What economic impact did the First World War have on India? from (2024)

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What economic impact did the First World War have on India? from? ›

There was a huge rise in the defense expenditure of the Government of India. There was a sharp increase in the prices of daily commodities. The war drove the demand for industrial goods like jute bags, clothes, rails, and steel.

Answer: The Government of India's defence spending increased dramatically as a result of the First World War. As a result, the government raised taxes on individual income and corporate profits. Increased military spending and demand for war supplies resulted in a sharp price increase that harmed the general public.

Indian nationalist feeling intensified in the years after World War I, stimulated first by the Amritsar Massacre, when on 13 April 1919, British troops fired into a crowd in an enclosed park in the city of Amritsar. It continued with non-violent protest campaigns against British rule led by Mohandas K.

The Second World War had a debilitating effect on the Indian economy. The British war efforts drained India's resources, leading to inflation, famine, and widespread economic distress, most notably the Bengal Famine of 1943.

As many as 8.5 million soldiers and some 13 million civilians died during World War I. Four imperial dynasties collapsed as a result of the war: the Habsburgs of Austria-Hungary, the Hohenzollerns of Germany, the sultanate of the Ottoman Empire, and the Romanovs of Russia.

The main economic consequence during and at the end of WWI was the loss of money and resources on both sides. The countries involved had to invest many resources in weapons, strengthen their armies, and the developing new technological advantages. Before the war, Germany had emerged as a new industrial power.

Answer. The war increased demand for industrial goods such as jute bags, fabric, and rail, and reduced imports into India from other countries. iv) During the war, Indian factories grew, and Indian business groups began to demand more growth opportunities. v) The war brought massive profits to business organizations.

When war broke out in 1914, as part of the British Empire, India rallied to the support of Britain. Over 1.4 million Indian soldiers and non-combatants served in the war, including on the Western Front.

The Indian Army, also called the British Indian Army, was involved in World War I as part of the British Empire. More than one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom more than 60,000 died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire on the Western Front.

It changed the economic and political situation of India. The British increased the war loans and taxes on Indians to meet the defence expenditure. They also increased the custom duties and introduced taxes on individual incomes.

What was the impact of the First World War on India or explain new economic and political situations created in India during the First World War? ›

It led to a huge increase in defence expenditure which was financed by war loans and increasing taxes: customs duties were raised and income tax introduced. Through the war years prices increased doubling between 1913 and 1918 leading to extreme hardship for the common people.

Hence, the depression had an impact on India as well. From 1926, agricultural prices started to fall, resulting in the decline of the exports, and the demand for agricultural goods fell. The peasants found it extremely difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue.

American factories were retooled to produce goods to support the war effort and almost overnight the unemployment rate dropped to around 10%. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines.

The First World War destroyed empires, created numerous new nation-states, encouraged independence movements in Europe's colonies, forced the United States to become a world power and led directly to Soviet communism and the rise of Hitler.

The event that sparked the conflagration was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1914. But historians say that World War I actually was the culmination of a long series of events, stretching back to the late 1800s.

This increase in militarism helped push the countries involved into war. The immediate cause of World War I that made the aforementioned items come into play (alliances, imperialism, militarism, nationalism) was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.

Hence, the depression had an impact on India as well. From 1926, agricultural prices started to fall, resulting in the decline of the exports, and the demand for agricultural goods fell. The peasants found it extremely difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue.

During the period 1929–1937, exports and imports in India fell drastically, crippling seaborne international trade in the region; the Indian railway and agricultural sectors were the most affected by the depression.

Acute shortages of food due to failure of crops in several parts of India in 1918-19 and 1920-21 made the life of the common people miserable. People hoped that their hardships would end after the war was over. But that did not happen. All this helped in the growth of the national movement in the country.

Industrial production in India increased during the First World War because British mills became busy to support the war needs and the imports from Manchester declined, while Indian mills suddenly had a huge home market to supply.