Wars and the People Who Led Them

On Thursday, we visited Westminster Abbey, which had been my favorite thing from my last trip to England. As before, it was very cool exploring the cathedral, which has become more of a giant mausoleum than anything else. Pretty much any British person who accomplished anything in the last 1,000 years is entombed there; since Britons have done quite a bit during this time period, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of people in there, with impressive statues and tombs commemorating them. The cathedral itself is also quite spectacular.

Afterwards, we went and checked out the Winston Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms. At first we were kind of hesitant paying the rather hefty entrance fee (about $20), but it was totally worth it. The War Rooms are where Churchill and the top British leadership ran the government from during the dark days of 1940 and '41. All the original gear is there; once the blitz stopped, the rooms were largely vacated but left set up in case of future need, and after the war they were apparently forgotten. The Imperial War Museum came along and opened them up, created a nifty audio tour, and put in numerous dummies of Churchill and other British leaders and soldiers throughout, making it look as it did during use. The best part, however, was a massive section of the life of Winston Churchill. He has always been one of my favorite historical figures, but after the exhibit, Churchill moved up to about #2 or 3 on my all time list of favorite leaders. It really brought him to life; I had never known that as a young man, he had been a gallant soldier and won numerous medals for bravery under fire, and as a result, came home a national celebrity after the Boer War. I especially enjoyed the area where one could listen to the best of his speeches (the museum was very interactive). In my opinion, Churchill was the greatest orator of the English language (I would place 4 of his speeches in the top 10 all time speeches ever given: "Their Finest Hour," "Let us Go Forward Together," "The Few," and "We Shall Fight them on the Beaches"). I actually ended up enjoying the museum more than Westminster Abbey, which says a lot, since I love that too.

On Saturday we visited the very awesome Imperial War Museum. It was even more awesome than the previous two places visited, which is pretty difficult to top. The Museum is massive, and has probably the finest collection of military items in the world. Of particular note is its excellent condition Schweren Panzerjäger V "Jagdpanther", probably the finest tank built by the Germans during the Second World War and my favorite vehicle. It was practically invincible against Allied armour (though this one was actually disabled and captured by daring British tanks, which is why it is still around today). They have a ton of other tanks, planes, and other large objects. I took numerous photos, a few of which are shown above. There were also massive numbers of uniforms, weapons, and other cool things including a WW1 trench replica. I also really enjoyed a large section on military propaganda posters (a few of which are quite moving, including my favorite, "the Last Call"). I need to go back again (and maybe a third time - there is really so much there to look at). If you love history (especially the history of war), this place is simply awesome.