Page 2 - ch 12

Indian Army in World War I and II Module - III

Military History of the
and soldiers. As a Colony of Britain the British Indian army too was involved in the
Colonial Era
war. Let us study the major wars and find out why it was fought and how did the
British Indian army contribute to the war effort of the British and allies.

12.1.1 Reasons for the war
Many causes can be attributed to the outbreak of the war. Of the several causes for
the starting of the war, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir apparent
Note
to the Austrian Empire, on 28 June 1914 at Sarajevo in Bosnia is considered as the
spark. By this time, there was tension between the major European powers fuelled
mainly by Germany's ambition to be a major power in Europe and as a competitor to
Britain in commerce and trade. This had led to the formation of two power blocks in
Europe, the Triple Alliance comprising Germany, Austria and Hungary; and the Triple
Entente (entente means a friendly and informal understanding between countries) of
England, France and Russia. Few would have imagined that the pistol shots in Sarajevo
would lead to a brutal four-year war and would draw in most of the world. The
countries had high nationalistic feelings, which contributed to economic policies, which
caused competition with one another. Besides, there was no effective international
organization that could serve to a arbitrated between the nations.
The other reason was that countries were entering into secret alliances (alliances means
tractics between countries to help each other militaries) based on the personal ambitions
of the political leaders. Such secret alliances further contributed to suspicions about
the activities of the other country. Although many reasons contributed, the immediate
cause as noted above was the Sarajevo incident in which the Crown Prince of Austria-
Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated along with his wife on 28 June
1914 in Sarajevo. Where was the war fought? See the map (Map 12.1) below to
understand the countries where this war took place.

Map 12.1 The spread of world war-I

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