A new book recounts the formation of the Berlin Indian Independence Committee in 1914

The Germans exhibited no particular interest in India before 1886. That year, they established consular relations with India by opening their first-ever embassy in Calcutta (the capital of British India then). Later, they sent only their best officers, adept at foreign dealings, to take care of affairs with India. They were in a strong position in Europe while Britain stood isolated despite its conquests, guarding its own, lacking the trust of its peers, amongst whom they failed to generate neither faith nor friendship. Along with their suspicions about Russia, France and Japan, Britain was also wary about Turkey with its Pan-Islamism, which invoked the trust of the 85 million Muslims of India. The empire feared the Muslim community and had so far kept them out of the army, reposing its trust in Sikhs, who had not forsaken it in 1857, and the Gurkhas for their loyalty.

Muslims in India respected the caliphate and there had been reports of people from the Ottoman Empire instigating Indian Muslims to revolt against British rule. Turkey had just won the war against Greece with the Greeks accepting an armistice on 20 May 1897. The sound of celebrations had reverberated in India too. The Muslim majority...

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