The forgotten war

Rahul Singh :
It is the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, or of the “Great War” as it came to be called. This was the first truly global war, in which soldiers from different countries fought in arenas all over the world. Some 16 million military men and civilians died in that four years-long war. It was entirely a ground and sea war. Fighter planes only came into the picture right at the end of the war.On a personal note, my grand-uncle, Hardit Singh Malik, was one of the first fighter plane pilots of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) who saw action in the war.
The conflagration began with the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Bosnian Serb. That led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia which, in turn, set in motion a chain reaction. Soon, virtually all of Europe was at war.
When Germany invaded neighbouring Belgium on August 4, 1914, a reluctant United Kingdom was also drawn into the war, since it had a treaty with Belgium. With the UK, came its dominions and colonies. So, when I refer to “India” in this column, it includes not just what is now India, but Pakistan and Bangladesh as well (Nepal comes in a different category, as it was an independent Kingdom, yet provided its formidable Gurkha soldiers to the British army).
The Great War is being commemorated all over Europe with great solemnity and pomp, at which prime ministers, presidents and the monarchs that still exist have participated. But in New Delhi, Islamabad, Dhaka, and Kathmandu there has been complete official silence (though the media has been active). It is almost as if these countries played no role in the First World War, even though in New Delhi the imposing “India Gate” has engraved the names of all those who died in it.
I find this silence very strange. The reality is that a massive 1,440,437 soldiers and labourers were recruited from the Indian sub-continent – a huge and, as it turned out, a decisive, contribution to the war effort. These weren’t dragooned conscripts but volunteers who came on their own free. Moreover, the support of India to the war effort was unstinted.
These soldiers and labourers served overseas in theatres of war as far apart as France, Belgium, Aden, Arabia, East Africa, Turkey, Egypt, Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Palestine, Iran, Salonika, Russia and China.
According to the authoritative Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 1,16,000 Indians died in that war and 13,000 won awards for gallantry, many posthumously. These included 12 Victoria Crosses, the highest award given by the British army for valour in battle.
Take the example of Rifleman Gane Gurung, from a Gurkha regiment at Neuve Chappelle in France, where a crucial battle took place.
The advance of the British troops was held up by a house in the middle of a village. The house had a strong contingent of German infantry. Without orders, Gurung ran across the open courtyard of the village, right into the front door of the house, to the shock and amazement of his fellow soldiers.
It was an act of stupidity, or foolhardy bravery, depending on which way you looked at it. Everybody expected him to be shot dead on entering the house. Instead, shooting and shouting was heard. Then, after a period of complete silence, out from the same front door emerged seven large Germans, their hands up in surrender, followed by the diminutive 5′ 2″ Gurung, with his rifle and bayonet!
Seven expeditionary forces were sent by the Indian army to serve abroad. The 138,000 men of Expeditionary Force A, comprising divisions from Lahore and Meerut, arrived just in time to strengthen and turn the tide at the crucial First Battle of Ypres in Belgium. As Baroness Warsi, a former British Cabinet Minister aptly put it: “Our boys weren’t just Tommies – they were Tariqs and Tajinders, too.”
Profound changes happened with the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian Empire broke apart and the Ottoman Empire collapsed. A different Turkey emerged under the modernising leadership of Kemal Mustafa Ataturk (who had played a heroic role in the war, even though his country was defeated). Boundaries were redrawn and new nations sprang up in what had once been part of the Ottoman Empire. British victories in Palestine, Mesopotamia and Iran, achieved with the considerable aid of Indian troops, ensured British control of the vital oil fields.
But perhaps of greater significance was the effect the Great War had on Indians who had fought in Europe and the Middle East.
They had mingled with and fought alongside Allied soldiers who told them that they were fighting to preserve liberty and political freedom. However, back home in India, there was little of the liberty or political freedom that Britons and Frenchmen, for instance, enjoyed in their own countries. Hence, new ideas of democracy and greater autonomy flowed into India, energising the freedom movement that eventually led to independence.

(Rahul Singh is the former Editor of Reader’s Digest, Indian Express and Khaleej Times.)