British empire's huge WWI effort echoes through history

When the clouds of World War I first gathered, Britain and its empire were less than fully ready to weather the storm.
But together they managed one of the biggest and fastest mobilisations of military power in history, which would have implications for the war and for the future of the empire itself.
When Britain entered the war on August 4 1914, it had just over 150,000 operational troops to send immediately into battle in Europe, a quarter of the force deployed by Germany.
By the end of September, however, a rush of patriotism saw more than 750,000 sign up on home soil and by the end of the year, one million had enlisted for the war.

The Indian subcontinent, Australia, Canada and other parts of the British empire, once known as the empire where "the sun never sets" also sprang into action.
"Our boys were not just Tommies -- they were Tariqs and Tajinders too," junior British foreign office minister Sayeeda Warsi said in a speech marking the war's centenary, referring to the participation of multiple countries in the war.

Modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh sent 1,500,000 troops, nearly 500,000 came from Australia and New Zealand, the same number from Canada and 74,000 from South Africa amongst other countries, according to British government figures.
In India, when the war broke out, leading political figures including Mahatma Gandhi backed the British effort, believing a show of support would bolster the colony's claim to self-government.

The war went on to change the course of Indian history, sparking a shift in the independence movement that would see the country win sovereignty from the colonial forces nearly three decades later.
Describing the conflict as "a watershed" last March, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari said there was a "realisation by the Indian nationalist movement that the British were not going to live up to the promises of representative self-rule they had made during the war".