The Sepoy Mutiny: Spark or Setback?

The year 1857 in India began with some wild rumors. The British had issued a new gun to their Indian soldiers, an Enfield musket. But these guns required special cartridges, which soldiers had to bite to activate. That wouldn’t have been a problem, except people were convinced that animal fat greased the cartridges, namely beef tallow and pork lard. In one fell swoop, the British had offended Hindus and Muslims alike and kick-started a rebellion of the likes they hadn’t seen before. 

But upon closer examination, the Sepoy Mutiny or the Indian Rebellion of 1857’s contributions to the freedom struggle were highly unusual: it led to the end of the Mughal Empire, the onset of formal British rule, and Indians taking up arms against one another. Was what many call India’s First War of Independence against the British really so?