Berlin Committee

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The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee (

Abinash Bhattacharya
.

Background

A number of Indians, notably

Madame Bhikaji Cama and others, offered scholarships to Indian students, promoted nationalistic work, and was a major platform for anti-colonial opinions and views. The Indian Sociologist, published by Krishna Varma, was a notable anti-colonial publication. Prominent Indian Nationalists associated with the India House included Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (also known as Veer Savarkar), Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (alias Chatto), and Har Dayal
.

The British government kept track of India House because of the nature of its work and the increasingly inciting tone of The Indian Sociologist, which proposed killing British colonial officials. English detectives followed and watched the student leaders in India House. In 1909,

William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, the political ADC to the Secretary of State for India. In the aftermath of the assassination, India House was rapidly suppressed. Evidence found showed that Browning pistols were being sent to India in order to bring about an armed revolution. Savarkar was deported from England, and denied asylum by the French government on a stop in Marseilles) while Krishna Varma successfully fled to Europe. Those who continued the struggle, including Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, moved to Germany, while a number of the leadership moved to Paris.[1]
This set of fugitives would later coalesce in the Berlin Committee.

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, Indian nationalists looked for ways to use the enmities to support their goals. As early as 1912, the

Bengali revolutionary movement in India to weaken the British position.[2]

The

Kaiser had considered the option on 31 July 1914 when Russian mobilisation was confirmed, and the scope of British mobilisation against Germany was becoming evident.[2] In September 1914, the German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, was authorised by the Kaiser to sanction German activity against British India.[2][3] The German effort was headed by Max von Oppenheim, an archaeologist and the head of the newly formed Intelligence Bureau for the East. He was to organize the Indian student groups into a cohesive group. Oppenheim also convinced Har Dayal
of the feasibility of the project.

A group of Indians resident in Germany, headed by M. Prabhakar (then teaching at

Auswärtiges Amt, was given the task of organising revolutionary outbreaks along the Indian and Russian border.[4]
With the help of their close acquaintance Anna Maria Simon,
Abhinash Bhattacharya and Virendranath Chattopadhyaya issued similar statements against Britain and France, which were distributed in Austria-Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands in addition to Germany, attracting editorial comments. The duo, with the help of Frau Simon, set up meetings with the Berlin Foreign office.[1]

Berlin Committee

Arriving at Berlin, they were assigned a building in the Schöneberg suburbs, as their new headquarters. In their first meeting with the foreign office liaison Max von Oppenheim, on 3 September 1915, Chattopadhyay (also known as Chatto) identified the goals and requirements of the committee:[1]

  • For the Germans to provide money, arms, experts in military strategy
  • Facilitate repatriation of Indian patriots in Europe and provide asylum in case of failure (and not yield to pressure as had happened in the case of Savarkar)
  • train Indians at Spandau and other military bases, including on submarine mines
  • publish literature in Indian languages
  • provide aircraft for propaganda airdrops
  • provide 10 rupee banknotes for secret use
  • support with radio communication
  • no concession to Indian Principalities opposed to the plan to form a Socialist Republic

With the help of Oppenheim, messages were sent out to Indian students in German universities, as well as Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands, who were likely to share the same views. Among those who joined the organisation at the time were Dr. Dhiren Sarkar, Chanji Kersasp, N. S. Marathe, Dr.

Champak Raman Pillai. The 'Champak-Chatto' Berlin Committee was founded.[1]

Although the group urged him, Oppenheim refused to approach

Barkatullah became actively involved in the Berlin Committee and its goals. The committee is known to have sent missions to the Middle Eastern cities of Istanbul and Baghdad, and Kabul, Afghanistan.[citation needed
]

Hindu–German Conspiracy

Main article: Hindu–German Conspiracy

The committee soon established contacts with Indian revolutionaries, including

Annie Larsen arms plot
.

Kabul mission

Main article: Provisional Government of India
See also: Oskar von Niedermayer and Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition

The Berlin-Indian Committee (which became the Indian Independence Committee after 1915) created an Indo-German-Turkish mission to the Indo-Iranian border to encourage the tribes to strike against British interests.

Hijaz
. Ubaid Allah, in the meantime, established friendly relations with the Amir.

At Kabul, Ubaid Allah, along with some students who had preceded him to

British India[8] and to obtain a right of free passage for the conspirators from the Afghan Government.[10]

Although the Amir made no commitment to the group, they found support amongst the Amir's immediate and close political and religious advisory group, including his brother

Amānullāh Khān, and religious leaders and tribesmen.[8] Afghanistan's then most influential newspaper, the Siraj al-Akhbar, took Barkatullah as an officiating editor in early 1916. Its editor Mahmud Tarzi published a number of inflammatory articles by Raja Mahendra Pratap, as well as increasingly anti-British and pro-Central Powers articles and propaganda. By May 1916, the tone in the paper was deemed serious enough for the British Raj to intercept its issues.[8] In 1916, the Berlin Committee established the Provisional Government of India
in Kabul.

Its formation infers the seriousness of intention and purpose of the revolutionaries. The government had

Champakaran Pillai as Foreign Minister. It tried to gain support from the Russian Empire, Republican China, and Japan. Galib Pasha joined them in proclaiming jihad against Britain.[10]

Following the

Petrograd before meeting the Kaiser in Berlin; he urged both to mobilise against British India.[11] Under pressure from the British, the Afghans withdrew their cooperation and the mission closed down. The Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition, with associated liaisons of the German mission had a profound effect on the political and social situation in Afghanistan. It catalyzed political change that ended with the assassination of Habibullah in 1919 and the transfer of power to Nasrullah and, subsequently, Amānullah; the Third Anglo-Afghan War began, which led to Afghan Independence.[11]

End of the Indian Independence Committee

The committee was formally disbanded in November 1918, with most of the members shifting their attention to the nascent Soviet Russia. Between 1917 and 1920, most of the members became active Communists.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Champak-Chatto" And the Berlin Committee". Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2007.
  2. ^ a b c Fraser 1977, p. 256
  3. ^ Hoover 1985, p. 251
  4. ^ a b Fraser 1977, p. 257
  5. ^ Dignan 1971
  6. ^ Ansari 1986, p. 514
  7. ^ Ansari 1986, p. 515
  8. ^ a b c d Sims-Williams 1980, p. 120
  9. ^ Seidt 2001, p. 1,3
  10. ^ a b Ansari 1986, p. 516
  11. ^ a b Hughes 2002, p. 474
  12. OCLC 954115551.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link
    )

References

External links

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