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.