What was the cost to India of the subcontinents contributions to the First World War?

Question 1

What was Indias respone to the outbreak of war

Answer 1

instant declarations of loyalty and support for Britain

Question 2

From what sections of India was the support for Britain coming from?

Answer 2

All sections of Indians society

Question 3

Where did offers of support pour from?

Answer 3

Congress, The muslim League and the princely states

Question 4

An example of a way India used their resources to support Britain

Answer 4

Twenty Seven of the largest princely states put their armies at the disposal of Britain and comissioned,fitted and provisioned a hospital ship

Question 5

Two figured that showed support for Britain

Answer 5

Bal Tilak, who was the leader of the extremist faction in Congress, declared his loyalty. Mohandas Gandhi, who back then was a little-known lawyer,urged Indians to give such service

Question 6

Why did Gandhi urge Indians to give such Service towards Britain?

Answer 6

He thought that they felt capable of performing in order to show their desire to share in the responsibilities of membership of the British Empire

Question 7

How did The recruitment campaigns perform?

Answer 7

Exceeded all expectations

Question 8

What were Indian troops doing as soon as they were enlisted?

Answer 8

Indian troops were soon sailing for Flanders,Gallipoli, and Mesopotamia, serving overseases as combatants and support staff, dwarfing all other imperial contributions to the war effort

Question 9

How many Infias have enlisted?

Answer 9

By november 1918, some 827,000 Indian had enlisted as combatants in addition to those already serving in 1914 when the First Worl War begun

Question 10

What was a crucial source of supply for the Allied cause?(millitary contribution)

Answer 10

India poured men and materials into the war effort and in doing so it became a crucial source of supply for the allied cause

Question 11

What was the first Indian expeditionary force made up of?(millitary contribution)

Answer 11

16,000 British troops and 28,500 Indian troops of the Lahore and Meerut division

Question 12

What happened once The (mostly indian) troops got to the western Front in time for the first battle of Ypres?

Answer 12

Their losses were heavy

Question 13

What happened to Indian troops in early 1915

Answer 13

Indians were rested but were soon back in the trenches

Question 14

Whay happened to Indians in 1918?

Answer 14

1.5 millions indians were recruited into combatant and non-combatant roles

Question 15

How many Indian troops were sent overseas?

Answer 15

184,350 had been sent overseas

Question 16

What happened to the troops that have been sent overseas?

Answer 16

Over 60,000 Indian troops died

Question 17

What did the death of so many Indians do to Indias millitary contribution to WW?

Answer 17

The level of contribution and sarcrifices dwarfed all other imperial contributions to the war effor

Question 18

What happened by the end of the war to Britains economy?

Answer 18

Indian revenues had contributed over £146 million pounds to the Allied War effor

Question 19

What happened to Millitary expenditure

Answer 19

It had risend dramatically

Question 20

How much were the Revenue demands raised by?

Answer 20

16% in the years 1916-17 and 10% in the years 1918-19

Question 21

How was Indias economy impacted by the War

Answer 21

Increased taxation,shortage of fuel and rising prices

Question 22

What problems did war create

Answer 22

war disrupted normal trading,created exchange rate problems and imposed the demands of the millitary.

Question 23

What was the results of War’s disruptions on trading and exchange rate problems?

Answer 23

Prices of food grains tose by 93% and prices of Indian made goods increased by 60% and prices of imported goods by 190%

Question 24

what made the economic impact on India exacerbated

Answer 24

The failure of the monsoon rains to arrive in 1918-19 and consequent grain shortage and famine

Question 25

How were Indias manufacturing industried affected by War?

Answer 25

Particularly cotton,iron and steel,sugar,engineering and chemicals expanded in order to replace goods normally imported (due to the costs of imported goods rising by 190%)

Question 26

What did shareholders notice?

Answer 26

They saw their divident rocket

Question 27

Give an example of dividends rocketing

Answer 27

In Bombay, dividends from cloth mills jumped from 6% in 1914 to over 30% in 1917 and in Ahmedabad, the cotton manufacturing centre of India,one mill owner reported trembling profits

Question 28

What did the viceroy have to juggle?

Answer 28

The demands of London for more respurces and the concerns of his district officers at localised distress and disturbances

Question 29

What did the viceroy receive regular reports of?

Answer 29

By 1918, the viceroy office was receiving regular reports from provincial legislatures of food riots,petty violences and rioting

Question 30

What was a concerns being expressed by some?

Answer 30

That support for the Raj was crumbling

Question 31

what was a relief for the British Rule regarding riots and violence

Answer 31

That these outbreaks were sporadic and never coalesced into a general campaign

Question 32

What happened to the British Battalion by March 1915

Answer 32

By march 1915 there was not a single battalion left in India

Question 33

Since when have the British (in their view) been rulling India

Answer 33

since 1858

Question 34

When did Nationalism begin to grown in the minds of many Indians

Answer 34

In the years to 1914

Question 35

How many individuals met in bombay and what did they do there

Answer 35

In 1855, 73 individuals,representing every province of British India, met in Bombay for the first annual meeting of the Indian National Congress

Question 36

How did membership increase?

Answer 36

Membership increased steadily from around 600 in 1888 to about 100,000 in 1914