Obsessed as I am with WWI, the best way to end a recent trip to London for the Historical Novel Society Conference was a visit to the Imperial War Museum’s WWI exhibit. With the centennial on, we should have known it would be crowded. Organized as a grand winding path, this exhibit sweeps you from pre-war days through each year of the conflict and the aftermath of the Paris Peace conference. Each artefact, picture and memento is displayed for easy viewing often punctuated by the sounds of war. A compelling reminder of what happened to the world in that great catastrophe.
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
9 Responses
I don’t mind crowded museums, it makes me so happy people are interested!
Excellent point, Maria. And they should be! People from all backgrounds were there and I heard several different languages being spoken. A compelling time that resonates with people all around the world.
I find the propaganda posters so interesting. The U.S. was doing them, too. Many directed to women.
Women’s first taste of freedom and independence! Reminds me of your heroine in Go Away Home, Carol.
Great pictures, Mary. I think the listening device is a geophone. The shells spook me out the most.,, the damage they would have done makes me shudder.
Industrial War. There are lots of new shells in bunkers 20 miles south of where I live in the United KIngdom (Currently) A recent TV programme on railways in WW1 noted after problems in shell production that towards the end of WW1 nearly a million shells were fired on one day.
Good post Mary. The various museums with a war theme in the UK do a good job in making sure those who came after “do not forget” I find some of the German technology used in WW2 as displayed in RAF Museum at Cosford pretty frightening especially with how close the result was as detailed in Unravelled. If D- Day had failed…
So true, Alexander. And a scary thought.
Thanks for that, David. There was a cross-section of a shell showing all the shrapnel packed inside. What a horrible war.
Thanks for sharing this. I thought this was a great exhibition too. Any lover of history should go before March 2015. Recommended.