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Imperial War Museum London

 

Going into the Imperial War Museum I had my bag checked. Then, during my wander around the museum, I stopped in front of a small display dedicated to terrorism. It consisted of a pile of parcels and a suitcase. War in the twenty first century has a vague quality, which reaches into a museum dedicated to military history, getting past huge fifteen inch naval guns mounted at the entrance.

War has always had a changeable nature, both in how it is fought and what people fight about. This has been true since the early history of humanity. Change in the weapons of war in prehistoric Britain has left an imprint on the countryside. Around 500BC a development of iron making technology allowed production of new weapons. The climate of fear that resulted is clear in forts consisting of rings of earth banks around hilltops which are still visible in many locations in southern England. These forts, however, were no match for Roman technology after Claudius's invasion of 43AD. From this point the technology of war continued to change, but from the Roman Empire's collapse until the early sixteenth century, changes in the reasons people went to war were just as profound. Warfare in Medieval Europe was mainly between royal dynasties competing for power. Wars were often deadly election campaigns for monarchs. Leaders of factions fighting each other to the death were usually related to each other. Through it all, however, people were generally united by their Catholic religion, and in many ways people had a greater allegiance to their religion than their country. Then from the early sixteenth century with the rise of Protestantism, religion which had once united people led to ferocious divisions. Religious warfare divided Western Europe, and continued to do so until the early eighteenth century. Then with the Seven Years War 1756 - 1763, the first global war, waged between Britain and France and various allies of the two, war took on a national character. People were united by a sense of loyalty to their nation. National war reached a catastrophic crescendo in the twentieth century with the First and Second World Wars. This period is the major focus for the Imperial War Museum.

 

 

 

Tamzine - smallest of the boats that evacuated troops from Dunkirk in 1940

Displays at the museum chart the history of warfare in the twentieth century. Mechanised warfare really began during the early nineteenth century Napoleonic wars. But by the twentieth century the true destructive potential of technology and warfare had been realised. Various machines of war are the first thing you see coming into the museum. An area of Western Front trench from the First World War has been recreated, and "The Blitz Experience" gives an idea of what it must have been like to live in London during the Second World War. The government video Protect And Survive plays in the section dedicated to the Cold War.

And then of course I came across that pile of parcels and a suitcase. Walking past huge old naval guns, which fired shells almost as tall as me at the French coast on D-Day, it seems that the twentieth century manner of national war already seems to be a museum piece. War seems to have left behind the seemingly clear lines of national identity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Times: The Imperial War Museum London is open daily 10am - 6pm, except for 24th - 26th of December.

Address: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ

Directions: The museum is in Lambeth Road in south London, within walking distance of the mainline stations at Waterloo and London Bridge. The closest Underground stations are Elephant and Castle and Lambeth North. There is no dedicated car parking available, and the museum is within the London Congestion Charge Zone. Use of public transport is recommended.

Access: The museum is fully wheelchair accessible, and all staff dealing with visitors have received disability awareness training. There are audio guides, induction loops, large print guides, magnifying sheets and touching of the exhibits in the Large Exhibits Gallery is permitted for people with visual impairment.

 

 

Contact:

telephone: 020 7416 5000

fax: 020 7416 5374

e-mail: mail@iwm.org.uk

web site: http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00b