Ending War, Imagining Peace: Germany 1918

New temporary exhibition at the Peace Museum.

The history of the First World War is usually told with reference to the actions of male soldiers, generals and politicians. And we usually hear that story from the side of Britain and its allies.

What does the carnage of 1914-1918 look like when viewed not only from the other side of the trenches, but from the perspective of German civilians, especially German women?

The war looks different from this new angle. At the start of November 1918, the war had still not quite reached a military conclusion. A nearly-broken German army was still staggering on. It took a political upheaval in Germany to end the war, caused by a revolution of hungry civilians in which the role of women was key.

What did these German women do during the revolution and after the war? What kind of peace did they want? How different was that from the kind of peace that the men at Versailles imposed in 1919?

This exhibition asks these questions and more. It gives us a new way to see the past, and maybe a better way to build the future.

How do we stop war? What kind of peace do we want?