<P> South Africa had a military role in the war, fighting the Germans in East Africa and on the Western Front . Public opinion in South Africa split along racial and ethnic lines . The British elements strongly supported the war and comprised the great majority of the 146,000 white soldiers . Nasson says, "for many enthusiastic English - speaking Union recruits, going to war was anticipated as an exciting adventure, egged on by the itch of making a manly mark upon a heroic cause ." Likewise the Indian element (led by Mahatma Gandhi), generally supported the war effort . Afrikaners were split, with some like Prime Minister Louis Botha and General Jan Smuts taking a prominent leadership role in the British war effort . Their pro-British position was rejected by many rural Afrikaners who favoured Germany and who launched the Maritz Rebellion, a small - scale open revolt against the government . The trade union movement was divided . Many urban blacks supported the war, expecting it would raise their status in society . Others said it was not relevant to the struggle for their rights . The Coloured element was generally supportive and many served in a Coloured Corps in East Africa and France, also hoping to better their lot after the war . Those blacks and Coloureds who supported the war were embittered when the postwar era saw no easing of white domination and restrictive conditions . </P> <P> The British controlled India (including modern Pakistan and Bangladesh) either directly through the British Raj or indirectly through local princes . The colonial government of India supported the war enthusiastically, and enlarged the British Indian army by a factor of 500% to 1.4 million men . It sent 550,000 overseas, with 200,000 going as labourers to the Western Front and the rest to the Middle East theatre . Only a few hundred were allowed to become officers, but there were some 100,000 casualties . The main fighting of the latter group was in Iraq, where large numbers were killed and captured in the initial stages of the Mesopotamian campaign, most infamously during the Siege of Kut . The Indian contingent was entirely funded by the Indian taxpayers (who had no vote and no voice in the matter). </P> <P> Although Germany and the Ottoman Empire tried to incite anti-British subversion with the help of Indian freedom fighters, such as Rash Bihari Bose or Bagha Jatin, they had virtually no success, apart from a localized 1915 Singapore Mutiny, which was a part of the Gadar conspiracy . The small Indian industrial base expanded dramatically to provide most of the supplies and munitions for the Middle East theatre . Indian nationalists became well organized for the first time during the war, and were stunned when they received little in the way of self - government in the aftermath of victory . </P> <P> In 1918, India experienced an influenza epidemic and severe food shortages . </P>

What made world war one a total war