Political Consequences Of First World War On British Indian Armys Class Composition And Myths About Class Composition

This short book deals with political consequences of soldiers from various ethnicities on the recruitment policy of the British in India.This scribe is of the view that political loyalty was the ultimate factor in British recruitment policy in India starting from 1858.This book deals with First World War in particular.We will start by examining each infantry unit of the British Army in 1914 and post first world war.Firstly there are nonsense myths that have been repeated and persist.Major General Fazal Muqeem Khan of Pakistan Army fallaciously claimed that there were no all Muslim units in British Indian Army.This was totally false. There were many all Muslim units between 1890 and 1914 and some till 1947.What Fazal Muqeem was trying to imply was that Muslims were regarded as most dangerous and untrustworthy by the British.Interestingly the opposite is true. For example Sikhs dominated fighting arms like infantry as late as end of first world war but were reduced after 1918 as they exhibited politically defiant anti British behavior in some units in first world war.On the other hand Punjabi Muslim were most loyal in first world war and thus Punjabi Muslims quota in infantry was increased and exceeded Sikh quota only after first world war ended.This was not due to any fighting qualities but pure political loyalty.Such was British mistrust of Sikhs that all Sikh units were mixed with Punjabi Muslim companies.Two Pakistani origin authors are in lead in holding Guinness book records of making false claims .Thus Major General Shaukat Riza on page-101 of Pakistan Army-1947-1949 published in 1989 makes an absolutely false and unsubstantiated claim that "In 1939 about 70 % of the rank and file of Indian Army was from Muslim tribes" . Shuja Nawaz on page-3 of his book "Crossed Swords" falsely claims that Punjabi Muslims dominated British Indian Army.Thus makes the factually false claim that "Punjabi Mussulmans dominated recruitment during British period".The correct position was from 1757 till 1885 the British Indian Army was Hindustani majority.From 1885 till 1921 Sikhs were in the highest numbers in infantry, the main fighting arm of the British Indian Army.Kaushik Roy in an article in Journal of Military History of USA makes a false and unsubstantiated assertion that Muslims were 45 % of the Bengal Army that rebelled in 1857.

"First published in Great Britain in 2015 as The Raj at War by The Bodley Head"--Title page verso.

During the first four decades of the twentieth century, the British Indian Army possessed an illusion of racial and religious inclusivity. The army recruited diverse soldiers, known as the "Martial Races," including British Christians, Hindustani Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Hindu Rajputs, Pathans from northwestern India, and "Gurkhas" from Nepal. As anti-colonial activism intensified, military officials incorporated some soldiers' religious traditions into the army to keep them disciplined and loyal. They facilitated acts such as the fast of Ramadan for Muslim soldiers and allowed religious swords among Sikhs to recruit men from communities where anti-colonial sentiment grew stronger. Consequently, Indian nationalists and anti-colonial activists charged the army with fomenting racial and religious divisions. In Faithful Fighters, Kate Imy explores how military culture created unintended dialogues between soldiers and civilians, including Hindu nationalists, Sikh revivalists, and pan-Islamic activists. By the 1920s and '30s, the army constructed military schools and academies to isolate soldiers from anti-colonial activism. While this carefully managed military segregation crumbled under the pressure of the Second World War, Imy argues that the army militarized racial and religious difference, creating lasting legacies for the violent partition and independence of India, and the endemic warfare and violence of the post-colonial world.

Between 1939 and 1945 India underwent extraordinary and irreversible change. Hundreds of thousands of Indians suddenly found themselves in uniform, fighting in the Middle East, North and East Africa, Europe and-something simply never imagined-against a Japanese army poised to invade eastern India. With the threat of the Axis powers looming, the entire country was pulled into the vortex of wartime mobilization. By the war's end, the Indian Army had become the largest volunteer force in the conflict, consisting of 2.5 million men, while many millions more had offered their industrial, agricultural, and military labor. It was clear that India would never be same-the only question was: would the war effort push the country toward or away from independence? In India's War, historian Srinath Raghavan paints a compelling picture of battles abroad and of life on the home front, arguing that the war is crucial to explaining how and why colonial rule ended in South Asia. World War II forever altered the country's social landscape, overturning many Indians' settled assumptions and opening up new opportunities for the nation's most disadvantaged people. When the dust of war settled, India had emerged as a major Asian power with her feet set firmly on the path toward Independence. From Gandhi's early urging in support of Britain's war efforts, to the crucial Burma Campaign, where Indian forces broke the siege of Imphal and stemmed the western advance of Imperial Japan, Raghavan brings this underexplored theater of WWII to vivid life. The first major account of India during World War II, India's War chronicles how the war forever transformed India, its economy, its politics, and its people, laying the groundwork for the emergence of modern South Asia and the rise of India as a major power.

This unique volume offers a definitive new history of European economies at war from 1914 to 1918. It studies how European economies mobilised for war, how existing economic institutions stood up under the strain, how economic development influenced outcomes and how wartime experience influenced post-war economic growth. Leading international experts provide the first systematic comparison of economies at war between 1914 and 1918 based on the best available data for Britain, Germany, France, Russia, the USA, Italy, Turkey, Austria-Hungary and the Netherlands. The editors' overview draws some stark lessons about the role of economic development, the importance of markets and the damage done by nationalism and protectionism. A companion volume to the acclaimed The Economics of World War II, this is a major contribution to our understanding of total war.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The book addresses the important global role of the Indian Army during the First World War. It is an academic reassessment of the army by both established and early career scholars of the Indian Army, as well as naval historians. It looks at the historiography of the army - taking into account the recent work on the army (particularly on the Western Front in 1914-1915). The edited volume covers the traditional areas of the Indian Army on the Western Front, in Palestine, Mesopotamia and the defence of the Suez Canal; however, there are also chapters on combined operations; Indian prisoners of war in Germany and Turkey; the expansion of the officer corps; and the Sikh experience, as well as the mobilisation of the equine army at the beginning of the war and the demobilisation of the army in the period from 1918 until 1923. Three additional chapters are related to the theme, such as the role of the Royal Indian Marine; the Territorial Army in India; and Churchill’s portrayal of the Indian Army during the Gallipoli campaign in his account The World Crisis.

As the 100th anniversary of World War I approaches, historian Margaret MacMillan compares current global tensions—rising nationalism, globalization’s economic pressures, sectarian strife, and the United States’ fading role as the world’s pre-eminent superpower—to the period preceding the Great War. In illuminating the years before 1914, MacMillan shows the many parallels between then and now, telling an urgent story for our time. THE BROOKINGS ESSAY: In the spirit of its commitment to high-quality, independent research, the Brookings Institution has commissioned works on major topics of public policy by distinguished authors, including Brookings scholars. The Brookings Essay is a multi-platform product aimed to engage readers in open dialogue and debate. The views expressed, however, are solely those of the author. Available in ebook only.

Reproduction of the original: The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 by Frederick Engels

Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.