Spyke
sh.itjust.works

In the "Last Lion", it's clear that he was pampered very much as a child by his mother, he was sickly often, and so she doted on him. At this stage in his life, he was very much a mother's boy.

It's amazing he turned out the way he did really. He still had some of those tendencies at the end, but a lot of his characteristics were exaggerated. For example his drinking. He didn't actually drink more than 1 mixed drink a day usually, which he pulled on from his flask throughout. Any of the brandy or sipping beverages he was famous for consuming were typically non-alcoholic so he could retain his wits and make others think he was less together than he was. It was an intentional strategy, also, he still had health issues that prevented him from consuming too much alcohol. But he turned that into an advantage.

10

It's honestly pretty incredible how much English propaganda survived the war. I still hear people claim English fighter pilots were orange because of all the carrots they ate to improve their night vision, which was a myth created by the English to keep the Germans from realizing they'd figured out radar.

13
otp
sh.itjust.works

Funny how they all have different vibes.

Stalin looks like a bully. Hitler looks like he's been bullied and is going to be a school shooter.

Many of the others look like pompous twats and/or spoilt rich kids.

54
lemmy.world

Churchill was a pompous, rich, spoiled kid. But he did a good job as the war needed.

29
lemmy.world

Hirohito was a prince and Roosevelt was old money. Idk about Eisenhower but American generals historically come from well to do backgrounds.

23

After a cursory glance it seems like Eisenhower's family would've been firmly middle class, not great but not bad either. So pretty standard merchants.

5
sh.itjust.works

Pretty much. He was bullied most of his life and was an intolerable dickhead. Few people liked him for who he was. He was a sociopath and learned how to manipulate people to pretend to be charismatic or charming to get what he wanted.

Which was revenge on all the people he felt wronged him.

11

Surely not. It's not like anyone could be compared to Hitler or Mussolini right now on the world stage. It's not like anyone who could is a deeply disturbed individual who's using their powers to enrich themselves materially, and to get revenge on all the "bullies" that said mean things to them.

It's a good thing there's not someone like that on the world stage right now, because it'd mean we've learned fuck-all from history.

1

Interesting that both Hitler and Stalin are looking down their noses at the camera.

That's probably reading too much into a snapshot. They're just kids here.

(But just in case, keep your eye on that little snot who does that in the yearbook)

30

I was going to say, maybe it’s the power of hindsight, but they both look like asshole shits and Mussolini looks like he is growing up with some serious emotional issues, maybe some hatred for women after his mother dressed him like that.

16
lemmy.world

As someone who used to work with kids a lot, every last one of them look like a little shit who is about to make my day at work measurably worse.

28

Lol yes! Eisenhower maybe ok but not if he’s dropped off dressed like that.

4
lemmy.world

Hitler looks like an incel and Mussolini looks like he pooped his pants. (Edit: politeness)

25
fedia.io

Roosevelt is dressed like a rich kid, but his face says “don’t fuck with me”.

21

so Hitler never changed his haircut since he was a child

19
lemmy.blahaj.zone

They all kind of look like dickheads ngl. Like that annoying kid who always breaks boundaries.

(ie. they all look very full of themselves — I guess that’s how you become a leader…)

17

Part of the problem may be that the convention back then was to not smile when taking a picture

14
lemm.ee

Idk, it's hard to be mad at kid Mussolini. He looks like he's just real upset to be there. All the other kids look like bullies or spoiled/sheltered nepo babies, though. Turn that frown upside down down, kid.

10

It would take him years, but the frown would eventually be turned upside down, under a bridge, if memory serves correctly.

7

I dunno, Ike just kind of has a blank "Is this photo day" expression

4

Hitler looked like he was useless little shithead even as a kid.

13
lemmy.world

what is the source for this?

one doubts that such a photo of young Stalin exists, given the poverty in which the dictator grew up.

13
pawb.social

Can't verify that one specifically, but a handful survive of his parents, as well as this photo of him from a school yearbook in 1893:

16

This is further proof to my "Rishi Sunak is actually Stalin" lore.

4

I can see it labeled as a school photo of him, but haven't found any original source confirming that

6

School class picture, the priest that let Stalin and his mom stay with him to get away from Stalin's abusive dad faked a story about who Stalin's dad was so he could get in to a free school for children of church officials.

3
lemmy.ca

Young Adolf really looks like a mini me version of Hitler, it's jarring to watch

10

Fun fact: many people don't! It's part of why old photos of teenagers look so old to us. Many people don't change their clothing style nor hairstyle much if at all as they age, so what was hip and rad style will be generic old person style about 50 years later

Here's hoping this means there'll be plenty of belly shirts, skinny jeans, guyliner and fishnets worn by retired folks in the 2070s!

4
infosec.pub

Mussolini looks like he’d be a sweet, if quiet, kid but will occasionally squeeze to death a small animal because someone didn’t bring him his tendies

8

Yeah he does have the pouty eyebrows going. Kind of also looks like the godfather if he had a little rascals character.

2
lemmy.ca

Young Roosevelt looked remarkably like adult Ryan Gosling.

7

TIL about the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. 25k soldiers is far more significant than I expected!

6
lemmy.world

I had to look up Getulio, which appears to be Brazil's Getulio Vargas, of whom I had vaguely heard, but knew very little about. Which made for an informative read.

It's up for debate of he belongs in this life-up, instead of Mao, Pinochet, Franco or even Guevara or the north Koreans, but I'm not sure how available the childhood pictures of those are.

5

It’s odd that they all have pictures as kids. It like their parent brought them up into their future roles.. hmmm..

2

Oddly, De Gaulle reminds me of a short-haired Anne Hathaway. I think it’s in the eyes.

2