For King and Country? South Asian Soldiers Fighting for Britain in Two World Wars

A curator’s talk by Dr Florian Stadtler of the Open University

Surrey History Centre, Woking

Saturday 14 May 2011, 2.00pm – 3.30pm

This talk explores the role of South Asian soldiers in both world wars as part of the world's largest volunteer armies ever raised. It highlights their contributions as soldiers, journalists and commentators to the cataclysmic ‘national’ and global events of the First and Second World War and how this shaped their perception of Britain. The talk will also raise interesting questions how the crucial role of these soldiers is only gradually being brought to wider public attention and how slowly the historical lens is being refocused to include these stories in national commemorations of the wars.

Tickets are FREE but booking is essential. Please contact Surrey History Centre,
130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6ND
01483-518737
shs@surreycc.gov.uk www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyhistorycentre

Image: ‘Highlanders and Dogras in a trench with dugouts’ [Fauquissart, France]. Girdwood, H.D. Record of the Indian Army in Europe during the First World War. BL: Photo24/(294)