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64The First World War made it necessary for the Britishgovernment to have a labor force in the battle fieldsof France.The demand for labor corps to serve the Britishexpeditionary force in France was communicated to diffelentroyal states including Manipur.Thus the first Manipurlabor corps consisting of two hundred Kukis and Nagas fromthe hills of Manipur was raised and sent to France in May1917.The second labor corps was recruited from among thehill tribes of Manipur.The Kuki chiefs refused to beenlisted and rebellion broke out.The war between theBritish and the Kukis continued for two long years.Accordingto the British officials, the Kuki uprising of 1917-1919in the state of Manipur was the most serious problem to theauthorities in Assam since the uprising of Tikendrajit inManipur in 1891.The anthropologist Furer Haimendorf describedthe tribal uprisings as defensive in character, alast desperate attempt by a helpless community to resistforeign encroachment on their land and economic resources.lThe Kuki uprising was subdued by the superior force of theBritish.These two important events serve to give historicalbackground for the opening of mission work in Manipurand among the Kukis.Once British power was firmly established, missionarywork was free to begin in Manipur.William Pettigrew,1 Ga uta m Bhedra, " The Kuki Uprising (191 7-1919): ItsCauses and Nature," in Man in India, pp. 10-12.