A late 19th Century illustration of British soldiers storming the city of Delhi during the seige, It was a decisive conflict during the Indian rebellion of 1857 against the authority of the East India Company, in Northern India. The defeat of the rebels was a major military setback. Secondly, following the British recapture of Delhi the aged Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II refused to continue the struggle and although the rebels still held large areas, there was little co-ordination between them and the British were inevitably able to overcome them separately.