It seems silly to talk about the deficiencies of London’s Imperial War Museum. After all, I spent five hours there; it isn’t as if I wasn’t learning lots of stuff.

I was surprised though that it starts with the First World War. The United Kingdom has been around for centuries, and there was England before that. There were lots of earlier wars. Where was Crimea, the Boer War, the American Rebellion, the French and Indian Wars? Where for that matter were the Napoleonic wars and the Spanish Armada.

Then again, there are lots of other museums. Maybe those cover some of them. I know I learned a lot about the War of the Roses when I was in York about a decade ago.

And I understand that this is a British museum, but there were still some omissions that surprised me. Very little is said about the American influence in both world wars. Or the Canadian contribution for that matter. The battle for Vimy Ridge in 1917 is a big deal for us. It felt almost insulting not to have a mention. They again, there were no British troops in that one.

Okay, now that I’ve vented, let’s talk about the good things. Of which there were many.

I was very interested to see material from the home front, to learn how the British people handled both world wars – the grit, the determination and the cost. I was also impressed with the emphasis on individual stories of ordinary people and ordinary soldiers. I wished they were longer and more complete, but I suspect I would be in the minority. The text length was just right for a quick read.

I didn’t really learn very much from my visit, but that I think is more due to my having a reasonably good knowledge of the subject: I have visited war museums in at least four other countries and have read several war histories. For someone with less knowledge it would be a more fascinating place.

Still, I’m glad I had the opportunity to see it. I don’t know if I will visit it again, but I might. The friend who took me noted that there was a lot of material that he had not seen on his previous visit, including a couple of new special exhibits (which I may touch on in later posts).