The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is often known as the first war of independence of India. The year is marked in the pages of the great Indian freedom struggle mainly because of the resistance shown by the Indian soldiers against the British. This was the first major organised resistance that the country managed to show against the British Empire. The British Empire ruled over India for 200 years. There were several freedom struggles which came to light in this period. However, the first major one has to be the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The main reason for this resistance was the introduction of a new type of grenade by the British Empire. The grenade had to torn off by the teeth before being thrown. A major component of the grenade was made up of animal fat. Several types of animal fat were being used for this purpose. Cow fat and pig fat were also used. This caused a major section of the Indian soldiers to protest. Leaders like Mangal Pandey, opposed the usage of these grenades. The Hindus considered cow as sacred and the Muslims had strict forbiddence of pork in the holy book of Koran. Thus, the usage of the new type of grenade clashed with the religious sentiments of the Indian soldiers. The soldiers thus refused to use such grenades. The major conflict started with this issue. The British government did not want to take the religious sentiment of the Indians into consideration and tried to force the soldiers to use these grenades. This resulted in the soldiers starting to rebel against the British Empire. Various soldiers from different cantonments formed alliance and organized this protest movement. They raised arms against the government and went for a full fledged active resistance. The British government firstly did not want to take the issue seriously, but in no time, soldiers from almost all cantonments started protesting. This brought about a massive resistance in all parts of India and this was the first time a movement so huge was established against the mighty British Empire. Several other freedom fighters joined the cause as well and this resulted in further enhancement of the movement. There were some great personalities involved in the movement like Tatya tope and Annie Besant. The struggle went on for quite some time and the British found it really hard to control the situation. The major section of the rebellious Indian soldiers died fighting with the British Empire, but they managed to start a process which the British failed to kill. The movement caused a major awareness to common Indians who realised the need of the freedom struggle. In later years, several great leaders continued the freedom movement and finally did manage to throw the British out of the great land of India. This is the main reason for the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 to be labelled as the first war of independence. The role that the soldiers played on that year is still not forgotten by the Indians in any anyway. They had actually started the process of the independence movement of India.
it is very true that the unsung heroes of the 1857 sepoy mutiny, also known as the first revolution towards the independence, are the real warriors who showed the courage to initiate a sparkle towards our independence. first step is the most difficult one and our martyrs of 1857 revolution deserve the real honor and obesiance for their struggle
