History revealed: Indian princes and their great war effort

CHANDIGARH: Their treaties with the British Empire did not oblige the rulers of 560 Indian princely states to send troops to fight abroad but when

World War

I (WWI) broke out, the nobility literally lined up in a queue to fight overseas. As many as 1,634 Indian soldiers of the Imperial Services were lost in the first of the great wars from a total of 18,500 combatants that fought in France,

East Africa

,

Egypt

, Gallipoli, Salonika and Italy. For their efforts, the princes were richly rewarded with personal honours by the British while their troops and fighting units brought home 689 decorations and gallantry awards.

An array of facts and perspectives on the ‘Contribution of Indian Princely States to the First World War’ was delivered during the course of a scintillating presentation by AN ‘Tony’ McClenaghan (BEM) at the first of the annual Maharaja Yadvindra Singh Memorial Lectures at the

Centre for Research

in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here on Tuesday. The presentation was staged under the auspices of the Centre for Indian Military History. A retired officer of the British Army, McClenaghan pointed out that till five years back “very few people in India and the United

Kingdom

realised that India had played a role in WWI".

McClenaghan's interest in the subject of Indian princely states and their fighting forces was sparked by a war medal of 1908 gifted to him by his wife and carrying the inscription, ‘RIS’. His curiosity to determine what ‘RIS’ stood for spurred him to research and figure out that it was ‘Rajindera Imperial Services of the Patiala state. He went on to write two books on this theme and is currently researching at the National Archives, Delhi, for his third book on princely contributions to WWI with a title borrowed from a letter written by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh to his troops fighting in Egypt in WWI, ‘For the Honour of My House’.

Introducing the speaker, military historian and CIMH chairman Mandeep S Bajwa dwelt on Maharaja Yadvindra Singh and his services to the Indian nation. "The greatest contribution of the Patiala ruler was to persuade fellow princes to throw in their lot with India, thereby preventing the mischief set afoot by interested parties to trigger a Balkanisation of India."

Delving on reasons for princely states to contribute to the WWI effort, McClenaghan stated that the nobility was not a “homogenuous lot"'. Some princes thought that by pleasing the British they would be able to negotiate a better political understanding with London and lessen restraints on their semi-autonomous functioning. Others believed it would further the demand for Independence or dominion status. However, these expectations, and whatever promises the British may have made, were largely belied in the aftermath of WWI.

He noted that while the princes were eager to offer men, funds and resources, ‘the soldiers themselves had no choice in the matte’. Very rare were the princes, such as Ganga Singh of Bikaner and the ruler of Baria State, who actually went into action during WWI, with most preferring safe stints at headquarters or staff postings in the war theatre. McClenaghan acknowledged that the conditions at the start of the WWI were not congenial for Indian troops as they faced handicaps such as inadequate cotton clothing, poor weaponry and appalling transport.

The princely states also raised five battalions for the British Indian Army, apart from financing completely the ‘Imperial Service’ troops operating under their royal seal in WWI. The Nizam of Hyderabad contributed a stunning Rs 60 lakh to the war effort while the noble houses of

Gwalior

and Bhopal shelled out 4,80,000 English pounds to run a hospital ship for WWI. The princely states of Nabha and Kapurthala, too, provided hospital boats to ply on rivers in Mesopotamia.

The British were not miserly when it came to handing out personal rewards to the princes, which was what many actually hankered for. The Hyderabad Nizam was bestowed the title of ‘His Exalted Highness’ while other rulers also were delivered high orders and medals of the British Empire. The number of their gun salutes, which determined the pecking order in the nobility’s hyper-sensitive hierarchy, were suitably raised for select rulers as a reward for WWI efforts. “The Chamber of Princes was also set up, which gave the princes a voice, a small beginning," McClenaghan noted.

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