More than 1.7 million men and women of the British and Commonwealth armed forces died as a result of the First and Second World Wars, and many others have died in the multitude of smaller conflicts since 1945. The scale of loss and the impact that this has had on society both in Britain and the Commonwealth is well illustrated by the enormous and diverse archive of material in the Imperial War Museum's collections and the themes of burial and remembrance are well served.

In addition to material concerning those members of the armed forces killed during wartime, there are extensive holdings relating to civilians and other non-combatants. These latter comprise important records in both written and audio-visual form of deaths resulting from bombing and enemy occupation. While most of these records relate to civilians killed on the Home Front in Britain, there is also a wealth of material relating to civilian deaths in other countries, particularly those in Europe.

Undoubtedly, war graves are the most obvious visual symbols of the human cost of war. From the First World War onwards, the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission has been responsible for maintaining the graves of members of the British and Commonwealth forces located all over the world. The work of collecting, recording and burying the dead fell to the various Graves Registration Units that carried out their work wherever British and Commonwealth units served. The Museum holds a good selection of personal accounts describing the work of these individuals in both written and oral form. Of the British and Commonwealth men and women who were killed in the two world wars, the remains of 925,000 were found and their graves marked by a headstone. Where the remains were not found or could not be identified, the casualty's name was inscribed amongst others on a panel of one of the Memorials to the Missing.

Additionally, hundreds of thousands of British men and women are also commemorated on memorials located in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials, set up in 1989 by the Museum and the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, has resulted in the creation of a unique archive containing information on the estimated 54,000 war memorials located throughout the British Isles. The Museum's main collections also include significant holdings relating to war memorials in Britain and abroad, ranging from film recordings of the unveiling of memorials to information regarding their construction. There are also extensive archives of photographs and artwork related to the design of these structures.

War and its devastating consequences touch not only those who lost loved ones, but in a very particular way, those who survived. It is hardly surprising therefore that it is generally the families and former comrades of those who were killed who, more than any others, seek to remember and commemorate the dead. The themes of remembrance and commemoration have, over the years since 1914, inspired many works of art and literature. The Museum's collections include important examples of these together with audio-visual records of, for example, the laying of wreaths and the pilgrimages of ex-servicemen and women to cemeteries both here and abroad.
Arguably, it is the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey that symbolises more than any other memorial the sacrifice of those who fought and died and who have no known grave. The Museum's collections are rich in archival material on the ceremonies surrounding the bringing of the body of the Unknown Warrior back to Britain and its subsequent burial and commemoration. Such was the impact of this inspired idea that countries other than Britain chose to commemorate their own war dead in a similar manner, and the Museum holds some material related to these other symbolic burials.

An interesting feature of the interwar years was the steady stream of people who embarked on pilgrimages to war graves and memorials, particularly in France and Belgium. After the Second World War these pilgrimages increased in number and some went much further than Europe - particularly to the Middle or Far East. This tremendous rise in interest in visiting battlefields and war cemeteries may perhaps be due to a growing desire among younger generations to see for themselves where their relatives fought and in some cases died. With the Museum currently involved in organising its own tours to the sites of battles located worldwide, its collections include the maps and original archival sources necessary to enhance any such visit.

Those who founded the Imperial War Museum in 1917 saw remembrance and commemoration as integral to the whole purpose of the Museum. It was their wish to commemorate the effort and sacrifice of the ordinary people of Britain and its then Empire that provided the Museum with its central theme. With the passage of nearly a century since the outbreak of the First World War, a second global conflict and continuing wars all over the world, the Museum's remit is now much wider than could ever have been foreseen by those who established it. The collections have expanded accordingly and now cover virtually all conflicts since 1914 in which British and Commonwealth forces have been involved. Commemoration and remembrance remain hugely important to the Museum, and this is reflected in virtually every aspect of the collections.