0:00:00 > 0:00:02EXPLOSION
0:00:02 > 0:00:04CLANKING MACHINERY
0:00:04 > 0:00:06SHELLFIRE
0:00:06 > 0:00:09TYPEWRITER KEYS CLATTER
0:00:09 > 0:00:10BOMB WHISTLES
0:00:10 > 0:00:12EXPLOSION
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Even a century after it started, it can be hard to shake off that
0:00:19 > 0:00:21impression that World War I
0:00:21 > 0:00:24was fought by white men from Northern Europe.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27But you only have to look at the contribution of men
0:00:27 > 0:00:32from the colonies and the dominions of two of the main warring parties
0:00:32 > 0:00:35to realise just how untrue that is.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38In 1940, Britain and France had spheres of influence that
0:00:38 > 0:00:41stretched right across the globe -
0:00:41 > 0:00:44very useful when recruiting men to help fight a war.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49India, still a major colony of the British Empire, had well over
0:00:49 > 0:00:52a million of her men recruited as soldiers and labourers
0:00:52 > 0:00:54to the war effort.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Britain's dominions, the self-governing territories,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00such as Canada and Newfoundland, Australia
0:01:00 > 0:01:04and New Zealand, all made very significant contributions.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Even the tiny islands of the Caribbean
0:01:08 > 0:01:11provided much-needed manpower.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15The idea of a global army was something the British were keen
0:01:15 > 0:01:20to promote, although always careful to portray themselves as top dog.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23The French pursued a similar policy,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27with over half a million colonial troops recruited during the war -
0:01:27 > 0:01:30many of them serving in Europe.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33They drew in tens of thousands of men from their territories
0:01:33 > 0:01:36in West Africa and in Indochina
0:01:36 > 0:01:39and the French strongholds in North Africa -
0:01:39 > 0:01:42all were plundered for their human resources.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48There were well over four million non-white men
0:01:48 > 0:01:52mobilised into the European and American armies during the war
0:01:52 > 0:01:55and the effect on the Western Front was astonishing -
0:01:55 > 0:01:58it transformed those parts of France
0:01:58 > 0:02:02and Belgium into nothing less than the most diverse place on the planet.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28In the trenches, men who'd grown up thousands of miles apart
0:02:28 > 0:02:31suddenly found themselves in the closest proximity -
0:02:31 > 0:02:35they were living and fighting and sleeping side by side.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Behind the front line,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41in the military industrial zone of camps and hospitals and billets,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46there was an even greater mixture of cultures and races and religions.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49This was multicultural, diverse Europe,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51but decades ahead of schedule.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02This is the Chattri Memorial on the South Downs.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04It's a classically Indian monument,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08here in the middle of classically English countryside.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10And there's a reason why it's up here -
0:03:10 > 0:03:13just over there is the city of Brighton.
0:03:13 > 0:03:14And during the First World War,
0:03:14 > 0:03:1812,000 Indian soldiers, who'd been wounded on the Western Front,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21were treated in Brighton's military hospitals.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25And for the Sikh and the Hindu soldiers who didn't make it,
0:03:25 > 0:03:26who died of their wounds,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30this spot was where their stories came to an end.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34These were men who'd come from the villages of India.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39They'd travelled 6,000 miles across oceans to fight in the world's
0:03:39 > 0:03:40first industrial war.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43And this is where they're remembered -
0:03:43 > 0:03:45in a field in southern England.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54The India Corps played a critical role in World War I
0:03:54 > 0:03:56and they paid a heavy price for that.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Between 80 and 90,000 of them were killed fighting in Europe and beyond.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04But it was the fighting in Europe on the Western Front that was
0:04:04 > 0:04:05the most bewildering.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08This, after all, was an army that had been trained
0:04:08 > 0:04:10for life on the frontier - they were used to putting down
0:04:10 > 0:04:14tribal rebellions and pushing back border incursions, but now they
0:04:14 > 0:04:18found themselves in an industrial war and to make matters worse,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22many of the white British officers who spoke the Indian languages
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and knew their culture were killed early on, leaving them
0:04:25 > 0:04:28under the command of men who knew nothing about them.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33The high casualty rate of the war highlighted one very important
0:04:33 > 0:04:35cultural difference.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39In the Indian Army, once a soldier had been wounded in combat,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41he had fulfilled his duty.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The idea that he would be treated in a hospital
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and then sent back into the war was completely alien.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54But that's exactly what happened
0:04:54 > 0:04:56and much of it took place here in Brighton,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59where thousands of Indian soldiers were nursed back to health
0:04:59 > 0:05:03in improvised hospitals, the most eye-catching of which is this one -
0:05:03 > 0:05:07the Royal Pavilion, which was George IV's former seaside home.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11It wasn't the biggest of the Indian hospitals, but it was the most
0:05:11 > 0:05:14important, because it created this image, this vision,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18that went around the world of Britain as a culturally sensitive power that
0:05:18 > 0:05:22was looking after its Indian soldiers in the most difficult of times.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26That's just what the British wanted.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29There's no doubt there was a good standard of care,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33much better than in the hospitals back in India.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37But even at the time, the British authorities realised the PR value
0:05:37 > 0:05:40to its empire of the image of colonial soldiers being
0:05:40 > 0:05:44afforded a touch of Eastern-inspired luxury.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Whenever we tell stories about war, we have this urge,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52this tendency to want to find the positive, redemptive stories,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55the little rays of hope in the middle of all the suffering.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58But the reality is that for most of the men,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02who had their wounds tended here in Brighton, the war wasn't over.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05They were only here for a few months or a few weeks
0:06:05 > 0:06:09and at the end of that time, they were sent back to the Western Front
0:06:09 > 0:06:12or back to Africa or to Mesopotamia to keep fighting,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15to keep fighting anywhere the Empire needed them.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19This is just one stop in their global war.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32EXPLOSION
0:06:41 > 0:06:45It comes as a genuine surprise to many people when they learn
0:06:45 > 0:06:49that the First World War was fought beyond the fields of Europe.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53And that's understandable, because now, a century later, our image
0:06:53 > 0:06:58of the conflict is almost completely dominated by the Western Front.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01But all you need to do is take a look at the faces of the men
0:07:01 > 0:07:04in the photographs that were taken during the war
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and what you see is evidence of a conflict that was truly global.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45At the outbreak of war, in 1914,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Europe's empires ruled over huge swathes of territory in Asia,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52in the Americas, in Australia
0:07:52 > 0:07:55and almost all of the African continent and, instantly,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59all of the peoples of those colonies found themselves also at war -
0:07:59 > 0:08:02not that they had any choice in the matter.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06When the fighting began, there was a rush to secure vital strategic
0:08:06 > 0:08:09interests, but there was another process going on.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13All sides secretly drew up plans for the parts of the world
0:08:13 > 0:08:17they planned to take control of once the fighting was over.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20And the British campaign in Mesopotamia is a perfect
0:08:20 > 0:08:22example of that process.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28In 1914, large areas of the Middle East were under
0:08:28 > 0:08:32the control of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34When the Turks sided with Germany
0:08:34 > 0:08:38and the Central Powers, Britain was anxious not to lose control
0:08:38 > 0:08:42of the oilfield she had established in Mesopotamia -
0:08:42 > 0:08:45the area we now know as Iraq.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49That region became the focus for a bitter and costly conflict.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Basra - such a familiar name today, but 100 years ago,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58it was the base of operations for the British Army.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01And it was from there that British and Indian troops set off
0:09:01 > 0:09:06for what was to become a long, complicated and challenging campaign.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13The campaign led to a series of titanic battles that were fought
0:09:13 > 0:09:16along the Tigris River. The British launched what seemed to be
0:09:16 > 0:09:20an unstoppable advance, but the Turks halted them, pushed
0:09:20 > 0:09:25them back and with each battle and each siege, the death toll increased.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Towards the end of 1918, the British finally defeated
0:09:28 > 0:09:32the Ottoman Turks and set about, along with the French,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35establishing themselves as the dominant power in the Middle East.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Today, this whole campaign, along with the 100,000 British
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and Indian casualties, has been largely forgotten.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Yet I think the war in the Middle East is the perfect example
0:09:46 > 0:09:51of how a conflict in Europe spilled out into other continents.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55So Germany goes to war with Britain, which involves Germany's ally,
0:09:55 > 0:09:56Ottoman Turkey.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59The British seek to defend their interests in the Middle East
0:09:59 > 0:10:02against the Turks, but they do so using their own empire,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05men from India, men from Australia and New Zealand.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08And they turn to THEIR ally, the French,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12who bring in men from THEIR empire, from North Africa and West Africa.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17There were some people even as late as 1915 who were still calling this
0:10:17 > 0:10:21the great European war, yet in reality, it had been global
0:10:21 > 0:10:22since day one.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26But there is another reason why we should remember
0:10:26 > 0:10:28the Mesopotamia campaign.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31And that's because for most of the 21st century,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34British soldiers, the great-grandsons of the soldiers
0:10:34 > 0:10:36of the First World War,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40have found themselves fighting on the same battlefields.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45After the war, the borders of the entire region were redrawn
0:10:45 > 0:10:50in the sands of the defeated Ottoman Empire and special care was taken
0:10:50 > 0:10:54to make sure that the British kept hold of their precious oilfields.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59The lines that were drawn into the sand of the Middle East were
0:10:59 > 0:11:02drawn for the convenience of the winners - of the British
0:11:02 > 0:11:03and the French.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05But today, a century later,
0:11:05 > 0:11:10those lines in the sand are beginning to blur and to break down as
0:11:10 > 0:11:13the ethnic and religious identities of the people of the region -
0:11:13 > 0:11:16identities that were ignored just after the war -
0:11:16 > 0:11:19begin to reassert themselves.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23The First World War shaped the world we live in in many ways,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27the world beyond Europe as well as the world in Europe.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29But who knows how long the borders
0:11:29 > 0:11:33and the nations created by the First World War are going to last?
0:11:33 > 0:11:36After all, the empires that drew those lines on the maps
0:11:36 > 0:11:38have long gone.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49EXPLOSION
0:11:49 > 0:11:51LIGHT AIRCRAFT ENGINES
0:11:55 > 0:12:00MILITARY DRUMMING BECOMES GRADUALLY LOUDER
0:12:00 > 0:12:02DRUMMING STOPS