Back In The Good Old Days

A French woman has her hair cut off in Paris, France in 1944. Once towns all across Europe were freed from Nazi occupation, many women who had any kind of relationship with Germans were humiliated, and in some cases killed. Most men who collaborated were shot. This woman, and many others, would have most likely have a Swastika drawn on her head, stripped down to undergarments, and paraded through a main street for everyone to see and know she had relations with the Germans. The women however got punished regardless of the circumstances. Even if they were raped or coerced out of fear, they were punished all the same.

Irish Free State soldiers fire artillery on the 4 courts which are occupied by the Irish Republican Army in Dublin, Ireland in 1922. After nearly 700 years of British rule, Ireland brokered a treaty to have their own government, but gave up part of the north and had to swear allegiance to the Crown. This literally split the Irish army, and much of the population. After the Irish elected officials and the public voted in favor of the treaty, the IRA seized key government centers and the Irish Civil War erupted. What's interesting is the British supplied all the artillery, armored vehicles, and many weapons to the Irish Free State. This gave them an overwhelming advantage, and the war ended in less than a year. The 2 main Free State leaders died during the conflict. The military leader Michael Collins was shot and killed, and the president Arthur Griffith died of a heart attack a month after it started. Also, many leaders like Eamon de Valera of the IRA came back from being defeated to rejoin and lead the Irish government many years later (he himself would be president for many terms). The excellent film Michael Collins depicts these events.

Boys pack into a small space that became the makeshift area of St. Amelian’s orphanage in Milwaukee, US in 1930. The cramped space was a direct result of a fire, forcing the children to sleep in tight spaces before appropriate housing could be rebuilt. This orphanage suffered 3 massive fires in its history, and still managed to always keep all their boys under a roof and fed. Sadly, many children in such orphanages across the US grew into adulthood there, and started working manual labor jobs before becoming teenagers.

Miss Colombia Aura Maria Mojica posing with her crown and scepter after her win in 1976.

Miss Colombia Aura Maria Mojica posing with her crown and scepter after her win in 1976.

Afghan students and civilians wave goodbye to the departing Soviet forces from the Herat Province in Afghanistan in 1986. The USSR invaded the country in 1979. They immediately had immense problems in their fights, as the enemy was determined and knew the land well. The land is full of mountains and it makes hiding and guerilla warfare ideal, causing any invading force to struggle with control. Not only that, the US supplied the Afghan mujahideen insurgency, A major weapon they gave them was guided rockets that could shoot down Soviet choppers. This all but ensured the Soviets could not win this war. What's worse for them is the Soviets pretty much bankrupted themselves fighting this war, and within 2 years of leaving Afghanistan in 1989, the USSR dissolved. Some people call this war the Soviet Vietnam.

Patrons pose for a picture at a costume party in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia in 1923. What I find odd about this picture is absolutely no one is smiling.

Street performers imitate animals as part of their act in Shanghai, China, in 1929.

Soldiers pose for a picture at a mass grave site for the victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, US, in 1890. The Lakota Sioux Native Americans had their lands seized by the US government for years, and armed conflicts had risen because of it. However, this group, led by Chief Spotted Elk, had moved to the reservation and were to be disarmed. They consisted of around 500 people, with half being women and children. During the weapons search and removal, a deaf warrior who did not speak English refused to disarm. When he got into a scuffle his weapon fired. At the same time, a medicine man was pumping up the warriors with a dance. Suddenly, a few warriors fired, and a small battle ensued. 500 armed troopers had all the Lakota Sioux surrounded at the time it began. Some 31 soldiers were killed, with another 33 wounded.

Adding to the previous picture, the soldiers did not end the fight with the warriors. They began to shoot everyone. Women, children, old, sick, unarmed, it did not matter. They massacred as many as they could. Here lies the body of Chief Spotted Elk, who was gunned down apparently trying to stop the fighting. He was unarmed. After it was over, some 90 warriors were killed, but also around 200 women and children were killed as well. They then dumped most of the bodies in mass graves like the picture above. This was one of the major events in the very ugly history of the US when it comes to their handling of Native American Indians.

This colorized picture of 2 young girls pretending to be adults by striking a pose and smoking while hanging out in Central Park in NYC, US in 1923. Smoking was incredibly common, even for children (especially if they were child workers), and the problems it did to your health would not come out as public knowledge for another 40-50 years.

People form a human chain on the streets of Kiev, Ukraine in 1990. This was done to mark the Act of Unification of UPR and ZUNR as Ukraine pushes for its own independence. Long had it been one of the key territories of the USSR, it would peacefully get its wish in 1991. However, ever since and still to this day Ukraine has been a major player in the West vs the East chess game as it has active conflicts with Russian separatists going on right now and at times has had a split government on which side to ally itself with.

Girls wearing traditional clothes pose for a picture somewhere outside of Amsterdam in The Netherlands in 1908. Notice they all are wearing the famous Dutch wooden shoes, which was normal back then and as far back 1200 AD. Normally the shoes were not painted, like the ones shown, and each town had their own shoe maker. Sometime around 1920 did they start being painted, as colored options for items started to bloom, such as cars and clothes, and of course shoes. By the end of WWII though, they stopped being the normal footwear in The Netherlands, and eventually were phased into a novelty item.

A liberated American prisoner gets to kick a captured Japanese guard at the Rokuroshi POW Camp in 1945. Some of the Americans were held in various camps for over 3 years. The Japanese mistreated most of the American, British and French they captured inside these camps, which were kept separate from any captured Asian soldier camps. Usually they would starve them and having routine beatings. The also used them as forced labor on railroad projects. Many died in the camps because of this.

2 Priests walk past a bicycle with only the bottom half of a mannequin in Rome, Italy in 1983.

Ethiopian war chiefs do their battle dance as they march to combat the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. They did have guns though, not spears, and was said to maybe have some 80,000 soldiers, but were handily defeated by the Italians who had better weapons and armored vehicles. The Italians would conquer Ethiopia decisively a year after invading, and annex them to their control. The Italians were ruthless. They killed upwards of 7% of the Ethiopia's entire population during the brief war, as many as 800,000 people. The stayed oppressive, often mutilating men with castration and other nefarious acts during occupation right up through WWII before the final remnants of Italian forces were rooted out in 1943.

Ethiopian war chiefs do their battle dance as they march to combat the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. They did have guns though, not spears, and was said to maybe have some 80,000 soldiers, but were handily defeated by the Italians who had better weapons and armored vehicles. The Italians would conquer Ethiopia decisively a year after invading, and annex them to their control. The Italians were ruthless. They killed upwards of 7% of the Ethiopia's entire population during the brief war, as many as 800,000 people. The stayed oppressive, often mutilating men with castration and other nefarious acts during occupation right up through WWII before the final remnants of Italian forces were rooted out in 1943.

This isn't a picture of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It's not some bombed out WWII city like Warsaw, Berlin, or Stalingrad. It's actually right after the big earthquake in San Francisco, US in 1906. A 7.8 magnitude quake hit the city, leveling much of it. Afterwards, uncontrollable fires consumed a lot of the rest of the city. Some 3,000 people died, with an unknown number hurt. Over 80% of the city was destroyed. Almost $400 million dollars worth of damage was caused (today that be almost $11 billion dollars). The city was rebuilt, and much of California sits on a fault line, just waiting for another massive earthquake that could again level cities.

Children in a military school are granted access to a museum in this North Korean propaganda picture from 1978. It was part of a group of pictures showing priveledged kids at amusement parks, museums, schools, gyms, pools, and of course at government buildings to give the illusion of the modernization of the country. The North Koreans have been doing this for almost 60 years. However, the extremely isolated population has no idea just how far behind they really are, and most probably don't care when half the time they have just a little of some basic needs such as food and water.

German soldiers in their trench picking lice out of their clothes during a quiet moment somewhere on the front in Northern France in 1916. On both sides soldiers had to endure unimaginable things just while in the trenches. Lice, rising water in the trenches causing trench foot, infections, colds, and numerous other ailments were brutal to soldiers at times.

A young man is feeling the music during a middle school dance in Orinda, California, US in 1950.

A Serbian paramilitary soldier kicks the body of executed Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in the first day of the Bosnian war in Bijeljina, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1992. The soldiers, after capturing parts of the city in a raid, killed between 200-300 Bosniaks. According to witnesses such as the cameraman of this picture, virtually all of them were not only unarmed, but many were women and children. The were brought out of there homes, lined up, and executed.

A couple adhere to a signs suggestion somewhere in California, US in 1950.

A child soldier poses with his unit for American journalists somewhere in the mountains of Nicaragua in 1984. This group was part of the Contras, which established themselves in 1981, which helped bring an end to the 28 year Nicaraguan Revolution in 1990. The US backed them, while the USSR backed the controlling FSLN. They fought to a stalemate, in which new elections were held that removed the FSLN from power in 1990. The USSR was struggling in the midst of its collapse which made supporting the FSLN risky during the elections, causing their downfall. From 1978 until the fighting stopped in 1989, up to 50,000 people died in this conflict.

A woman poses with her boudoir doll collection in Paris, France in 1922. The dolls were all over France, England, Italy, Germany and the US. Notice how some of her dolls are of different ethnic complexions. Those were extremely rare even back then, and only really came from France and parts of the US.