The United States and the United Kingdom have a long and storied shared history. However, reflecting on my experience this week in London, I have discovered that there is one large difference between the two countries that is often overlooked: The United States and Britain view conflict and their respective military histories in different ways.
In exploring London, I visited sites such as the National Army Museum, HMS Belfast, National Maritime Museum, Bletchley Park, Imperial War Museum, Guards Museum, and Cabinet War Rooms. One thing in common with all of these sights is the solemnity and somberness that they command. When I went to the British Army Museum, a docent and I shared a conversation that prompted him to lead us through the entire museum. What surprised me was how he described and explained the exhibits. He talked about the individual soldiers, both good and bad, about how the stories must be covered as Britain has a storied military history, but it does no good to boast about it. Many wars have brought suffering to the home front as losing the wars meant either capture or occupation. One example he gave me was how the British viewed World War II. He explained how the war is not seen as a triumph but as the perseverance of a population and nation that struggled and suffered for nearly six years. The British lost 70,000 civilians during the course of the war and many homes and other buildings were lost. The British were not saviors during World War II; rather, they sacrificed and suffered, but most of all they persevered. This leads to a focus on individual soldiers and other common people in the museums I saw. Uniforms were not just from famous generals, but from the lowest enlisted ranks to show humanity.
This style of museum differed from many museums I have visited in the United States. In the United States, the focus has often been on the triumph of the nation, how we have saved other countries, and how we sent our boys over to save the world from evil. The docent and I had a conversation that this view comes from the fact that the civilian populous was never under a significant threat like the British were. American citizens did not experience the Blitz, the war was over there, not over here, we were able to celebrate a victory without having to rebuild our country. This feeds into the idea that Americans are saviors with the greatest military in the world. It has been interesting to see how another country views warfare and its military history based on how wars have affected them at home.
