Imperial War Museum in London - WWI exhibit

England is in the midst of a 4 year commemoration of World War 1 that started in 2014. I had been wanting to see this exhibit for a while, but it was very busy every time I was there in the past. Luckily the crowds were not that huge this year.

Here is the outside of the museum.

It took a while to sort out the allegiances in the war.  On the one side you had Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. The Austro - Hungarian Empire consisted of many nationalities. The Germans were recruiting Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) to join their side. 

On the other side you had France, England, Russia and eventually Belgium and the US were drawn in to the fight. The British encouraged friends to join the fighting and be together in the same troop -creating what they called the "Pals Battalions". The French and British recruited soldiers from their colonies in Africa and India.

Russia eventually left the war in 1917 before the war had ended. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused turmoil within Russia and they had to tend to that.

The U.S. got drawn into the war after it determined it could stay silent no longer. The safety of its ships was being threatened, as seen by the sinking on the U.S. Lusitania in 1915. A German plot to gain Mexico as an ally was not appreciated by the U.S. either.

The development of weapons of war on both sides really struck me.  Fire power was no longer from rifles alone.  The war took to the air and the sea as well as the land.  There were German bomber planes and German zeppelins that bombed east England. German submarines were sinking ships going to and from Britain. Both sides used poisonous gases to drop on troops and civilians. Tanks were used to fight (sometimes not too successfully as they would get stuck in the mud or break down). The British had rifle bombers that shot off grenades and the Fuze 106 - a shell that would instantaneously explode on contact with barbed wire and anything on the ground surface. 

This is a German Big Bertha mortar used in a howitzer.

Shells containing gas.  The German blue cross shell below caused so much sneezing and vomiting that troops had to remove their gas masks and therefore inhale deadly gases.

Of course there was also the new trench warfare used on both sides. Front line trenches were in the line of enemy fire. Behind them were communication trenches used to carry goods and troops to the front line. It was an intricate system of underground tunnels. It was easy to get lost. The British put up signs to label the trenches so they would not lose their way so easily. The names of the trenches were familiar names from home or warnings to the troops. 

Here are examples of trench signs.

Gifts were sent to the British soldiers and the British government from Britain's territories during the war. These gifts ranged from money to goods (sugar, tobacco, wine, fruit, eggs, mutton, butter, bacon and flour). 

British women served valiantly during the war to treat injured soldiers at the front lines. Other women served as typists for the war office, conductors of railways/trams/buses, farm laborers, and bakers/cooks/clerks/drivers for the Navy, RAF and Army. There were many displays about this topic.

It was noted that the Germans were stirring the pot to get other countries to join them. Germany was trying to woo Turkey, Mexico and Ireland. In the case of Ireland, Germany was encouraging the Irish republicans in their fight for independence from England. That Easter Uprising in Dublin in 1916 was put down by British troops. 

After many years of war, Germany was defeated and an armistice was called in 1918. 

This exhibit on WWI is well worth the time to explore. I believe the museum expanded this exhibit for the current commemoration of the war.  Of course it takes a British perspective on many aspects of the war that you don't learn in your American history class.