Imperialism, Nationalism and the First World War in India

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between empire, India and the First World War, by examining both the responses to the war within India, and the experience of the sepoys in the Western Front. In particular, three lines of enquiry pursue: first, the responses to the war from the different feudal princes in India; second, the responses of the political bourgeoisie, focusing on the wartime writings of two nationalist leaders, Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu; and finally, the world of the sepoys through their letters. It is part of a larger project that seeks to recover the Indian experience of the First World War and how it affected, and in turn was configured. The First World War brings out amidst the Indian political bourgeoisie a strange conjunction of imperialist zeal and nationalist aspirations that defy the neat retrospective political narratives of either imperialism or nationalism. Keywords: empire; First World War; imperialism; India; Nationalism; nationalist leaders; sepoys; Western Front