In 1915 India was part of the British Empire.  1.4 million men were sent to the war as part of the Indian Army, commanded by British officers. Although only a small part of this Army actually went to Gallipoli, Indian soldiers played an important part. Indeed a unit of Gurkhas came closer than any other to capturing the crucially important heights overlooking the Dardanelles, on 9th August 1915. However, Indians look back on their country’s part in the First World War with mixed views, as you can see in these two articles in ‘The Times of India‘.

On this page are five short videos.  In the first, Peter Stanley, author of ‘Die in Battle, Do Not Despair: The Indians on Gallipoli, 1915’ tells us who they were (click here for the maps shown in the video).  He also says that his recent research has shown that there were far more Indians there than was previously thought.  

In the other four videos Indian historian Vedica Kant, author of ‘If I die here, who will remember me?’, about Indians and the First World War. She talks about what the Indians did at Gallipoli, why they went to war at all, whether their religion was a problem, and what Indians today think about the war.