When you’re asked to think of the First World War, no doubt one of the first images that comes flying to the forefront of your mind is the stubborn British tommy in a trench, flooded with water, a big brimming smile on his face and maybe even a cup of tea for good measure. Perhaps it’s a grainy black and white image of brave soldiers from blighty going over the top towards a hailstorm of bombs and bullets. Now you are not to blame for not automatically thinking of the heroic acts of Darwan Negi or Khudadad Khan, who both received the Victoria Cross during World War One.
For me, the issue lies with the fact that the First World War has been predominantly portrayed as a very white European affair but that could not be further from the truth. The word ‘world’, unfortunately, seems to have lost its impotence as time progressed and led into the horrors of the Second World War and now when we think back to this period it is the stereotypical British tommy we think of. The British Empire sent a total of just under 7,500,000 soldiers into the hell of the trenches. Of these, at least 22% of the soldiers sent into war for Britain were from non-white dominions. Yet, generally speaking, when children are taught about World War One today, they receive, on the whole, a very white-washed and Eurocentric version of the events and often the contribution of the Empire is forgotten or not given the curriculum time it warrants. Like I said, I’m speaking generally, there are some fantastic teachers out there giving a fairer representation of World War One and to those teachers I salute you!
The effective and accurate teaching of the First World War is a very difficult task for it will always remain subjective across the country as different schools, departments and even individual teachers put emphasis on different aspects of the Great War depending on their own beliefs. This means that whilst we are giving them a good overall knowledge of the war, it is but a tiny snippet of a much larger picture. I understand the difficulties of trying to cram in all of the important events of the war plus the build-up and consequences of it, but the importance of teaching children about the empire’s contribution should not be lessened due to time constraints no more than the Battle of the Somme should be. This is especially true when considering over 250,000 soldiers from non-white dominions died for a country they had never seen before and an unbelievable 15% of Victoria Cross recipients during World War One were also from non-white dominions. We also cannot forget to mention that Britain was not the only power that used troops from their wider empire to fight in the trenches and again the efforts of these soldiers has become somewhat forgotten.
So how do I overcome these issues and try to include the contributions from the empire?
1. Dedicate at least two lessons to the contributions from the colonies. The story of the soldiers from the British Isles and the dominions are also important ones, but they are much more familiar.
2. Focus on specific case studies of soldiers from across the Empire. I used a list of Victoria Cross recipients to help me build by case studies. Information of these soldiers is much easier to locate if you’re not so familiar with this period of history.
3. Teach about soldiers from across the Empire. There could be a tendency to focus on solely British India as their contribution was phenomenal but the smaller stories also need to be told. Of course when teaching about the Empire’s contribution British India should be mentioned and I usually go down the route of Khudadad Khan and then include other well-known soldiers such as the likes of Alhaji Grunshi (the first soldier to fire a shot for the British Empire) and Kulbir Thapa the first VC from Nepal in 1915, but not forgetting that the less well-known stories such as Jeremiah Siyabi deserve to be told.
If you have any other methods that work in remembering the wider Empire’s contribution, please let me know in the comments.