Hindu–German Conspiracy

"The seditious conspiracy" links here. For the legal concept, seeseditious conspiracy

TheHindu–German Conspiracy^{(Note on the name)}was a series of attempts between 1914 and 1917 byIndian nationalistgroups to create a Pan-Indian rebellion against theBritish EmpireduringWorld War I.This rebellion was formulated between theIndian revolutionary undergroundand exiled or self-exiled nationalists in the United States. It also involved theGhadar Party,and in Germany theIndian independence committeein the decade preceding the Great War.The conspiracy began at the start of the war, with extensive support from theGerman Foreign Office,the German consulate inSan Francisco,and some support fromOttoman Turkeyand theIrish republican movement.The most prominent plan attempted to foment unrest and trigger a Pan-Indianmutinyin theBritish Indian ArmyfromPunjabtoSingapore.It was to be executed in February 1915, and overthrow British rule in theIndian subcontinent.TheFebruary mutinywas ultimately thwarted when British intelligence infiltrated theGhadaritemovement and arrested key figures. Mutinies in smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed.

The Indo-Germanallianceand conspiracy were the target of a worldwide British intelligence effort, which successfully prevented further attempts. American intelligence agencies arrested key figures in the aftermath of theAnnie Larsenaffairin 1917. The conspiracy resulted in theLahore conspiracy casetrials in India as well as theHindu–German Conspiracy Trial— at the time the longest and most expensive trial ever held in the United States.

This series of events was pivotal for theIndian independence movement,and became a major factor in reforming the Raj's Indian policy.Similar efforts were made duringWorld War IIin Germany and in Japanese-controlledSoutheast Asia.Subhas Chandra Boseformed theIndische Legionand theIndian National Army,and in ItalyMohammad Iqbal Shedaiformed theBattaglione Azad Hindoustan.

Background

Nationalismhad become more and more prominent in India throughout the last decades of the 19th century as a result of thesocial,economicand political changes instituted in the country through the greater part of the century.TheIndian National Congress,founded in 1885, developed as a major platform for loyalists' demands forpolitical liberalizationand for increased autonomy. The nationalist movement grew with the founding of underground groups in the 1890s. It became particularly strong, radical and violent inBengaland inPunjab,along with smaller but nonetheless notable movements inMaharashtra,Madrasand other places of South India.In Bengal the revolutionaries more often than not recruited the educated youth of the urbanmiddle-classBhadralokcommunity that epitomized the "classic"Indian revolutionary,while in Punjab the rural and military society sustained organized violence.

Other related events include:

• the1915 Singapore Mutiny,
• theAnnie Larsen arms plot,
• theJugantar–German plot,
• theGerman mission to Kabul,
• by some accounts, theBlack Tom explosionin 1916.

Parts of theconspiracyalso included efforts to subvert theBritish Indian Armyin theMiddle Eastern theatre of World War I.

Indian revolutionary underground

Main article:Anushilan Samiti

See also:Delhi–Lahore Conspiracy,Rash Behari Bose,Jugantar,andIndia House

Rash Behari Bose,key leader of theDelhi–Lahore Conspiracyand, later, of theFebruary plot

The controversial1905 partition of Bengalhad a widespread political impact. Acting as a stimulus for radical nationalist opinion in India and abroad, it became a focal issue for Indian revolutionaries.Revolutionary organizations likeJugantarandAnushilan Samitiemerged in the 20th century. Significant events took place, including assassinations and attempted assassinations ofcivil servants,prominent public figures and Indian informants, including an attempt in 1907 to kill Bengal Lieutenant-Governor SirAndrew Fraser.Matters came to a head when the 1912Delhi–Lahore Conspiracy,led by erstwhile Jugantar memberRash Behari Bose,attempted to assassinate the then-Viceroy of India,Charles Hardinge.In the aftermath of this event, the British Indian police made concentrated efforts to destroy the Bengali and Punjabi revolutionary underground. Though the movement came under intense pressure for some time,Rash Beharisuccessfully evaded capture for nearly three years. By the time World War I began in 1914, the revolutionary movement had revived in Punjab and Bengal. In Bengal the movement, with a safe haven in the French base ofChandernagore,had sufficient strength to all but paralyze the state administration.

The earliest mention of a conspiracy for armed revolution in India appears inNixon's Report on Revolutionary Organization,which reported thatJatin Mukherjee(Bagha Jatin) andNaren Bhattacharyahad met with theCrown Prince of Germanyduring the latter's visit toCalcuttain 1912, and received assurances that he would receive arms and ammunitionAt the same time, an increasingly strongpan-Islamic movementbegan to develop, mainly in the North and North-West regions of India. At the onset of the war in 1914, members of this movement formed an important element of the conspiracy.

See also:Sinn Féin,Roger Casement,andJohn Devoy

At the time of thepartition of Bengal,Shyamji Krishna VarmafoundedIndia Housein London and received extensive support from notable expatriate Indians includingMadam Bhikaji Cama,Lala Lajpat Rai,S. R. Rana,andDadabhai Naoroji.The organization – ostensibly a residence for Indian students – in reality sought to promote nationalist opinion and pro-independence work. India House drew young radical activists likeM. L. Dhingra,V. D. Savarkar,V. N. Chatterjee,M. P. T. AcharyaandLala Har Dayal.It developed links with the revolutionary movement in India and nurtured it with arms, funds and propaganda. Authorities in India bannedThe Indian Sociologistand other literature published by the House as "seditious". Under V. D. Savarkar's leadership, the House rapidly developed into a centre for intellectual and political activism and a meeting-ground for radical revolutionaries among Indian students in Britain,earning it the moniker "The most dangerous organization outside India" fromValentine Chirol.In 1909 in London M. L. Dhingra fatally shotSir W. H. Curzon Wyllie,politicalaide-de-campto theSecretary of State for India.In the aftermath of the assassination, theMetropolitan Policeand theHome Officerapidly suppressedIndia House.Its leadership fled to Europe and to the United States. Some, like Chatterjee, moved to Germany; Har Dayal and many others moved toParis.

Organizations founded in the United States and inJapanemulated the example of London's India House.Krishna Varma nurtured close interactions withTurkishandEgyptiannationalists and withClan na Gaelin the United States. The joint efforts ofMohammed Barkatullah,S. L. JoshiandGeorge Freemanfounded the Pan-Aryan Association — modelled after Krishna Varma'sIndian Home Rule Society— in New York in 1906.Barkatullah himself had become closely associated with Krishna Varma during a previous stay in London, and his subsequent career in Japan put him at the heart of Indian political activities there.Myron Phelp, an acquaintance of Krishna Varma and an admirer ofSwami Vivekananda,founded an "India House" inManhattan,New York, in January 1908.Amidst a growing Indian student population, erstwhile members of the India House in London succeeded in extending the nationalist work across the Atlantic. TheGaelic Americanreprinted articles from theIndian Sociologist,while liberal press-laws allowed free circulation of theIndian Sociologist.Supporters could ship such nationalist literature and pamphlets freely across the world.New York increasingly became an important centre for the Indian movement, such thatFree Hindustan— a political revolutionary journal closely mirroring theIndian Sociologistand theGaelic Americanpublished byTaraknath Das—moved in 1908 fromVancouverandSeattleto New York. Das established extensive collaboration with theGaelic Americanwith help from George Freeman before it was proscribed in 1910 under British diplomatic pressure.This Irish collaboration with Indian revolutionaries led to some of the early but failed efforts to smuggle arms into India, including a 1908 attempt on board a ship called the SSMoraitiswhich sailed from New York for thePersian Gulf,before it was searched atSmyrna.TheIrish communitylater provided valuable intelligence,logistics,communication, media, and legal support to the German, Indian, and Irish conspirators. Those involved in this liaison, and later involved in the plot, included major Irish republicans and Irish-American nationalists likeJohn Devoy,Joseph McGarrity,Roger Casement,Éamon de Valera,Father Peter Yorkeand Larry de Lacey.These pre-war contacts effectively set up a network which the German foreign office tapped into as war began in Europe.

Ghadar Party

An immigrant Punjabi family in America.c.1900s

Main article:Ghadar Party

See also:Har Dayal,Sohan Singh Bhakna,andTarak Nath Das

Large-scale Indianimmigrationto thePacific coastofNorth Americatook place in the 20th-century, especially from Punjab, which faced aneconomic depression.TheCanadian governmentmet this influx with legislation aimed at limiting the entry ofSouth AsiansintoCanadaand at restricting the political rights of those already in the country. The Punjabi community had hitherto been an important loyal force for theBritish Empireand theCommonwealth.The community had expected that its commitment would be honored with the same welcome and rights which the British and colonial governments extended to British and white immigrants. The restrictive legislation fed growing discontent,protestsand anti-colonial sentiments within the community. Faced with increasingly difficult situations, the community began organizing itself into political groups. Many Punjabis also moved to the United States, but they encountered similar political and social problems.Meanwhile, India House and nationalist activism of Indian students had begun declining on the east coast of North America towards 1910, but activity gradually shifted west to San Francisco. The arrival at this time ofHar Dayalfrom Europe bridged the gap between the intellectual agitators in New York and the predominantly Punjabi labor workers and migrants in the west coast, and laid the foundations of theGhadar movement.

Ghadar di gunj,an early Ghadarite compilation ofnationalistandsocialistliterature, was banned in India in 1913.

The Ghadar Party, initially the 'Pacific Coast Hindustan Association', was formed in 1913 in the United States under the leadership ofHar Dayal,withSohan Singh Bhaknaas its president. It drew members from Indian immigrants, largely from Punjab.Many of its members were also from theUniversity of California at Berkeleyincluding Dayal,Tarak Nath Das,Kartar Singh SarabhaandV.G. Pingle.The party quickly gained support from Indian expatriates, especially in the United States, Canada and Asia. Ghadar meetings were held inLos Angeles,Oxford,Vienna,Washington, D.C.,andShanghai.

Ghadar's ultimate goal was to overthrowBritish colonial authority in Indiaby means of an armedrevolution.It viewed theCongress-ledmainstream movementfordominion statusas modest and its constitutional methods as soft. Ghadar's foremost strategy was to enticeIndian soldiersto revolt.To that end, in November 1913 Ghadar established theYugantar Ashrampress inSan Francisco.The press produced theHindustan Ghadarnewspaper and other nationalist literature.

Towards the end of 1913, the party established contact with prominent revolutionaries in India, includingRash Behari Bose.An Indian edition of theHindustan Ghadaressentially espoused the philosophies ofanarchismandrevolutionary terrorismagainst British interests in India. Political discontent and violence mounted in Punjab, and Ghadarite publications that reachedBombayfrom California were deemed seditious and banned by the Raj. These events, compounded by evidence of prior Ghadarite incitement in theDelhi-Lahore Conspiracyof 1912, led the British government to pressure the American State Department to suppress Indian revolutionary activities and Ghadarite literature, which emanated mostly from San Francisco.

Germany and the Berlin Committee

Main article:Berlin Committee

See also:Imperial Germany,Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg,Arthur Zimmermann,andFranz von Papen

With the onset ofWorld War I,an Indian revolutionary group called theBerlin Committee(later called the Indian Independence Committee) was formed in Germany. Its chiefarchitectswereC. R. PillaiandV. N. Chatterjee.The committee drew members from Indian students and erstwhile members of the India House includingAbhinash Bhattacharya,Dr. Abdul Hafiz, Padmanabhan Pillai,A. R. Pillai,M. P. T. Acharyaand Gopal Paranjape. Germany had earlier opened theIntelligence Bureau for the Eastheaded by archaeologist and historianMax von Oppenheim.Oppenheim andArthur Zimmermann,the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire, actively supported the Berlin committee, which had links withJatin Mukherjee— aJugantar Partymember and at the time one of the leading revolutionary figures in Bengal.The office of the 25-member committee at No.38 Wielandstrasse was accorded full embassy status.

GermanChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollwegauthorized German activity against British India as World War I broke out in September 1914. Germany decided to actively support the Ghadarite plans.Using the links established between Indian andIrishresidents in Germany (including Irish nationalist and poetRoger Casement) and the German Foreign Office, Oppenheim tapped into the Indo-Irish network in the United States. Har Dayal helped organise the Ghadar party before his arrest in the United States in 1914. He jumped bail and made his way to Switzerland, leaving the party and its publications in the charge ofRam Chandra Bharadwaj,who became the Ghadar president in 1914. The Germanconsulatein San Francisco was tasked to make contact with Ghadar leaders in California. Anavallieutenantby the name of Wilhelm von Brincken with the help of the Indian nationalistjournalistTarak Nath Dasand an intermediary by the name of Charles Lattendorf established links with Bharadwaj. Meanwhile, in Switzerland the Berlin committee was able to convince Har Dayal that organising a revolution in India was feasible.

Conspiracy

See also:Komagata Maru incidentandIngress into India Ordinance, 1914

PunjabiSikhsaboard theKomagata Maruin Vancouver'sEnglish Bay,23 May 1914. The Canadian government banned the passengers from landing in Canada and the ship was forced to return to India. The events surrounding theKomagata Maruincident served as a catalyst for the Ghadarite cause.

In May 1914, the Canadian government refused to allow the 400 Indian passengers of the shipKomagata Maruto disembark atVancouver.The voyage had been planned byGurdit Singh Sandhuas an attempt to circumvent Canadian exclusion laws that effectively prevented Indian immigration. Before the ship reached Vancouver, German radio announced its approach, andBritish Columbianauthorities prepared to prevent the passengers from entering Canada. The ship was escorted out of Vancouver by theprotected cruiserHMCSRainbowand returned to India.

The incident became a focal point for the Indian community in Canada, which rallied in support of the passengers and against the government's policies. After a two-month legal battle, 24 of the passengers were allowed to immigrate. On reaching Calcutta, the passengers were detained under theDefence of India ActatBudge Budgeby the British Indian government, which tried to forcibly transport them to Punjab. This caused rioting at Budge Budge, resulting in fatalities on both sides.Ghadar leaders like Barkatullah andTarak Nath Dasused the inflammatory passions surrounding theKomagata Maruevent as a rallying point and successfully brought many disaffected Indians in North America into the party's fold.

TheBritish Indian Army,meanwhile, contributed significantly to theAlliedwar effort in World War I. Consequently, a reduced force, an estimated 15,000 troops in late 1914, was stationed in India.It was in this scenario that concrete plans for organisinguprisingsin India were made.

In September 1913 a Ghadarite named Mathra Singh visitedShanghaito promote the nationalist cause amongst Indians there, followed by a visit to India in January 1914, when Singh circulated Ghadar literature amongst Indian soldiers through clandestine sources before leaving forHong Kong.Singh reported that the situation in India was favorable for revolution.

By October 1914, many Ghadarites had returned to India and were assigned tasks like contacting Indian revolutionaries and organizations, spreading propaganda and literature, and arranging to get arms into the country.The first group of 60 Ghadarites led by Jawala Singh left San Francisco forCantonaboard the steamshipKoreaon 29 August. They were to sail on to India, where they would be provided with arms to organise a revolt. At Canton, more Indians joined, and the group, now numbering about 150, sailed for Calcutta on a Japanese vessel. They were to be joined by more Ghadarites arriving in smaller groups. During September and October, about 300 Indians left for India in various ships like the SSSiberia,Chinyo Maru,China,Manchuria,SS Tenyo Maru,SSMongoliaandSS Shinyō Maru.Although theKorea's party was uncovered and arrested on their arrival at Calcutta, a successful underground network was established between the United States and India, through Shanghai,Swatow,andSiam.Tehl Singh, the Ghadar operative in Shanghai, is believed to have spent $30,000 on helping revolutionaries to get into India.The Ghadarites in India were able to establish contact with sympathisers in theBritish Indian Armyand build networks with underground revolutionary groups.

East Asia

Efforts had begun as early as 1911 to procure arms and smuggle them into India.When a clear idea of the conspiracy emerged, more earnest and elaborate plans were made to obtain arms and to enlist international support.Herambalal Gupta,who had arrived in the United States in 1914 at theBerlin Committee's directive, took over the leadership of American wing of the conspiracy after the failure of the SSKoreamission. Gupta immediately began efforts to obtain men and arms. While men were in plentiful supply with more and more Indians coming forward to join the Ghadarite cause, obtaining arms for the uprising proved to be more difficult.

The revolutionaries started negotiations with the Chinese government through James Dietrich, who heldSun Yat-sen's power of attorney, to buy a millionrifles.However, the deal fell through when they realized that the weapons offered were obsoleteflintlocksandmuzzle loaders.From China, Gupta went to Japan to try to procure arms and to enlist Japanese support for the Indian independence movement. However, he was forced into hiding within 48 hours when he came to know that the Japanese authorities planned to hand him over to the British.Later reports indicated he was protected at this time byToyama Mitsuru,right-wing political leader and founder of theGenyoshanationalist secret society.

The IndianNobel laureateRabindranath Tagore,a strong supporter ofPan-Asianism,met Japanese premierCount TerauchiandCount Okuma,a former premier, in an attempt to enlist support for the Ghadarite movement.Tarak Nath Dasurged Japan to align with Germany, on the grounds that American war preparation could actually be directed against Japan.Later in 1915,Abani Mukherji— a Jugantar activist and associate ofRash Behari Bose— is also known to have tried unsuccessfully to arrange for arms from Japan.The ascendancy ofLi Yuanhongto Chinese Presidency in 1916 led to negotiations reopening through his former private secretary, who resided in the United States at the time. In exchange for allowing arms shipments to India through China, China was offered German military assistance and the rights to 10% of any material shipped to India via China. The negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful due toSun Yat-sen's opposition to an alliance with Germany.

Europe and United States

Main article:Annie Larsen affair

See also:Black Tom explosion

Franz von Papen,later theChancellor of Germanybriefly beforeHitler's rise to power. Papen was key in organisingthe arms shipments.

The Indian nationalists thenin Parishad, with Egyptian revolutionaries, made plans to assassinateLord Kitcheneras early as 1911, but did not implement them.After the war began, this plan was revived, and Har Dayal's close associateGobind Behari LalvisitedLiverpoolin March 1915 from New York to put this plan in action. He may also have intended at this time to bomb the docks in Liverpool. However, these plans ultimately failed.Chattopadhyayaalso attempted at this time to revive links with the remnants ofIndia Housethat survived in London, and through Swiss, German and English sympathisers then resident in Britain. Among them were Meta Brunner (a Swiss woman), Vishna Dube (an Indian man) and his common law German wife Anna Brandt, and Hilda Howsin (an English woman in Yorkshire). Chattopadhyaya's letters were however traced by the censors, leading to the arrest of the cell members.Among other plans that were considered at this time were conspiracies in June 1915 to assassinate Foreign SecretarySir Edward Greyand War MinisterLord Kitchener.In addition, they also intended to target French PresidentRaymond Poincaréand Prime MinisterRené Viviani,KingVictor Emmanuel III of Italyand his prime ministerAntonio Salandra.These plans were coordinated with theItalian anarchists,with explosives manufactured in Italy. Barkatullah, by now in Europe and working with the Berlin Committee, arranged for these explosives to be sent to the German consulate in Zurich, from where they were expected to be taken charge of by an Italian anarchist named Bertoni. However, British intelligence was able to infiltrate this plot, and successfully pressed Swiss police to expel Abdul Hafiz.

In the United States, an elaborate plan and arrangement was made to ship arms from the country and from theFar Eastthrough Shanghai,Batavia,BangkokandBurma.Even while Herambalal Gupta was on his mission in China and Japan, other plans were explored to ship arms from the United States and East Asia. The German high command decided early on that assistance to the Indian groups would be pointless unless given on a substantial scale.In October 1914, German Vice Consul E.H von Schack in San Francisco approved the arrangements for the funds and armaments. The German military attaché CaptainFranz von Papenacquired $200,000 worth of small arms and ammunition throughKruppagents, and arranged for its shipment to India through San Diego, Java, and Burma. The arsenal included 8,080Springfield riflesofSpanish–American Warvintage, 2,400Springfield carbines,410Hotchkissrepeating rifles,4,000,000cartridges,500Colt revolverswith 100,000 cartridges, and 250Mauser pistolsalong with ammunition.TheschoonerAnnie Larsenand the sailing ship SSHenry Swere hired to ship the arms out of the United States and transfer it to theSSMaverick.The ownership of ships were hidden under a massive smokescreen involving fake companies and oil business in south-east Asia. For the arms shipment itself, a successful cover was set up to lead British agents to believe that the arms were for the warring factions of theMexican Civil War.This ruse was successful enough that the rival Villa faction offered $15,000 to divert the shipment to a Villa-controlled port.

Although the shipment was meant to supply the mutiny planned for February 1915, it was not dispatched until June. By then the conspiracy had been uncovered in India, and its major leaders had been arrested or gone into hiding. The shipment itself failed when disastrous co-ordination prevented a successful rendezvous offSocorro Islandwith theMaverick.The plot had already been infiltrated by British intelligence through Indian and Irish agents linked closely with the conspiracy. Upon her return toHoquiam, Washingtonafter several failed attempts, the cargo of theAnnie Larsenwas seized by US customs.The cargo was sold at auction despite German Ambassador CountJohann von Bernstoff's attempts to take possession, insisting it was meant forGerman East Africa.TheHindu–German Conspiracy Trialopened in 1917 in the United States on charges of gun running and at the time was one of the lengthiest and most expensive trials in American legal history. Franz von Papen attempted to sabotage rail lines in Canada and destroy theWelland Canal.He also attempted to supply rifles and dynamite to Sikhs in British Columbia for blasting railway bridges. These plots in Canada did not materialise. Among other events in the United States that have been linked to the conspiracy is theBlack Tom explosionwhen, on the night of 30 July 1916, saboteurs blew up nearly 2 million tons of arms and ammunition at the Black Tom terminal at New York harbour, awaiting shipment in support of the British war effort. Although blamed solely on German agents at the time, later investigations by the Directorate of Naval Intelligence in the aftermath of theAnnie Larsenincident unearthed links between the Black Tom explosion and Franz von Papen, the Irish movement, the Indian movement as well as Communist elements active in the United States.

Pan-Indian mutiny

Main article:Ghadar Conspiracy

See also:1915 Singapore MutinyandIngress into India Ordinance, 1914

By the start of 1915, many Ghadarites (nearly 8,000 in the Punjab province alone by some estimates) had returned to India.However, they were not assigned a central leadership and begun their work on anad hocbasis. Although some were rounded up by the police on suspicion, many remained at large and began establishing contacts with garrisons in major cities likeLahore,FerozepurandRawalpindi.Various plans had been made to attack the military arsenal at Mian Meer, near Lahore and initiate a general uprising on 15 November 1914. In another plan, a group of Sikh soldiers, themanjha jatha,planned to start a mutiny in the 23rd Cavalry at the Lahore cantonment on 26 November. A further plan called for a mutiny to start on 30 November from Ferozepur under Nidham Singh.In Bengal, the Jugantar, throughJatin Mukherjee,established contacts with the garrison atFort Williamin Calcutta.In August 1914, Mukherjee's group had seized a large consignment of guns and ammunition from the Rodda company, a major gun manufacturing firm in India. In December 1914, several politically motivatedarmed robberiesto obtain funds were carried out in Calcutta. Mukherjee kept in touch with Rash Behari Bose through Kartar Singh and V.G. Pingle. These rebellious acts, which were until then organised separately by different groups, were brought into a common umbrella under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose in North India, V. G. Pingle inMaharashtra,andSachindranath SanyalinBenares.A plan was made for a unified general uprising, with the date set for 21 February 1915.

February 1915

The public executions of convicted mutineers atOutram Road,Singapore, c. March 1915

In India, unaware of the delayed shipment and confident of being able to rally the Indiansepoy,the plot for the mutiny took its final shape. Under the plans, the 23rd Cavalry in Punjab was to seize weapons and kill their officers while on roll call on 21 February.This was to be followed by mutiny in the 26th Punjab, which was to be the signal for the uprising to begin, resulting in an advance on Delhi and Lahore. The Bengal cell was to look for thePunjab Mailentering theHowrah Stationthe next day (which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized) and was to strike immediately. However, Punjab CIDsuccessfully infiltratedthe conspiracy at the last moment through a sepoy namedKirpal Singh.Sensing that their plans had been compromised, D-Day was brought forward to 19 February, but even these plans found their way to the intelligence.Plans for revolt by the130th Baluchi RegimentatRangoonon 21 January were thwarted. Attempted revolts in the 26th Punjab, 7th Rajput, 130th Baluch, 24th Jat Artillery and other regiments were suppressed. Mutinies inFirozpur,Lahore,andAgrawere also suppressed and many key leaders of the conspiracy were arrested, although some managed to escape or evade arrest. A last-ditch attempt was made by Kartar Singh and V. G. Pingle to trigger a mutiny in the 12th Cavalry regiment atMeerut.Kartar Singh escaped from Lahore, but was arrested inVaranasi,and V. G. Pingle was apprehended in Meerut. Mass arrests followed as the Ghadarites were rounded up in Punjab and theCentral Provinces.Rash Behari Bose escaped from Lahore and in May 1915 fled to Japan. Other leaders, includingGiani Pritam Singh,Swami Satyananda Puriand others fled toThailand.

On 15 February, the5th Light Infantrystationed atSingaporewas among the few unitsto mutinysuccessfully. Nearly eight hundred and fifty of its troops mutinied on the afternoon of the 15th, along with nearly a hundred men of theMalay States Guides.This mutiny lasted almost seven days, and resulted in the deaths of 47 British soldiers and local civilians. The mutineers also released the interned crew of theSMSEmden,who were asked by the mutineers to join them but refused and actually took up arms and defended the barracks after the mutineers had left (sheltering some British refugees as well) until the prison camp was relieved.The mutiny was suppressed only after French, Russian and Japanese ships arrived with reinforcements.Of 200 people tried at Singapore, 47 mutineers were shot in public executions,and the rest were transported for life to East Africa, or given jail terms ranging between seven and twenty years.In all, 800 mutineers were either shot, imprisoned or exiled.Some historians, includingHew Strachan,argue that although Ghadar agents operated within the Singapore unit, the mutiny was isolated and not linked to the conspiracy.Others deem this as instigated by theSilk Letter Movementwhich became intricately related to the Ghadarite conspiracy.

Christmas Day plot

Main articles:German plotandBagha Jatin

See also:Jugantar

Bagha Jatin,wounded after his final battle at the banks of Burha Balang, offBalasore.His enterprise was deemed one of the most significant threats to British India in autumn 1915.

In April 1915, unaware of the failure of theAnnie Larsenplan, Papen arranged, throughKrupp's American representative Hans Tauscher, a second shipment of arms, consisting of 7,300 Springfield rifles, 1,930.3 pistols,tenGatling gunsand nearly 3,000,000 cartridges.The arms were to be shipped in mid June toSurabayain theEast Indieson theHolland AmericansteamshipSS Djember.However, the intelligence network operated by Courtenay Bennett, theConsul Generalto New York, was able to trace the cargo to Tauscher in New York and passed the information on to the company, thwarting these plans as well.In the meantime, even after the February plot had been scuttled, the plans for an uprising continued in Bengal through the Jugantar cohort underJatin Mukherjee(Bagha Jatin). German agents in Thailand and Burma, most prominently Emil and Theodor Helferrich— brothers of the German Finance ministerKarl Helfferich— established links with Jugantar throughJitendranath Lahiriin March that year. In April, Jatin's chief lieutenantNarendranath Bhattacharyamet with the Helfferichs and was informed of the expected arrival of theMaverickwith arms. Although these were originally intended for Ghadar use, the Berlin Committee modified the plans, to have arms shipped into India by the eastern coast of India, through Hatia on theChittagongcoast,Raimangalin theSundarbansandBalasoreinOrissa,instead ofKarachias originally decided.From the coast of theBay of Bengal,these would be collected by Jatin's group. The date of insurrection was fixed for Christmas Day 1915, earning the name "The Christmas Day Plot".Jatin estimated that he would be able to win over the 14thRajput Regimentin Calcutta and cut the line toMadrasat Balasore and thus take control of Bengal.Jugantar also received funds (estimated to be Rs 33,000 between June and August 1915) from the Helfferich brothers through a fictitious firm in Calcutta.However, it was at this time that the details of theMaverickand Jugantar plans were leaked to Beckett, the British Consul at Batavia, by a defecting Baltic-German agent under the alias "Oren".TheMaverickwas seized, while in India, police destroyed the underground movement in Calcutta as an unaware Jatin proceeded according to plan to the Bay of Bengal coast inBalasore.He was followed there by Indian police and on 9 September 1915, he and a group of five revolutionaries armed withMauserpistols made a last stand on the banks of the river Burhablanga. Seriously wounded in a gun battle that lasted seventy five minutes, Jatin died the next day in Balasore.

To provide the Bengal group enough time to capture Calcutta and to prevent reinforcements from being rushed in, a mutiny coinciding with Jugantar's Christmas Day insurrection was planned for Burma with arms smuggled in from neutral Thailand.Thailand (Siam) was a strong base for the Ghadarites, and plans for rebellion inBurma(which was a part ofBritish Indiaat the time) had been proposed by the Ghadar party as early as October 1914, which called for Burma to be used as a base for subsequent advance into India.ThisSiam-Burma planwas finally concluded in January 1915. Ghadarites from branches in China and United States, including Atma Ram, Thakar Singh, and Banta Singh from Shanghai and Santokh Singh and Bhagwan Singh from San Francisco, attempted to infiltrateBurma Military Policein Thailand, which was composed mostly of Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims. Early in 1915, Atma Ram had also visited Calcutta and Punjab and linked up with the revolutionary underground there, includingJugantar.Herambalal Guptaand the German consul at Chicago arranged to have German operatives George Paul Boehm, Henry Schult, and Albert Wehde sent to Siam throughManilawith the purpose of training the Indians. Santokh Singh returned to Shanghai tasked to send two expeditions, one to reach the Indian border viaYunnanand the other to penetrate upper Burma and join with revolutionary elements there.The Germans, while in Manila, also attempted to transfer the arms cargo of two German ships, theSachsenand theSuevia,to Siam in aschoonerseeking refuge at Manila harbour. However, US customs stopped these attempts. In the meantime, with the help of the German Consul to Thailand Remy, the Ghadarite established a training headquarters in the jungles near the Thai-Burma border for Ghadarites arriving from China and Canada. German Consul General at Shanghai, Knipping, sent three officers of thePekingEmbassy Guard for training and in addition arranged for a Norwegian agent inSwatowto smuggle arms through.However, the Thai Police high command, which was largely British, discovered these plans and Indian police infiltrated the plot through an Indian secret agent who was revealed the details by theAustrianchargé d'affaires.Thailand, although officially neutral, was allied closely with Britain and British India. On 21 July, the newly arrived British Minister Herbert Dering presented Foreign Minister Prince Devawongse with the request for arrest and extradition of Ghadarites identified by the Indian agent, ultimately resulting in the arrest of leading Ghadarites in August. Only a single raid into Burma was launched by six Ghadarites, who were captured and later hanged.

Also to coincide with the proposed Jugantar insurrection in Calcutta was a planned raid on thepenal colonyin theAndaman Islandswith a German volunteer force raised from East Indies. The raid would release the political prisoners, helping to raise an expeditionary Indian force that would threaten the Indian coast.The plan was proposed byVincent Kraft,a German planter in Batavia who had been wounded fighting in France. It was approved by the foreign office on 14 May 1915, after consultation with the Indian committee, and the raid was planned forChristmas Day1915 by a force of nearly one hundred Germans. Knipping made plans for shipping arms to the Andaman islands. However, Vincent Kraft was adouble agent,and leaked details of Knipping's plans to British intelligence. His own bogus plans for the raid were in the meantime revealed to Beckett by "Oren",but given the successive failures of the Indo-German plans, the plans for the operations were abandoned on the recommendations of both the Berlin Committee and Knipping.

Afghanistan

Main articles:Niedermayer–Hentig ExpeditionandProvisional Government of India

See also:Silk Letter Conspiracy,Oskar von Niedermayer,andWerner Otto von Hentig

Mahendra Pratap (centre) at the head ofthe Missionwith the German and Turkish delegates in Kabul, 1915. Seated to his right isWerner Otto von Hentig.

Efforts were directed at drawing Afghanistan into the war on the side of theCentral Powers,which it was hoped would incite a nationalist or pan-Islamic uprising in India and destabilise the British recruiting grounds in Punjab and across India. After Russia's defeat in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, her influence had declined, and it was Afghanistan that was at the time seen by Britain as the only power in the sub-continent capable of directly threatening India.

In the spring of 1915, anIndo-German expeditionwas sent to Afghanistan via the overland route through Persia. Led by the exiled Indian princeRaja Mahendra Pratap,this mission sought to invite the Afghan EmirHabibullah Khanto break with Britain, declare his independence, join the war on the Central side, and invade British India. It managed to evade the considerable Anglo-Russian efforts that were directed at intercepting it in Mesopotamia and in the Persian deserts before it reached Afghanistan in August 1915.In Afghanistan, it was joined in Kabul by members of the pan-Islamic groupDarul Uloom Deobandled by MaulanaUbaidullah Sindhi.This group had left India for Kabul at the beginning of the war while another group underMahmud al-Hasanmade its way toHijaz,where they hoped to seek support from theAfghan Emir,theOttoman EmpireandImperial Germanyfor a pan-Islamic insurrection beginning in thetribal beltofnorth-west India.The Indo-German mission pressed Emir Habibullah to break from his neutral stance and open diplomatic relations with Germany, eventually hoping to rally the Emir to the German war effort.Habibullah Khan vacillated on the mission's proposals through much of the winter of 1915, hoping to maintain his neutral stance till the course of the war offered a concrete picture. However, the mission opened at this time secret negotiations with the pro-German elements in the Emir's court and advisory council, including his brother Nasrullah Khan and sonAmanullah Khan.It found support among Afghan intellectuals, religious leaders and the Afghan press which rallied with increasingly anti-British and pro-Central articles. By 1916 the Raj was forced to intercept copies of the Afghan newspaperSiraj al Akhbarsent to India.It raised to the Emir a threat of a coup d'état in his country and unrest among his tribesmen, who were beginning to see him as subservient to British authority even as Turkey called for a pan-Islamic Jihad.

In December 1915, the Indian members founded theProvisional Government of India,which it was hoped would weigh on Habibullah's advisory council to aid India and force the Emir's hands. In January 1916, the Emir approved a draft treaty with Germany to buy time. However, the Central campaign in the Middle East faltered at around this time, ending hopes that an overland route through Persia could be secured for aid and assistance to Afghanistan. The German members of the mission left Afghanistan in June 1916, ending the German intrigues in the country.Nonetheless, Mahendra Pratap and his Provisional Government stayed behind, attempting to establish links with Japan, Republican China and Tsarist Russia. After the Russian revolution, Pratap opened negotiations with the Soviet Union, visiting Trotsky in Red Petrograd in 1918, and Lenin in Moscow in 1919 and he visited the Kaiser in Berlin in 1918.He pressed for a joint Soviet-German offensive through Afghanistan into India. This was considered by the Soviets for some time after the 1919 coup in Afghanistan in which Amanullah Khan was instated as the Emir and thethird Anglo-Afghan warbegan. Pratap may also have influenced the "Kalmyk Project",a Soviet plan to invade India through Tibet and the Himalayan buffer states.

Middle East

See also:Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Another arm of the conspiracy was directed at the Indian troops who were serving in Middle East. In the Middle Eastern theatre, members of the Berlin Committee, includingHar DayalandM. P. T. Acharya,were sent on missions to Baghdad and Syria in the summer of 1915, tasked with infiltrating the Indian Expeditionary Force in southern Mesopotamia and Egypt and to attempt to assassinate British officers.The Indian effort was divided into two groups, one consisting of a Bengali revolutionary P.N. Dutt (alias Dawood Ali Khan) andPandurang Khankoje.This group arrived at Bushire, where they worked withWilhelm Wassmussand distributed nationalist and revolutionary literature among Indian troops in Mesopotamia and Persia. The other group, working with Egyptian nationalists, attempted to block theSuez Canal.These groups carried out successful clandestine work in spreading nationalist literature and propaganda amongst the Indian troops in Mesopotamia, and on one occasion even bombed an officer'smess.Nationalist work also extended at this time to recruiting Indian prisoners of war inConstantinople,Bushire,andKut-al-Amara.M. P. T. Acharya's own works were directed at forming the Indian National Volunteer Corps with the help of Indian civilians in Turkey, and to recruiting Indian prisoners of war. He is further known to have worked along withWilhelm Wassmussin Bushire amongst Indian troops.The efforts were, however, ultimately hampered by differences between the Berlin committee members who were predominantly Hindus, and Indian revolutionaries already in Turkey who were largely Muslims.Further, the Egyptian nationalists distrusted the Berlin Committee, which was seen by the former as a German instrument.

Nonetheless, in culmination of these efforts, Indian prisoners of war from France, Turkey, Germany, andMesopotamia—especiallyBasra,Bushehr,andfrom Kut al Amara—were recruited, raising the Indian Volunteer Corps that fought with Turkish forces on many fronts.The Deobandis, led byAmba Prasad Sufi,attempted to organise incursions to the western border of India from Persia, throughBalochistan,to Punjab. Amba Prasad was joined during the war by Kedar Nath Sondhi, Rishikesh Letha and Amin Chaudhry. These Indian troops were involved in the capture of the frontier city of Karman, Uzbekistan and the detention of the British consul there, and also successfully harassedPercy Sykes' Persian campaign against the Baluchi and Persian tribal chiefs who were aided by the Germans.TheAga Khan's brother was killed while fighting the rebels.The rebels also successfully harassed British forces inSistanin Afghanistan, confining them to Karamshir in Balochistan, and later moving towards Karachi. Some reports indicate they took control of the coastal towns of Gawador and Dawar. The Baluchi chief of Bampur, having declared his independence from British rule, also joined the Ghadarites. But the war in Europe turned for the worse for Turkey andBaghdadwas captured by the British forces. The Ghadarite forces, their supply lines starved, were finally dislodged. They retreated to regroup at Shiraz, where they were finally defeated after a bitter fight during the siege ofShiraz.Amba Prasad Sufi was killed in this battle, but the Ghadarites carried on guerrilla warfare along with Iranian partisans until 1919. By the end of 1917, divisions had begun appearing between the Ghadar Party in America on the one hand, and the Berlin Committee and the German high command on the other. Reports from German agents working with Ghadarites in Southeast Asia and the United States clearly indicated to the European wing a significant element of disorganisation, as well as unrealism in gauging public mood and support within the Ghadarite organisation. The failure of the February plot, the lack of bases in Southeast Asia following China's participation in the war in 1917, and the problems of supporting a Southeast Asian operation through the sea stemmed the plans significantly. Infiltration by British agents, change in American attitude and stance, and the changing fortunes of the war meant the massive conspiracy for revolution within India never succeeded.

Counter-intelligence

Main article:British counter-intelligence against the Indian revolutionary movement during World War I

British intelligence began to note and track outlines and nascent ideas of the conspiracy as early as 1911.Incidents like the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy and theKomagata Maruincident had already alerted the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the existence of a large-scale network and plans for pan-Indian militant unrest. Measures were taken which focussed on Bengal—the seat of the most intense revolutionary terrorism at the time—and on Punjab, which was uncovered as a strong and militant base in the wake ofKomagata Maru.Har Dayal's extant group was found to have strong links with Rash Behari Bose, and were "cleaned up" in the wake of the Delhi bomb case.

In Asia

See also:Charles Tegart,Oren,Vincent Kraft,andKirpal Singh

At the outbreak of the war, Punjab CID sent teams to Hong Kong to intercept and infiltrate the returning Ghadarites, who often made little effort to hide their plans and objectives.These teams were successful in uncovering details of the full scale of the conspiracy, and in discovering Har Dayal's whereabouts. Immigrants returning to India were double checked against a list of revolutionaries.

In Punjab, the CID, although aware of possible plans for unrest, was not successful in infiltrating the conspiracy for the mutiny until February 1915. A dedicated force was formed, headed by the Chief of Punjab CID, and including amongst its membersLiaqat Hayat Khan(later head of Punjab CID himself). In February that year, the CID was successful in recruiting the services of Kirpal Singh to infiltrate the plan. Singh, who had a Ghadarite cousin serving in the 23rd Cavalry, was able to infiltrate the leadership, being assigned to work in his cousin's regiment. Singh was soon under suspicion of being a spy, but was able to pass on the information regarding the date and scale of the uprising to British Indian intelligence.As the date for the mutiny approached, a desperate Rash Behari Bose brought forward the mutiny day to the evening of 19 February, which was discovered by Kirpal Singh on the very day. No attempts were made by the Ghadarites to restrain him, and he rushed to inform Liaqat Hayat Khan of the change of plans. Ordered back to his station to signal when the revolutionaries had assembled, Singh was detained by the would-be mutineers, but managed to escape under the cover of answering the call of nature.

The role of German or Baltic-German double-agents, especially the agent named"Oren",was also important in infiltrating and preempting the plans for autumn rebellions in Bengal in 1915 and in as scuttlingBagha Jatin's winter plans that year. Another source, the German double agentVincent Kraft,a planter fromBatavia,passed information about arms shipments from Shanghai to British agents after being captured. Maps of the Bengal coast were found on Kraft when he was initially arrested and he volunteered the information that these were the intended landing sites for German arms.Kraft later fled through Mexico to Japan where he was last known to be at the end of the war.Later efforts byMahendra Pratap's Provisional Government in Kabul were also compromised byHerambalal Guptaafter he defected in 1918 and passed on information to Indian intelligence.

Europe and the Middle East

See also:John Wallinger,Indian Political Intelligence Office,andEast Persia Cordon

By the time the war broke out, theIndian Political Intelligence Office,headed byJohn Wallinger,had expanded into Europe. In scale this office was larger than those operated by the British War Office, approaching the European intelligence network of theSecret Service Bureau.This network already had agents in Switzerland against possible German intrigues. After the outbreak of the war Wallinger, under the guise of an officer of the British General Headquarters, proceeded to France where he operated from Paris, working with the French political police, theSûreté.Among Wallinger's recruits in the network wasSomerset Maugham,who was recruited in 1915 and used his cover as an author to visit Geneva without Swiss interference.

Among other enterprises, the European intelligence network attempted to eliminate some of the Indian leaders in Europe. A British agent named Donald Gullick was dispatched to assassinateVirendranath Chattopadhyayawhile the latter was on his way to Geneva to meetMahendra Pratapto offer himKaiser Wilhelm II's invitation. It is said that Somerset Maugham based several of his stories on his first-hand experiences, modelling the character ofJohn Ashendenafter himself and Chandra Lal after Virendranath. The short story "Giulia Lazzari" is a blend of Gullick's attempts to assassinate Virendranath andMata Hari's story.Winston Churchillreportedly advised Maugham to burn 14 other stories.

TheCzechrevolutionary network in Europe also had a role in uncoveringBagha Jatin's plans. The network was in touch with the members in the United States, and may have also been aware of and involved in the uncovering of the earlier plots.The American network, headed byE. V. Voska,was a counter-espionage network of nearly 80 members who, asHabsburgsubjects, were presumed to support Germany, but were involved in spying on German and Austrian diplomats. Voska had begun working withGuy Gaunt,who headedCourtenay Bennett's intelligence network, at the outbreak of the war and on learning of the plot from the Czech European network, passed on the information to Gaunt and toTomáš Masarykwho further passed on the information the American authorities.

In the Middle East, British counter-intelligence was directed at preserving the loyalty of the Indian sepoy in the face of Turkish propaganda and the concept ofThe Caliph's Jihad,while a particularly significant effort was directed at intercepting theKabul Mission.TheEast Persian Cordonwas established in July 1915 in theSistanprovince of Persia to prevent the Germans from crossing into Afghanistan, and to protect British supply caravans inSarhadfrom Damani, Reki and KurdishBaluchitribal raiders who may have been tempted by German gold. Among the commanders of the Sistan force wasReginald Dyerwho led it between March and October 1916.

United States

See also:W. C. Hopkinson

In the United States, the conspiracy was successfully infiltrated by British intelligence through Irish and Indian channels. The activities of theGhadaron the Pacific coast were noted byW. C. Hopkinson,who was born and raised in India and spoke fluent Hindi. Initially Hopkinson had been despatched from Calcutta to keep the Indian Police informed about the doings ofTaraknath Das. The Home department of the British Indian government had begun the task of actively tracking Indian seditionists on theEast Coastas early as 1910.

Francis Cunliffe-Owen

Francis Cunliffe Owen, the officer heading the Home Office agency in New York, had become thoroughly acquainted withGeorge Freemanalias Fitzgerald andMyron Phelps,the famous New York advocate, as members of theClan-na-Gael.Owens' efforts were successful in thwarting the SSMoraitisplan.TheGhadar Partywas incidentally established after Irish Republicans, sensing infiltration, encouraged formation of an exclusively Indian society.

Following this, several approaches were adopted, including infiltration through an Indian national named Bela Singh who successfully set up a network of agents passing on information to Hopkinson, and through the use of the famous AmericanPinkerton'sdetective agency.Bela Singh was later murdered in India in the 1930s. Hopkinson was assassinated in a Vancouver courthouse by a Ghadarite namedMewa Singh,in October, 1914. Charles Lamb, an Irish double agent, is said to have passed on the majority of the information that compromised theAnnie Larsenaffair, and ultimately helped the construction of the prosecution. An Indian operative, codenamed "C"and described most likely to have been the adventurous Chandra Kanta Chakravarty (later the chief prosecution witness in the trial), also passed on the details of the conspiracy to British and American intelligence.

Trials

Main articles:Lahore Conspiracy trialandHindu–German Conspiracy Trial

The conspiracy led to several trials in India, most famous among them theLahore Conspiracy trial,which opened in Lahore in April 1915 in the aftermath of the failed February mutiny. Other trials included theBenares,Shimla,Delhi, andFerozepurconspiracy cases, and the trials of those arrested at Budge Budge.At Lahore, a special tribunal was constituted under theDefence of India Act 1915and a total of 291 conspirators were put on trial. Of these 42 were awarded the death sentence, 114transported for life,and 93 awarded varying terms of imprisonment. Several of these were sent to theCellular Jailin theAndaman Islands.Forty two defendants in the trial were acquitted. The Lahore trial directly linked the plans made in United States and the February mutiny plot. Following the conclusion of the trial, diplomatic efforts to destroy the Indian revolutionary movement in the United States and to bring its members to trial increased considerably.

In the United States, theHindu–German Conspiracy Trialcommenced in the District Court in San Francisco on 12 November 1917 following the uncovering of the Annie Larsen affair. One hundred and five people participated, including members of the Ghadar Party, the former German Consul-General and Vice-Consul, and other members of staff of the German consulate in San Francisco. The trial itself lasted from 20 November 1917 to 24 April 1918. The last day of the trial was notable for the sensational assassination in a packed courtroom of the chief accused,Ram Chandra,by a fellow defendant, Ram Singh, who believed he was a spy for the British. Singh himself was immediately shot dead by aUS Marshal.

In May 1917, a group of Indian nationalists of the Ghadar Party were indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to form a military enterprise against Britain. In later years the proceedings were criticised as being largely ashow trialdesigned to appease theBritish government.The jury during the trial was carefully selected to exclude any Irish person with republican views or associations.The trial lasted from November 20, 1917, to April 24, 1918, and resulted in the convictions of 29 people, including 14 Indian nationalists. British colonial authorities hoped the conviction of the Indians would result in their deportation back to India. Had the nationalists been deported to India, they would've faced much harsher sentences, including execution. In contrast to the mass executions in India, the Indian nationalists convicted in the San Francisco trial received prison terms ranged from 30 days to 22 months, as they faced far less serious charges of violating U.S. neutrality laws.

Strong public support in favour of the Indians, especially the revived Anglophobic sentiments following the provisions of theTreaty of Versailleswhich were perceived as being overtly favorable towards Britain, allowed the Ghadarite movement to be revived despite British concerns.

Impact

Main article:Impact of the Hindu–German Conspiracy

The conspiracy had a significant impact on Britain's policies, both within the empire and in international relations.The outlines and plans for the nascent ideas of the conspiracy were noted and tracked by British intelligence as early as 1911.Alarmed at the agile organisation, which repeatedly reformed in different parts of the country despite being subdued in others, the chief of Indian Intelligence Sir Charles Cleveland was forced to warn that the idea and attempts at pan-Indian revolutions were spreading through India "like some hidden fire".A massive, concerted, and coordinated effort was required to subdue the movement. Attempts were made in 1914 to prevent the naturalisation of Tarak Nath Das as an American citizen, while successful pressure was applied to have Har Dayal interned.

Political impact

Main articles:Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms,Rowlatt Act,Rowlatt Committee,andAmritsar Massacre

See also:Defence of India Act 1915

The conspiracy, an important set of events in the Indian independence movement, according to the British Indian Government's own evaluation at the time, as well as those of several contemporary and modern historians, and it was one of the significant threats faced by the Raj in the second decade of the 20th century.

Amid the British war effort and the threat from the militant movement in India, the British passed theDefence of India Act 1915.Michael O'Dwyer,then the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, was among the strongest proponents of the Act, largely due to the Ghadarite movement.It was also a factor that guided British political concessions and Whitehall's India Policy during and after World War I, including the passage ofMontagu–Chelmsford Reformswhich initiated the first round of political reform in the Indian subcontinent in 1917.The events of the conspiracy during World War I, the presence of Pratap's Kabul mission in Afghanistan and its possible links to the Soviet Union, and a still-active revolutionary movement especially in Punjab and Bengal (as well as worsening civil unrest throughout India) led to the appointment of aSedition committeein 1918 chaired bySidney Rowlatt,an English judge. It was tasked to evaluate German andBolsheviklinks to the militant movement in India, especially in Punjab and Bengal. On the recommendations of the committee, theRowlatt Act,an extension of the Defence of India Act 1915, was enforced in India.

The events that followed the passage of the Rowlatt Act in 1919 were also influenced by the conspiracy. At the time, British Indian Army troops were returning from the battlefields of Europe andMesopotamiato an economic depression in India.The attempted mutinies in 1915 and the Lahore conspiracy trials still had the public's attention. News of youngMohajirswho had fought on behalf of the Turkish Caliphate and later in the ranks of theRed Armyduring theRussian Civil Warhad also begun to reach India. The Russian Revolution had also cast its long shadow into India.It was at this time thatMahatma Gandhi,until then relatively unknown on the Indian political scene, began to emerge as a mass leader.

Ominously, in 1919, theThird Anglo-Afghan Warbegan in the wake of AmirHabibullah's assassination and institution ofAmanullahin a system blatantly influenced by the Kabul mission. In addition, in India, Gandhi's call for protest against the Rowlatt Act achieved an unprecedented response of furious unrest and protests. The situation, especially in Punjab, was deteriorating rapidly, with disruptions of rail, telegraph and communication systems. The movement was at its peak before the end of the first week of April, with some recording that "practically the whole of Lahore was on the streets, the immense crowd that passed through Anarkali was estimated to be around 20,000."InAmritsar,over 5,000 people gathered atJallianwala Bagh.This situation deteriorated perceptibly over the next few days. Michael O'Dwyer is said to have been of the firm belief that these were the early and ill-concealed signs of a conspiracy for a coordinated uprising around May, on the lines of the1857 revolt,at a time when the British would have withdrawn to the hills for the summer. TheAmritsar massacre,as well as responses before and after it, was the result of a concerted plan of response from the Punjab administration to suppress such a conspiracy.James Houssemayne Du Boulayis said to have ascribed a direct relationship between the fear of a Ghadarite uprising in the midst of an increasingly tense situation in Punjab, and the British response that ended in the massacre.

Lastly, British efforts to downplay and disguise the nature and impact of the revolutionary movement at this time also resulted in a policy designed to strengthen the moderate movement in India, which ultimately saw Gandhi's rise in the Indian movement.

International relations

See also:Anglo-American relationsandAnglo-Japanese relations

The conspiracy influenced several aspects of Great Britain's international relations, most of allAnglo-American relationsduring the war, as well as, to some extent,Anglo-Chinese relations.After the war, it also influenced Anglo-Japanese relations.

At the start of the war, the American government's refusal to check the Indian seditionist movement was a major concern for the British government. By 1916, a majority of the resources of the American department of the British Foreign Office were related to the Indian seditionist movement. Before the outbreak of the war, the political commitments of theWoodrow Wilsongovernment (especially ofSecretary of StateWilliam Jennings Bryanwho, eight years previously, had authored "British Rule in India", a highly critical pamphlet, that was classified as seditionist by the Indian and Imperial governments) and the political fallouts of the perception of British persecution of oppressed people prevented then-ambassadorCecil Spring Ricefrom pressing the issue diplomatically.AfterRobert Lansingreplaced Bryan as Secretary of State in 1916,Secretary of State for IndiaMarquess of Creweand Foreign SecretaryEdward Greyforced Spring Rice to raise the issue, and in February the evidence obtained in the Lahore Conspiracy trial were presented to the American government. The first investigations were opened in America with the raid of the Wall Street office ofWolf von Igel,which resulted in seizures of papers that were later presented as evidence in theHindu–German Conspiracy Trial.However, a perceptibly slow and reluctant American investigation triggered an intense neutrality dispute through 1916, aggravated by belligerent preventive measures of theBritish Far-Eastern fleeton the high seas that threatened the sovereignty of American vessels. German and Turkish passengers were seized from the American vesselChinabyHMS Laurenticat the mouth of theYangtze River.Several incidents followed, including the SSHenry S,which were defended by the British government on grounds that the seized ship planned to foment an armed uprising in India. These drew strong responses from the US government, prompting theUS Atlantic Fleetto dispatch destroyers to the Pacific to protect the sovereignty of American vessels. Authorities in the Philippines were more cooperative, which assured Britain of knowledge of any plans against Hong Kong. The strained relations were relaxed in May 1916 when the Britain released theChinaprisoners and relaxed its aggressive policy seeking co-operation with the United States. However, diplomatic exchanges and relations did not improve before November that year.

The conspiracy issue was ultimately addressed byWilliam G. E. Wiseman,head of British intelligence in the United States, when he passed details of a bomb plot directly to theNew York Policebypassing diplomatic channels. This led to the arrest of Chandra Kanta Chuckrevarty. As the links between Chuckervarty's papers and the Igel papers became apparent, investigations by federal authorities expanded to cover the entire conspiracy. Ultimately, the United States agreed to forward evidence so long as Britain did not seek admission of liability for breaches of neutrality. At a time that diplomatic relations with Germany were deteriorating, the British Foreign Office directed its embassy to co-operate with the investigations resolving the Anglo-American diplomatic disputes just as the United States entered the war.

Through 1915–16, China and Indonesia were the major bases for the conspirators, and significant efforts were made by the British government to coax China into the war to attempt to control the German and Ghadar intrigues. This would also allow free purchase of arms from China for theEntente powers.However, Yuan's proposals for bringing China into the war were against Japanese interests and gains from the war. This, along with Japanese support forSun Yat-Senand rebels in southern China laid the foundations for deterioration of Anglo-Japanese relations as early as 1916.After the end of the Great War, Japan increasingly became a haven for radical Indian nationalists in exile, who were protected by patriotic Japanese societies. Notable among these were Rash Behari Bose, Tarak Nath Das, andA. M. Sahay.The protections offered to these nationalists, most notably by Toyama Mitsuru'sBlack Dragon Society,effectively prevented British efforts to repatriate them and became a major policy concern.

Ghadar Party and IIC

The IIC was formally disbanded in November 1918. Most of its members became closely associated withcommunismand the Soviet Union.Bhupendranath DuttaandVirendranath Chattopadhyayalias Chatto arrived in Moscow in 1920.Narendranath Bhattacharya,under a new identity ofM. N. Roy,was among the first Indian communists and made a memorable speech in the second congress of theCommunist Internationalthat rejected Leninist views and foreshadowedMaoistpeasant movements.Chatto himself was in Berlin until 1932 as the general secretary of theLeague Against Imperialismand was able to convinceJawaharlal Nehruto affiliate theIndian National Congresswith the league in 1927. He later fledNazi Germanyfor the Soviet Union but disappeared in 1937 underJoseph Stalin'sGreat Purge.

The Ghadar Party, suppressed during the war, revived itself in 1920 and openly declared its communist beliefs. Although sidelined in California, it remained relatively stronger in East Asia, where it allied itself with theChinese Communist Party.

World War II

Main articles:Indian Independence League,Indian National Army,andArzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind

Although the conspiracy failed during World War I, the movement being suppressed at the time and several of its key leaders hanged or incarcerated, several prominent Ghadarites also managed to flee India to Japan and Thailand. The concept of a revolutionary movement for independence also found a revival amongst later generation Indian leaders, most notablySubhas Chandra Bosewho, towards the mid-1930s, began calling for a more radical approach towards colonial domination. During World War II, several of these leaders were instrumental in seekingAxis supportto revive such a concept.Bose himself, from the very beginning of World War II, actively evaluated the concept of revolutionary movement against the Raj, interacting with Japan and subsequently escaping to Germany to raise an Indian armed force, theIndische Legion,to fight in India against Britain.He later returned to Southeast Asia to take charge of theIndian National Armywhich was formed following the labour of exiled nationalists, efforts from within Japan to revive a similar concept, and the direction and leadership of people likeMohan Singh,Giani Pritam Singh,and Rash Behari Bose. The most famous of these saw the formation of theIndian Independence League,theIndian National Armyand ultimately theArzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hindin Southeast Asia.

See also:Indische Legion

Commemoration

The1915 Singapore Mutinymemorial tablet at the entrance of theVictoria Memorial Hall,Singapore

The Ghadar Memorial Hall in San Francisco honours members of the party who were hanged following the Lahore conspiracy trial,and the Ghadar Party Memorial Hall inJalandhar,Punjab commemorates the Ghadarites who were involved in the conspiracy. Several of those executed during the conspiracy are today honoured in India. Kartar Singh is honoured with a memorial at his birthplace of the Village of Sarabha. TheAyurvedic MedicineCollegeinLudhianais also named in his honour.The Indian government has producedstampshonouring several of those involved in the conspiracy, includingHar Dayal,Bhai Paramanand,andRash Behari Bose.Several other revolutionaries are also honoured through India and the Indian American population. A memorialplaquecommemorating theKomagata Maruwas unveiled byJawaharlal Nehruat Budge Budge in Calcutta in 1954, while a second plaque was unveiled in 1984 at Gateway Pacific, Vancouver by the Canadian government. A heritage foundation to commemorate the passengers from the Komagata Maru excluded from Canada was established in 2005. In Singapore, two memorial tablets at the entrance of theVictoria Memorial Halland four plaques inSt Andrew's Cathedralcommemorate the British soldiers and civilians killed during theSingapore Mutiny. In Ireland, a memorial at theGlasnevin CemeteryinDublincommemorates the dead from the Jalandhar mutiny of the Connaught Rangers.The Southern Asian Institute ofColumbia Universitytoday runs the Taraknath Das foundation to support work relating to India.Famous awardees includeR. K. Narayan,Robert Goheen,Philip Talbot,Anita Desaiand SAKHI and Joseph Elder.

Note on the name

The conspiracy is known under several different names, including the 'Hindu Conspiracy', the 'Indo-German Conspiracy', the 'Ghadar conspiracy' (or 'Ghadr conspiracy'), or the 'German plot'.The termHindu–German Conspiracyis closely associated with the uncovering of theAnnie Larsen plotin the United States, and the ensuing trial of Indian nationalists and the staff of the German Consulate of San Francisco for violating American neutrality. The trial itself was called theHindu–German Conspiracy Trial,and the conspiracy was reported in the media (and later studied by several historians) as Hindu–German Conspiracy.However, the conspiracy involved not only Hindus and Germans, but also substantial numbers of Muslims and Punjabi Sikhs, and strong Irish support that pre-dated German and Turkish involvement. The termHindu(orHindoo) was used commonly in opprobrium in America to identifyIndiansregardless of religion. Likewise, conspiracy was also a term with negative connotations. The termHindu Conspiracywas used by the government to actively discredit the Indian revolutionaries at a time the United States was about to join the war against Germany.

The term 'Ghadar Conspiracy' may refer more specifically to the mutiny planned for February 1915 in India, while the term 'German plot' or 'Christmas Day Plot' may refer more specifically to the plans for shipping arms to Jatin Mukherjee in Autumn 1915. The termIndo-German conspiracyis also commonly used to refer to later plans in Southeast Asia and to themission to Kabulwhich remained the remnant of the conspiracy at the end of the war. All of these were parts of the larger conspiracy. Most scholars reviewing the American aspect use the name Hindu–German Conspiracy, the Hindu-Conspiracy or the Ghadar Conspiracy, while most reviewing the conspiracy over its entire span from Southeast Asia through Europe to the United States more often use the term Indo-German conspiracy.In British-India, theRowlatt committeeset up investigate the events referred to them as "The Seditious conspiracy".

See also

• Horst von der Goltz
• Hinduism in Germany

Notes and references

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Further reading

• Tadhg Foley (Editor), Maureen O'Connor (Editor),Ireland and India - Colonies, Culture and Empire,Irish Academic Press,ISBN9780716528371

External links

• "In the Spirit of Ghadar".The Tribune,Chandigarh
• Kim, Hyung-Chan,Dictionary of Asian American History,New York: Greenwood Press,1986.
• India rising a Berlin plot.New York Timesarchives.
• The Ghadr RebellionbyKhushwant Singh,sourced fromThe Illustrated Weekly of India26 February 1961, pp. 34–35; 5 March 1961, p. 45; and 12 March 1961, p. 41.
• The Hindustan Ghadar Collection,Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
• Hindu-German Conspiracy Trial onSouth Asian American Digital Archive(SAADA)