15 Incredible Historical Photographs
Published on August 15, 2007 - 63 Comments
This is a selection of photographs of some of the most important or famous historical events that have occurred since photography was invented. In 1884, George Eastman developed the technology of film to replace photographic plates, leading to the technology used by film cameras today; nevertheless, many images exist from before that time that we taken via other photographic methods. Click the photographs for a larger view.
1. The First Photograph [France, 1826]
Taken by Nicéphore Niépce, this is the first photograph ever taken which still exists. He called his method heliography (sun writing) and this photograph took 8 hours of exposure time (hence sunlight on both sides of the building).
2. Looking Down Sacramento Street [San Francisco, 1906]
This photo was taken on April 18th, 1906. It is the most famous photograph of the devastation caused by the great fire and earthquake. It was taken by Arnold Genthe on a borrowed camera.
3. Breaker Boys [Pennsylvania, 1910]
This is a photograph of breaker boys - child labour used to separate coal from slate. This image helped lead the nation to outlaw child labour. The photo was taken by Lewis Hine who travelled the United States taking photographs of child labourers.
4. The Lynching of Young Blacks [Indiana, 1930]
This photograph was taken after the lynching of two young black men accused of raping a white girl. They were hanged by a mob of 10,000. The faces of the crowd are very telling. A third man was saved by the girls uncle who said he was innocent.
5. Migrant Mother [Oklahoma, 1936]
This photograph of Florence Owens Thompson (32 year old mother of 7) is one of the great representations of the Great Depression. The photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange after Florence had sold her tent to provide food for her children.
6. Hitler in Paris [Paris, 1940]
This photograph was taken of Adolf Hitler visiting Paris with his architect Albert Speer, on June 23, 1940. Hitler’s army had captured Paris and Hitler went to admire his new City.
7. The Last Jew in Vinnitsa [Ukraine, 1941]
This was found in the personal album of an Einsatzgruppen soldier. It was labelled on the back “The last Jew of Vinnitsa”. All 28,000 of the Jews living there were killed at the time.
8. V-J Day [New York, 1945]
This is one of the most famous photographs from the Second World War. The soldier and the nurse are unknown but people have come forward to claim the fame. Apparently the nurse slapped the soldier immediately after. The event was the celebration of the end of the war and it was taken in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
9. Soviet Flag raised above the Reichstag [Berlin, 1945]
Soviet Union soldiers Raqymzhan Qoshqarbaev, and Georgij Bulatov raising the flag on the roof of Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany in May, 1945. The photograph was taken by Yevgeny Khaldei.
10. Vatican II Begins [Vatican City, 1960]
This is a photograph of Pope John XXIII signing the document that officially started the Second Vatican Council. After his death, Pope Paul VI continued the council which was to change the Catholic Church so much that has become barely a reflection of what it was before. On his deathbed, John XXIII is rumoured to have said “Stop the council!”
11. The Body of Che Guevara [Bolivia, 1967]
After capturing and killing Guevara (Marxist revolutionary), the Bolivian army showed this photograph to prove that he was dead. His death dealt a death blow to the socialist revolutionary movement in Latin America and the Third World.
12. Execution of a Viet Cong Guerrilla [Vietnam, 1968]
Photographer Eddie Adams took this photograph of Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam’s national police chief executing this Viet Cong captain. Adams later said that he regretted that the world did not see Loan as a hero for his actions in Vietnam.
13. Footprint on the Moon [Lunar, 1969]
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put his left foot on the rocky Moon. It was the first human footprint on the Moon. They had taken TV cameras with them. The first footprints on the Moon will be there for a million years. This photograph was taken by Buzz Aldrin.
14. Phan Thị Kim Phúc [Vietnam, 1972]
The girl in the centre of this photograph is 9 year olf Kim Phúc. She is running from a napalm attack which caused serious burns on her back. The boy is her older brother. Both survived. This photo (by Huynh Cong Ut) became one of the most published of the Vietnam war.
15. Tiananmen Square [China, 1989]
Probably the most famous image from the student uprising in China in 1989, this photograph shows a single person blocking the tanks that were emerging on the square. The man survived but shortly after the square was filled with innocent blood.
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1. dalandzadgad - August 15th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
moving.
2. Fili - August 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
“All 280,0 of the Jews living there were killed at the time.”
?
3. jfrater - August 15th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Fili: just corrected that - thanks.
4. anomie - August 15th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Your info on migrant mother is all out of whack
“The photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange after Florence had sold her tent to provide food for her children.”
? You can clearly see them sitting in a tent in the picture. The story Lange told was that Florence sold the tires off her car to feed her kids. Though that story was fabricated. Florence’s car broke down, and she was waiting for her (boyfriend?) to return with the part to repair it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....s_Thompson
She also wasn’t even a migrant. But, IIRC, the office Lange worked for became the propaganda department for the US during WWII.
5. bonjournikle - August 15th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
i think that this photo should get a mention in this paragraph its of a young girl in afghanistan in 1983 in a refugee camp and it is amazing
http://www.nationalgeographic......story.html
6. jfrater - August 15th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
anomie: that is unbelievable! That photo is so famous - I can’t believe that it is propaganda. Thank you very much for adding that information.
bounjournikle: My friend suggested that photograph but I couldn’t track it down - it is an excellent addition. Thanks.
7. jon - August 16th, 2007 at 12:02 am
#4 took place in Marion Indiana.
8. jfrater - August 16th, 2007 at 7:28 am
jon: Thanks - I have updated the article to reflect that.
9. tjgrs - August 16th, 2007 at 7:50 am
there’s a very powerful photo of a man placing a flower in he barrel of a gun that a soldier is holding from the vietnam era, its a great photo and my friends dad is actually the hippie, he’s a professor at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.
http://homepage.mac.com/hbsher.....erjoel.jpg
10. Gmoney - August 18th, 2007 at 5:46 am
Great list, the photos are amazing! I was a little suprised that the flag raising at Iwo Jima wasnt on the list though.
11. jfrater - August 18th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Gmoney - I chose to use the reichstag photo instead as half of the photos were already famous American photos. The Reichstag meant I had half and half.
12. Cylar - September 5th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
#12 I saw for the first time while watching the video for the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” My dad, who is a Vietnam Vet, explained to me what was happening in the picture. He went on to say that it (like the caption above) had the wrong effect - it caused the American people to ask, “What the HELL are we doing over there? We’ve sent our sons to die in Vietnam for THIS?”
13. jfrater - September 6th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Cylar: thanks for adding that personal experience.
14. Brian Moo - September 16th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Wasn’t the Migrant Mother staged? Not that it wouldn’t make it any less of a picture, just curious.
15. jfrater - September 16th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Brian Moo: It was - someone pointed that out to me in the comments earlier - I left the picture in because it still had a lot of impact at the time of its taking.
16. jon - September 18th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
look at this one!!! its a picture of A kid in Uganda about to die of hunger, and a missionaire.
http://thumb10.webshots.net/t/.....UcS_th.jpg
17. jfrater - September 18th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
jon: that is an amazing photo - thanks. It is a shame it is so small (the photo I mean)
18. jake ryder - September 24th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
In #8 he is a sailor not a soldier.
#12 is technically not a photograph as it is a still from film, although it was published in print media as seen.
Sorry to nit pick.
19. jfrater - September 24th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Jake: Thanks for mentioning those things.
20. Ken - October 2nd, 2007 at 8:31 am
The Russians raising the flag over the Reichstag in Berlin was inspired and modeled after the US Marines raising the flag over Iwa Jima by the Russian photographer. It was staged propaganda. The solder holing the flag was wearing two watches that he stole off of dead Germans.
21. jfrater - October 2nd, 2007 at 8:37 am
Ken: that is very interesting - thanks for mentioning it.
22. Bacon - October 8th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Interesting fact regarding the Tiananmen Square photograph, if you’d care to know:
The only reason that man was not killed is because the Chinese media was there. Had they not been there, the kid would have been flesh pancake.
23. Ben - October 8th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I have lithographs of William Jennings’ three published “First Photographs of Lightning” displayed in my home. A good image of one of them can be found here: http://www.eastman.org/taschen.....3_ful.html
The history of Jennings’ work is also fascinating…more about that and the photographer’s involvement with The Franklin Institute are here: http://www.fi.edu/case_files/jennings/
Great list…nice job!
24. jfrater - October 8th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Bacon: that really doesn’t surprise me, unfortunately.
Ben: Great photograph! Thanks for mentioning it.
25. Dandyydon - October 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
V-J Day: The sailor was recently identified and verified as a man now living in Texas. I saw this on a show, but can’t remember any more details.
26. pcbrat69 - October 15th, 2007 at 6:53 am
The famous photo of the street execution of a viet cong has a generally unknown background. A videographer (Austrailian I believe) happened upon the scene. The viet cong man had been captured in the house of the military commander of Saigon, who was the best friend of the Chief of Police. Inside the house were found the entire family all with their throats cut, including all the children. The viet cong was captured with a bloody knife in his hands. When this was explained to the Police Chief, he shot the bastard. I watched a PBS show about the videographer and his war experiences. He clearly described what happened. People should remember that the viet cong were murderous scum.
27. jfrater - October 15th, 2007 at 7:16 am
pcbrat69: Totally agree.
28. Columbo - October 15th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
That ‘Tank Man’ photo gives me chills every time I see it. I can’t imagine doing anything that brave.
Its a shame we don’t know the mans identity, I just hope he wasn’t executed after he was arrested.
29. Mel Curry - November 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
pcbrat69- should you not say, “People should remember that the Viet Cong were also murderous scum.”
30. KH - November 9th, 2007 at 9:59 am
YOU ARE ALIER
31. Matt - November 10th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Columbo: I remember when the Square massacre took place, and I saw that photo in the newspaper. The caption read, “A man stands defiantly in front of a Chinese tank. It is almost certain he was executed shortly afterward.”
If that’s true, then let it be said he died defending what he believed in. I wish everyone (including myself) were that brave.
32. Russian lieutenant - December 20th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Ken:
>The Russians raising the flag over the Reichstag in Berlin was inspired and modeled after the US Marines raising the flag over Iwa Jima by the Russian photographer.
What is Iwa Jima? Small Island. 110 000 US versus 22 000 Japan.
And Reichstag is the den of fascism, Headquarter of Germany.
2 500 000 Soviets versus 1 000 000 Germans.
It’s incomparably (with all respect to US Army and US Navy)
Soviet Army wons hundreds of “Iwa Jima”’s.
Soviet Army takes the Berlin.
80% of German forces was destroyed in East Front.
>It was staged propaganda.
It does not matter at all.
It is one of the symbols of Great Victory.
In Reichstag assault haundreds of Soviet Soldiers raises their flags on defeated Reichstag.
This photo is one of them.
>The solder holing the flag was wearing two watches that he stole off of dead Germans.
Second watches is photomontage.
Because photo is staged and official, it’s impossible to show Soviet soldiers as marauders.
Don’t forget about Bloody Comissars.
German fascists killed 19 000 000 russian civilians, women and cildrens, destroys thounds towns and villages, robs and rapes.
Imagine feelings of Russian Soldiers when they came to Germany.
But Red Army was merciful, there is no mass execution of civilians, former officers and official.
You better say about it.
=============
33. dangorironhide - December 20th, 2007 at 1:17 am
Russian Lieutenant: ‘Red Army was merciful’? So what about the millions of murders and rapes as they marched across Germany, and even after the war ended?
Theres lots of information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_crimes
You can’t say they were merciful when they did stuff like that.
34. sdggrant - December 20th, 2007 at 1:30 am
They were merciful maybe in comparison to what the Nazi’s did, but “mercy” isnt a word I would use to describe the former Soviet Army. While what the Soviets did marching across Germany might not be RIGHT, who can really blame them? The desire for revenge is a natural human emotion. If Germany had killed 19million civilian Americans you can bet your sweet ass American soldiers would of done the same thing
35. dangorironhide - December 20th, 2007 at 1:41 am
I agree they had a reason to, but I do not think it justifies it. They should not be taking their frrustrations out on civilians who had no say in what happened on the eastern front.
I do agree with Russian Lieutenant on one point though. It doesnt matter if it is a propaganda photograph, it is still incredibley powerful.
Taking of WWII photos, is it just me or does Hitler look REALLY camp in photo 6?
36. sdggrant - December 20th, 2007 at 2:02 am
I agree, dangorironhide, it does not justify it at all. I’m just saying it makes it more understandable. I look at it like a Crime of Passion. If you catch your wife in bed with another man and you kill him out of rage and pure emotion, chances are you wont be as strictly sentenced as if you stalked a person for weeks and then kidnapped and murdered them. See what I mean? Neither is justified, but one is more understandable than the other.
37. Russian lieutenant - December 20th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Comrade dangorironhide, there is no _millions_ of crimes or rapes. High Command of Red Army make hard discipline, for crimes against civilians 4200 officers and big amount of privates was punished, some of them was executed (in US Army was executed 69 soldiers).
Your wiki link has two important notices:
1. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
2.The neutrality of this article is disputed.
In many cases this article repeat dr. Hebbels propaghanda.
Russian scanned document in your article order to suppress any crimes with all severity, intensify drunkenness control and explain inadmissibility of oppression of civilians to units.
>Furthermore cases were determined where army >members used weapons against the German >civilian population, particularly against women >and the elderly
it’ looks like inaccuracy translate
What mean “particularly”? It’s synonym to “including”?
This document dated on january 1945.
With defensive attention of High Command so astronomical amount of crimes is impossible.
It was, no doubt. But gitter “historian” puff up scales and demonize Red Army.
It’s Army. There is no order to mass genocide of Germans, so any kills of civilians is crime. Any crimes and maraudeurity demoralize and collapse army. And so Command of army make hard discipline to prevent it.
Read it, i think this is unprejudiced point:
http://www.argo.net.au/andre/osmarwhiteENFIN.htm
38. sdggrant - December 20th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Russian, The Soviet Army did slaughter German citizens by the thousands. Saying it didn’t happen is like me saying, as an American, that no Iraqi civilians are killed in Iraq. If I really wanted to, I could dig up some fabricated information to back that up as well. As I said before, I can’t really even blame the Russians for exacting their revenge on the Germany people, the Germans did horrendous things when they invaded Russia. That doesn’t justify it, but it certainly makes it more understandable. For the record, my college professor for my World War 2 class grew up in Soviet Russia and he never once tried to “demonize” the Red Army.
And you are right when you said that there was no order to kill german citizens, but just because nobody ordered it doesnt mean it didn’t happen, and that offiers turned a blind eye to it. The numbers might be exaggerated slightly, but its certain that hundreds of thousands of german civilians were killed when russia made its push for Berlin.
39. Russian lieutenant - December 20th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
sdggrant, I agree with you, only during Berlin assault about 125 000 civilians were killed. It was total war. Great amount of innocency people died.
It must no repeat.
I just want to say that “blood-thirstiness” of Red Army is puff upped.
Unfortunately, my poor English don’t give me to explain my point of view completely and without distortion.
Sorry
40. sdggrant - December 20th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Hey man, your english is more understandable than many people I know who actually speak english as their first language!
41. Diogenes - December 20th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
ah. these sort of things are the bedlem within history –too soon.
it renders the muscle to the bone and anounces the capture of the god seeing eye over the unknown.
42. Diogenes - December 20th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
where is randall, the ass, at this time of the hour?
43. Nicole - December 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 am
Oh My Gosh,
theese pictures are
horrible. This is all
so very sad to see.
44. suzi - December 23rd, 2007 at 3:24 am
Florence Owens Thompson (Migrant Mom) was indeed a migrant worker. She and her family had broken down while trying to find work in the pea harvest. There had been a freeze, killing the harvest, so thousands in the camps were without work, with no food, and townspeople would chase the migrants away.
Yes the story of selling her tires/tent/cooking pots (I’ve heard all these) was incorrect. Many think Lange mixed up Florence’s picture with someone else’s story.
But believeme, that photo was not staged, the weariness and utter hopelessness was very real.
And while some are critical of Lange’s methods or motives (she did not receive money for this work, but it did further her career), in actuality getting her images out did bring public awareness andmuch needed relief to many migrants, And for Florence herself, when her uncle say this photo onthe front page of the paper the nest day, he drove to the camp and took her and the kids home until the car was fixed.
45. A. - December 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Thanks to Suzi for posting that. (I was about to do the same, but now, thanks to her, I don’t have to.)
I know a thing or two about the history of photography - AND , most especially, about propaganda - myself.
Anyone can SEE the woman was hardly a lady of leisure in times of great pleasure…
(At least I think that would be obvious.)
Ultimately, however, it wouldn’t really matter even if it were staged (which it wasn’t): the fact is many, MANY, all too many mothers had to brave unimaginable hardship in those days, just to keep their children alive.
And many, MANY, all too many, all around the world, still do.
It is one of the best photos of the century - and one of the most poignant images of motherhood ever.
46. Rick B - January 4th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Iwo Jima
47. OhALL - January 10th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
That picture of the USSR soldier posting the flag is absolutely stunning. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the event of the picture i still find it amazing, inspiring even.
48. Denzie - January 13th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Sir Edmund Hillary’s picture of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on top of Everest.
RIP Sir ED
49. Nicademus - February 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
The Migrant Mother image by Lange is a good example of pre-digital manipulation. The original shows a finger from an unknown hand holding onto the pole in the foreground. This was later removed from the negative itself by a skilled re-toucher.
Original Image: http://memory.loc.gov/service/.....12883r.jpg
50. Polly Odyssey - February 8th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Wasn’t U2’s “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” about Tiananmen Square?
51. Nzbyrd - February 13th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I have seen most of these images before, yet I still find them disturbing.
52. Lewis - February 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Polly Odyssey:No, it’s about the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the Omagh bombing.
53. Doug - February 19th, 2008 at 8:22 am
no.9 is my desktop wallpaper. what a picture
54. doz - February 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
good list. number 9 is one of my favourite photographs.
55. Silver Jim - March 7th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Over a quiet beer after a seminar Eddie Adams said something to a few of us he must have said a thousand times before, he regretted being made famous for that picture (#12). But the facts are as he told me and mentioned here. A point on #14. Has anybody seen the uncropped picture? There are three or four photographers on the side of the road rewinding film or something like that, as if nothing was happening. Most newspapers airbrushed her pubic regions. Or maybe AP did that.
56. Anon - March 19th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
what about the marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima?
57. HKramer - March 26th, 2008 at 8:16 am
39. Russian lieutenant - December 20th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
It was total war.
“Ich frage euch: Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg? Wollt ihr ihn, wenn nötig, totaler und radikaler, als wir ihn uns heute überhaupt erst vorstellen können?”
“I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even yet imagine?”
58. bubba - April 27th, 2008 at 7:24 am
fascinating pictures, there is a documentary about the Tiananmen square tank man here that you can watch streaming
http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=43493
59. jajdude - May 18th, 2008 at 3:02 am
How about the “Iwo Jima”` photo?
60. rushfan - June 6th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Awesome list. There’s nothing like a photograph. There are lots of pics from 9-11 that capture the trajedy of that day.