India Gate: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Triumphal arch in New Delhi}}

|commemorates=the dead of the Indian Armies who fell during World War 1 and the Third Afghan War}}

The '''India Gate''' (formerly known as the '''All India War Memorial''') is a war memorial located near the [[Rajpath]] on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of [[New Delhi, India|New Delhi]], formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the [[British Indian Army]] who died between 1914 and 1921 in the [[World War I|First World War]], in France, [[Flanders]], [[Mesopotamia]], [[Persia]], [[East Africa]], [[Gallipoli]] and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]]. 13,300 servicemen's names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.<ref name="DELHI MEMORIAL">{{cite web|year=|title=Delhi Memorial (India Gate)|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/142700/DELHI%20MEMORIAL%20%28INDIA%20GATE%29|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414035151/https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/142700/delhi%20memorial%20(india%20gate)/|archive-date=14 April 2021|access-date=24 January 2022|website=|publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]}}</ref> Designed by Sir [[Edwin Lutyens]], the gate evokes the architectural style of the [[Memorial gates and arches|memorial arch]] such as the [[Arch of Constantine]], in Rome, and is often compared to the [[Arc de Triomphe]] in Paris, and the [[Gateway of India]] in Mumbai.

The India Gate was part of the work of the [[Imperial War Graves Commission]] (IWGC), which came into existence in December 1918 under the British rule for building war graves and memorials to soldiers who were killed in the First World War.<ref>{{cite journal |last=David A. Johnson |author2=Nicole F. Gilbertson |title=Commemorations of Imperial Sacrifice at Home and Abroad: British Memorials of the Great War |journal=The History Teacher |date=4 August 2010 |volume=43 |series=4 |pages=564–584 |url=http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/Johnson_and_Gilbertson.pdf|access-date=9 April 2014}}</ref> The foundation stone of the gate then called the All India War Memorial, was laid on 10 February 1921, at 16:30, by the visiting [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Duke of Connaught]] in a ceremony attended by officers and men of the British Indian Army, [[Imperial Service Troops]], the commander in chief, and [[Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford|Chelmsford]], the viceroy.<ref name="Duke, war memorial">{{cite book|last=Connaught, Duke of|first=Arthur|title=His Royal Highness The Duke of Connaught in India 1921 Being a Collection of the Speeches Delivered by His Royal Highness.|year=1921|publisher=Superintendent Government Printing|location=Calcutta|pages=69–71|ol=17945606M}}</ref> On the occasion, the viceroy is reported to have said, "The stirring tales of individual heroism, will live forever in the annals of this country", and that the memorial which was a tribute to the memory of heroes, "known and unknown", would inspire [[future generations]] to endure hardships with similar fortitude and "no less valor".<ref name="Duke, war memorial"/> The Duke also read out a message by the King, which said, "On this spot, in the central vista of the Capital of India, there will stand a Memorial Archway, designed to keep", in the thoughts of future generations, "the glorious sacrifice of the officers and men of the British Indian Army who fought and fell". During the ceremony, the [[Deccan Horse]], 3rd Sappers and Miners, [[6th Jat Light Infantry]], [[34th Sikh Pioneers]], [[39th Garhwal Rifles]], [[59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force)]], [[117th Mahrattas]], and [[5th Gurkha Rifles]]  

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