Military history museums are fascinating places to many people.
They are especially interesting to those with a love of history, a love of restored military vehicles and weaponry, or both.
Military history has been an important feature of museums throughout the world for half a century or more, but at one time the question was asked more frequently about whether evidence of past wars even belonged in a museum and if so, what was considered an appropriate display of military history?
Should War Be Highlighted In Military Museums?
The controversy brought up in the past was on whether it was acceptable to display war in a museum, as war brought with it depictions and evidence of violence and terror, and many other negative truths.
War, by its very nature, is destructive and murderous and curators of the times questioned the need to devote space to displays that would remind people of the horrors of war.
Museums Let The Truth of War Be Told
Simultaneously, it was also highlighted that in displaying war in military museums, curators provided explanations about actual happenings and the true results of those happenings in settings where the public could learn and understand better, even about the death and destruction.
It could all be fascinating in ways that left important impressions that were about more than just the violence, but the causes and how different wars were fought.
How Should War Be Displayed?
After agreements within the museum industry that there were definitely educational purposes to displaying war, the biggest question became how to do it in the most appropriate way.
What would the objectives be for the assembling of each display?
By answering that question, curators of the day were able to find suitable ways to present the good - technology, weaponry, and pageantry - of war along with the bad, providing the public with the most realistic experience possible.
In these ways, the meanings, causes, and even the trauma of war could be displayed using specific collections designed to prove specific points from which the public could learn.
The Setting of War in a Living History Museum
Military history museums continue this purpose by not only displaying restored military vehicles and weapons, and other military artifacts and displays, but offering living history demonstrations as well.
These acted-out performances bring specific military battles as well as critical behind-the-scenes glimpses of what it was like for those involved to life to teach spectators about the good and bad in war as well as the sacrifices made by those who fought in them.
Ultimately, wars are a part of history and the only way it is possible to learn from history is to acknowledge it and present it in ways that the public can continue to think about it.