Siege of Delhi

Siege of Delhi
Part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Battle damage to the Kashmiri Gate in Delhi, 1857.
Date 8 June – 21 September 1857 Location Delhi, Mughal Empire Result British-EIC victory
Belligerents
British Empire British East India Company	Mughal Empire Sepoy mutineers
Commanders and leaders
George Anson Sir Henry William Barnard Archdale Wilson John Nicholson † William Hodson James Hope Grant	Bahadur Shah II  Mirza Mughal  Mirza Khizr Sultan  Bakht Khan
Strength
3,000 regular 6000 Sikhs, Punjabis, and Gurkhas[1][2] 2,200 Kashmiri irregulars[3] 42 field guns 60 siege guns	12,000 sepoys, approx. 30,000 irregulars or mujahideen,[4] approx. 100 guns
Casualties and losses
1,254 killed 4,493 wounded	approx. 5,000 killed and wounded

The Siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass uprising by the sepoys of the Bengal Army, which the company had itself raised in its Bengal Presidency (which actually covered a vast area from Assam to Peshawar). Seeking a symbol around which to rally, the first sepoys to rebel sought to reinstate the power of the Mughal Empire, which had ruled much of the Indian subcontinent in the previous centuries. Lacking overall direction, many who subsequently rebelled also flocked to Delhi.

This made the siege decisive for two reasons. Firstly, large numbers of rebels were committed to the defence of a single fixed point, perhaps to the detriment of their prospects elsewhere, and their defeat at Delhi was thus a very major military setback. Secondly, the British recapture of Delhi and the refusal of the aged Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II to continue the struggle deprived the rebellion of much of its national character. Although the rebels still held large areas, there was little co-ordination between them, and the British were able to overcome them separately.