Imperial War Museum Great War Exhibit

Hello All

A few weeks ago myself and my wife were in London for her 30th Birthday, while we had to do many less than interesting things (really not a fan of musicals!) we did get a chance to go to the Imperial War Museum that had just had a big revamp and a new Great War Exhibit. With myself and Winner getting into FoW Great War and it being the 100th Anniversary it seemed rude not to have a look around.

My first impression was they have thrown a lot of money at this, so many interactive section and projections. It was very well done. As you'll see below I have tried to show the interactive sections as best as I can but it might not show up that well with photos.

Now thats a big shell!

A bit of the Berlin Wall

A monument to the Soviets for their sacrifice during
WW2. 

Now that's an entrance!

As there was a lot at the start of the exhibit I'm going to start with interactive bits. They are used to tell the story of the war from the build up to the events after the war.

These two screens showed news via video clips leading up to the war.

This Map explains how and why the alliances were formed in the years
leading up to the war.

This screen had rolling new paper headlines focusing on the few days
leading up to the war and a few days afterwards.

This was in the section that looked at the casualties in the open fields
section of 1914, it was really to the point as you'll see next.

This was probably my favourite interactive bit, you turned the page of the
book and that changed the map above. It showed the story of the trenches
from the race to the coast to how they built them and defended them. 

Surprisingly there where a number of maps and videos about the less known
battles. Africa, Samoa, etc.

A surpirse but a game where you try and defend convoy's from German
U-Boats

The section ends with a a look at what happened after the war. The Russian
Civil war, the Great Depression and the Axis being formed in the 1930's.

This sections shows all the uniforms that were there, their was a lot! |Everything from 1914 to 1918, Western Front, Eastern Front and Africa.

I do love the 1914 French inform, I hope Battlefront do
1914 at some point!

Got to love the Storm Troopers!

This is an officers uniform from the Somme, they sleeve was cut away during
surgery and then they preserved the uniform, you can still see blood on it. 

The last section is posts, and any other odds and ends I saw during the visit.

Overall I would recommend everyone to go to the Imperial War Museum while the Great War Exhibit is on, it's free to get into the museum so it's better than a bargain! I love what they have done with the Great War section, it was a very futuristic way of setting the place up, it was great at engaging the kids that were there while still giving great detail on the conflict. I think I'll end up going back again without the wife so I can send more time reading and watching the sections.

Thanks for looking and until next time

Ben