ABSTRACT
The rebellion itself revealed the naked power underlying British imperialist rule even as it precipitated an Indian self–awareness that in the long run undermined the capacity of the British to rule India. The peoples of India the Great Revolt did not shatter illusions, except perhaps the illusion of British invincibility, much as the Japanese sweep through the Pacific after Pearl Harbor revealed the hollowness of European power in the Far East. Crown rule, made these latter interests a more compelling factor in the governance of India. The most significant change follows the repression of the rebellion had less to do with the disappearance of the Company and its replacement with direct Crown rule than with the changing world context in which the British viewed India. The view of the Indian nationalists, because the economic relationship of India with Asia and Europe is not distorted by the presence in India of rulers whose purpose is defines by a foreign sovereign.
