<p>While Britain and its allies were busy waging a battle against the Axis powers during World War I, Germany was hatching a complex plan to weaken Britain’s standing in India and other countries by using the religious sentiments of Muslims. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This was revealed during the course of a discussion on the theme, ‘A World Undone: 100 years of World War’ at the Bangalore Literature Festival. German author Stephen Kopetsky, a panelist at the discussion, said: “Germany sent an expedition from Constantinople to Kabul with an agenda of bringing various tribes like the Pashtuns and start a war in the name of Islam. The idea was that Germany would act as the protector of Islam.” <br /><br />The expedition, according to Kopetsky, was one of many such expeditions around the world to start a ‘worldwide jehad’. <br /><br />Vedica Kant, who has written a book on World War I from the Middle Eastern point of view, said that while the British were waging a war in different parts of the world,<br /> it was primarily Indian soldiers who were fighting the wars for them. <br /><br />“The written records are very poor on the participation of Indians in the WW I. There are, however, a number of interesting records in the form of letters that were translated by the British officers and audio records where one can hear folk songs sung by these people a hundred years back,” she said.<br /><br />As many as 1.5 million Indians participated in the World War I, with 70,000 to 75,000 of them losing their lives. <br /><br />Elke Falat and Julia Tieke, curators of German exhibition on the World War I at Max Mueller Bhavan, ‘Digging Deep, Crossing Far’ - also talked about their experience in organising the exhibition. <br /></p>
<p>While Britain and its allies were busy waging a battle against the Axis powers during World War I, Germany was hatching a complex plan to weaken Britain’s standing in India and other countries by using the religious sentiments of Muslims. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This was revealed during the course of a discussion on the theme, ‘A World Undone: 100 years of World War’ at the Bangalore Literature Festival. German author Stephen Kopetsky, a panelist at the discussion, said: “Germany sent an expedition from Constantinople to Kabul with an agenda of bringing various tribes like the Pashtuns and start a war in the name of Islam. The idea was that Germany would act as the protector of Islam.” <br /><br />The expedition, according to Kopetsky, was one of many such expeditions around the world to start a ‘worldwide jehad’. <br /><br />Vedica Kant, who has written a book on World War I from the Middle Eastern point of view, said that while the British were waging a war in different parts of the world,<br /> it was primarily Indian soldiers who were fighting the wars for them. <br /><br />“The written records are very poor on the participation of Indians in the WW I. There are, however, a number of interesting records in the form of letters that were translated by the British officers and audio records where one can hear folk songs sung by these people a hundred years back,” she said.<br /><br />As many as 1.5 million Indians participated in the World War I, with 70,000 to 75,000 of them losing their lives. <br /><br />Elke Falat and Julia Tieke, curators of German exhibition on the World War I at Max Mueller Bhavan, ‘Digging Deep, Crossing Far’ - also talked about their experience in organising the exhibition. <br /></p>
