Author: Kaushik Roy Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199093679 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 441
Book Description
Accustomed to conducting low-intensity warfare before 1914, the Indian Army learnt to engage in high-intensity conventional warfare during the course of World War I, thereby exhibiting a steep learning curve. Being the bulwark of the British Empire in South Asia, the ‘brown warriors’ of the Raj functioned as an imperial fire brigade during the war. Studying the Indian Army as an institution during the war, Kaushik Roy delineates its social, cultural, and organizational aspects to understand its role in the scheme of British imperial projects. Focusing not just on ‘history from above’ but also ‘history from below’, Roy analyses the experiences of common soldiers and not just those of the high command. Moreover, since society, along with the army, was mobilized to provide military and non-military support, this volume sheds light on the repercussions of this mass mobilization on the structure of British rule in South Asia. Using rare archival materials, published autobiographies, and diaries, Roy’s work offers a holistic analysis of the military performance of the Indian Army in major theatres during the war.
Author: Ian Cardozo Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000458679 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
This volume recounts India’s contribution to World War I. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
Author: Captain Amarinder Singh Publisher: Roli Books Private Limited ISBN: 9351940543 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 360
Book Description
When the First World War raged from 1914 to 1918, hundreds of thousands troops fought valiantly and millions of lives were lost. Much has been written about the allies (Britain, France and other European powers, Russia, the United States, Canada) battles with the opposing central powers (Germany, Austria - Hungary, Italy, Turkey) but few know that 1.38 million men from India were also sent to various theatres of war. As many as seven Indian expeditionary forces fought battles far from home. Whether it was the damp, flat fields of Flanders or the burning sands of Mesopotamia, the rocky, cold and windy hills of Gallipoli or unhealthy uplands and stifling jungles of East Africa, Indian soldiers left indelible imprints of their heroism, winning world-wide acclaim. For the first time, this book fills in the abysmal gap in the records of the war. Drawn from archives, regimental histories and other sources, this book tells the story of the tremendous contribution of the Indian corps to the victory of the allied forces.
Author: George Morton-Jack Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1107027462 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 349
Book Description
This book recasts the role of the Indian Army on the Western Front, questioning why its performance was traditionally deemed a failure.
Author: George Morton-Jack Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 0465094074 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 642
Book Description
Drawing on untapped new sources, the first global history of the Indian Expeditionary Forces in World War I While their story is almost always overlooked, the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who served the British Empire in World War I played a crucial role in the eventual Allied victory. Despite their sacrifices, Indian troops received mixed reactions from their allies and their enemies alike-some were treated as liberating heroes, some as mercenaries and conquerors themselves, and all as racial inferiors and a threat to white supremacy. Yet even as they fought as imperial troops under the British flag, their broadened horizons fired in them new hopes of racial equality and freedom on the path to Indian independence. Drawing on freshly uncovered interviews with members of the Indian Army in Iraq and elsewhere, historian George Morton-Jack paints a deeply human story of courage, colonization, and racism, and finally gives these men their rightful place in history.
Author: D. Omissi Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1349272833 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 409
Book Description
Indian soldiers served in France from 1914 to 1918. This book is a selection of their letters. By turns poignant, funny, and almost unbearably moving, these documents vividly evoke the world of the Western Front - as seen through 'subaltern' Indian eyes. The letters also bear eloquent witness to the sepoys' often unsettling encounter with Europe, and with European culture. This book helps to map the imaginative landscape of South Asia's warrior-peasant communities.
Author: George Morton-Jack Publisher: Abacus ISBN: 9780349141848 Category : World War, 1914-1918 Languages : en Pages : 592
Book Description
Almost two million volunteers served the Indian army in the Great War, always under British regimental officers, high commanders and staff. 150,000 of them were long-serving pre-war professional soldiers; most of the remainder were wartime recruits, drawn from across South Asia. Half of the Indian soldiers were sent overseas, and those who returned did so with a very different outlook on life - for some it lit the spark for Jihad and for even more it led to a desire for Independence. In most histories of the war, the Tommies, pals and poets have dominated the tales - but what of the war as experienced by their Indian counterparts? George Morton-Jack's remarkable, fresh take on the First World War sets this right, telling the Indian army's story of 1914-18 through the voices of the service's officers and ranks, and of the princes, priests, prostitutes and others who encountered them across the continents. It reveals their journeys to the greatest battlefields mankind had ever seen, their experiences as prisoners of war in Germany, Romania and elsewhere, and their missions as secret agents that took them down rivers, across deserts and through mountain ranges from Transylvania to Afghanistan and beyond. The Indian Army at War is a fascinating, necessary book that illuminates a central part of the Great War that has too often been overlooked.
Author: Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004211454 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 578
Book Description
This collection of seventeen essays based on archival data breaks new ground as regards the contribution of the Indian Army in British war effort during the two World Wars around various parts of the globe.
Author: Amarinder Singh Publisher: Roli Books ISBN: 9788174369888 Category : World War, 1914-1918 Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The First World War is tremendously significant to India's history. Largely considered a European war, it actually involved the participation of more than a hundred countries, allowing for it to be also known as, The Great War. In 1914, it was thought by Indian political leaders, that offering support to the British would further the cause of India's independence. Accordingly, Indian soldiers were sent to fight alongside the British in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), Egypt, Palestine, France, Aden, Belgium, East Africa, Gallipoli and Salonika. About twenty-five princely states contributed over 26,000 combatants. The Dalai Lama offered his support through Tibetan troops, and Gurkhas were deployed from Nepal as well. They accompanied Britain's soldiers in the artillery, cavalry, infantry, engineers, signals service, sappers, and miners, arms of the army. Indian services to Britain extended to the Royal Navy as well as the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. Indian troops who fought in Europe, had stepped outside their homeland, across the kala pani, for the first time. The sophistication of the artillery used abroad, required remarkable adaptation on the part of the soldiers. The drastically different landscape and colder weather was a shock as well. Socially too, they felt displaced among the Europeans, with their vastly different cultures and mannerisms. This was a very new scenario for Indian men; to fight side-by-side the people who were their colonizers back home. Though the Indian combatants received care matching their British counterparts, a close eye was kept on their outings, making them feel trapped. The entire experience of fighting overseas was culturally alienating for many Indians, as mentioned in their letters home, which were also often subject to military censorship. Though mentally ill equipped to deal with an emotional and physical relocation as vast as this, Indian soldiers fought valiantly. Inder Singh, in a letter back home from the Somme in September 1916, wrote, 'It is quite impossible that I should return alive. [But] don't be grieved at my death, because I shall die arms in hand, wearing the warrior's clothes. This is the most happy death that anyone can die'. By the end of the war, about 60,000 troops from India had fought for Britain. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded and over 13,000 gallantry medals were earned. Despite India backing it s efforts during the Great War, Britain s denial to grant India independence, created conflict and unrest among Indians, leading to the beginning of the uprising for independence. The author, Captain Amarinder Singh is himself a product of the Indian army. He served as ADC to the GOC-in-C, Western Command, during the 1965 war with Pakistan. A published military historian, he painstakingly retraces the footsteps of the Indian battalions during the First World War, using official battle details, war diaries, and maps.
Author: Kaushik Roy
Author: Ian Cardozo
Author: Captain Amarinder Singh
Author: George Morton-Jack
Author: George Morton-Jack
Author: D. Omissi
Author: George Morton-Jack
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Author: Santanu Das
Author: Amarinder Singh