In 1915, Indian Muslim troops on Singapore mutinied, killing their officers and British civilians. Why did they do this and what happened next?
The First World War, which raged from 1914-18, was by far the most dreadful war to have afflicted the earth until that time. All across Europe, soldiers lined up in trenches filled with mud, blood and corpses and launched mechanical death on each other. Artillery and the machine gun were the kings of destruction. More than eight million combatants were killed and more than 13 million civilians. Among the troops, Germany lost 1.8 million, Russia 1.7 million, France 1.4 million, the British Empire 900,000, Italy 650,000, Romania 340,000. Even the USA, which entered the war in 1917, lost 116,000 soldiers. The war spread across the rest of the world but in an uneven way. Although most of the major combatants had colonies around the world, their ability to communicate with them was quite limited and most had only limited military power and materiel on-site. Most overseas colonies relied on pacification of large numbers of local people by comparatively few colonialists, who had co-opted or adopted additional sources of power which were used to suppress the native people.
This was true of Singapore. It was tightly enfolded within the web of the British Empire but the strongest links in that web were economic as much as political. Commercial power and the importation of Indian police officers served to control the Singaporean population, although resistance was fierce and evident from time to time. In some ways, the Singaporean people and economy benefited from the war, since there was increased demand for goods and property all across the Malaya peninsula and this led to more profits for at least some people. Meanwhile, German properties and businesses were seized and transferred to British subjects, which also provided a number of opportunities for entrepreneurial people. However, perhaps the biggest impact upon the people of Singapore was what has come to be known (a little unfairly) as the Indian Mutiny.
Among the Indian troops present in Singapore were a number of Muslims. When the war broke out, Turkey allied with Germany and Indian Muslims were reluctant to attack their fellow co-religionists. There was, further, a rumour that the Kaiser was on the verge of converting to Islam. These issues were used to enflame the Indian troops by the imam at the local Mosque and, on February 15th, 1915, they mutinied, killing both their own officers and a number of British citizens. Forty were killed altogether; people did not at first know what was going on because they were celebrating Chinese New Year and thought the gunfire was firecrackers. The British authorities eventually put together a force of Johor troops, sailors, civilians and regulars from Burma. When the mutiny was put down, 47 of the ringleaders were executed by firing squad.
