Central India Campaign (1858)

The Central India Campaign was one of the last series of actions in the Indian rebellion of 1857, (also known as the First Indian War of Independence). A small British and Indian Army (from the Bombay Presidency) overcame a disunited collection of states in a single rapid campaign, although determined rebels continued a guerrilla campaign until the spring of 1859.

The area known to the British at the time as Central India is now occupied by parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states. A large part of it was included in the region of Bundelkhand named after its former Bundela rulers. In 1857, it was administered as the Central India Agency and consisted of six large and almost 150 small states, nominally ruled by Maratha or Mogul princes, but actually controlled to a greater or lesser degree by Residents or Commissioners appointed by the British East India Company. Opposition to British control centred on the state of Jhansi, where the Rani Lakshmibai, widow of the last Maratha prince, opposed the British annexation of the state under the notorious doctrine of lapse. (Jhansi and Lalitpur districts are now in the state of Uttar Pradesh.)

The loyalty of the Indian soldiers (sepoys) of the East India Company's Bengal Army had been under increasing strain over the previous decade, and on 10 May 1857, the sepoys at Meerut, north of Delhi, broke into open rebellion. News of this outbreak spread rapidly, and most other units of the Bengal Army also rebelled.

Nine regiments of Bengal Native Infantry and three of cavalry were stationed in Central India. There was also a large Gwalior Contingent, raised largely from Oudh (or Awadh) and similar in organisation to the irregular units of the Bengal Army, but in the service of the Maharajah Jayajirao Scindia of Gwalior, who remained allied to the British. Almost all these units rose up against their officers during June and July. There were very few British units to oppose them, and Central India fell entirely out of British control.

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