At the start of World War 1, Britain controlled India as part of the British Empire. Most of the people of India wanted independence, and protests toward this end had already gone on for awhile, but so far the British government had contained the protests and maintained their hold on India.
When the war broke out, many in Britain feared they would lose the ability to maintain control of India, but actually quite the reverse happened; people in India rallied behind the British cause in the hopes that they could impress Britain enough to earn their independence. India became a vital strategic stronghold for the British Navy and Royal Air Force.
In total some 1.5 million men from India volunteered to fight for Britain, and 800,000 ended up doing so, in theaters of battle around the world. None other than Mahatma Gandhi wrote articles encouraging the men of India to enlist. Gandhi and many others hoped that by showing their solidarity with Britain in this time of need, they could earn India's respect and freedom from the Empire.
That didn't happen, at least not for many years. At the conclusion of the war, India was given a few provisions toward self-government, but only about 5 million people were actually allowed to vote---about 2% of the population at the time. Many felt betrayed by this weak concession, including Gandhi himself; this may have contributed to his later activism toward India's independence in the 1940s.
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