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Overall, the Indian ("Sepoy") Rebellion of 1857, which started as an army mutiny but snowballed as grievances piled up onto the declarations of the rebels, was hampered politically by internal discord within the rebel camps, the incompetence of the rebel Indians' political leaders (Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, the elected leader of the rebellion, who was too old and indecisive for the whole affair), failure to keep the Sikhs neutral towards it, and determined resistance by the British imperial army (despite fighting a war in China at the same time and having recently almost exhausted itself against the Russians in Crimea). So i ask, what would be needed for the Indian Rebellion of 1857 to succeed in expelling the British from at least most of India? I'd picture more competent rebels managing to kick the British out of Central India and back to Bengal and Dravidia, with the possibility of a later Bengali rebellion. What are your suggestions?
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