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.

A steam truck in London.

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.

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.

A group of men being pulled up in a dam part.

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.

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.

A hydrogen bomb going off (original and in color picture).

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.

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.

Allied bomber plane dropping bombs over a target.

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.

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.

German soldiers having a break.

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.

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.

Early 20th century Russian craftsmen.

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.

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.

Part of the German sub being paraded trough New York, 1918.

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.

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.

An old world map.

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.