During the course of
the war, a total of about 1.5 million Indian soldiers and non-combatants served
in the Indian army; nearly 1.1 million of them were sent overseas; between
50,000 and 70,000 died.
British postcard .WW1
"India
had just emerged from the first World War having made enormous sacrifices, and
a huge contribution in men and materiel, blood and treasure, to the British war
effort, in the expectation that it would be rewarded with some measure of
self-government.
Those hopes were belied. The dishonest Montagu-Chelmsford
“reforms” and the punitive Rowlatt Acts, imposing severe restrictions on Indian
political activity and reimposing wartime prohibitions on freedom of the press
and expression, were India’s only reward...."
