The Rhetoric of Civil–Military Relations in Contemporary Armed Forces Museums

Abstract

This article undertakes a rhetorical analysis of two European armed forces museums (the National Army Museum in London and the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden) in order to show how such institutions provide a space for the negotiation of civil–military relations in ‘post-military’ societies. It argues that both museums construct a world of military professionalism that shields the soldier from potential criticism in the context of contemporary armed conflicts, while encouraging the civilian visitor as democratic citizen to accept their responsibility for the deployment of the armed forces as a matter of policy. The article nevertheless highlights differences in the depiction of soldiers and of warfare in general in both museums, which in turn point to differences in the discourse of war in the UK and Germany.