It was not easy for the British to put down the Revolt quickly. They took legal, military and diplomatic measures to suppress the Revolt. The British made many new laws to suppress the Revolt. By the laws made in May and June 1857, the entire North India was brought under military law. The military commanders were given the power to try and punish the rebels. Even ordinary British citizens were given this right. In short, normal laws and judicial procedures were suspended. All the rebels were sentenced to death. With the aid of the new laws the British tried to suppress the Revolt.
The British made use of their military might to suppress the Revolt. More soldiers were brought from England. They tried to recapture the lost regions. ‘ Their main aim was Delhi. They knew the symbolic significance of Delhi. So they wanted to get it back at any cost. They planned a two pronged attack. Two sets of armies were used. One set began to move from Calcutta to Delhi and the other from Punjab. They started their efforts in June, but they could capture Delhi only at the end of September 1857. Both the rebels and the army fought bitterly. All the rebels from North India came to Delhi to prevent the British from taking over Delhi. Finally Delhi fell into the hands of the British.
In the Ganges Plain also the progress of the British was slow. British soldiers took the villages one by one. The villagers fought heroically against the British. The British soon realized that they were facing not just a rebellion but a huge revolt. Forsyth who was a British official said that \(\frac{4}{3}\) of the Awadh male adults took part in the fight. The British could recapture the place only after a long fight, in March 1859. The leaders of the revolt were forced to surrender. All the rebel centres – Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Bareilly, Banaras, Allahabad, and Gwalior-were recaptured by the British.
The landowners and the farmers of most of the modem Uttar Pradesh combined their efforts in fighting the British. This made the British worried. So they played diplomacy here. They promised the landlords that they would return the land taken from them. They ousted the landowners who still rebelled and gave presents to those who withdrew from the revolt. Many landowners died heroically in their fight against the British. Many escaped into Nepal but died their either from hunger or disease. By the end of 1859, the revolt was completely put down. Thus the authority of the British over India was reestablished.
