For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers in the First World War

Event

Tuesday 08 November 2016, 12:30 - 13:30

Organised by National Army Museum

Shrabani Basu tells the story of the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who went to the Western Front during the First World War. The talk will cover the personal narratives of some of these Indians: from a grand turbaned Maharaja to an illiterate peasant who won the Victoria Cross.

Based on accounts buried in villages in India and Pakistan, as well as British archives, the talk will recreate the war through the eyes of the Indians and show how they ate, prayed, fought and died in their first Western war.

Shrabani Basu is a journalist and historian. She is the author of For King and Another Country, Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-18, Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan and Curry: The Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish. She is the founder and chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust.