The Indian Empire at War
By Dr Akbar Ahmed
American University
Washington, DC

There can be fewer more dramatic contrasts between how South Asians were received in Europe a century ago and their reception today. When troops arrived in 1914 from the Indian subcontinent to assist the Allies they were greeted rapturously as vividly described in The Indian Empire at War by George Morton-Jack in his recently published book:
“‘Vive Angleterre!’, ‘Vivent les Hindous!’, ‘Vivent les Allies!’ the delirious French crowds shouted on the streets of Marseilles in the early afternoon sunshine, men and women waving their hats and cheering at the roadside, standing on café tables and chairs, all welcoming the Indian troops marching in from the port…It was 26 September 1914, Indian Expeditionary Force A to France had arrived that morning, and the people of the city that day adored them as heroic liberators from German oppression.” (p. 99-100.)
The soldiers were received with the fervor associated today with fans welcoming a rock band:
“The first Indian regiment to land was the 129th Baluchis, with their majority of independent Pukhtun and young British officer Harold Lewis. The 129th’s regimental band returned the rapturous welcome on their Indian drums and pipes by striking up the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, sending the crowds even wilder. Many people were so excited they broke in among the marching Pukhtun, Punjabi Muslims and Sikhs, women running to kiss them, pin roses to their tunics and hand them French flags, while children jumped up to hang around their necks and swing between them.” (ibid.)
One has only to open a newspaper to see the difference in how immigrants are being treated in Europe today; the levels of xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia are dangerously high. Morton-Jack’s book however is not about immigration today. He sets out to tell us the fascinating, untold story of the 1.5 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs of the imperial Indian Army who fought with the British and their allies in World War I.
Histories of the soldiers of the subcontinent during World War 1 are scant. Morton-Jack’s own earlier The Indian Army on the Western Front is a noble exception(his interest in the subject was sparked by the fact that his grandfather was with the original British Expeditionary Force from England to France in 1914). From his current book we learn several things of interest.
First, the toll was horrendous: some “34,000 Indian soldiers were killed in the First World War War,” while 62,000 were wounded (p.517). Modern coverage of the Indian Army has often described the Indian contingents as “forgotten heroes” in the sense that the Indian soldiers shared the same heroic attributes of “Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and other usual suspects… with the VCs to prove it – and well-deserved recognition was overdue.” (p. 14). On the other hand some Indian nationalists dismissed the Indian servicemen as dishonorable mercenaries. Mahatma Gandhi was scathing of Britain and her allies, “‘The Allies have proved themselves to be just as deceitful, cruel, greedy and selfish as Germany,’ he said, while ‘the British Empire, today, represents Satanism…repression and terrorism.’” (p. 16)
Secondly, we learn that “The Indian Army of 1914-18 was uniquely multicultural, combining such a variety of humankind into a single brotherhood-in-arms that it was really a modern wonder of the world. It’s officers and men were a breathtaking array worshipping more gods and speaking more languages than any other army on the planet. They were a mix of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and pagans, and they spoke not just Hindustani, the army’s official vernacular blending Hindi and Urdu, but also their separate home languages.” (p. 4). Several thousand Muslims from the tribal areas, including Waziristan and Tirah, of what is now Pakistan also served with the Indian Army in Europe.
Third, while Muslims preferred to fight Germans instead of Turks who were fellow Muslims, a British officer in France and the Middle East wrote that “the Muhammad an so war and sepoy neither showed nor expressed reluctance to shooting a Turk or running him through with a lance. Their conversation led one rather to believe they enjoyed doing these things. The fact is, as borne out by history, Muslim no more minds fighting Muslim than Christian minds fighting Christian… Indeed, the British often commented that the Indian Muslim troops had been unruffled by the Sultan of Turkey’s call to jihad”(p.16).
Fourth, we also learn of the extensive span of the Pukhtun soldiers: they were with British troops in Europe and rode camels with TE Lawrence in Arabia; there are even reports of Orakzai marines; and they also served with the opposite side, many Afridis joining the Germans.
Fifth, large parts of the Indian Army were Muslims from the Punjab and the old North-West Frontier Province. In fact, their districts were designated “martial districts”; even today Pakistan relies heavily on them for its soldiers.
I have some idea of the soldiers from these districts having been attached to the 18th Punjab Regimentas part of the Civil Service of Pakistan training half a century ago. The infantry regiment descended from The First Punjab Regiment which was raised in the 18th century and is believed to be one of the oldest units of the British Indian Army. I had the privilege of marching with the 18th Punjab Regiment on its annual long march. These soldiers were tough as nails but also imbued with a stoic fortitude, good humor, sense of fairness and a deep faith. The 18th Punjab Regiment served in Malaya with the British Army during WW II.
Finally, we learn that there are still people of honor like Morton-Jack prepared to acknowledge the honor due to those from a distant land. I was particularly curious as to why he was so interested in the old Frontier of Pakistan. Having read history at Oxford University he believes he is,“part of a younger generation of historians that approaches the First World War afresh by looking beyond Europe to African and Asian experiences. Compared to Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and other Western or white soldiers who are well known, I realized that tribesmen from what is now Pakistan served in exactly the same places alongside the Europeans, but had been excluded from the narrative. The gap represented a fascinating mystery to be solved – who were they, what did they feel, how did they see the world war? Why should they not take their place on the global stage, as tribesmen, as Muslims? And then given that their own tribal world view was so different from Owen, Brooke and the rest, it became all the more important to me to recover what I could of their experience – tribes can be marginalized and de-humanized in today’s world of dominant political centers and drones, but their voice must not be lost, whether historically or today.”
Morton-Jack writes with the compassionate heart of a poet and the cold eye of a historian seeing the vast canvas of the ages. I cannot but help feel that though there is money in his legal profession his heart is in researching and writing history: he should be in an Oxbridge library pouring over archives and when tired reading the verses of Rupert Brooke to his young bride over tea at Grantchester.
We owe him gratitude for bringing light to a deserving but neglected part of world history; those of us with an interest in South Asia are forever indebted to him.
(The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, Washington, DC, and author of Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity)