大象传媒

Sarfraz Manzoor tells the forgotten story of the 1.27 million men from the Indian Army who fought valiantly in the Great War, through a series of the soldiers' letters written home from Western Front.

The Asian contribution to World War One has been almost completely overlooked in the history books, despite the fact that 1.27 million volunteer soldiers from the Indian Army fought valiantly alongside British troops in every major battle from Ypres to Gallipoli.

In this programme, on the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War, Sarfraz Manzoor tells the extraordinary story of these Indian soldiers, revealed through a selection of letters written home by sepoys themselves, which were saved by military censors and have survived to this day.

In this final part of the series, Sarfraz examines the effect of the First World War on India, nationally and locally. Through servicemen's and families' letters the loss to loved ones becomes clear both on an emotional level as well as with the hardship that farming communities often faced without their strongest workers. The beginnings of nationalism can be seen just before the war with the violent activities of the Ghadar party, but a more mainstream nationalist voice gathers increasing strength as the war comes to a close. Besides the contribution of men, in 1918 and 1919, India comes very close to famine as a result of the huge amount of foodstuffs it supplied for the war effort, and the that riots break out, are dealt with harshly, for example at the infamous Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, and all this contributes that India should be allowed more autonomy.

Today in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is a sense that the memory of the First World War has been forgotten as it is a 'colonial' war, but Sarfraz discovers how the centenary is bringing the memory of these sacrifices once again to the fore, and in Britain, he emphasises how important this story is as part of the WWI narrative.