British in an Unenviable Situation

This day Sir Colin Campbell took charge as the Commander-in-Chief in India. For the British, the situation at this point if time could not have been worse.Though the nationalist forces had not always been successful in inflicting defeat upon the British forces, it cannot be denied, that they had at least managed to cause a great deal of anxiety and insecurity to the heart of British government. It is worth taking a look at the British, around this time:

• ” The whole of Avadh was in revolt and the only Englishmen there were those holed up in the Residency,
• ” Rohilkhand was up in arms against the British under the leadership of Khan Bahadur Khan,
• the Doab-the tract between the Ganga and Yamuna — was controlled by the “rebels”,
• Havelock had been forced back to Kanpur aborting his intended relief of Lucknow,
• ” Kanpur itself was under threat from the Gwalior contingent.
• Princes and Chiefs of Central India, Rajasthan and Bundelkhand
• were mostly biding their time to join the winning side,
• The gun manufacturing factory at Fatehgarh had been lost,
  ” Agra, the seat of the government of North Western Province was effectively blockaded,
• The British troops at Delhi were struggling to hold their position,
• The telegraphic communication of Calcutta, the seat of the supreme government, with North India remained cut off - the telegrams were being routed via Bombay.