===
{{Main|Indian Rebellion of 1857}}
{{Gallery|align=center
|width=140|File:Rani of jhansi.jpg|[[Rani of Jhansi|Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi]], one of the principal leaders of the rebellion who earlier had lost her kingdom as a result of the [[Doctrine of lapse]].
|File:Bahadur Shah II of India.jpg|[[Bahadur Shah Zafar]], the last Mughal Emperor. Crowned Emperor of India by the rebels, he was deposed by the British and died in exile in Burma.
|File:Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning - Project Gutenberg eText 16528.jpg|[[Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning|Charles Canning]], the [[Governor-General of India]] during the rebellion.
|File:Dalhousie.jpg|[[James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie|Lord Dalhousie]], the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856, who devised the [[Doctrine of Lapse]].
}}

The Indian rebellion of 1857 was a large-scale rebellion by soldiers employed by the British East India Company in northern and central India against the company's rule. The spark that led to the mutiny was the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle, which was insensitive to local religious prohibition. The key mutineer was [[Mangal Pandey]].<ref>Saul David, p. 70, ''The Indian Mutiny'', Penguin Books 2003</ref> In addition, the underlying grievances over British taxation, the ethnic gulf between the British officers and their Indian troops and land annexations played a significant role in the rebellion. Within weeks after Pandey's mutiny, dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. The rebel soldiers were later joined by Indian nobility, many of whom had lost titles and domains under the [[Doctrine of Lapse]] and felt that the company had interfered with a traditional system of inheritance. Rebel leaders such as [[Nana Sahib]] and the [[Rani of Jhansi]] belonged to this group.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bandyopadhyay|2004|p=172}}, {{Harvnb|Bose|Jalal|2003|p=91}}, {{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=92}}</ref>

After the outbreak of the mutiny in [[Meerut]], the rebels very quickly reached Delhi. The rebels had also captured large tracts of the [[North-Western Provinces]] and [[Awadh]] (Oudh). Most notably, in Awadh, the rebellion took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against British presence.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bandyopadhyay|2004|p=177}}, {{Harvnb|Bayly|2000|p=357}}</ref> However, the British East India Company mobilised rapidly with the assistance of friendly [[Princely states]], but it took the British the better part of 1858 to suppress the rebellion. Due to the rebels being poorly equipped and having no outside support or funding, they were brutally subdued.<ref>Christopher Hibbert, ''The Great Mutiny: India 1857'' (1980)</ref>

In the aftermath, all power was transferred from the British East India Company to the [[British Crown]], which began to administer most of India as provinces. The Crown controlled the company's lands directly and had considerable indirect influence over the rest of India, which consisted of the Princely states ruled by local royal families. There were officially 565 princely states in 1947, but only 21 had actual state governments, and only three were large (Mysore, Hyderabad, and Kashmir). They were absorbed into the independent nation in 1947–48.<ref>{{Citation|first=Wilhelm von|last=Pochhammer|title=India's road to nationhood: a political history of the subcontinent|publisher=Allied Publishers|year=1981|isbn=978-81-7764-715-0}}</ref>