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India was one of the lesser known allies during both World Wars. During this time until India got its own independence was known as British India due to the British having control of the country until it got its independence and split up into two countries, India and Pakistan. There were big impacts on the India people during and after each war as well as the interwar period. The British Indian Army sent over million men to fight in three different theaters and other operations in World War I consisting of seven expeditionary forces. During the Interwar period India was involved with multiple small scale wars and conflicts under the British Empire. These conflicts being the Third Afghan War and the multiple Waziristan campaigns that occurred before the second World War. During World War II, the British Indian Army sent over 2.5 million troops to fight in four different campaigns during the war. As Indian troops were fighting overseas or in Burma during the second World War, the Indian people had a famine in Bengal in 1943 and Gandhi's Quit India movement was going on.

World War I

British Indian Army of World War I

The Indian Army during World War I would end up sending over one million Indian troops that would be sent to the European, Mediterranean, and Middle East theaters of the war. Out of the total 74,187 Indian troops that died during the First World War I, only 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded overseas. During World War I, the British Indian Army formed and dispatched expeditionary to fight overseas in the different parts of the war. The designation of the Indian expeditionary forces were given a letter A through G.

Indian Expeditionary Force A

Indian Expeditionary Force A had a force consisting of 150,000 men, as well as, two cavalry and infantry divisions and under the leadership of General Sir James Willcocks. This force was joined with the British Expeditionary Force and became two army corps. The corps being called the Indian Corps and the Indian Cavalry Corps. This force took part in the Battle of La Bassee in October 1914, the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915, and the Indian Corps withdrew to Egypt in October 1915. The reasons for the withdrawal from the Western Front were the lack of familiarity with new equipment, no artillery, the weather of the Western Front, poorly equipped for the cold, and with the combination of the above, lead to low morale which lead them to withdrawing. With the Indian Corps withdrawal from the Western Front, the Indian Cavalry Corps was the only Indian forces on the Western Front. The Cavalry Corps took part in battles such as the Battle of Somme, the Battle of Bazentin, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, the advance of the Hindenburg Line and the Battle of Cambrai. After the Battle of Cambrai, the Cavalry Corps withdrew to Egypt in March 1918. The other things notable about the Cavalry Corps is that each cavalry brigade was dismounted they were formed as a dismounted regiment, and in November 1916, the division of the Corps were renumbered from the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions to the 3rd and 4th Cavalry Divisions. Out of the 130,000 Indian soldiers that took part in the war in France and Belgium, almost 9,000 of them died.

Indian Expeditionary Force B

Force B consisted of the 27th Bangalore Brigade which came from the 9th Secunderabad Division, as well as, an Imperial Service Infantry Brigade, a pioneer brigade, a mountain artillery battery and engineers and was under the leadership of Major General Arthur Aitken. This Force was sent to Tanganyika in British East Africa to invade German East Africa and landed at Tanga on November 2nd and 3rd, 1914. The only battle that this Force is known for taking part in was the Battle of Tanga. The Force lost the battle from the German forces under the command of Commander Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and re-embarked on November 5th, 1914. As a result of the battle, the Force suffered 817 casualties as well as the loss of hundreds of rifles, 16 machine guns and 600,000 rounds of ammunition.

Indian Expeditionary Force C

Force C consisted of the Indian Army's 29th Punjabis, half battalions from the Princely states of Jind, Bharatpur, Kapurthala, and Rampur, a volunteer 15 pounder artillery battery, the 22nd Derajet Mountain Battery, a volunteer maxim gun, and a field ambulance. This was assembled to serve fighting in British East Africa in 1914. This was a defensive force and protect the railway to Uganda. This Force was involved in the Battle of Kilimanjaro in October 1914. Force C was broken up and it started serving separately.

Indian Expeditionary Force D

Force D was the large Indian Army force to provide service during World War I, which was under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Nixon. The Force took part in the Mesopotamian campaign, but started by guarding the British oil installations in Basra in November 1914 with the 6th Poona Division. With the Mesopotamian Campaign, battles like the Battle of Ctesiphon and the defense in the Siege of Kut were under the command,of Major General Barrett, and the battles like the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad, Battle of the Wadi, the Battle of Hanna, and the Battle of Dujaila Redoubt under the command of Major General Townshend. In 1917, the Force included the additions of one cavalry and seven infantry divisions from the Indian Army while under the command of Frederick Stanley Maude. The battle this Force took in was Battle of Sharqat. This particular campaign was seen as an Indian Campaign.

Indian Expeditionary Force E

Force E consisted of the 22nd Locknow Brigade that were sent to Egypt in October 1914. The Force E designation was given to all the forces that were sent there such as 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions that were transferred from France 1918, the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, and the 3rd Lahore and 7th Meerut Division that were transferred from Mesopotamia. 36 Indian army battalions were sent to reinforce the British which lead to reformation of Indian division lines with one British and three Indian battalions per brigade.

Indian Expeditionary Force F

Force F consisted of the 10th and 11th Indian Divisions both were formed in Egypt 1914, and the other forces that were attached were 22nd Lucknow Brigade from the 8th Lucknow Division and the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.

Indian Expeditionary Force G

Force G consisted of the 29th Brigade which used to be a part of the 10th Indian Division, three battalions of Ghurkhas, and one of Sikhs. In April 1915, Force G was sent to reinforce the Gallipoli Campaign. This Force was attached to the British 29th Division. They took part in the Second Battle of Krithia, Third Battle of Kirthia, Battle of Gully Ravine, and Battle of Sari Bair. During the campaign, the Force suffered 1,358 dead and 3,421 wounded.

Other Operations

The British Indian Army took part in other operations such as Siege of Tsingtao, the Singapore Mutiny in 1915, and the Malleson Mission in 1918. In the Siege of Tsingtao, the 36th Sikhs consisting of 500 soldiers fighting with the British contingent and at the end of the siege the total amount of the British and Indian died was 12 and 53 wounded.

Interwar Period

Aftermath of World War I

In 1919, there was a shortage of experienced officers was due to them being killed or wounded during the war as well as being capable of calling 491,000 men for service. Indian forces were reduced from 491,000 men to be able call to service to 197,000 men, of which 140,000 were Indian.

Conflicts & Wars during the Interwar Period

During the Interwar period India was put into many conflicts, some right after World War I ended. The conflicts include the Third Afghan War and many Waziristan Campaigns during the Interwar period.

Third Afghan War

The Third Afghan War, also known as the Third Anglo-Afghan War. was a minor military campaign that began on May 6th, 1919 and ended with an armistice on August 8th 1919. On May 3rd, 1919, Afghan soldiers crossed over the western end of the Khyber Pass and captured the town of Bagh. This sparked the conflict between Afghanistan and Great Britain and India. On May 7th, the British sent the 2nd Battalion through the Khyber Pass and the following day, British and Indian troops recaptured the town of Bagh. At the end of the conflict 1,000 Afghan soldiers were killed while the British and Indian soldiers had 236 killed, 615 wounded, and 900 dying because of disease or accidents. The British got some political gains from this war while the Indians only got their country being defended. This conflict leads to multiple conflicts in the Waziristan region.

Waziristan Campaign

Following the unrest of the Third Afghan War, the Waziris launched raids against the British garrisons. This is known as one of the Waziristan campaigns. One of the reasons behind the raids was that Great Britain was going to give control of Waziristan to Afghanistan as a peace settlement of the Third Afghan War. Under the leadership of Major-General Sir Andrew Skeen, the British and Indian soldiers began a series of operations to subdue the Tochi Wazirs beginning in November 1919. When these operations were shown to be successful, Skeen put his attention on the Mahsuds. The Indian Army had to use second-line forces consisting of young soldiers and inexperienced officers due to them committing a bunch of the soldiers and experienced officers to fight in World War I. These young soldiers like the 43rd and 67th Brigades had to go up against very experienced, well-trained tribesman.The British provided air support to help suppress the tribesmen. The most notable successes of this campaign were the 2nd/5th Gurkhas' standing during the stand during the eight-day in January 1920 at Ahnai Tangi, the 2nd/76th Punjabs who fought their way in order to support them, and the ten men of the 4th/39th Garhwal Rifles that launched a counter-attack against the Mahsuds. As a result of this campaign, the British determined that it would be a good idea to have a garrison of regulars troops to cooperate with the local militia in the region. There were more Waziristan Campaigns, one that took place in from 1920-1924 and another that took place from 1936-1939.

Pre-World War II Involvement

Gandhi and the Indian National Congress stated that they would not help Britain with the war effort unless they have self-rule, but the British Government refused. While that disagreement happened the Muslim League which was the largest and most influential political party in India at that time supported the idea of helping the British Government during the second World War.

World War II

British Indian Army of World War II

The British Indian Army took part in several theaters during the Second World War. India in World War II, had an army originally consisted of 205,000 men in 1939, but wound up having an army as large as over two and a half million troops to gained through volunteers. Specifically, the Middle East, African, South-East Asian, and took part in the invasion of Italy. With the African campaign, India fought in this theater by starting in East Africa fighting the Italians in Somaliland, Eritrea, and Abyssinia with their 4th and 5th Divisions and ending in North Africa fighting with their 4th, 5th, and 10th Divisions against Rommel's Afrika Korps. One of the battles greatest known battles that Indians fought in North Africa was the battle of Alamein, but the battle where Indian troops were crucial in destroying Rommel's tanks was the Battle of Bir Hacheim. With the South-East Asian theatre, the British Indian Army took part in the Burma Campaign. The British Indian Army was crucial in the Burma Campaign especially in the Siege of Imphal and they sent the Indian III Corps, IV Corps, the Indian XXXIII Corps, and the Fourteenth Army. In the Italian Campaign, the British Indian Army led the advance in the Battle of Monte Cassino with their 4th, 8th, and 10th Divisions and the 43rd Gurkha Infantry Brigade.

Bengal famine of 1943

There were several things that affected the food supply before the Bengal famine of 1943 hit. These things being an increase in population, the stagnation in agricultural productivity of in the region, the creation of the railroads in India earlier in the twentieth century, the Japanese invasion of India specifically Burma, Inflation, and the needs of the military presence. The Japanese invasion of Burma displaced many people both military and civilian which affected Bengal in several ways. The ways being that it lead to the increase spread of disease in the region, brought uncertainly and panic against the government and the people of Bengal, and the increase need of food due the mass influx of people into the region. Another result of the invasion, lead Bengal to be the from being a net importer at the time to be a net exporter when it came to the amount of rice and created an unprecedented price inflation throughout the region. India had a scorched-earth initiative that was done in the eastern and coastal Bengal when the Japanese invaded Burma as preemptive measure against the Japanese. The military also had a boat-denial policy as well and the Army ended up confiscated about 46,000 rural boats. This took away from fishermen and boatmen livelihoods. Inter-provisional trade barriers also caused problems with the famine due not getting any exports from other provinces that had a high food supply. There was also the selective distribution of economic distribution priority with Calcutta since Japan invaded Burma. There was a large amount of Indian regional government mismanagement during the famine. Due to the famine, there was a large increase in death due to diseases. The total death toll was initially estimated to be 1.5 million, but more recently it has been discovered that 2.1 million died during the famine.

Gandhi's Quit India Campaign

On August 8, 1942, Gandhi called for immediate self-rule for the Indian people and against sending Indians into world War II. As a result of this, it gave birth to the Quit India movement or as it was also known as the August Movement. This movement was a civil disobedience movement in which Gandhi asked all of the people of India leave their jobs and join in this movement. Gandhi and his followers still practiced the non-violence with the British rule. The goal of this movement was to forcibly bring the British Government to negotiate with Indian people for self-rule by taking the Allied war effort hostage. Like to any movement, there was opposition. The opposition came from Hindu nationalist parties such as Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The British Government decided to overlook the actions of the nationalist organizations since they were against the Quit India campaign. The Communist Party of India despised Gandhi's Quit India campaign and supported the British war effort.

Post World War II

The independence and split up of India

Following the war, India became a country, but a cost. This cost was that India was to be divided into different countries, one for the Hindus and one for the Muslims. India for the Hindus and Pakistan for the Muslims. This was known as the two nation theory. It was decided that where a Hindu majority was it would be a part of India and a Muslim majority would become a part of Pakistan. It is believe that if India wasn't split up into these two countries there would have been a civil war between the Hindus and Muslims of India. The division was setup when the British ruled over India.