King George V (bearded, in the centre of the leading trio) inspects New Zealand troops at Steenwerck in French Flanders, on August 14th, 1916. John Buchan emphasises that the Commonwealth nations volunteered to support Britain, and did not have to be asked, let alone constrained.
Part 1 of 2
IN the very first days of war events happened which proved that the German Emperor was right in dreading the entry of Britain into the struggle. The British Empire overseas awoke to action like a strong man from slumber, and there began an epic of service which was to grow in power and majesty up to the last hour of the campaign.
No man can read without emotion the tale of those early days in August, when from every quarter of the globe there poured in appeals for the right to share in Britain’s struggle. The great free nations of the Empire — Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand — prepared to raise and send troops, and the smallest Crown colonies made their contributions in money or supplies.
Part Two
Members of the 20th Deccan Horse in the Carnoy Valley in France on 14 July 1916, during The Battle of the Somme. “Almost every Indian chief offered personal service in the field,” confirmed Buchan in his monumental ‘History of the Great War’, “and when no other way was possible the Aga Khan, the spiritual ruler of 60,000,000 souls, volunteered to fight as a private in the ranks.” No contraint was brought to bear on these chivalrous gentlemen, or necessary. “The Maharaja of Rewa offered his troops, his treasury, and even his private jewels, and asked simply, ‘What orders has my King for me?’”
INDIA, whom Germany believed to be disloyal,* at once agreed to send two infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade, and all the native rulers and princes placed their resources at the King-Emperor’s call. Almost every Indian chief offered personal service in the field.
This rally of the Empire aroused a sense of an immense new comradeship which stirred the least emotional. The British Commonwealth had revealed itself as that wonderful thing for which its makers had striven and prayed — a union based not upon laws and governors, but upon the deepest feelings of the human spirit.
The effect of the muster was not less profound upon our ally across the Channel. No longer, as in 1870, did France stand alone. The German armies might be thundering at her gates, but the ends of the earth were hastening to her aid, and the avenger was drawing nigh.
The mistake arose, said Buchan, from the totally different concepts of Empire in Britain and Germany. See The Garden and the Machine.
