86. Social History of War
MP3 File
Vedica Kant is a graduate of Oxford University's Middle Eastern Studies program
Robert Upton is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Oxford University
Chris Gratien is a PhD candidate studying the history of the modern Middle East at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)
Citation: "Indian Soldiers and POWs in the Middle East during World War I," Vedica Kant, Robert Upton, and Chris Gratien, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 86 (December 21, 2012) http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2012/12/world-war-indian-soldiers-prisoners.html.
The audio clip at the beginning of the podcast is a rare recording of the voice of a Punjabi POW in Germany during World War I named Mal Singh. In the recording, which was made in December of 1916, Mal Singh expresses his desire to return home after having been imprisoned by the German army. To hear the entire recording, click here. (Source: Amin Mughal Links)
Select Bibliography
Santanu Das (ed.), Race, Empire and First World War Writing (New York: Cambridge. University Press, 2011)
David Omissi, Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldier's Letters, 1914-18 (Palgrave, 1999)
Cemalettin Taşkıran, Ana Ben Ölemedim: I. Dünya Savaşında Türk Esirlerleri (İş Bankası Yayınları, 2011)
S. D. Pradhan, ‘Indian Army and the First World War’ in DeWitt C. Ellinwood and S. D. Pradhan, India and World War I (New Delhi, Manohar, 1978).
Briton Cooper Busch, Britain, India, and the Arabs (University of. California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1971)
India's Contribution to the Great War (Calcutta, Government of India, 1923)
Select Images
During World War I, over 600,000 troops from South Asia were part of the British army's invasion of Ottoman Iraq. Thousands were taken prisoner in this campaign and became part of a larger story that is the tragedy of the First World War, witnessing and sharing the plight of deported Armenians as they marched across Anatolia. In this podcast, Vedica Kant talks about the experience of Indian POWs in the Ottoman Empire as well as that of Ottoman soldiers captured by the British army and brought to India and Burma, with additional commentary by Robert Upton regarding military recruitment in British India and the complex relationship between imperialism, war, and nationalism for Indian intellectuals of the period.
MP3 File
Vedica Kant is a graduate of Oxford University's Middle Eastern Studies program
Robert Upton is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Oxford University
Chris Gratien is a PhD candidate studying the history of the modern Middle East at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)
Citation: "Indian Soldiers and POWs in the Middle East during World War I," Vedica Kant, Robert Upton, and Chris Gratien, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 86 (December 21, 2012) http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2012/12/world-war-indian-soldiers-prisoners.html.
The audio clip at the beginning of the podcast is a rare recording of the voice of a Punjabi POW in Germany during World War I named Mal Singh. In the recording, which was made in December of 1916, Mal Singh expresses his desire to return home after having been imprisoned by the German army. To hear the entire recording, click here. (Source: Amin Mughal Links)
Select Bibliography
Santanu Das (ed.), Race, Empire and First World War Writing (New York: Cambridge. University Press, 2011)
David Omissi, Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldier's Letters, 1914-18 (Palgrave, 1999)
Cemalettin Taşkıran, Ana Ben Ölemedim: I. Dünya Savaşında Türk Esirlerleri (İş Bankası Yayınları, 2011)
S. D. Pradhan, ‘Indian Army and the First World War’ in DeWitt C. Ellinwood and S. D. Pradhan, India and World War I (New Delhi, Manohar, 1978).
Briton Cooper Busch, Britain, India, and the Arabs (University of. California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1971)
India's Contribution to the Great War (Calcutta, Government of India, 1923)
Select Images
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| Indian Troops Manning Lewis Gun on Mesopotamian Front, 1918 Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Indian military engineers in Mesopotamia, World War I Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Moslem Indian Guard at the Mosque of Omar [Dome of the Rock], 1917 Source: Library of Congress |
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| Indian cavalry passing through Haifa following the city's capture, 1918 Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Indian Troops, World War I Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Indian Soldiers in France, c1914-15 Source: Library of Congress |
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| Indian Troops at Gas Mask Drill, World War I Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Wounded Indian Soldier on Western Front, World War I Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Indian soldiers at Rufiji, German East Africa, 1916 Source: Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive |
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| Ottoman Prisoners of War in Bellary, India, 1916 Soruce: 7/24 Magazin |
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| Ottoman Prisoners of War in Burma, World War I Source: Vedica Kant |
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| Letter from Ottoman prisoner of war in Burma to wife in Istanbul, 1916 Source: K-Haber |