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Description
India suffered a significant cost during world war one. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded.
In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire in German East Africa and on the Western Front.
Indian men were also a significant part of Mercantile marine (later to be called the merchant navy). Unfortunately we cannot say how many died because the British government destroyed those records after the war.
The situation in India changed because of Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi’s social efforts, beginning in India from 1915-1920 and onward, creating a popular vision for India that began to spread among ordinary Indians.
Into this climate of demands of peaceful change came Merchant seaman forcefully repatriated from the British Merchant Navy, soldiers disillusioned by fighting for but receiving freedom, and people in India experiencing repressive laws and the brutality displayed in the Amritsar Massacre.
India began a bonfire of change that was to finally consume and destroy the British Empire after World War Two.
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