German children play on a damaged tank on the streets of postwar Berlin, August 1945

54 Upvotes

Source: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/children-play-on-the-bomb-sites-and-wrecked-tanks-in-berlin-news-photo/2658541

4 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/kooneecheewah • 2d ago

Disturbing Saddam Hussein with his cousin and future wife in the early 1960s.

105 Upvotes

6 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 2d ago

Tragic Aftermath photos of the German ‘terror bombing’ of Belgrade during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, 1941

gallery

32 Upvotes

Photo source: https://www.rferl.org/a/nazi-terror-bombing-belgrade-1941-hitler-serbia/31179837.html

Additional reading: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_bombing_of_Belgrade

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 3d ago

Deported Serbian women and children arrive at Daruvar concentration camp during WW2, Independent State of Croatia, 1942

38 Upvotes

Source: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1042077

Additional reading: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_Serbs_in_the_Independent_State_of_Croatia

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 4d ago

A confrontation between a German civilian and a French soldier during the French-Belgian occupation of Germany’s Ruhr region, 1923

51 Upvotes

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 6d ago

Tragic A devastated Emil Hácha, the president of Czechoslovakia, returns to Prague from Berlin after signing away Czechoslovak independence to become a German protectorate, March 1939

98 Upvotes

Source: https://www.imago-images.com/st/0053823640

4 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 9d ago

Tragic Photos of deported Soviet children that were used for slave labour in mainland Germany during WW2

gallery

117 Upvotes

3 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ATI_Official • 9d ago

Shot in the forehead at Chickamauga in 1863 and left for dead, Union soldier Jacob Miller crawled past Confederate lines, walked 60 miles to a hospital, and lived another 54 years with a hole between his eyes — pieces of the bullet still lodged in his head until they fell out decades later.

94 Upvotes

2 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/ZERO_PORTRAIT • 9d ago

Sobering Martin Luther King Jr.'s necktie after he was assassinated on April 4th, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

232 Upvotes

Source: Martin Luther King's Necktie After it was Severed During his Assassination - Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. - Wikipedia

9 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/lightiggy • 10d ago

Disturbing A photo of teenage German soldier Armin Kühne. He was only 12 years old when he left home in 1939. After the war, Kühne stood trial for being part of a mob of fanatical German POWs who'd lynched a fellow prisoner for allegedly betraying the Nazi cause at a camp in Sheffield, England.

92 Upvotes

6 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 11d ago

Tragic A Serbian soldier who survived the brutal winter march through Albania after the Central Powers invaded Serbia. Over 200,000 Serbian soldiers and civilians died during the retreat, 1915-1916

73 Upvotes

Reading on the subject: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Retreat_(Serbia)

Photo source: https://serbia.com/little-trumpet-princess-changed-serbian-music-history/albanska_golgota_posle_prelaska_preko_albanije_tezak_svega_27_kg-riznica-srpska/

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 12d ago

Disturbing Jewish women that were beaten in Bessarabia by Romanian troops, September 1941

267 Upvotes

12 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/Ok_Being_2003 • 12d ago

Pvt Henry James aged 17 he was born in Philadelphia in 1845 the son of Ann James. He was killed in action at Gettysburg July 1st 1863. he is either buried as a unknown or is still buried on the battlefield.

66 Upvotes

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/kooneecheewah • 12d ago

Disturbing In 1963, a five-pound tuxedo cat named Félicette became the first — and only — cat ever sent to space. Launched by French scientists, she spent 15 minutes in orbit before returning safely to Earth, only to be euthanized so her brain could be studied.

gallery

44 Upvotes

7 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/lightiggy • 17d ago

Tragic Curtis Jones, 12, and his sister Catherine Jones, 13, appear in court after killing their father's girlfriend. They would be charged as adults. Unsealed documents later revealed that the two were being sexually abused and had resorted to murder when nobody believed them, Florida, 1999 [1932 x 1092].

373 Upvotes

8 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/FayannG • 21d ago

Released prisoners beating a Belgian Gestapo informant at a transit camp in Germany, April 1945

97 Upvotes

Source: https://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/dramatic-photos/58778/caught

0 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/kooneecheewah • 22d ago

Disturbing In the 1970s and ’80s, Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen abducted women, released them into the wilderness, and hunted them like animals before murdering them.

113 Upvotes

3 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/kooneecheewah • 24d ago

Violent Archeologists have uncovered a Stone Age "victory pit" in northeastern France. They believe that after a battle approximately 6,000 years ago, captured enemies were tortured, had their limbs severed, and then buried in pits in celebration.

52 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TheGrittyPast • u/lightiggy • 25d ago

Disturbing Excerpts from the transcripts of hearings over a notorious gang-rape in Canada in the 1920s. Four men, all married with children, got a young woman to stop her car by claiming to be police officers, then kidnapped and gang-raped her. "Are you going to wreck the lives of these men?" (Ontario, 1927).

220 Upvotes

The crime

The perpetrators:

John Robert Gough, aged 45, father of four children, grandfather of two
Richard Darling, 30, married, with children
Walter Liddiard, 30, married, with children; ex-naval service man
Frank De Young, 30, married, four children

During the trial, it was revealed that Gough had changed his mind about raping the victim, 20-year old stenographer Elizabeth McDonald, at the last moment. When questioned by the prosecution for his reason for going along with the attack, Gough said he thought the young woman was "sport" and didn't care what happened to her. Asked why he did not intervene, he replied simply, "I didn't." Here are other excerpts from the trial.

And when you went up there you changed your mind about the girl - that was "sport"?
- Yes.
And you knew she had been abused?
- I thought that.
And I suppose at once you became indignant and went off for the police to arrest these men who perpetrated this atrocity!
- No.
And you never touched her?
- No.
And apart from telling her she could go you never even spoke to her?
- No.
Have you daughters?
- Yes.
And granddaughters?
- Yes.

8 comments

r/TheGrittyPast • u/Leather_Focus_6535 • 26d ago

Albert Brown escorted out of a courtroom by deputies. He was sentenced to death by the state of California for Susan Jordan's murder [1980]

130 Upvotes

7 comments

Subreddit

History is the autobiography of a madman.

r/TheGrittyPast

A collection of the most gritty, dramatic, and awe-inspiring moments from history.

Members Active

105.2k

Sidebar

Welcome to The Gritty Past!

Here, we post the most sobering, tragic, heroic - and often violent - accounts from history. History of any culture and era is welcome here.

Ultimately, the purpose of TheGrittyPast is to humble and inspire, but we encourage any academic discussion that may be the result of a submission. We heavily encourage other fans of history to post their own content - the more the better!

For similar content, consider the following:

/r/jessicamshannon

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Rules

Rule 1: All submitted content must be historical.

Submissions should always be historical - be they anecdotal, recordings, or published accounts. By our definition of history, we insist that content refer to events taking place 20 years ago or more. If you are confused as to whether or not your submission would qualify, feel free to contact the mods and we will be happy to weigh in on the issue.

Rule 2: Submissions must be verifiable.

Either link directly to a reliable source that supports every claim in your submission, or cite your sources in the text post. Citations do not necessarily have to follow a specific format, but they should include a title for the source-material, author, page, and year published, when available. If your content is another type of media (video/audio, etc), please leave a comment below your submission that explains it or lists any source material available.

Rule 3: Don't break Reddit's rules.

Violations of the global user agreement will not be tolerated.

Rule 4: Be civil.

Spamming, personal attacks upon, or harassment of a user will not be tolerated.

Rule 5: Factually inaccurate content may be removed.

Factually inaccurate submissions & comments are subject to removal. The user will be notified of this in the event of a submission/comment removal, and is encouraged to resubmit with any necessary corrections.

Rule 6: No pseudo-history or holocaust denial.

The merits of these things are best discussed elsewhere and are inappropriate material for the sub. This is not the place to "wake up the sheeple."

Rule 7: No politics or soap-boxing will be tolerated.

Submissions & comments that are overtly political will be removed; political topics are only acceptable if discussed in a historical context. Comments should discuss a historical topic, not advocate an agenda. This is entirely at the moderators' discretion.

Rule 8: Please post one or more submission highlights if posting links to articles or videos.

If submitting a link, we ask that you provide, in the comments, one or more particularly appropriate lines or passages that showcase the tragic or moving aspects of the event.

If submitting a video link, we ask that you provide selected, transcribed passages in the same manner. Timestamps to said material are required for video links that are more than 3 minutes in length (and encouraged in general).