Despite the looming prospects of an end to the US security guarantee in Europe or of a ceasefire in Ukraine negotiated on Moscow's terms, war remains a thing of the past in the UK. The British have a passion for their glorious military history and a deep respect for their army, but for the time being, the risk of direct conflict is perceived as remote, and the public is not mentally prepared for such a possibility.

Last weekend, visitors crowded into the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in central London. The museum store sold t-shirts with images of Spitfires, the valiant fighter planes that resisted the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and propaganda posters designed to keep up British morale during the bombings, including the famous "Keep calm and carry on."

The upper floors housed objects that reflected life during the Blitz – the German bombings of London, Liverpool and Coventry between autumn 1940 and mid-1941 – as well as a temporary exhibition on British attitudes during the country’s most recent military engagements, including the pacifism of the post-World War I era, the trauma of soldiers returning from the front, the strangeness of the Falklands War (1982), and the widespread opposition in 2003 to then prime minister Tony Blair’s decision to join US president George W. Bush in the Iraq War.

You have 80.43% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.