ever-increasing demands made by the War Office, and it may be
stated without exaggeration that India was bled absolutely
white during the first few weeks of the war.

It must not be forgotten, though Lord Hardinge has not reckoned it, that
all wastage has been more than filled up, and 450,000 men represent this
head; the increase in units has been 300,000, and including other
military items India had placed in the field up to the end of 1916 over
a million of men.

In addition to this a British force of 80,000 was sent from India, fully
trained and equipped at Indian cost, India receiving in exchange, many
months later, 34 Territorial battalions and 29 batteries, "unfit for
immediate employment on the frontier or in Mesopotamia, until they had
been entirely re-armed and equipped, and their training completed."

Between the autumn of 1914 and the close of 1915, the defence of our own
frontiers was a serious matter, and Lord Hardinge says:

The attitude of Afghanistan was for a long time doubtful,
although I always had confidence in the personal loyalty of our
ally the Amir; but I feared lest he might be overwhelmed by a
wave of fanaticism, or by a successful Jehad of the tribes....
It suffices to mention that, although during the previous three
years there had been no operations of any importance on the
North-West frontier, there were, between November 29, 1914, and
September 5, 1915, no less than seven serious attacks on the
North-West frontier, all of which were effectively dealt with.

The military authorities had also to meet a German conspiracy early in