The second world war was an armed conflict that took place from 1939 up to 1945, involving many countries fighting on many battlefields. WW2 produced a number of badass photos, but this one wins the prize so far.
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| What ever happened to Lucky Legs I? |
WW2 combat
The second world war was an armed conflict that took place from 1939 up to 1945, involving many countries fighting on many battlefields. WW2 produced a number of badass photos, but this one wins the prize so far.
University of California, 1940
Look at all these badasses. University of California, Berkeley is probably one of the most famous universities in the USA. It was formed in the distant 1868 with the merge of several colleges and today it offers a whole variety of possible fields of studying, but it is also one of the most selective public university in the US.
The educational impact UC Berkeley had was great. The university "produced" a lot of Nobel prize winners, nuclear researchers and in general a very high number of successful, educated people. So if you're interested in economy, business, administration, law or in chemistry, engineering, science and many more fields, check out a college or two in Berkeley.
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| And 70 years later, nothing changed. |
WW1 dogfight
To prove how us humans are always advancing and evolving through time, we have the perfect example. Airplanes. We all know of their early beginnings and how the initial planes were very fragile and unreliable, but I'd like to put more emphasis on the peoples capability to attach guns to them as soon as they were airborne.
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| Where did Hans go? |
WW2 flamethrower
Using fire, more specifically using flamethrowers became standardized in the 20th century, but it has his origins in ancient Greece (the so called Greek fire) and in China. Modern flamethrowers were introduced during WW1 in it's infamous trench warfare. They were also used in WW2 and later on.
Using a flamethrower was a great way to clear out trenches in WW1. In WW2, as we can see on the picture, a group of American soldiers is using it on what seems to be a bunker. The usage of flamethrowers was very important to clear out caves and underground networks / fortifications.
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| It werfs flammen. |
1950s supermarket
The 1950s, especially in the United States, was a very specific era, characterized by post war economical expansion and social reforms. It ushered an age of consumerism. People were buying cars, going out shopping and doing various different things that weren't considered your average routine before the war.
On this picture we have a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. It is one of the oldest supermarket chains (franchise) in the world. They were the first to do several major things, that are now considered normal in a grocery store, such as: put price marks on goods, introduce shopping carts, use refrigerators to keep goods fresh, uniform employees etc.
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| Where are the obese people? |
Victorian era safari hunter
The 19th century was marked as the Victorian era for Britain, which at the time, was at it's colonial powers peak and it's industrial growth and development were far ahead compared to the rest of the world. There is a a lot of memorable styling and characteristics of that era,
especially what people used to wear. You can also vividly imagine some
dark and grim London streets, horse chariots, prostitutes... Jack the
Ripper.
Britain was the dominant colonial power in Africa and all around the world basically, hence why the majority of people all around the world today know how to speak English. Colonialism had it's good and bad sides.
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| Today's schedule: shoot elephants, whip Africans, drink tea. |
Prohibition
When you say the word "prohibition" many people associate it with the roaring twenties of the USA, mobsters, smuggling, wild parties and cities like New York or Chicago. But prohibition has a history, dating to as early as ancient China. The modern day bans on alcohol showed up and lasted in the first few decades of the 20th century, as an attempt to help society get sober.
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| You're not supposed to spill it down the drain... |
Possibly the most known was the prohibition in the US which lasted during the 1920s and 30s. It basically prohibited making and distributing alcoholic beverages, in order to create a better society. It failed. The law was bypassed, bent, broken, you name it, just to get liquor distributed. This ushered the era of great crime lords like Al Capone and a network of criminal organizations which smuggled and distributed alcohol.
JFK campaigning
JFK was probably one of the most charismatic and famous presidents in history. He was very well known for his positive American image. During his presidency he made several key moves, but the most important one was his direct involvement to end the Cuban missile crisis. His presidential term ended tragically in Dallas, where he was assassinated. The Kennedy assassination is one of the most debated, controversial and conspiracy theory filled subjects.
But lets take a look at what's real here. Here he is just as just a simple man, standing on a makeshift stage speaking to the people. Kennedy's life suggests that he was a very persistent man, often going against his own good, for a higher goal.
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| Probably the closest someone with their gun drawn got in the vicinity a president. |
Combat veteran
Through various research it has been established that humans, at least the majority of us, are not capable to kill another human being as it's considered unnatural by the brain. Only a small percentage of the human population find killing another human normal. They are called psychopaths. Exposing your average Joe to such situations (e.g. war) will eventually lead to a number of mental health issues, such as PTSD.
It is possible to lower that "don't kill" factor by extensive training and making the use of weapons a common thing, which will lead to combat activities being just a muscle memory thing. But all the training won't do much after combat, when a person is alone and thinks of the things he's done.
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| Take over Russia he said. It'll be quick he said. |
Mass production of bombers
During WW1 the majority of areal bombing campaigns consisted of a biplane circling around a target, taking a hand grenade, pulling the pin and throwing it in hopes of hitting something. In WW2 it was basically the same, but replace "biplane" with "bomber" and "hand grenade" with "heavy bombs". The advances in aviation technology after WW1 ushered a new age of combat, which we saw in action in WW2.
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| There should be a sitcom about this place. |
Badass infantry
Throughout every war, it was established that no matter what do you do, without a good ol' regular infantryman your war efforts were pretty much useless. Infantry is needed on the ground to really secure an area and make it safe for an advancing army to continue. The usage of infantry had pretty grim history. The term "cannon fodder" says it all. Not only that, but the "business" of an infantryman is far more harder, stressful, grittier - all in all much more traumatizing than the rest of the force.
The use, or the size, of infantry has declined over the years. Now, the main focus is on a smaller group of well trained soldiers, use of technology, aircraft and similar tools, in the purpose to distant the man from the fight. We can see the process of distancing humans from a fight by using rocks, then swords, then getting even more distance with spears, then arrows, catapults, cannons, rifles up until now where you have a UAV hitting targets and its operator miles way who does not feel the stress of his job, which would have been felt by a soldier in a field.
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| Badass coming through. |
Warship salvo (HR)
The usage of ships as a weapon, transport or espionage goes throughout history. Probably one of the most famous ancient fleets was the nifty Athenian one that could move swiftly through the Aegean sea, which was jam packed with islands, and used this as a great advantage over incoming invaders. Over time, we have seen great fleets such as the Spanish armada, the British navy and especially, a whole bunch of naval powers in the 20th century.
When you talk about perfectly timed photos, you could refer to this one as one of them. Imagine the sheer power of the guns firing, good enough to tip the ship over. Imagine some poor whales underneath the ship shitting themselves. Imagine the destruction it causes where it lands. Now that's pretty badass.
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| Boom. |
Unknown Badass Soldier
Cavalry always played a major role in the battlefield. Ever since the ancient times, there were accounts of heated battles taking place and in the center of them were chariots. Those chariots would be usually occupied with an archer or a spearman, depending on the role of it (heavy or light chariot). As time progressed, horses would be grouped up in line formations and used to charge, stomp and clear out everything ahead of them.
The usage of horses was really lowered in the 20th century due to high mechanization. But still, some soldiers (as seen on the pic) would still use them. The ingredients you need to be a badass horseman and charge on a tank: a noble steed of your choosing, one very long spear, a horrifying war/gas mask, a rifle just in case and you're pretty much set.
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| Sheer badassery. |
Child soldiers of the USSR
The military usage of children was very widespread all across the world on every continent. Kids as young as the age needed to attend elementary school would join up and fight. They would either take up arms and be involved directly in battle, or they would be support to the main force. After the 70s the usage of children in battle was lowered but it is still occurs today, mainly in Africa.
During WW2 there was a high number of child soldiers everywhere. Both the Axis and the Allied side. A lot of them were in the former Soviet Union. It was very common that orphans would join the army and serve in the front lines. They were also called "sons of the regiment".
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| Child soldiers. |
Nixon meets Elvis
Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the US, was in office around the late 60s and early 70s. His career as the president was marked by the Vietnam war, oil crisis and the most notorious issue which went down in history - the Watergate scandal.
Elvis Presley, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, singer of all time. Known for his singles like "Blue Suede Shoes", "Hearbreak Hotel", "Jailhouse Rock", "Viva Las Vegas" and many more... All in all a very badass character.
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| The meeting. |
Hindenburg airship disaster (HR)
Definitely one of the worst and one of the most covered air traffic accidents to have ever occurred. The accident happened in 1937 as the airship was trying to dock in New Jersey, after a long trip from Frankfurt. The result of the accident is that roughly one third of the people flying died. The disaster was labeled as a technical accident due to gas leakage and static electricity.
The effect of this moment in history was the sudden stop of usage of airships and a massive blow to the peoples faith in them, which has never been fully restored, even though blimps/airships are now very safe and well made.
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| Th Hindenburg airship in it's fatal moment. |
London at the turn of the century
London, England, has been of great importance in history and in modern times. England was one of the great colonial empires and industrial leaders of the world. The invention of the steam machine ushered a new age, both in Britain and all across the world.
Steam trucks, trains, boats and machines were of great importance to the industrialization of Britain and the switch from manufacture to industry. Those inventions not only lead to a new way of production but to a whole array of lifestyle changes.
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| A steam truck in London. |
Hoover Dam
Located on the Colorado river between Arizona and Nevada, the Hoover dam (formerly known as Boulder dam) was constructed and opened during the great depression in 1936. It was one of the greatest construction projects in the first half of the 20th century. It is also a symbol of American ingenuity, persistence and technology.
Despite it's landmark status, great functional importance to the people around the dam and it's significance as a tourist attraction, I think that the labor cost to make the dam and the conditions that the people worked in should be accredited more. It was capitalism at it's worst form.
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| A group of men being pulled up in a dam part. |
Hydrogen Bomb
It is a well known fact that during the Second World War, Nazi Germany was working towards developing a nuclear bomb which they could deploy over continents. Nearing the end of the war, the US managed to develop the atomic bomb first and they dropped two of them over Japan, therefor ending WW2. At the end of the war, both the US and the USSR rushed to their own development of thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction.
The key difference between an atomic and a hydrogen bomb is that the hydrogen bomb doesn't use fission but fusion. An H-bomb requires a small A-bomb to ignite in order to set off, while an A-bomb can be used as a weapon itself. In either case it is a very, VERY powerful weapon.
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| A hydrogen bomb going off (original and in color picture). |
WW2 Allied Bomber
The role of airplanes during WW2 was of extreme importance, much more important than WW1. In the First World War the role of airplanes was limited to biplanes equipped with machine guns and manually throwing grenades. They couldn't reach great heights nor great speeds, but nevertheless they remain in memory, usually associated with Red Baron.
In the Second World War, airplanes had a great increase of use, especially in the Luftwaffe in the German Blitzkrieg tactics. Anything from air raids, great fights such as the Battle for Britain, intense maneuvers, observation operations, paratroopers deployments, massive bombing campaigns and the drop of nuclear bombs over Japan marked the air actions of WW2.
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| Allied bomber plane dropping bombs over a target. |
German Soldiers WW2
The Second World War was the biggest armed conflict of all times, involving a great number of nations, people and conflicting ideologies. It officially started on the 1st of September 1939 by the German invasion of Poland, but the annexation of Austria and a few other incidents already happened before.
It is considered that the war was initiated by the complex German situation after the Versailles Treaty. Bad politics, economy, the Great depression all influenced on the rise of extremist nationalism. The Nazi regime and the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were responsible for a great number of war atrocities, genocide and war crimes.
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| German soldiers having a break. |
Old Russian Craftsmen
The Russian empire lasted up to about the end of the First World War, where it was abruptly ended by the communist revolution lead on by Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and others. The Russian royal family was kidnapped (and eventually executed), anyone with any education was thrown out, political opponents were purged and the country was in chaos.
On the picture we can see an imperialist Russian craftsman doing some handy-work on a table in a small shop. Russia was characteristic by these sorts of manufactured and small personal goods but it was heavily industrialized during the communist era, on the great expense of environmental pollution, people and politics.
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| Early 20th century Russian craftsmen. |
WW1 German Submarine
The World War, also called the Great War happened in Europe from 1914 up to 1918. The war was ignited by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip which lead on to the invasion of Serbia by Austria-Hungary. The conflicted sides in the war were: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria on one side; France, British Empire, Russia, Italy, USA and others on the Allied side.
German U-Boats were important during the war, mainly to be used to destroy allied supply lines going from USA to Great Britain. The constant threat of u-boats lead to the grouping up of supply ships in convoys which would be escorted and protected by destroyer ships. The final tally was about 5.000 sunken Allied ships against 200 sunken subs.
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| Part of the German sub being paraded trough New York, 1918. |
Old Map
The age of exploration is usually considered to be somewhere after Columbus discovered America, the 16th, 17th and 18th century. It is an era that we today look upon with an adventurous spirit, pirates, wenches, gold, native savages and danger, but the reality of these times was much more harsher.
People lived in not so good conditions, colonialism was at its peak, slavery was rampant, the average life span was shortened. Wars between nations who had colonial interests, pirate raids and pillages, treachery and all sorts and forms of hardships marked this era.
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| An old world map. |
Past president - Future president
The President of the United States of America is one of the most significant positions a man could have. The title itself carries a lot of importance and people would think how a man can be "king of the world" when he gets inaugurated, but the truth is that the title carries a lot of burden. In my opinion, the perfect example of that is President Kennedy's presidential term.
He was in office at the height of the Cold War and it is widely believed that his expertise and skills as a president greatly helped to avoid a possible third world war and a nuclear catastrophe. His office term also marked a general prosperity in the US, the moon landing, human rights improvements and several other things, but his presidency ended as a tragedy.
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| Young Bill Clinton meets JFK. |
Disneyland Opening
The worlds most famous theme park - Disneyland. Everyone knows of Disney cartoons and it's characters. The creator, Walt Disney used to visit and frequent a lot of theme and amusement parks with his family, after which he got the idea and made a concept to create Disneyland, a theme park dedicated to the Disney universe.
The park was first opened in the 1950s, but was renovated, expanded and reopened several times since then. Such an example we can see on the posted picture. It is the most visited theme park in the entire world, located in California, USA.
The park was first opened in the 1950s, but was renovated, expanded and reopened several times since then. Such an example we can see on the posted picture. It is the most visited theme park in the entire world, located in California, USA.
Old Hearing Aid
The title is a joke, I know it's not a hearing aid, but I think it is some sort of a device used to register faint distant sounds and signals. Even though, the build doesn't seem like it's able to have a very long reach.
I really don't have any information on this contraption, if you happen to know anything more about it, feel free to post it in the comments section and I'll edit the article accordingly.
Update: This seems to be equipment used to listen to distant sounds of incoming aircraft before the radar was made.
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| Researcher trying to pick up distant sounds and signals. |
Update: This seems to be equipment used to listen to distant sounds of incoming aircraft before the radar was made.
Nazi Rally
Adolf Hitler had a dramatic and lengthy rise to power filled with different events, after his WW1 political involvement up to the failed beer hall putsch, night of the long knives and beyond. When the Nazi party established themselves, they had to work more on their propaganda and one of the key elements of it were the Nuremberg Rallies. The key goal these meet ups had was to strengthen the Nazi Party image and the cult of personality for Adolf Hitler who was always presented as the savior of the German people.
The Nazi meet-up on the picture is either from Nuremberg or just any other larger party meeting. The Nuremberg Rally was used for the main propaganda purpose of the party ever since 1923 up to 1939 which was never held because of the German offensive on Poland. Nuremberg was chosen as the rally point / location because it was in the center of Germany and it was well equipped for such large propaganda events.
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| Members of the NSDAP saluting at their meeting. |
Vietnam Battlefield
The most famous open military conflict during the Cold War. It started off and had its roots as the fight of the Vietnamese people against the French colonial interests, but was really a fight between communists and anti-communists. The conflict lasted almost 20 years and had taken a great toll, both on the military, civilian population and the relationships between different countries which were already strained in that era.
The main characteristic, in my opinion, of the Vietnam war was the presence of cameras and war journalists. Such high presence of witnesses and press was eye opening to the public which eventually lead to protests and pressure build up to end the war and cease hostile activities. The Vietnam war and cult movies related to it (such as "Apocalypse Now" or "The Deer Hunter") had a lengthy and determined effect on the general public world wide, and that is that war is a very dreadful, bad, painful and miserable experience.
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| US Soldiers held up on a hill with supplies observing a distant battlefield and destruction. |
Shipyard
It is regarded that the start of the industrial revolution was the invention of the steam machine / engine, by James Watt, the Scottish engineer. The invention of the steam engine slowly but surely enabled a steady switch from hand made manufacturing of products up to heavy industrialization, such as the shipyard on this picture, dating from the 19th or beginning of the 20th century.
Building of such huge ships enabled mass transportation of people, raw materials, mail, products and all sorts of goods from all around the world. The only downside was the lengthy voyage these ships had to take, which was over time corrected by building faster ships and eventually transport airplanes. Probably one of the most famous ships were the Titanic and Queen Marry.
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| Original and color remake photo of a shipyard. |
Tiananmen Square Riots
In 1989 the protests for changes against the communist government took their turn in China, because communism was rapidly losing it's grounds in Eastern Europe, former USSR and Yugoslavia. Protests ended differently everywhere. The collapse of the Soviet Union ushered the creation, or more likely the re-creation, of new-old countries from the old Soviet block and the decomposition of Eastern Germany.
The anti communist protests took a different turn in China. There were protests before, in the late 80's demanding reform but they didn't last too long. The ones from 1989 were far more intense and last longing than the ones before, which demanded an intense retribution. They were brutally crushed by military intervention. Perhaps one of the most famous photos or media coverages was the infamous "tank man". On the picture we can see fleeing students from incoming tanks.
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| Protestors fleeing from incoming tanks. |
US Vietnam Soldier Camping
The Vietnam conflict lasted for almost 20 years resulting in a high number of casualties both from the civilian populations and military servicemen from all sides. The war was spread out on the territories of modern day Vietnam, Cambodia Laos.
The death toll for the US army was around 60.000 soldiers. The unconventional warfare of the south eastern Asian jungles was extreme. Mud, rain, monsoons and other elements played a very difficult factor against the US troops. At the same time, the local Vietnamese were very well adapted, using a range of booby traps and a high number of underground tunnels.
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| US soldier camping in a room, possible artistic photo. |
Gold Prospectors
The North American gold rush, specifically the most popular one in California, lasted about seven years, in the middle of the 19th century. It had its good sides and bad sides. Early urban development, town of San Francisco, wealth accumulation, forming of the California state could be listed as a few good sides of the gold rush. On the other hand, clearing out the territory of Native Americans and environmental pollution can be said to be the bad sides of the gold excavations.
On the picture we have a town called Eureka, which used to be a prosperous mining town up until WW2 when their mill was closed down. Today it is a ghost town.
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| Several miners walking around town (Eureka, Colorado; circa 1920s). |
Rome WW2
Soon after WW1 Italy had a rise in fascism, lead by Benito Musollini, who after seizing power and marching to Rome, allied with the Nazi Germany. In the last years of the war, 1944 was launched a great campaign against Italy by the Allies.
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| Rome Colosseum in WW2. |
WW1 Soldiers Offensive
The first World War, also called the Great War, happened in Europe in a time period from 1914 to 1918. It started off with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and ended up with the Treaty of Versailles. It changed the map of Europe, power balance between countries and way of warfare forever.
Probably the greatest symbol of the first World War was trench warfare. A stalemate where two sides are dug into trenches and between them is no-mans land. The flow of battle would usually be artillery fire from one side on the other, followed by an infantry charge (as seen on the picture) which was usually "greeted" by machine gun fire from the other side, leading to heavy losses. The process was repeated over and over again, leading to lands soaked in blood and battles remembered for extremely slow progress.
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| Soldiers charging, World War 1. |
Asian Longbowmen
The longbow is one of the most used and powerful weapons in the history of warfare. It's characteristic is that it's narrow and long, so it requires a lot of drawback to fire. The advantage of such a system is that it fires far far far much longer than a regular (hunting) bow and arrow. Another characteristic feature of the bow is that it's usually as long as the person who is firing it. It was made by a whole range of different materials throughout history: the European yew, oak, hazel, maple, bamboo.
When you take a number of skilled archers, group them together and order to unleash hell on an enemy down a field, you are pretty much changing the outcome of the battle. The historic facts behind this happening goes from all over medieval Europe across to Asia, where longbow has maintained it's status as a great weapon used to put down the enemy army in a hail of arrows.
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| A small group / unit of archers practicing shooting with the longbow. |
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