Empire, Faith & War

Empire, Faith & War is a fun educational app that follows the story of a young Sikh soldier on his journey through different theatres of the First World War.

It's August 1914 and Harnam Singh, a young man from a village near Amritsar in Punjab, hears from the village elders that a war has broken out in Europe. Convinced that he must uphold his community’s martial tradition (and excited by the prospect of seeing the world), he joins the British Indian Army and embarks on an adventure that takes him to the Western Front, a German prisoner-of-war camp and the deserts of Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).

Your goal: to make it back home safely. Help Sepoy Harnam Singh get through his initial training in India and three theatres of war by learning about the Sikh experience of the Great War. Take a look at each panel to learn more about the image shown, then answer the questions posed by military personnel from the British, French and German armies.

  • Genres:

    Historical
    Educational
    Puzzles
    Quiz

The Empire, Faith & War app is available to play in your browser on the PC and Mac. You can also download it on Android and iphone/ipad devices.

Minimum requirements

The app runs on WEBGL and therefore requires the latest browsers - it works best when run on one of the following:

  • Mozilla Firefox 42
  • Google Chrome 46
  • Apple Safari 9.0
  • MS Internet Explorer 11
  • MS Edge 13

(Load time: depending on your system and internet connection, the app could take several minutes to fully load up - please be patient)

Controls

  • Up/right arrow = walk forward
  • Down/left arrow = walk back
  • Click on an image panel to learn more about it

Credits

  • Publisher: UK Punjab Heritage Association
    Developer: Itvinder Singh
    Text: Arjan Singh Grewal
    Music (mobile version): Jasdeep Singh
    Images:
    • Nanaki and Sahib Collected Works
      Kanwal Madra
      Amandeep Singh Madra
      Kulwant Singh Bahra Collection
      Gursharan S. and Elvira Sidhu
      Toor Collection
      Council of the National Army Museum, London
      Imperial War Museums