2. Germany had the largest army in Europe
German soldiers were the best trained and equipped in the world
Germans had got used to winning the wars their country fought
Germany had the second largest navy in the world
German factories and businesses were very successful
Germany was proud, rich, successful and self-confident

4. A bloodthirsty picture of a Sikh soldier of the British Indian Army from a German book for children published in 1914 showing German children the terrible foreign enemies their soldiers were now fighting.

5. A German postcard showing Indian soldiers feeing from a German infantry attack.

6. A German postcard called “The captured Indian”.

7. German propaganda
Most Germans (like most Europeans at the time) believed that white Europeans were superior to non-whites. The German government claimed it was wrong and dangerous for Allied countries like Britain to bring soldiers with black or brown skins from outside Europe to fight white German soldiers. It might mean that non-Europeans would think that they were equal to white Europeans and that their countries should not be part of European empires.

8. “One dark night, suddenly one of the Indians jumped into our trench and held his hand in the air. Nobody heard him coming. He kept pointing towards the English lines and made a sign of cutting their throats. A soldier who had signed up for a year, who understood English was fetched, and as the Indian could also speak some English, the two of them could make themselves understood. The Indian said that he and his comrades hated the English and that they all wanted to cross over to us and fight against them. We believed him and let him go to fetch his comrades, as he had said he would do. We listened out into the night to find out whether they were coming. Soon the peal of mocking laughter showed us that the black man had really fooled us….. One morning after a rainy night six rifles were missing. The Indians had pulled them out through the loopholes and fled with them without being observed by the sentries.” Private Dominik Richert of Infantry Regiment 112

9. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers in 1914?
Magnificent
Mysterious
Cruel
Savage
Weak
Powerful
Equal to white Europeans
Handsome
Loyal
Bloodthirsty
Noble
Ugly
Cunning
Lonely
Superior to white Europeans
Disciplined
Frightening
Strong
Fierce
Inferior to white Europeans
Aggressive
Brave
Healthy
Barbaric
Wise
Cowardly
Revolutionary
Sad

10. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers in 1914?

11. “The Sikhs (soldiers of the Indian Army who followed Sikhism) are calm and cold-blooded, full of determination and self-confidence. Due to their natural instincts and traditions they are born soldiers. Their military training is generally good, but their marksmanship cannot match that of the German soldier. They are agile (move easily) and able to sneak like cats. In combat they are wild and undaunted (unafraid) by death, just like the Gurkhas (Hindu soldiers of the Indian Army from the mountains of Nepal) they are masters of knife fighting. Since their officers make them believe that the Germans will not take them prisoner, they often fight to the death. There is no denying that the Sikh, and the Indians in general, are noble in combat and display a certain gallantry, especially towards our wounded.”
Source: Lieutenant Karl Strölin*, Kampfweise unserer Feinde für den Dienstunterricht zusammengestellt (Berlin: 1916)

12. A touring exhibition
In the spring of 1916 the German government paid for an exhibition to travel German cities showing the enemies of the German Army. One scene had dummies dressed as Gurkha and Sikh soldiers. The cruel-looking Gurkhas carried their kukris (curved knives) in their mouths creeping towards German trenches. However it was obvious in the scene that they could have been shot easily if spotted by German soldiers.

13. A pamphlet for German soldiers listing phrases for them in Urdu (an Indian language) to speak to Indian soldiers
1. Lads, come on over to us.
2. Hands up!
3. Throw your weapons away!
4. Advance, along this path/way.
5. Why do you want to struggle on over there?
6. Come on over to us in the night at 12 [or 10 pm, 11 pm, 1 am, 2 am, 3 am, 4 am, 5 am]. We won’t shoot.
7. Do you want some bread to eat?
8. Do you want some water to drink?
9. Do you want some tea [or coffee] to drink?
10. Sit down here!
11. Lie down here!
12. Don’t be afraid, we won’t beat you to death.
Note:
Phrases 1, 3-6 address soldiers as a group.
Phrases 7-12 address a single soldier.
Phrase 2 could be either a group of soldiers or just one.

14. During the battle of Neuve Chappelle on the Western Front in March 1915, Indian soldier Mir Mast (brother of Mir Dast who won the Victoria Cross) crossed no-man`s land with a few other Indian soldiers and deserted to the Germans. He was sent by them to Kabul with other Indians who wanted to overthrow British Rule in India by force and persuade the ruler of Afghanistan to fight them. The Indian prince in the centre of this picture called himself President of India. The Afghan ruler refused to fight the British.

15. Some Germans might have heard that 7 Indian soldiers won Victoria Crosses between 1914 and 1916

16. “In August 1915 we spotted the first Indians
“In August 1915 we spotted the first Indians. Brown fellows wearing tall turbans. We were all sure that things would become even more dangerous from now on, as they would probably sneak over to us at night time to murder our pickets (soldiers in military posts) using their long knives. To our surprise they didn't do that. They did not even send out patrols! The only reminder of their presence was the sound of their compulsive coughing and sneezing in the silent nights. They were quite obviously not able to cope with the climate. Poor fellows, sacrificed for British power and greed. Giving their life and health for a cause they did not understand and for a nation that has been suppressing (controlling) them for hundreds of years...”
Source: Freiherr Georg vom Holtz, Das Württembergische Reserve.-Inf.-Regiment Nr. 121 im Weltkrieg 1914–1918 (Die württembergischen Regimenter im Weltkrieg 1914–1918, Band 20) (Stuttgart: 1922)

17. In 1913 badly treated Indian migrants in Canada and the United States formed a party called the Ghadar party which aimed to overthrow British rule in India by force and revolution. In 1914 the German government paid for thousands of Ghadar party members (many of whom were former British Indian Army soldiers) to return to India to start mutinies among Indian soldiers there. The plotters were badly organised and most of the mutinies failed before they could start. The Ghadar agents were mostly thrown in jail or executed. In Singapore around eight hundred Indian troops did mutiny for a week.47 soldiers were executed. The vast majority of British Indian Army soldiers (around 195,000 at the start of the war) did not mutiny.

18. -
The German government set up a prisoner of war camp at Wunsdorf outside Berlin for soldiers from the empires they were fighting. It was mostly filled with between four and five thousand Muslim prisoners from French ruled Africa, British India and Russia.(There were a few Sikh and Hindu prisoners too). The prisoners were well treated and the Germans built them a mosque. They tried to persuade the prisoners to fight with Germany and Turkey (a Muslim country) in a jihad against the Allies but very few Indian soldiers changed sides.

19. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers by 1916?

20. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers by 1914?
Magnificent
Mysterious
Cruel
Savage
Weak
Powerful
Equal to white Europeans
Handsome
Loyal
Bloodthirsty
Noble
Ugly
Cunning
Lonely
Superior to white Europeans
Disciplined
Frightening
Strong
Fierce
Inferior to white Europeans
Aggressive
Brave
Healthy
Barbaric
Wise
Cowardly
Revolutionary
Sad

21. German scientists were fascinated by the foreign prisoners of war in their camps. They recorded as many different Indian voices and languages as possible. They carefully measured the size of prisoner`s heads and parts of their bodies, testing the strength of their bodies.. Artists and photographers created portraits as a record.
They made Indian prisoners seem more human.
Most Germans would not have seen the images, read the scientific reports or listened to the sound recordings.

22. An Indian prisoner of war painted by a German artist.

23. A German photograph of an Indian prisoner of war.

24. A German painting of an Indian prisoner of war.

25. A German painting of two Indian prisoners of war.

26. “The wide use of gold and silver decorations (for uniforms on special occasions, not in ordinary fighting), along with the different coloured turbans, makes a parade of Indian soldiers a truly impressive spectacle.
“The Sikh is a born soldier……there is no higher honour than to die fighting for his beliefs.”
Extracts from the book “Germany’s Opponents in the World War” published in 1919.

27. Some German soldiers may have been aware that the size of the British Indian Army had grown from around 195,000 in 1914 to around one and a half million by 1918.
They may have been told that many Indian soldiers deserted to the German side (they would not have known that it was only 54 out of one and a half million).
Germans would probably not have known that over 60,000 Indian soldiers were killed or died of their wounds

28. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers by 1918?

29. What did Germans think of British Indian soldiers by 1914?
Magnificent
Mysterious
Cruel
Savage
Weak
Powerful
Equal to white Europeans
Handsome
Loyal
Bloodthirsty
Noble
Ugly
Cunning
Lonely
Superior to white Europeans
Disciplined
Frightening
Strong
Fierce
Inferior to white Europeans
Aggressive
Brave
Healthy
Barbaric
Wise
Cowardly
Revolutionary
Sad

30. IMAGE CREDITS
Slide 5 A blood thirsty depiction of a Sikh soldier from a German children's picture book of 1914 entitled “Our Enemies”. Courtesy of Robin Schäfer, Military Historian, Dinslaken, Germany.
Slide 7 A German postcard from early on in the war with an image of a German soldier holding a captured Indian soldier. By kind permission of Timothy Moore.
Slides 20 to 24 Courtesy of the UK Punjab Heritage Association
All other images are in the public domain.