1857 uprising: When peasants of warring communities united after 900yrs against Raj

Meerut: The 1857 uprising was triggered in Meerut on the evening of May 10, 1857. It was a time when the local population assisted by Indian soldiers of East India Company regiments revolted against British for their excesses. In all, 50 Europeans were killed in the violence that day.
While the main action moved from Meerut to Delhi on the same night, battles for independence continued in the hinterland for months.One of the greatest battles in the history of the 1857 uprising was fought in the region of Baraut and Baghpat to the west of Meerut that sowed the seed of a freedom movement, in which the fissures in the caste-ridden society was plugged by a common aim – to drive out the colonists.
These battles were the direct confrontation between an army of farmers, and a military contingent of the army of the East India Company which had all the three arms of military -- cavalry, infantry and artillery.
“The type of solidarity and common purpose that Indians displayed at the time of the uprising had not been seen in nearly nine hundred years and has never been seen since then. It had something to do with the fire that was lit in the hearts of common Indians during the days that the battles of the uprising took place which allowed them to overcome their inherent differences to stand and fight as one,” says Amit Pathak, senior fellow at the Center for Military History and Conflict Studies, United Service Institution of India, and author of ‘1857 – A Living History’.
Social groups that participated in battle were peasants belonging to Jat, Gurjar, Rajput, Tyagi, Muslim, Baluchi communities, among others. A coalition army was created by these various groups during those days of the uprising, something which was unique to those times.
According to Dr KK Sharma, associate professor at department of history, Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU): “The farmer army’s engagement with British forces continued post-May 10, 1857, and the whole of the land between rivers Yamuna and Hindon remained free till nearly the end of September of that year; the resistance collapsing in other parts of western UP, after the fall of Delhi. However, the resistance in the hinterland reflects a lot on the inherent character of these peasant fighters and the social organisation they belong to.”
For many European analysts, as well as for us Indians today, it is nearly impossible to imagine a combination involving these myriad social groups due to the inherent political rivalry among them.