ABSTRACT
British intelligence on a global scale played the key role in defeating the Indian revolutionaries and first their German, then their Bolshevik, supporters. During the war, Indian intelligence and the imperial intelligence agencies which assisted it had proved able to knock on the head any armed threat to the Raj from abroad. The problem of Indian revolutionaries abroad was important not only in its own right, but also because of the developments in British imperial intelligence to which it led. Developments in intelligence during the war do not point to the resurgence of official confidence in the Empire. Rather the growth of intelligence reflected official belief in the fragility of the Empire. The growth of British intelligence agencies dedicated primarily or in part to combating the Indian revolutionary movement throughout the world is a clear sign that the British perceived the position of the Empire to be weakening during and after the First World War.
