The Fortress of Dowlatabad in the Deccan Plateau, India, c1860.

The Fortress of Dowlatabad in the Deccan Plateau, India, c1860. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began in the town of Meerut and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions across many regions of Company-ruled north-central India. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region and it was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The rebellion is also often known as the Indian Mutiny, the Sepoy Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857 and occasionally, in India, as the First War of Independence. From The History of the Indian Mutiny, volume VII, by Charles Ball, published by The London Printing & Publishing Company (c1860). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)