It was referred to as the ‘Great War’ and was all too idealistically coined ‘The war to end all wars.’ Fought on European soil, the First World War had super powers battle it out. Four empires fell — Germans, Habsburgs, Russians and Ottomans; while the British Empire, backed by its colonies, emerged stronger.

An oil painting by Charles Henry Harrison Burleigh. Shows two rows of beds occupied by wounded Indian soldiers in the Music Room of the Royal Pavilion during its use as a Military Hospital, 1915. PIC COURTESY/ Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

India sent 1.5 million men to fight for the Raj, the largest volunteer army the world had seen in 1914; hundreds of Indian women served as nurses in Flanders, the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Middle East; millions of rupees were spent in supplies and stores. But today, most in India can barely relate to war being far away from the epicentre. Remnants stand in Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial in France; the Gurkha Memorial, Horse Guards Avenue, London; the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.

One such reminder is Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, an opulent palace that was converted into a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers. To some, the space speaks of British benevolence to its subjects; to others it was a political move to placate Indian nationalism. Whatever one’s views, these walls whisper poignant human stories. Here’s a walkthrough of the space.