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The Indian armed revolt of 1857, also called its first war of independence from the British, is a big part of the country’s long struggle for independence. It was the first major uprising in India to get rid of the rising British empire. After the war, India quickly came under formal British rule to prevent any more acts of rebellion against the crown. Today, the Lucknow Residency is one of the few memories of the first war of independence and the brutality of war. The ruins lie south of the Gomti River in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a series of broken walls and roofless buildings that spread across 33 acres. During the war, it was the site of one of the most important sieges. ALSO READ: Breathtakingly beautiful photographs of Uttar Pradesh! Been there yet?
Let’s back up a little. The British Residency or Residency Complex, simply called the Residency, was a series of buildings constructed as a home for the British by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan II of Awadh in 1780-1800 AD as a goodwill gesture. Over these 20 years, what started as a single main residency building blossomed into a sprawling settlement exclusively for the Europeans. The Nawab also arranged a special guard of honor for Colonel Baillie within the residency, an area that was called Baillie Guard Gate. CHECK OUT: 5 monuments in India that are disabled-friendly
The Nawab’s son Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah took on the title of Padshah-i-Awadh (King of Oudh), and a year before the rebellion began, the kingdom was annexed by the British, becoming of the trigger points of the war. The Indian people, angry and resentful of British authority, marched onto the Residency under Maulvi Ahmad Ullah Shah. The two sieges went on for nearly 150 days, and ended with the evacuation of the British from the Residency. The rebels took control of Lucknow, but poor leadership led to them losing their position. By early 1558, the British retook Lucknow. Today, you can still find signs of the war in the residency, which has remained largely unchanged in the centuries since the rebellion. You can still see the places where cannons struck the walls and the cemetery where 2,000 men, women and children rest.
BEST TIME TO VISIT LUCKNOW
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