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.

Take over Russia he said. It'll be quick he said.

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.

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.

There should be a sitcom about this place.

To accompany such rapid development of aviation, there was a great production demand. It started off in Germany with a bunch of factories, but production soon shifted to maximum overdrive to accompany the needs of the war and basically every country with an air force needed to mass produce airplanes. High altitude bombers, nicknamed "flying fortress" were armed with machine guns all around and carried a heck of a cargo. It brought heavy destruction to the field but had accuracy issues.

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.

Badass coming through.

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.

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.

Boom.

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.

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.

Sheer badassery.

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.

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.

Child soldiers.

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".

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.

The meeting.

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.

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.

Th Hindenburg airship in it's fatal moment.

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.