India was in a state of growing political unrest when war broke out in 1914. The Indian National Congress had gone from being a group that simply discussed issues to a body that was pushing for more self-government. Before the war started, the Germans had spent a great deal of time and energy trying to stir up an anti-British movement in India.
In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire in German East Africa and on the Front Indian divisions were also sent to Egypt, Gallipoli and nearly 700,000 served in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire. While some divisions were sent overseas others had to remain in India guarding the North West Frontier and on internal security and training duties.
The normal annual recruitment for the Indian army was 15,000 men, during the course of the war over 800,000 men volunteered for the army and more than 400,000 volunteered for non-combatant roles. In total almost 1.5 million men had volunteered for service by 1918. One million Indian troops served overseas during the war, of these 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total, 74,187 Indian soldiers died in World War I
The Indian Corps won 13,000 medals for gallantry including 12 Victoria Crosses. Khudadad Khan won the Corps first Victoria Cross.
The cost of the war was massive and it pushed India’s economy to near bankruptcy. It costed India $601,279,000 from 1914 – 1918.
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