Discuss the nature of the Uprising of 1857.

The Great Uprising of 1857 has been viewed in various ways by historians.

1. British historians have painted it as 'a mutiny' confined to the army which did not command the support of the people at large.
2. Some historians described it as a 'religious war against the Christians' or 'a racial struggle for supremacy between the Black and the White.'
3. Still others described it as 'a struggle between Oriental and Occidental civilisation and culture'.
4. A few historians described it as the result of 'Hindu-Muslim conspiracy to overthrow the British rule'.
5. Some Indian nationalists have called it a well-planned national struggle and as 'the First War of Indian Independence.'