The rebels turned towards the erstwhile leaders because they needed leadership and organization to fight the British. In some cases, the rebels turned to those who had been leaders before the British conquest. For example, the sepoys of Meerut rushed to Delhi and appealed to the old Mughal emperor to accept the leadership of the revolt. In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice but to join the revolt as their leader. Similarly, in Jhansi, the rani was forced by the popular pressure around her to assume the leadership of the uprising. In Awadh, where the displacement of the popular Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and the annexation of the state were still very fresh in the memory of the people, the populace in Lucknow celebrated the fall of British rule by hailing Birjis Qadr, the young son of the Nawab, as their leader.
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