Describethw impact of first world war in indian economy
Answers
The First World War led to a huge rise in the defence expenditure of the Government of India. ... Increased military expenditure and the demands for war supplies led to a sharp rise in prices which created great difficulties for the common people. On the other hand, business groups reaped fabulous profits from the war.
World wars always had deeply affected the Indian Economy be it was WW1 or WW2. The reason people don’t talk much about the India and its economy in First World War is that many assume that India was not attached with it, which is quite the contrary. WW2 had much serious implications because it had curtailed India’s trade policies within the commonwealth of Britain and ended India’s touch with European nations.
The First World War caused India to nearly go bankrupt and also a major loss in casualties. Indian troops as high as 800,000 in numbers fought in every aspect of War and a majority 500,000 Indian people volunteered to fight for the British. Offers of financial and military help were made from all over the country. Hugely wealthy princes offered great sums of money for aiding the British in the war. But soon after the war Great Depression occurred in the European nations which soon had its implication in India.
The Great Depression that occurred in 1929 had a detrimental effect on India which was then ruled by British. To save them from the depression Government of British India ordered for a protective trade policy, which was just in the interest of England but made India suffer by deteriorating its Economy. The sea based trade was drastically reduced while the agricultural sector crippled. The ambiguous policies that were adopted by the British Governance in India and the international recession lead to very high inflation as the prices sky-rocketed for various goods and services. The high prices which would then be subjected to very high taxes laid by the government made Indians suffer heavily. The Great Depression took a huge toll on the farmers as they had to sell their possessions like gold and silver at petty rates just to survive.