It all began with the Subsidiary Alliance that was imposed on Awadh in the year 1801. When a state came under the Alliance, it meant it would directly come under British supervision with the local armies disbanded and replaced by British troops. Accordingly the Nawabs became dependent on the British for administration of the state. Finally, in the year 1856, the state of Awadh was annexed on grounds of misadministration by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. He was dethroned and sent to exile. The local taluqdars who held a lot of land came under a load of trouble with the departure of the Nawab. The British held an assumption that the taluqdars did not have a legitimate claim over the land that they held and hence passed the Summary Settlement in the year 1856. This revenue policy brought down the percentage of land held by the taluqdars significantly. The peasants and land holders were equally affected and the entire social order that was built on land holder- peasant relationship came crashing down.

Many of these taluqdars were loyal to the Nawab of Awadh, and they joined hands with the wife of the exiled Nawab to fight the British. The sepoy mutiny was pretty intense in the Awadh region mainly because of the participation of a large number of peasants and taluqdars. A huge proportion of sepoys were in fact peasants from Awadh. Therefore, Awadh was commonly referred to as the ‘Nursery of the Bengal Army' and had a very important role to play in the revolt of 1857.