Based on Frightful First World War, one of the most popular books in the Horrible Histories series by Scholastic Children’s Books, (the world’s best-selling history series for children) the exhibition sets author Terry Deary’s powerful words and artist Martin Brown’s acerbic illustrations alongside Imperial War Museum’s unrivalled collections.
The exhibition, running through 4 January 2009, will tell the stories of the men and women, servicemen and civilians, who shaped and endured what was described as the war to end all wars.
“Of all the history in all the world the story of the First World War – also known as the Great War – is perhaps the most horrible. It’s a story of what happens when machines go to war and human beings get in the way. But it’s also a story of courage and craziness, brave people and batty people, friendships and fierce hatreds, love ... and lice.” (Terry Deary, Horrible Histories: Frightful First World War)
Follow the Frightful First World War timeline and see rare objects, art, film and photographs to find out dire details of a war that affected everyone – from peace-loving protestors to suffering soldiers and civilians. Find out about the horrors and hardships of the war that was meant to last four months but ground on for four grim years. Get a first look at illustrations from the forthcoming Horrible Histories Handbook - Trenches (published by Scholastic Children’s Books this September), which has been specially commissioned to coincide with this landmark exhibition.
Discover how the woeful war made people tell lies, how the enemies in the trenches stopped fighting to play friendly football matches and how the war brought foul food and worse water. Find out how soldiers dealt with fierce flies, lovely lice, gruesome gas, sickness and sores. Explore who wore what where in the war and what their curious clothing felt like. Smell the stenches, disguise yourself in a camouflage tree and peer into no man’s land with a periscope in a large-scale trench, specially drawn for the exhibition, by the Horrible Histories’ artist Martin Brown. Discover the sport of beetle racing, how women’s roles changed beyond recognition and how “Daft Dora” introduced new rotten rules – would you have known which ones to obey?
See rare objects first hand such as Kaiser Wilhelm II’s greatcoat (especially made for him to accommodate his shorter left arm) on public display for the first time. Other highlights from the IWM collections visit IWM North for the first time such as a half- ton German Trench Mortar (with traces of original camouflage paint), the helmet which King George V wore to visit the Western Front, a letter from Siegfried Sassoon (written in Craiglockhart War Hospital while being treated for “Shell Shock”), a collection of documents relating to the famous Christmas truce, the pen which signed the prolongation armistice, original signs from trenches and even German toilet paper! View unique footage of female munition workers playing football in their leisure time in 1918 and much, much more!
Discover how almost every family in Britain, France, Germany and Russia lost someone, search for memorials in your area and find out if your family name is on the Commonwealth War Graves register in Your History on the ground floor. -- www.iwm.org.uk
