Back In The Good Old Days

2 unnamed Swedish Missionaries pose for a picture with 2 young locals assisting them in lower Congo in 1888.

A women cuts crops in Romania in 1934. Either that or her husband just told her he is leaving...

Subway Pushers try and pack as many people as possible into a subway train during rush hour in Tokyo, Japan in 1967. If you think it has gotten better since in Tokyo, it hasn't. This job still exist and is virtually a must to get trains running every day.

2 Prostitutes wait for work at the route of Rue Saint-Denis in Paris, France in 1988. This street is actually one of the oldest areas of Paris, and parts of it still in use were built by the Romans.

The crew of the USS Pillsbury secure a towing line to the captured U-505 in 1944. The U-boat was damaged by depth charges and thought to be sinking. The German crew thus abandoned it once surfaced. The escort USS Pillsbury saw the submarine and boarded her. They disabled explosives set to destroy the ship and plugged the holes, and were able to keep it afloat and salvage it. They captured an enigma machine, code books, and numerous other important items from this submarine.

3 People are knocked to the ground and dragged away to be arrested during the Poll Tax Riot in London, England in 1990. The super unpopular new tax was the main driving force in Margaret Thatcher's resignation that very same year.

2 Roller Derby Girls are pulled off each other after fighting during a race in NYC, USA in 1948. After WWII, the sport took off for a time as the fierceness and violent nature of the races was a widely popular spectacle to watch.

Buffalo hunter Ralph Morrison after he was killed and scalped by Native American Cheyennes near Fort Dodge, Kansas, US in 1868.

Soldiers begin to fire on protesters and charge them with bayonets to disperse them during the 8888 Uprising in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1988. The country was run by a military 1 party system at the time, and up to 2.5 million protesters turned out around the country to push for a democracy. The heavily impoverished nation, like many others at the end of the 1980s, tried to become democratic, but instead were crushed by a brutal military coup which transferred power but kept the country under military rule. An estimated 3,000 - 10,000 people were killed during this uprising, virtually all being protesters. Many more fled the country afterwards.

Model Kathryn Stanley holds a prop head for an artistic picture in 1926. The picture is done by Edwin Bower Hesser who helped redefine art, sex appeal, and imagination in the 1920s. Look him up, his unique grasp on photography, art, and the beauty, especially of women, was ahead of its time.

2 Local businessmen destroy a Japanese made car in 1988. Other American car companies suffered in the 1980s as Japanese vehicles were cheaper and more reliable. Some major US car companies even had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to avoid going under. In response, American business owners large and small made a heavy "Buy American" push in the late 1980s as the quality of Japanese goods soared. Japanese currency and international business influence also rose drastically, and this forced the American companies, especially the car companies, to improve their quality, which some did. The push however worked for many companies, and to this day many people take pride buying a sometimes inferior product, possibly even for more money, as long as it was made in America which of course does help with American jobs and our own economy.

3 Portuguese soldiers laugh as a child shines their shoes in Angola in 1972. This was part of the Portuguese Colonial War that lasted 13 years until 1975. Despite at the time Portugal was winning the ongoing war, major political problems at home and increased pressure from other nations forced them to withdraw from Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, eventually granting each nation their independence.

A couple of models show off a new style of outfits in Paris, France in 1970. As you can tell from the onlookers, the bright colors and designs are completely different than anything that came before.

Soldiers pose on top of the discarded shells from fired rounds after a bombardment of an enemy position in the Korean War in 1952.

Soldiers pose on top of the discarded shells from fired rounds after a bombardment of an enemy position in the Korean War in 1952.

Men prepare to show off their goods at a local market in Tunisia in 1891. The area, like much of North Africa at the time, is under French control. You can see the French officer on the right overseeing the area.

Soldiers injured in a recent bombardment get treatment during WWI in 1916. This is the complete photo, as most have only seen the man sitting on the left in close ups. He is the famous WWI shell shocked soldier. Notice his eyes are focused in a scary gaze at the camera as he appears to have fallen into madness.

Detectives look for clues after the body of Gaspare Candella was found in a drum in a field in NYC, US in 1918. This was one of the earlier well known and documented mafia murders in the US.

Children play on a war torn street in Madrid, Spain in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. The war would last another 3 years, and was not only major for Spain of course but the world, as many countries including Nazi Germany, the UK, and France sent advisors and watched the fighting play out with modern weapons.

The remains of citizens burned alive during Allied bombing of the city of Dresden, Germany, in 1945. With less than 4 months before Germany surrended, British and American bombers hit the city with nearly 4000 tons of bombs in 4 raids over 2 days, killing up to 25,000 civilians. They specifically used incendiary bombs, which destroyed much of the city and engulfed the trapped civilians in flames. This is one of the times in WWII where the Allies were accused of war crimes as Dresden was arguably unimportant and in no need of such bombing this close to the end.

A young Norwegian bride in a traditional wedding dress poses for a picture in 1904.

A farmer who resisted relinquishing ownership of his lands to the Communists is tried somewhere in China in 1952. For failing to adhere to the land reforms, he is found guilty and executed moments later.

John Henry Patterson poses with the first of 2 lions he killed at Tsavo, British East Africa (now Kenya) in 1898. The lions hunted together, and attacked the railroad workers. Originally it was believed they killed over 100, but modern estimates put it at more like 30. Still, a surprising large number of dead for the 2 man eaters who wreaked havoc before Patterson eventually killed them both. The film The Ghost and the Darkness portrays this event.

Soldiers pose with captured Japanese flags at the end of the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. The 6 month campaign was brutal, with the soldiers completely cut off at times continuing to fight an enemy that never stopped. This victory was huge, as it stopped the Japanese advance in their tracks, but showed how horrific the Pacific fight on every island would be. That appears to be very evident on the mens faces in this picture.

A French military policeman using a metal detector checks for weapons from civilians heading into town in Algeria in 1956. This was during the brutal Algerian War of Independence, when systematic assassinations and executions, torture, bombings, and attacks of domestic civilians on both sides dominated the fighting. Large scale battles were rare, and 1 million Europeans living in Algeria fled. This was part of the numerous countries post WWII who pushed for independence from European control. Algeria, being so close to France and having 150 years of integration already, was one of the countries France really wanted to keep. Vietnam would be another.