The illusions of encounter: Muslim 'minds' and Hindu revolutionaries in First World War Germany and after

Journal of Global History

Volumn 1, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 363-382

  Manjapra, Kris K ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 60950371191     PISSN: 17400228     EISSN: 17400236     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1740022806003044     Document Type: Review

References (86)

1. See introduction to Sebastian Conrad and Shalini Randeria, eds., Jenseits des Eurozentrismus: postkoloniale Perspektiven in den Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften, Frankfurt: Campus, 2002, pp. 9-49.
2. This marginal note by the Kaiser on a telegram from the German ambassador in St Petersburg is quoted in Fritz Fischer, Griff nach der Weltmacht: die Kriegszielpolitik des kaiserlichen Deutschland 1914-18, Düsseldorf: Droste, 2002 (orig. pub. 1962), p. 110.
3. Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Berlin (henceforth AA) R21070-1, 80, Bethmann Hollweg to Foreign Office, 10 August 1914. Compare Donald McKale, War by revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the era of World War I, Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1998, p. 54;
4. Fischer, Griff, p. 114;
5. Martin Kroeger, 'Revolution als Programm. Ziele und Realität deutscher Orientpolitik im ersten Weltkrieg', in Wolfgang Michalka, ed., Der Erste Weltkrieg: Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse, Munich: Piper, 1994, p. 374.
6. AA R20938, 8, Oppenheim, 'Die Revolutionierung der islamischen Gebiete unserer Feinde', September 1914.
7. Bernhard Prince von Bülow, Memoirs of Prince von Bülow, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, vol. 1, p. 292.
8. Letter of 'Willy' to 'Dearest Nicky', 9 November 1998, in Isaac Don Levine, ed., Letters from the Kaiser to the Czar, New York: F. A. Stokes, 2000, p. 61.
9. Compare McKale, Revolution, x;
10. Jan Stefan Richter, Die Orientreise Kaiser Wilhelms II. 1898, Hamburg: Kovac, 1996, pp. 4-10.
11. Arnim Kössler, Aktionsfeld Osmanisches Reich, New York: Arno Press, 1981, p. 244;
12. Rathmann, Berlin-Bagdad, Berlin: Dietz, 1962, pp. 21-46.
13. Konrad Canis, Von Bismarck zur Weltpolitik: Deutsche Aussenpolitik 1890-1902, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997, pp. 339, 355.
14. Dirk van Laak, Über alles in der Welt: Deutscher Imperialismus im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Munich: C. H. Beck, 2005, pp. 84-5.
15. The Kaiser's comments to Bülow, 11 August 1908, quoted in Nirode Barooah, India and the official Germany, 1886-1914, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1977, p. 59.
16. This period can further be divided into 1840-1870, during which time London became the financial centre of the world-economy, followed by the period of 'hegemonic maturity', 1870-1890, when other nations acquiesced to the British world-system, and finally the phase 1890-1914, when aggressive battles for imperial hegemony broke out between European powers. See Peter Taylor, Political geography: worldeconomy, nation-state and locality, Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2000, p. 64.
17. The golden age of British naval ascendancy occurred between 1865 and 1890, after which a period of competition began, especially with Germany. See Rolf Hobson, Imperialism at sea, Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 2004, p. 27.
18. Timothy Parsons, The British imperial century, 1815-1914: a world history perspective, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1999, p. 3.
19. Geoffrey Nash, From empire to orient: travellers to the Middle East 1830-1926, London: I. B. Tauris, 2005, p. 117.
20. Taylor, Geography, p. 116.
21. Of course the gap between Great Britain and Germany was enormous. The British had 4,949 ships in Indian waters, while the Germans had 437. Nevertheless, the growth of trade between Germany and India was enough to rile the British into passing the Indian Steamship Law Amendment of 1909 that made it more difficult for non-British vessels to obtain legal access to Indian waters. See Bundesarchiv, Berlin, R1501/103911, report by Lehman, 28 August 1909.
22. The Times (London), 'Indian imperial preference', 9 November 1908.
23. Sabine Mangold's account, as with that of the older work by Martin Plessner, Die Geschichte der Wissenschaften im Islam, Tübingen: Mohr, 1931, remains internal to the discipline, and thus misses the larger imperialist backdrop. See Sabine Mangold, Eine 'weltbürgerliche Wissenschaft' - Die deutsche Orientalistik im 19. Jahrhundert, Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 2004, p. 257.
24. On excessive violence in German colonies see Isabel Hull, Absolute destruction: military culture and the practices of war, Ithaca: Cornell, 2005, pp. 5-90.
25. See Jürgen Kloosterhuis, 'Friedliche Imperialisten': Deutsche Auslandsvereine und auswärtige Kulturpolitik, 1906-1908, vol. 1, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994, pp. 15-33.
26. Markus Joch, 'Deutsche Anti-Evolutionisten: Konzeptionen der Kulturkreislehre um 1900', in Alexander Honold and Klaus Scherpe, eds., Das Fremde: Reiseerfahrungen, Schreibformen und Kulturelles Wissen, Bern: P. Lang, 2003, pp. 77-96.
27. See Carl Michaëlis, 'Völkerpsychologie', in Kirchner's Wörterbuch der philosophischen Grundbegriffe, Leipzig: F. Meiner, 1911.
28. Berthold Oelze, Wilhelm Wundt: die Konzeption der Völkerpsychologie, New York: Waxmann, 1991, pp. 140-55;
29. Eno Beuchelt, Ideengeschichte der Völkerpsychologie, Meisenheim: Hain, 1974, pp. 20-8.
30. See Wundt, Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus und Sitte, Leipzig: W. Englemann, vol. 1, p. 488.
31. On Naumann and Rohrbach see Gottfried Hagen, 'German heralds of holy war: orientalists and applied oriental studies', Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24, 2, 2004, pp. 145-62.
32. Fritz Fischer, in Griff, portrays Oppenheim as the mastermind of German foreign policy in the East. Wilhelm Treue, in 'Max Freiherr von Oppenheim - Der Archäologe und die Politik', Historische Zeitschrift, 209, 1969, pp. 37-74, challenges Fischer's account, but tends to exaggeration himself by painting Oppenheim as superfluous. Clearly a host of consultants, and no one person, was responsible for the development of policies in the East. For the purpose of this essay, I use Oppenheim as an illustrative example. I thank Suzanne Marchand for pointing me to the Treue essay.
33. Gabriele Teichmann and Gisela Völger, eds., Faszination Orient: Max von Oppenheim, Forscher, Sammler, Diplomat, Cologne: Dumont, 2001, p. 29.
34. Max von Oppenheim, Bericht über seine Reise durch die Syrische Wüste nach Mosul, Berlin: Pormetter, 1894, p. 15.
35. Oppenheim, Rabeh und das Tschadseegebiet, Berlin: Reimer, p. v.
36. Andre Gingrich, 'From the late imperial era to the end of the republican interlude', in Fredrick Barth et al., One discipline, four ways, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2005, p. 97. Of course, ethnologists not directly employed by the Foreign Office were also extremely active in expedition work in these years. The list is long, but some of the most eminent were Leo Frobenius, Adolf Bastian, Albert Grünwedel, Albert von le Coq, and the Austrian Alois Musil.
37. In May 1907, Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh of the Punjab were deported from India to London on sedition charges. See J. C. Ker, Political trouble in India 1907-17, Delhi: Oriental Publishers, 1917, p. 23. In July 1908, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, revolutionary leader in Bombay, was sent to prison in Burma, where he remained until 1914. Following his sentencing, a number of prominent Indian agitators departed for London to avoid sedition charges, including Bipin Pal, Ram Bhaj Dutt, Hardayal and G. S. Khaparda.
38. Pan-Islamism had been a growing force throughout the Middle East and India since the late nineteenth century. Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838-97), a scholar and publicist from Persia, was one of main exponents of 'Hamidian' pan-Islamism focused on the supremacy of the Ottoman sultan. See Jacob Landau, Politics of pan-Islam, Oxford: Clarendon, 1990, pp. 15, 19.
39. Indian Muslim leaders, while supporting pan-Islamism, generally remained loyal to the British around the turn of the century. See Gail Minault, The Khilafat movement, New York: Columbia, 1982, pp. 56ff.;
40. Azmi Özcan, Pan-Islamism: Indian Muslims, the Ottomans and Britain, 1877-1924, Leiden: Brill, 1997, p. 183.
41. Martin Hartmann, 'Deutschland und der Islam', in Islam, 1910, 1, p. 75.
42. H. Grimme, Islam und Weltkrieg;
43. H. Grothe, Deutschland, die Türkei und der Islam;
44. G. Diercks, Hie Allah! Das Erwachen des Islam;
45. E. Jäckh, Die deutsch-türkische Waffenbruderschaft;
46. R. Schaefer, Islam und Weltkrieg;
47. R. Schaefer, Der deutsche Krieg, die Türkei, Islam und Christentum;
48. J. Froberger, Weltkrieg und Islam;
49. G. Galli, Wesen, Wandel und Wirken des heiligen Krieges des Islams;
50. Eugen Mittwoch, Deutschland, die Türkei und der heilige Krieg.
51. Oppenheim, Revolutionierung, p. 85.
52. Dadabhai Naoroji, a well-known nationalist figure, also spoke. See Peter Grohmann, et al., eds., Der Internazionale Sozialistenkongress, Stuttgart 1907: Protokoll, Stuttgart: Selbstverlag der Studiengruppe, 1977, pp. 36ff.
53. Sir William Curzon Wylie, an aide-de-camp at the London India Office, was assassinated by Madan Lal Dhingra, a student in London. See J. C. Ker, Political trouble, pp. 180-1.
54. Hardayal's essays focused on the need for Indians to study abroad, especially in America, Germany and France, but not in England. See 'India and the world movement', Modern Review, Calcutta, February, 1913, pp. 185ff.
55. Kalyan Kumar Banerjee, Indian freedom movement: revolutionaries in America, Calcutta: Jijnasa, 1969, p. 2.
56. See also Tilak Raj Sareen, Indian revolutionary movement abroad: 1905-1921, New Delhi: Sterling, 1979;
57. Arun Coomer Bose, Indian revolutionaries abroad, 1905-1922, Patna: Bharati Bhawan, 1971.
58. See Suprakash Roy, Bharatera baiplabika sangramera itihasa, Kolkata: Bharati Buka Stala, 1955, vol. 1, p. 340.
59. On Abinashchandra Bhattacharyya's previous career as a revolutionary terrorist in Bengal see Samaren Roy, The restless Brahmin: early life of M. N. Roy, Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1970, p. 19.
60. Narajenawai Marathay, Dhirendranath Sarkar, Herambalal Gupta and the Dutch subject Douwes Dekker were involved in this plot. See AA: R21076-2, 172-3, report of Oppenheim to Foreign Office, 9 January 1915.
61. Sibnarayan Ray, In freedom's quest: a study of the life and works of M. N. Roy, Calcutta: Minerva Associates, 1998, p. 44.
62. AA: R21087-2, 121, Papen to Foreign Office, 'The Anne Larsen weapons shipping incident', 23 July 1915.
63. Two of the chief Muslim leaders were Barkatullah and Obeidullah. See S. Qalb-i-Abid, Muslim struggle for independence, 1857-1947, Lahore: Sang-e-Meel, 1997.
64. Nemal Sadhan Bose, Racism, struggle and equality and Indian nationalism, Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1981, p. 57.
65. See Sumit Sarkar, The Swadeshi movement, New Delhi: People's Pub. House, 1973, pp. 77-82. Sarkar points out that some eminent Bengali Hindu intellectuals, such as Aurobindo Ghose and Rabindranth Tagore, attempted to bridge the gap between Hindus and Muslims, but with little effect.
66. Martin Gilbert, First World War, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1994, p. 105.
67. Gerhard Höpp, Muslime in der Mark: als Kriegsgefangene und Internierte in Wünsdorf und Zossen, 1914-1924, Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, 1997, pp. 30-5.
68. Florian Mühlfried, 'R. Bleichsteiners "Kaukasische Forschungen" - ein kritischer Beitrag zur Ethnologie des Kaukasus.' Unpublished thesis, Hamburg, 2000.
69. as well as the historically contemporary work by Christian Bry, Verkappte Religionen, Gotha: Klotz, 1925.
70. Keyserling's Reisetagebuch eines Philosophen (1919) about his spiritual journey to the East, was also a wild success, reaching its seventh edition within four years.
71. Natorp organized a reading group of Tagore's poetry among his students in Marburg. See his Stunden mit Rabindranath Thakkur, Jena: E. Dietrichs, 1921.
72. See, for example, Jürgen Lütt, 'Indische Wurzeln des Nationalsozialismus?', in Zeitschrift für Kulturaustausch, 37, 1987, pp. 468-79,
73. and Nicholas Goodricke-Clarke, The occult roots of Nazism, Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1985.
74. See Sheldon Pollock, 'Deep Orientalism? Notes on Sanskrit and power beyond the Raj', in Carol Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer, eds., Orientalism and the postcolonial predicament, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993, p. 83.
75. See Roy's editorials in his newspaper, The Vanguard, published from the presses of the national German communist newspaper, the Rote Fahne, for example, 'The use of mass strikes as a political weapon', 2, 8, 1 June 1923.
76. On Roy and Korsch see Henry Pachter, Weimar Etudes, New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 54. Roy's close connection with Thalheimer culminated in their co-editorship of the Internationale Nachrichten der kommunistischen Opposition from 1929-30 before Roy's return to India. Roy was affiliated with the Frankfurt School of Social Research in 1929, when he wrote his book Revolution and counter-revolution in China.
77. Conservative newspapers, such as the Preussische Kreuzzeitung, were filled with articles about anticolonial movements of Irish, Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and Syrian activists. A common trope was that of Germans as a people of 'poets and thinkers' now subjected to the materialistic forces of British and French imperialism. See for example, Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven, 'Versailles, Spa und die Zeitrichtung', Preussische Kreuzzeitung, 351, 23 July 1920, p. 1.
78. For example, 'Indisches Volkstum', in Deutsches Volkstum, 2, 1926, pp. 491-7.
79. Bundesarchiv: R43 I/2696, Fiche 2, 'Die aussenpolitische Orientierung der Rechtsverbände', 1926, pp. 37-8.
80. M. N. Roy, Memoirs, Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1984, p. 292.
81. See Agnes Smedley, Battle hymn of China, New York: Knopf, 1943, p. 19. Smedley, an American woman and political activist, was heavily involved with the Berlin Indian émigré community.
82. See, for example, Benoy Kumar Sarkar, 'Strukturelle Erneuerung in der indischen Industrie und Wirtschaft', in Zeitschrift für Geopolitik, 8, 4, April 1931, pp. 298-304. At least four other articles by Sarkar appeared in German economic journals in 1931.
83. See Benoy Kumar Sarkar, 'Empire development and world-economy: a study in the New Foundations of National Economy for India', in Journal of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce, 1927, pp. 1-9.
84. See Ziyaettin Fahri, 'Mes Souvenirs autour de W. Sombart', in Revue de la Faculté des Sciences Èconomique de l'Université d'Istanbul, 2, 1942, p. 68.
85. Husain, Agrarverfassung Britisch-Indiens, Berlin: Humboldt University Archive, 1926, p. 11.
86. Hans-Georg Gadamer, 'Europa und die Oikomene' (1993), in Gesammelte Werke, vol. 10, Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1995, p. 265.