History, as they say, is often shaped by the victors. However, in the world of photographs, there are no authors.
As history is typically narrated by those who triumphed, these 25 images from both recent and distant times offer a more comprehensive glimpse into our past by immersing us in the visual record of actual events.
Each of these photos is accompanied by informative context, designed to enrich your understanding of the depicted scenes. Enjoy this collection of 25 fascinating historical pictures, each with its own educational tidbits.
Actress Veronica Lake with her hair twisted in a drill press, demonstrating potential dangers to women in factories during WWII, November 9, 1943.
A 17-year-old attempting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II (1981).
Royal Danish Navy coastal defense ship HDMS Niels Juel under attack from German aircraft during a failed escape attempt to Swedish waters. 29 August, 1943.
A photo of Abdul Wali, an Afghan farmer. In 2003, he was falsely accused of being a terrorist. Hoping to clear his name, he turned turned himself in to the Americans. A CIA contractor would brutally torture Wali to death over the course of 3 days, beating him until he begged for death.
A father looking for his two missing sons that went missing during the Kosovo war in 1999.
George Harrison of the Beatles taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal in 1966.
Maori women from New Zealand in 1902.
Joe Biden withdraws from the 1988 presidential election in late 1987.
Flattening hills to build Seattle, 1905-1930.
Fidel Castro playing basketball against students during a visit to Krakow, Poland, 1972.
Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev stuck in space during the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1991.
Students Dance In Tiananmen Square Before The Arrival Of The Chinese Military, June 4th 1989.
An enthusiast for men’s dress reform walking down the Strand in London. The MDRP, (Men’s Dress Reform Party), was formed in the interwar years in Britain, 1930.
A photo of Mbaye Diagne, a UN peacekeeper who disobeyed his orders to stand down during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Acting entirely on his own initiative, he embarked on rescue missions. He is credited with single handedly saving the lives of as many as 1000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
FBI informant Ronald Reagan testifies against fellow actors before House Un-American Activities Committee.
A baseball team of death-row inmates. Their executions were delayed only as long as they kept winning. 1910.
1976 photo from the restaurant Windows on the World, which sat atop New York City’s World Trade Center’s north tower.
Anne Frank, with her sister Margot at Zandvoort Beach, 1940.
A traffic cop fines a woman for wearing a bikini. Rimini, Italy, 1957.
Mugshot of Bertha Boronda, the woman who was arrested for cutting off her husband’s p**** with a razor in 1907.
Statue of Liberty towering over Paris just before it was disassembled and shipped to New York, 1886.
Simple bridge made from two chains in China, circa 1930.
Leftist revolutionary woman cleaning her gun. Tehran, Iran, 1979.
Bertha Boronda has the look of a woman who knows that what’s right and what’s legal aren’t always the same thing.