Today the world commemorated the Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in memory of those who died in WWI. During those years of war, Indian political leaders had stupidly allowed our citizens to fight for the British in Europe and elsewhere. In all 140,000 men from the British Indian Army served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totaled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World War I*. And all this show of loyalty to the empire, just because the Congress "expected" the goras to hand them self-governance. What a piece of trash. What were they thinking?
All of 91 years later, we still show our weakness in taking strong steps and continue to bow down to corruption, communalism and terrorism. Let us not forget the valor shown by our soldiers in war who have sacrificed so much dear to them so that we can enjoy what is dear to us. Let us mark the moment..
*Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Fighting_in_India
All of 91 years later, we still show our weakness in taking strong steps and continue to bow down to corruption, communalism and terrorism. Let us not forget the valor shown by our soldiers in war who have sacrificed so much dear to them so that we can enjoy what is dear to us. Let us mark the moment..
*Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Fighting_in_India
Great reminder of our troubled history..........
In all fairness, the Indian National Congress didn't 'let' the soldiers fight in the first world war. The Indian National Congress ( and I'm not a fan of theirs) wasn't all that powerful during the first world war to give or deny permission to fight.
Those days, jobs in the British Indian army were the coveted jobs ( after administrative jobs) like what IT or investment banking is now, where in the pay was reasonably good, foreign vacations ( read trips to exotic battle fields), subsidized food and right to plunder as job perks. For the sturdier of the peasants, black smiths etc, it was the better career choice.
It was during the second world war that the INC permitted the use of Indian troops to fight San Tojo, Senor Mussolini and Herr Hitler.
In fact, a large number of Indian muslims came out to protest the British war against the Ottoman Turks. Those days the caliph of the Ottoman empire was the custodian of the two holy mosques at Mecca and Medina (almost the entire Arabian peninsula was colonized by them) and hence considered the titular head of Islam. This movement got stronger when the Ottoman Empire got their backside whipped in the war by the Allied powers. In 1919, when the empire was dismembered and humiliated by the treaty of sevres, the muslims of the subcontinent went on a rampage and started the Khilafat movement, which later Mahatma Gandhi and then the INC condoned/ supported.
I guess you are right. Filling one's stomach takes precedence over all things and who is to blame the guys who went and fought for the Brits despite the risks.
Yup, i remember reading about the Khilafat movement which was inducted into the mainstream struggle for independence, although IMO it had nothing to do with the national cause.
Perhaps the first seeds of Pakistan were sown then.