One question made me change the way I think about history

When I was at school, I remember learning about the world wars and even went on the classic WW1 battlefields trip to Belgium and France. But it wasn’t until I was an adult that I became aware of the significant contribution that colonial troops, from Indian soldiers to pilots from the Caribbean, made in both world wars.

The numbers highlight that the role they played wasn’t tokenistic by any means. There were 4 million non-white non-European men who worked and fought for the allies in WW1. In WW2, India provided the largest volunteer army the world had ever seen: 2.5 million.

I have taught history in a large comprehensive secondary school for over 15 years, from 11 year old Year 7 students to A Level historians.

Before my journey of exploring the largely hidden stories of war, I taught World War One as it was set out in history textbooks. I taught the causes and key battles through a Eurocentric lens alongside the reality of trench warfare, which – you may remember from school – included hideous details like trench foot, rats and lice.

I would then use my own research to bolt on a separate lesson about Indian soldiers.

But this 2015 revelation about food in the trenches led me to completely change how I taught the world wars.

I was no longer going to teach separate lessons on Indian and Caribbean troops, as this was ‘othering’ their experiences. Now, I wanted to embed their stories, enriching the lessons I already taught – like including posters aimed at the ‘Young Men of the Bahamas’, alongside those classic ‘Your Country Needs You’ images in lessons about recruitment in 1914.

Familiar tales of evacuation and rationing on the home front during the Blitz were now complemented by one of my favourite images; a photograph of two Indian volunteers in their saris and Air Raid Precaution helmets.

Students find this picture surprising, particularly as WW2 history is familiar to them from primary school and yet they’ve usually never seen this image before, or any image like it.

The existence of photos like this reminds us that even in contexts we think we know – such as the Blitz – there are still hidden stories to be found.

On a more personal level, seeing images like this surprised me, too.

It can be complicated for people from minority backgrounds to connect with the history surrounding WW1 and WW2, due to the absence of family histories relating to these periods. Many of us don’t have war medals or letters kept proudly for generations.

Moreover, the second world war in particular occurred while nationalist struggles were simultaneously happening across various colonies, such as the Indian independence movement famously led by Gandhi.

While those with family ties to the British empire will almost certainly have family war stories, for most, these are likely stories we may never know – be it due to evidence being lost in the context of post-war independence, such as the mass migration which followed the partition of India in 1947, or due to the shame some of these soldiers faced when they returned home for fighting on behalf of the empire that ruled over them. 

This has opened up conversations between students and their families about their hidden war stories; something that parents have reached out to me about also. We actually arranged for a student to place a wreath at the Indian war memorial at Ypres in Belgium on behalf of her great-grandfather – a poignant moment for her and her peers to witness.

Teaching these stories is an act of remembrance.

By doing so, we allow all types of students to see themselves within our world war stories – whether that is students of Algerian origin seeing their forefathers facing chlorine gas attacks in the trenches in 1915 or students with Polish heritage feeling proud of the many Polish pilots who flew during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

An inclusive history of the world wars is important for all students to be familiar with – irrespective of their background – because it gives them a fuller and wider perspective of these historical events.

Ultimately, as historians it’s our jobs to dig deep and uncover realities from the past. If we don’t teach students about all contributions, we’re simply not giving them the full story.

One of the most incredible stories my students enjoy learning about is the story of Noor Inayat Khan, because it’s a universal human story about sheer courage and determination.

Noor was a member of the Special Operations Executive and I use her story as a springboard to demonstrate the important role of spies during WW2. Her codename was ‘Madeline’ and she was the first female wireless operator to be sent to Nazi-occupied France to support resistance networks in sending key messages back to Britain. She did so at great personal risk and was eventually executed by the Nazis in 1944.

Teaching such stories and seeing students’ reactions in the classroom made me realise that there’s the potential for a generational gap here, with young people having an understanding of the world wars that many adults were not taught at school.