Hello there! My name is Cameron! But if you’re reading this, you most likely know that already. Until very recently, the most far off and distant place I had been in my life was Columbus, Ohio (being that I’m from South Florida!). That of course changed just a few days ago when I stepped off of a plane and into London, England. One of the first impressions I got from the city was just how old of a city London is, just about every corner appears to be steeped in history. History, of course, being the main reason for me being here. If you are reading this and you didn’t know who I was, there’s still a high chance you know why I’m writing this blog (if not, seriously how’d you end up here and why are you still reading this?). This blog is a part of my study abroad trip studying the Second World War in Europe, and I can’t think of a better place to start taking about the Second World War than in London, England.
As I mentioned earlier, London in a city dripping in history and the history of the Second World War is no exception to this. For a period early in the war, Great Britain was the only nation remaining in Western Europe that stood against Nazi Germany. During this time, Great Britain was subjected to nightly bombings and began to view themselves as the last bastion of liberty in Europe. This spirit of defiance and endurance appears to saturate the British interpretation of the Second World War. Every nation involved in the war has its own way of remembrance and its own unique narrative for the course of the war. Much of Great Britain’s narrative seems to begin during the Blitz. These interpretations can be seen in the ways that Great Britain chooses to remember the war.
The first historical site we visited was the Imperial War Museum. The very first thing we saw at the museum and the thing that seemed most surprising to me was a small stone monument outside of the museum, off to one side. It could be seen from a distance that this monument was covered in roses. This plain looking monument turned out to be the Soviet monument to all Soviet people lost in the Second World War (or the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union as they called it). This seemed a bit surprising, not only the location of a Soviet monument, but the fact of how visited it seemed to be based off of the number of flowers left there. Moving on to the museum itself, the museum was a very good one, but ended up having a far better and more well put together exhibit on the First World War, rather than the Second. I that this was because the Great War exhibit had just recently been redone. The Second World War exhibit was more disjointed and didn’t follow a single flow.
The next site we visited in London was the Churchill War Rooms. This helped paint a very strong picture of the British war narrative. First off, the site greatly glorified Winston Churchill. Despite the museum (there was a museum dedicated to Churchill inside the war rooms) claiming to present an unbiased look at Churchill’s life, I couldn’t seem to find anything that spoke a negative word about Churchill. The bunker also strongly perpetuated the narrative of Britain during the Blitz. The Bunkers were created to serve as Churchill’s base of operation during the Blitz and the bunker invoked many of the feelings associated with the Blitz.
The last World War II specific site we visited was Bletchley Park (I gave the site report for this site!). Bletchley was the home of Allied code breaking during the Second World War and was the site of one of Britain’s greatest achievements. The codebreakers of Bletchley ended up being able to break and read just about every German message toward the end of the war. Expert’s today estimate that the work done by Bletchley shortened the war by two years. It was fantastic to be at Bletchley, where all of this was done, but the site itself honestly isn’t much. True to its top secret nature during the war, there isn’t much flash associated with the site and it may not provide much appeal to someone unfamiliar or uninterested in Bletchley’s history.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time spent in London. The city has a rich history and just about every street has a story to tell. London is also a city that has a very strong remembrance of the Second World War and remembers that time in history as a time when they alone stood against the full fury of Nazi Germany and prevailed.