40 Rare Historical Photos That Will Leave You Speechless

Crowded ship bringing American troops back to New York harbor after V-Day, 1945

Stalin in an off-record photo captured by his bodyguard Vlasik

Federal ironclad USS Galena showing some battle damage, 1862

September 1933 - Adolf Hitler breaks ground on his ambitious plans to link all major German cities with highways. This ceremony kicked off construction of the Frankfurt-am-Maine - Darmstadt/Mannheim highway.

The rather luxurious seating area of the submarine, The Protector, in 1902

The fuel tanks of the B-24H Liberator "Little Warrior" explode over Germany after being hit by anti-aircraft guns in 1944.

Native American couple, Situwuka and Katkwachsnea in 1912

Camp Commandant Amon Goeth, infamous from the movie "Schindler's List", on the balcony of his house overlooking Plaszow labor camp, Poland . 1943-44.

Sydney Opera House under construction 1966

June 1915, Gallipoli: a Turkish sniper/sharpshooter, dressed as a tree, is captured by two Anzacs.

Union prisoners receive rations at Fort Sumter in 1864

A rescue boat comes alongside the crippled USS West Virginia shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941

Two childhood friends unexpectedly reunite on opposite sides of a demonstration in 1972.

Survivors of the Titanic are taken on board the Carpathiain 1912

Soviet soldiers stand dumfounded at a large pile of human ashes found at the Majdanek concentration camp in 1944.

A burial at sea on board the USS Lexington in 1944

Crowds rush through the castle on Disneyland 's opening day in 1955.

Future presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush with Governor George Wallace at a BBQ in 1983.

Anastasia shares a smoke with her father, Tsar Nicholas II two years before their assassination in 1916. Anastasia Romanov is one of the most mysterious figures in modern Russian history.

Soldiers comfort each other during the Korean war in the early 1950's.

What is thought to be the oldest known war photograph: New Hampshire volunteers depart for the Mexican War in 1846.

Construction of Hoover Dam in 1934.

'Powder Monkey' on the USS New Hampshire (1864)

(COLORIZED) Lt. Custer and Union Troops (1862)

Bombs dropped on Kobe, Japan (1945)

Douglas MacArthur signs formal surrender of Japan (1945)

German flying ace, 'The Red Baron' and his dog (1916)

Hiroshima - Before and After (1945)

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

JFK and LBJ during the Cuban Missle Crisis (1962)

Louis Armstrong plays for his wife in Giza (1961)

Prohibition- Alcohol barrels to be burned (1924)

Samurai (ca. 1860-1880)

San Fransisco (1958)

Soviet soldiers take a break to watch an acrobatic show on the march towards Berlin (1945)

The dog of General George S. Patton on the day of his death (1945)

The main gate to Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp built in 1944 called "the Gate of Death"

The SAS storming the Iranian Embassy to free hostages taken by terrorists. London. 1980

Triumphant dog sitting atop a gun surrounded by gunners, France, during World War 1

Tsar Nicholas and friend (1899)