"In the Great War India raised 1,440,437 soldiers, all volunteers... The total number of men raised in India was no more than 0.3 per cent of her population, compared to 12.4 per cent in the British Isles, 11.6 per cent in New Zealand and about 8 per cent in Canada and Australia. Of the Indian total, only 877,068 were combatants, while India sent overseas no more than 621,224 officers and men; Canada, on the other hand, from a population of only 7,600,000 sent abroad 422,405 men... Of the troops India did send overseas, only 89,335 went to swell British strength on the decisive front in France and in the battles with England's principal enemy, Germany. Against these 89,335 troops sent to France must, however, be set the 15,000 British troops retained in India to secure internal order... Thus India's military contribution to the British struggle with Germany in the Great War was in fact both relatively and absolutely negligible. When therefore a final balance is struck of the value of India to Britain in the Great War, value both economically and militarily, there is only the item of a net gain of 74,000 soldiers to set against the colossal, expensive and vulnerable British involvement in territories stretching from Malta to Rangoon, from the Himalayas to East Africa. The whole British position in the Middle East and Southern Asia was in fact a classic, and gigantic, example of strategic over-extension. Far from being a source of strength to England, India served only immensely to weaken and distract her."