The deeds of Indian warriors in World War I are a testimony to their spirit despite colonial discrimination
World War I, dubbed “the war to end all wars”, ended with an armistice signed on November 11, 1918. The main belligerents were Britain, France, Russia (until the revolution of 1917), Italy (from 1915) and the United States (after 1917) on one side and Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey on the other. A number of other countries like India also became a part of its orbit.
No other conflict until then had involved as many countries. Nor did any till then cause such a staggering number of casualties-about 40 million including about 20 million dead (both sides included) and the rest wounded. Among the dead were 9.7 million military personnel and the rest civilians. This was the first war where technology-based military hardware was deployed on a large scale, and aircraft and tanks, the latter brought in by the United States forces, were used for the first time. The questions are: What did this massive carnage achieve? What was India’s role in it?
It did not “end all wars.” The League of Nations, emerging in 1919 from the Paris Peace Conference, which lead to the Treaty of Versailles officially ending it, doubtless sought to promote disarmament, prevent wars through collective security, settle disputes between countries through negotiation and diplomacy, and global welfare. Unfortunately, it never quite took off. Its credibility and effectiveness were both undermined by the United States’ decision to stay away-and this despite the fact that its president, Woodrow Wilson, played an important role in setting it up and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to secure peace. The League of Nation’s fundamental weakness, however, was that it was slow to act, and sometimes did not act at all. This was because a decision required a unanimous resolution passed by the council members, initially numbering nine and subsequently 15. Besides conflicting interests, the unwillingness of many members to have their actions externally-determined, accounted for this. As a result, wars, between and within nations, followed. Notable in the first category were the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936 and Japanese invasion of China in 1937. Wars within included the one between communists and the Kuomintang forces in China in the 1930s and the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939.
The League’s biggest failure was its inability to prevent World War II, which involved most countries of the world and left about 55 million civilians and 21 to 25 million — including five million prisoners of war — military personnel dead. World War II witnessed, for the first time, the use of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The conflagration, which saw the emergence of the Soviet Union as a super power, had momentous consequences. If the confrontation between the blocks led by the US and the Soviet Union respectively, led to the Cold War which split the world, a third shooting World War was prevented by deterrence provided by the accumulation of missile-mounted nuclear weapons, capable of wiping out the entire world, on both sides. Post World-War II wars like those occurring in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and between India and Pakistan, India and China, Israel and Arab countries remained regional. As to the second question mentioned at the beginning, India was under British Rule during World War I, which Indian troops fought as a part of British imperial forces. The country made a signal contribution. A total of over 14 lakh men were recruited for the war, of whom over 13 lakh were sent for service in the Middle East and Europe. One of them was Kaji Nazrul Islam, the fiery Bengali revolutionary poet, who served in Mesopotamia.
Indian troops fought with tremendous gallantry in lands they had never known and under climatic conditions to which they were strangers. As many as 74,187 were killed and 70,000 wounded. Twelve Indians received the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious medal awarded by the British Army to officers and men who had performed “some signal act of valour or devotion to duty” in “the presence of the enemy.” The recipients were Mir Dard, Fazal Din, Khudadad Khan, Sahamad Khan, Lala, Darwan Singh, Gabbar Singh Negi, Karanbahadur Rana, Badlu Singh, Chhattan Singh, Gobind Singh and Kulbir Thapa. Indians also fought in the air. Four of them joined the Royal Flying Corps, which later became the Royal Air Force. Lieutenants all, they were Indra Lal Roy, Hardit Singh Malik, S.C. Welingkar and ESC Sen. Roy and Welingkar were killed, the former in aerial combat, and the latter in a German hospital after crashing during a dogfight and taken prisoner. Roy was only 19 years old when he died on July 22, 1919, after having performed the incredible feat of shooting down 10 German planes in 14 days. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross given for “exceptional gallantry during active operations against the enemy in the air.” Britain, however, has never adequately acknowledged India’s contribution, which did not receive much attention until some years ago. Bias against Indians has been alleged. While Malik claimed six victories against the Germans, he was credited with only two. But then discrimination is integral to colonial rule.
(The writer is Consultant Editor, The Pioneer, and an author)
