Onset of World War-I received a divided Indian response. While moderates & extremists supported British in the war, revolutionaries decided to utilise this opportunity.
America
- G D Kumar set up Swadesh Sevak Home in Vancouver and launched a paper in Gurmukhi, Swadesh Sewak.
- United India House in Seattle was set up in 1910 by G D Kumar and Taraknath Das.
- There was a restriction on Indian immigration into Canada in 1908. Taraknath Das, an Indian student, and one of the first leaders of Indian community in North America to start a paper (called Free Hindustan). He realized that while the British government was keen on Indians going to Fiji to work as a labourer for British planters, it did not want them to go to North America where they might be infected by ideas of liberty.
- Centre of revolutionary activity soon shifted to the US, which provided a free political atmosphere.
Ghadar party
- It began in 1913 and conducted revolutionary activity in North America. It organized a weekly newspaper, The Ghadar with its headquarters in San Francisco. Ghadar means Revolt. On front page of each issue was a feature titled Angrezi Raj Ka Kacha Chittha or ‘An Expose of British Rule.’
- Most powerful impact was made by poems that appeared in The Ghadar, soon collected & published as Ghadar di Goonj and distributed free of cost.
- Notable members were Lala Hardayal, Bhagwan Singh, Barkatullah, Kartar Singh, Bhai Parmanand etc.
- Plans of Ghadarites were encouraged by two events in 1914—Komagata Maru incident and outbreak of First World War.
- Komagata Maru was a ship carrying 370 passengers, mainly Sikh and Punjabi Muslim would-be immigrants, from Singapore to Vancouver. Canadian authorities backturned them after two months of privation and uncertainty. It was believed that Canadian authorities were influenced by British government. The ship finally anchored at Calcutta in September 1914. Inmates refused to board the Punjab-bound train. In the ensuing conflict with police at Budge Budge near Calcutta, many died.
- Inflamed by this and with outbreak of First World War, Ghadar leaders decided to launch a violent attack to oust British rule in India.
- Defence of India Act was passed in 1915 primarily to smash Ghadar movement.
Europe
- Berlin Committee for Indian independence was established in 1915 by Virendra Nath Chattopadhyay and Bhupendra Dutta.