| The Indian Army served with credit and honour in nearly every theatre of
the First World War. By 1918, over 1.4 million Indian soldiers had flocked
to the colours. No account of the war can justly ignore this colossal effort
and yet, this significant contribution became a mere footnote in the history
of the war. The lack of a political identity in 1914-18 served to rob the
Indian soldier of his place in history and a commemoration of his service.
The First World War centenary commemorations brought about a renewed
focus on India and the role it played in it. George Morton-Jack in his
excellent and definitive book on the subject sheds light on the experiences
of Indian soldiers who served on nearly all fronts across the globe.
Already celebrated for his work on the role of Indians in France and
Flanders in his first book The Indian Army on the Western Front (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), Morton-Jack delivers yet again
by presenting a refreshingly new perspective of the subaltern voice. This
voice is drawn primarily from a collection of interviews of Indian veterans
of the Great War, conducted by a team of Indo-American researchers in the
1970s and early 1980s. These interviews provide tantalizing insights into
the experiences of Indian soldiers and allow us to understand how they perceived the momentous events that were unfolding around them. Morton-
Jack calls this ‘a detective history based on a wide range of fragmentary
evidence’. This is reflected in the book, which is rigorously researched with
sources collected from across Britain, Germany and India.
The author recounts in vivid detail the varied experiences of Indian soldiers
- from the trenches of Europe to the jungles of East Africa; from the
pyramids of Egypt and along the Suez Canal to the barren deserts of the
Middle East - covering all of their battlefield exploits. The book is divided
into seven parts covering the 1914-18 period chronologically with the last
part devoted to Indian veterans, and touching upon the Third Anglo-Afghan
War of 1919. Interspersed throughout the narrative are several themes that
provide a broader context within which this complex story is situated. For
instance, racial hierarchies within the Indian Army are tactfully addressed,
along with a careful consideration of the nuances of battlefield weaknesses
attributed to Indians.
Until the start of the First World War, Indian soldiers had not been pitted
against a European adversary. This was in line with the racial colonial
policies of the time. The myth of racial superiority was consistently
perpetuated through concepts such as ‘prestige’ and the ‘martial races’ and
Morton-Jack discusses this at length. Similarly, he explores how assertions
of unsoldierly behaviour ascribed to Indians, such as self-inflicted wounds
and desertions were, in fact, not unique to them. According to Morton-Jack,
the Indians held their own and fared much better than others. This was
largely due to the fact that the bulk of them were pre-war regulars who
were ‘much tougher, more professional and pitiless than might be
imagined’.
Among the social and cultural aspects covered in the book, Morton-Jack
has focussed more on portraying Indian soldiers as individuals coming
from a cross-section of diverse communities and regions, rather than
viewing them as generic ‘Indians’. One particular community that features
prominently in the book is that of the Pathans, or more correctly, Pakhtuns.
While some Pakhtun soldiers were recruited from within the territory of
British India, most came from the independent tribal areas of Waziristan,
Tirah and neighbouring territories encompassing 25,000 square miles.
These lay outside the jurisdiction of British India and this presented a host
of problems for British officers when dealing with these men. The
Pakhtuns did not see themselves as Indians. Morton-Jack focuses in
bringing out their peculiar characteristics and examines how they fit among
the other ‘martial’ classes of the Indian Army. He rightly points out that the
story of these recruits from the tribal areas is as important as that of the
soldiers who predominantly came from the Punjab province, in order to
understand how the war meant different things to Indian soldiers from
different places.
Part of the reason why their story has so far been neglected is due to the
dangers of visiting these tribal areas for research even today. Yet, drawing
upon available resources, Morton-Jack manages to bring to light the
fearless spirit and character of the Pakhtun soldiers as never before.
The Indian Empire at War is a detailed and highly engaging book devoid of
tedious military or academic jargon and packed with interesting anecdotes
and riveting accounts. The new paperback edition, which has been
published recently comes with a range of welcome additions. These include
a focus on the cautious attitude adopted towards politically volatile Sikh
troops; a comparison of the disproportionate attention given to Indians in
Europe as opposed to those serving in Mesopotamia; and additional details
of Indian casualties and their commemoration, to name a few. The only
drawback of the book is the lack of detailed footnotes or endnotes, but this
does not detract from the quality of the overall narrative. The book is
unlikely to be surpassed in breadth and scope within the Indian
historiography of the Great War.
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