Why The Hindu-German Conspiracy Remains A Historic Failure

hindu_german_conspiracy_failure
What made Irish nationalists, German spies and Sikh revolutionaries work together in the United States during World War I?

An Irishman, a German and a Sikh revolutionary walked into a (figurative) bar. The outcome was not a punchline, but the largest pan-global conspiracy of World War I.

It ended, as many failed conspiracies, in a courtroom – this time in San Francisco. On one side were attorneys from the United States aided by British secret agents. On the other, the co-conspirators Ram Chandra and Ram Singh, aided by Irish-American attorneys. It was the most expensive trial in history at the time, costing three million dollars. Its climax came, not with a judgment, but with gunshots in the courtroom.

Ram Chandra shot his co-defendant, Ram Singh, thrice – once in the heart and twice through the body. He would have fired more – but a United States Marshall shot him in the head over the heads of the other people in the courtroom.

How did things turn out this way? What made the idea of Indian independence become a global affair? And why did Ram kill Ram in the final moment?



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