After all, when the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the culmination of the First World War in 1964, there was scarcely a mention of India’s soldiers anywhere, least of all in India.īut India’s absence from the commemorations, as well as its failure to honour the dead, was not a surprise. In due fairness, this is not particularly new or surprising. Gandhi returned to India from South Africa that year(Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)īack in India, however, the silence and muted commemorations, if at all, are likely to echo as piercingly as the bells that will toll in Europe. Across the world, commemorations of this historic event have already begun or are in the process of taking place, particularly for the anniversary of Armistice Day (November 11), where bells will be rung all across continental Europe, and in particular, 3,000 bell towers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to honour those who gave their lives in the Great War, “the war to end all wars.” Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Kasturba at a reception given in Ahmedabad in 1915. This year marks the centenary of the conclusion of the First World War – the Armistice on 11/11, at 11.11 am, ending four years of carnage that had begun in 1914 when the “guns of August” first boomed across the European continent.
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