Our campsite was located in Peronne, just 1.5 km from the Historial museum. We were camped here to visit the museum and explore the Somme region and various WWI sites. The museum was practically empty with only a few groups of students to contend with. The museum was organized into four rooms, each dealing with specific period of the war from 1914-18. The first room gave an introduction to pre-war Europe and the political tensions and struggles that were taking place. It spoke of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, Germany's encouragement of Austria to declare war on the Serbs and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which was the primary catalyst for declaring war. There was an interesting map on display that attempted to quantify the main powers at war in terms of their standing army, naval prowess, available war funds (not sure how they obtained this information) and other factors. The map was questionable in its accuracy though because it showed Russia as being wealthier than England. In the display cabinet, one item of particular interest looked like a graduation cap. It was in fact a cap worn by those that were deemed fit to serve in the army – it was worn proudly back then, almost like a rite of passage.

The next room had a series of etchings by Otto Dix, who was a German soldier traumatized during the war. Many of the sketches were very graphic, depicting the harsh reality of war, and definitely not suitable for propaganda material. One sketch of a wounded comrade particularly stood out for me and the soldier’s figure was so contorted, it made his agony look almost unreal. Dix continued to do etchings well into the late 1930s, always depicting the folly of war. This did not sit well with Nazism at the time and he was declared a degenerate artist by the regime. It was interesting to see these sketches from a German soldier as you don’t often get to see things from the perspective of the aggressor.

The following room was about the beginning of the war, with displays of newspaper headlines from that time, recruitment posters and other such items. One of the items I particularly thought was clever was a poster titled "Hark! Hark! The Dogs do Bark!", which characterized each of the European nations as various breeds of dogs and then continued on to relate how the war began by saying, “It was started by a Dachshund that is rumoured to have gone mad – though there was so much method in his madness that this is doubtful”. Look at the photos below for the rest of the very clever explanation. There was a fair bit mentioned about recruitment tactics used by various governments, especially the recruitment of people from the colonies of the fighting nations. England recruited heavily from the Commonwealth nations including India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I was surprised to learn that nearly 400,000 Indians fought in the war, even more than Canada’s 350,000. France on the other hand recruited from its territories in Africa whereas Germany solely relied on its own troops. It was also interesting to note was that although the UK didn’t have conscription till 1916, three million voluntarily signed up (the same amount as post 1916). The primary displays in the room were the outfits of a typical soldier from the three main armies: French, British and German. The French outfit was so out-dated for its time that it clearly showed how ill-prepared and foolish the commanding officers were. The likes of Joffre still believed that this war would be fought by the cavalry and close, hand-to-hand combat, thus outfitting French soldiers with trumpets to announce the charge and large swords for fighting. To add to this, they even wore metal breastplates, like in the medieval days to shield against bullets.

The following room displayed some of the weapons of the war – grenades, machine guns, mines, etc. Interestingly enough, it also highlighted the commercialization of the war and the proliferation of war-related objects. Everyday objects made use of patriotic symbols to promote products, thus making the war an advertising agent. There was also an interesting display on photography and videography equipment from the time. It explained that video cameras at the time were so heavy and required a tripod at all times that nearly all footage of the war that exists today was shot behind the front line and/or pre-staged. The end of the museum visit concluded with the victory of the war, which essentially was due the fact that German troops’ morale and supplies were almost depleted just as the Americans joined the Allied forces. There was a final display outlining the total casualties which seemed to aptly summarize the folly of the entire war: 70 million troops mobilized, almost 10 million killed, not including civilian casualties.