What are some rare photos of world history?
Firstly, I apologize for a long post.
Mata Hari, the notorious WWI spy, 1905-1917
Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.
Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, was a professional dancer and mistress who became a spy for France during World War I. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917 under charges of espionage for Germany.
Eiffel Tower under construction, 1887-1889
The construction started on January 1887. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds.
In 1889, Paris hosted an Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution. More than 100 artists submitted competing plans for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars, located in central Paris, and serve as the exposition’s entrance. The commission was granted to Eiffel et Compagnie, a consulting and construction firm owned by the acclaimed bridge builder, architect and metals expert Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. While Eiffel himself often receives full credit for the monument that bears his name, it was one of his employees—a structural engineer named Maurice Koechlin—who came up with and fine-tuned the concept.
The assembly of the supports began on July 1, 1887 and was completed twenty-two months later. All the elements were prepared in Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. Each of the 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower were specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimeter and then put together forming new pieces around five meters each. A team of constructors, who had worked on the great metal viaduct projects, were responsible for the 150 to 300 workers on site assembling this gigantic erector set.
German cavalry patrol in gas masks and carrying lances, 1918
Some armies continued to use lances throughout this war, but they seldom saw use on the Western Front after initial clashes in France and Belgium in 1914.
The picture shows a German cavalryman patrolling behind the front lines while carrying a steel lance. German lances were hollow tubes made of rolled steel, with a length of 3.2 meters they were usually made in three sections fitted together. It weighed 1.6 kg and was extremely well balanced when held at the leather wrapped grips halfway down. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, there had been controversy as to whether lances or sabres were the more effective “armes blanches” (that is edged weapons) for cavalry, but neither proved a match for modern firearms.
"World's highest standard of living. There's no way like the American way", 1937
Famous image of African American flood victims lined up to get food and clothing at Red Cross relief station in front of billboard ironically extolling “World’s highest standard of living. There’s no way like the American way”. Original title of the picture: “The Louisville Flood”.
In early January 1937, the swollen banks of the Ohio River flooded more than seventy percent of Louisville, Kentucky, and its surrounding areas. With one hour’s notice, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White caught the next plane to Louisville. She photographed the city from makeshift rafts, recording one of the largest natural disasters in American history which claimed close to 400 lives and left roughly one million people homeless across five states in the winter of that terrible year.
Duelling with wax bullets, 1909
Duelling with wax bullets, New York, 1909.
In the early 1900s, the age-old custom of pistol dueling was briefly resurrected as a non-lethal sport by using wax bullets. While it still involved men shooting firearms at one another, the difference here was that defeated parties could be “theoretically pronounced dead… and the supposedly fatal results created general merriment”.
Source: Duelling with wax bullets, 1909
Japanese Type D Koryu midget submarines in drydock, 1945
In a drydock at Kure Naval Base, Japan, 19 October 1945. There are at least four different types of midget submarines in this group of about eighty-four boats, though the great majority are of the standard “Koryu” type. The two boats at right in the second row appear to have an enlarged conning tower and shortened hull superstructure. The two boats at left in that row are of the earlier Type A or Type C design, as are a few others further back in the group.
By definition, a midget submarine is less than 150 tons, has a crew of no more than eight, has no on-board living accommodation, and operates in conjunction with a mother ship to provide the living accommodations and other support. The Japanese Navy built at least 800 midgets in 7 classes, but only a fraction had any noticeable impact on the war. Their intended purpose initially was to be deployed in front of enemy fleets, but their actual use would be in harbor attacks and coastal defense.
The Japanese midget subs were not named but were numbered with “Ha” numbers (e.g., Ha-19). These numbers were not displayed on the exterior and operationally the midgets were referred to according to the numbers of their mother ships. Thus, when I-24 launched Ha-19, the midget was known as “I-24tou” (designated “M24” in some texts). The “Ha” numbers were not unique either; some Type D’s were numbered Ha-101 through Ha-109.
Engineers demonstrating the cantilever bridge system, 1887
Project engineers demonstrating the cantilever principles of the Forth Bridge in Scotland, 1887.
A historical demonstration in 1887 showing the weight of the central span of a bridge being transmitted to the banks through diamond shaped supports. The central “weight” is Kaichi Watanabe, one of the first Japanese engineers who came to study in the UK. Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker of Imperial College, who designed the Firth of Forth bridge, provide the supports. Fowler and Baker represent the cantilevers, with their arms in tension and the sticks under compression, and the bricks the cantilever end piers which are weighted with cast iron. The action of the outer foundations as anchors for the cantilever is visible in the placement of the counterweights.
Marilyn Monroe performing for the thousands of American troops in Korea, 1954
In February 1954, actress Marilyn Monroe traveled to Korea to entertain the American troops. She performed a quickly thrown-together show titled Anything Goes to audiences which totaled over 100,000 troops over 4 days. Then tour was also a chance for the film star to overcome a degree of stage fright. She remarked that the Korea trip “was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to look down and see a fellow smiling at me”.
Queen Elizabeth II addresses a vast gathering of more than a quarter of a million in India, 1961
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II addresses a vast gathering of more than a quarter of a million at the Ramlila Grounds, a huge public meeting place outside the walls of Old Delhi, India, 1961.
The first monarch to be crowned after India’s independence from British colonial rule, the Queen visited India on three occasions. The first of those visits came in 1961, when she and her husband Prince Phillip toured the country’s biggest cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata (then called Bombay, Madras and Calcutta respectively). They also visited India’s most recognizable monument, the Taj Mahal, and were the guests of honor for India’s Republic Day Parade that year. The first picture shows HM Queen Elizabeth II addressing a crowd of several thousand at Ramlila Grounds between New and Old Delhi. Loudspeakers on stands permeate the sea of faces listening to HM The Queen.
Source: Queen Elizabeth II addresses a vast gathering of more than a quarter of a million in India, 1961
There are lots of historical pictures all over the world, Couldn’t share all here.
For more visit this website: Rare Historical Photos
Thanks for A2A.
Edit 1
Thanks for such overwhelming response.
Adding a few more historical events:
People being crushed against a fence during a human crush at Hillsborough Stadium, 1989
When the gates were opened, thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel leading to the rear of the terrace into two overcrowded central pens, creating pressure at the front.
The 1989 Hillsborough disaster was an incident that occurred during the FA Cup semi-final match on 15 April 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. The crush resulted in the deaths of 96 people and injuries to 766 others. The victims suffocated as they entered an F.A. Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest after the police opened an exit gate in an effort to relieve congestion outside the stadium before the game. In the chaos that ensued, some victims were crushed against steel fencing. Others were trampled, and more than 700 people were injured. The victims were ages 10 to 67 and included 37 teenagers.
Only 14 of the 96 fatally injured people arrived at hospital.
Pioneers of Leningrad in a defense drill, 1937
Viktor Bulla’s photograph of hundreds of children wearing gas masks was not meant to be ghoulish, a commentary on war or lost innocence, but rather exemplified a reason for pride — the country was blessed with well-trained, well-equipped and obviously courageous young fighters. The picture dates from 1937, four years before the Siege of Leningrad, and that makes the weirdness vivid and poignant. So many of the children here would have died in the Siege, or lived through it in the civil defense force, eating wallpaper paste and digging trenches. How brave and ready they must have felt in 1937, though.
Anna Coleman Ladd making masks worn by French soldiers with mutilated faces, 1918
French soldier whose face was mutilated in World War I, being fitted with a mask made at the American Red Cross studio of Anna Coleman Ladd, 1918.
World War I caused the death of millions of combatants and civilians, while countless soldiers suffered from injury and disfigurement. Perhaps the most disheartening were facial injuries, as soldiers had to not only deal with the physical loss, but also the constant psychological stress of wondering how people would react to their changed appearance. These men worried about their homecoming — how would strangers react, but more importantly how they would be treated by friends and family.
Surgery and skin grafting was an option for some, but many sustained injuries that went beyond the ability of surgery to repair. These unfortunate soldiers turned to portrait masks. Pioneered by English sculptor Captain Derwent Wood, and improved upon by American sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd, portrait masks were modeled from photographs taken before the injury and were painted in oils to resemble the former features of the patient.
It started in 1917, when Ladd, who was then a sculptor and socialite living in Boston, read about the work of a sculptor who ran what was called the “Tin Noses Shop”, a mask-making studio for disfigured British soldiers. Inspired, Ladd set up her own studio in Paris and set to work sculpting new faces for those who had lost a piece of theirs in trench warfare.
The top row of casts shows the first step in the process as these were molded from the soldiers’ disfigured faces.The bottom row of casts shows the molds with restorative work sculpted by Anna Coleman Ladd.
A variety of portrait masks produced by Anna Coleman Ladd.
Two soldiers play cards while wearing Ladd’s handiwork.
"Wait for me, Daddy", 1940
The photo ‘Wait for me, Daddy’ shows Private Jack Bernard, B.C. Regiment saying goodbye to his son Warren Bernard in New Westminster, 1940.
“Wait for Me, Daddy” is an iconic photo taken by Claude P. Dettloff on October 1, 1940, of The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles) marching down Eighth Street at the Columbia Street intersection, New Westminster, Canada. Pictured are five-year-old Warren “Whitey” Bernard and his parents Bernice and Jack Bernard, as the family was about to be separated by the war. The picture received extensive exposure and was used in war-bond drives.
Source: “Wait for me, Daddy”, 1940
A 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant shoots blanks at the Queen, 1981
Attacking the Queen, 1981.
On 13 June 1981, Marcus Sarjeant joined the crowds for Trooping the Colour, finding a spot near the junction between The Mall and Horseguards Avenue. When the Queen came past riding her 19-year-old horse Burmese, Sarjeant quickly fired six blanks from his starting revolver. The horse was momentarily startled but the Queen brought her under control; she was unharmed. The security quickly reacted and subdued Sarjeant, who told them “I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a somebody”.
Street vendor selling mummies in Egypt, 1865
Egyptian mummy seller, 1875.
During the Victorian era of 1800’s, Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt threw open the Gates of Egypt’s history for the Europeans. At that time, mummies were not accorded the respect that they deserved from the European elites and in fact, mummies could be purchased from street vendors (as shown in picture) to be used as the main event for parties and social gatherings that took place in the 18th century. The elites of the era would often hold “Mummy Unwrapping Parties”, which, as the name suggests, had the main theme in which a Mummy would be unwrapped in front of a boisterous audience, cheering and applauding at the same time.
Adolf Hitler on a walk with Helga Goebbels, 1936
Helga was the oldest of Goebbels’ six children and notably his favorite. Goebbels was proud of his eldest daughter and would go straight to her cot as soon as he returned from his office, to take her on his lap. Helga was a “daddy’s girl” who preferred her father to her mother. She was reported to have been a lovely baby who never cried and just sat listening uncomprehendingly to the Nazi officials with “her blue eyes sparkling”. It was not unusual for Hitler, who was fond of children, to take her on to his own lap while he talked late into the night. Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda Quandt had 6 children: Helga Susanne, Hedwig Johanna, Helmut Christian, Hildegard, Holdine Kathrine and Heidrun Elisabeth – all starting with the letter H (allegedly after Hitler).
The Big Three at the Tehran Conference, 1943
The “Big Three” – Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill – meet at the Tehran Conference, 1943.
The Tehran was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was held in the Soviet Union’s embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first of the World War II conferences of the “Big Three” Allied leaders (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom).
Niagara Falls without water, 1969
In June 1969, U.S. engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River away from the American side of the falls for several months. The temporary dam can be seen in the top-right of this photograph.
For six months in the summer and fall of 1969, Niagara’s American Falls were “de-watered”, as the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a geological survey of the falls’ rock face, concerned that it was becoming destabilized by erosion. These stark images reveal North America’s iconic – and most powerful – waterfall to be almost as dry as a desert.
Lina Medina, the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, 1939
Lina Media is the world’s youngest documented mother in medical history. At the time of delivery, she was 5 years, 7 months and 17 days old.
In 1933, Lina Medina was born in Ticrapo, Peru. At the age of five years, Lina was brought to hospital by her parents who complained of abdominal extreme growth. The girl’s parents initially thought their daughter was suffering from a massive abdominal tumor, but after being examined by doctors in Pisco, Peru, they discovered she was seven-months pregnant.
Dr. Geraldo Lozada became Lina’s attending doctor, fully taking over the case. Dr. Lozada took Lina to a more advanced hospital in Lima to confirm the pregnancy diagnosis. The diagnosis was confirmed. Lina was born with a rare condition called “precocious puberty”. Precocious puberty is basically the early onset of sexual development. Most girls begin experiencing puberty around the age of ten (boys usually start a little later, around the ages of 11 or 12). Lina had experienced her first menstrual cycle at the age of two and a half or three. She had fully developed breasts by the age of four. Within five years, her body displayed pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation.
Lina Medina officially became the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, aged five, seven months and 21 days. She gave birth to a boy by a caesarean section on May 14, 1939, necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Lozada and Dr. Busalleu, with Dr. Colareta providing anaesthesia. The child, weighing 2,700 grams (6 pounds), was well-formed, in good health and was named Gerardo after the doctor who delivered him. Child and mother were able to leave the clinic after only a few days.
Lina with her 2-year-old son Gerardo and her baby doll.
As might be expected, sexual abuse was immediately considered. The father of Lina was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest. He was released due to lack of evidence. Lina Medina never revealed who the real father of her child is, or the circumstances surrounding its impregnation. According to a 1955 article reviewing the case: “some have pointed out, there were frequent festivities celebrated by the Indians in the Andean villages like the one where Lina was born. These often ended in orgies where rape was not uncommon”.
Throughout the years, many people have called her story a complete hoax, however, a number of doctors over the years have verified it based on biopsies, X rays of the fetal skeleton in utero, and photographs taken by the doctors caring for her.
Gerardo was raised believing that Medina was his sister, but found out at the age of 10 that she was his mother. He led a healthy life until 1979, when he died from bone marrow disease at the age of 40. In young adulthood, Medina worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Dr. Lozada, who gave her an education and helped put her son through high school. Medina later married Raúl Jurado and in 1972 had a second son, 33 years after her first. Lina Medina is alive today, but refuses to give interviews.
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