Dr Adam Prime, lecturer in the Politics and Contemporary History at Salford University talks about his research into the Indian Army during the Great War. He will explain how the Indian Army came about with its origins in the defence of the East India Company from 1757. A hundred years later when the British Army needed to defend the Northwest Frontier against the Russians a more professional army began to emerge. By the time of the outbreak of the First World War the army was made up of 240,000 Indian and 17,000 British soldiers.
This talk looks at India's contribution to the First World War in every sense of the word. It takes in the huge recruitment boom and how the diversity of religious and caste differences was met to maintain peace, order, and morale. It also looks at the experiences of Indian soldiers, and their British officers, on the Western Front, in Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia and in the Middle East. Finally, it looks at India itself and the actions undertaken there to defend the Northwest Frontier.