r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Insightful23blue • 6d ago
Image Leaders of World War II as children
4.6k
u/Mr_Guts_Rearranger 6d ago
Mussolini looks like he cries a lot as a kid
1.5k
u/Soloact_ 6d ago
Honestly, like the kid who tattles and then immediately regrets it.
309
→ More replies (5)49
u/_Deloused_ 6d ago
The kid who acts like a little bitch and fucks with everyone until mom or teacher come around then they’re a huge kiss ass so the teacher takes their side anytime they piss off another student.
177
u/MortimerToast 6d ago
Looks like someone stole his lollipop. I'd cry too. And then invent fascism.
→ More replies (2)57
u/volinaa 6d ago
none of them look like they’re happy kids
64
u/WorkingItOutSomeday 6d ago
Kids taking pictures back then rarely if ever looked happy. Having your picture taken was serious business and you better look serious and dignified.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (8)43
u/Bleyo 6d ago
I don't know... Churchill looks like he enjoyed bossing the help around.
→ More replies (9)186
u/Mitra-The-Man 6d ago
Fr.
Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin all look like they were such little shits when young.
92
u/Altruistic_Bird2532 6d ago
They all had dads that beat them
→ More replies (1)70
u/GardenData61375 6d ago
This comment enraged Hitler's father, who punished him severely
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)83
u/Volodio 6d ago
Because they were the poorest, especially Stalin.
54
u/as_it_was_written 6d ago
Yeah, the classism is strong in these comments. Like, Hitler looks unbearable, and Stalin doesn't look like someone you'd necessarily want to fuck with, but several of the wealthy-looking kids look quite obnoxious as well.
25
u/Longjumping_Youth281 6d ago
I think part of the difference is due to the fact that with the rich kids, it's like a portrait focusing on them, complete with props and costumes and all that stuff.
With the poor kids, I think it's just zoomed in part of a larger picture, presumably of their whole families
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)33
u/JTP1228 6d ago
Churchill looks like he'd hit you with a "well actually" everytime someone explains something
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)15
u/WorkingItOutSomeday 6d ago
Yeah I'll give Stalin a past. His looks like a school mugshot and barely seen as human in the empire as a Georgian. And this is in no way to excuse his later atrocities.
→ More replies (1)22
→ More replies (26)8
7.0k
u/Jebusfreek666 6d ago
Crazy how much lil hitler, still looks like Hitler....
3.1k
u/PHANTOM________ 6d ago
It’s like that mustache is there even though it’s not there. I swear I see it and then I look and he’s just a hairless kid.
532
u/Mean-Fondant-8732 6d ago
Ok then its not just me, good. Came here to say it and it's in the top comments.
→ More replies (5)134
114
→ More replies (8)112
692
u/spacekitt3n 6d ago
stalin and hitler look like little assholes here
572
u/SebVettelstappen 6d ago
Stalin looks like he’s gonna take my lunch money
201
u/dv0ich 6d ago
If you consider that in his youth Stalin was a robber and a murderer, then this is not far from the truth
8
u/CaptainOktoberfest 6d ago
Somewhere someone was the first person murdered by Stalin, then to imagine millions of other people then followed.
→ More replies (2)9
71
140
u/TRLK9802 6d ago
Punchable face on that one.
→ More replies (1)109
u/MongolianDonutKhan 6d ago
Kid Hitler has the more punchable face imho. Stalin just looks like a bully from any coming of age story (with Mussolini as his toady) while Hitler looks like the preppy boy with money who's going to tell his father about this... I think I just described Draco Malfoy.
→ More replies (3)40
113
u/DRZARNAK 6d ago
He’ll take your lunch money and then distribute it amongst the children with no lunch money.
Eventually.
Trust him.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (20)24
68
u/alpine_zephyr 6d ago
I noticed they are both pulling their heads back in defiance.
→ More replies (2)158
u/Skizot_Bizot 6d ago
I feel like only Eisenhower looks like a semi normal child, the rest all look like they're already about to yell at the help or are already haunted by something.
→ More replies (17)77
u/TurbulentData961 6d ago
Stalin was poor n Georgian , Roosevelt had polio as a kid , Winston was the son of a Duke .
Ike had a more normal childhood
49
u/partylange 6d ago
FDR didn't get sick until he was 39 years old.
→ More replies (2)27
u/TurbulentData961 6d ago
My bad. But I still say Winston looks like he wants a drink vs doing posh stuff ( posed picture in a sailor uniform is peak rich brit ) just like his elder self
→ More replies (1)25
u/Longjumping-Claim783 6d ago
Teddy was the Roosevelt that was a sickly child. Lead him to overcompensate a bit as a man.
17
64
u/Altruistic_Bird2532 6d ago edited 6d ago
Both Stalin’s and Hitler’s dad’s regularly beat them, hitler’s dad nearly killing him when he was 11….
In a way, Hitler created Putin, because the brutality of the Nazi siege of Leningrad damaged his family such that his parents were traumatized and absent, and he largely grew up alone, bullied, and in poverty
As a child, Mussolini was a bully with a violent temper-his father was a disciplinarian with an almos “militaristic “ approach to parenting, who demanded strict obedience and applied harsh physical punishments
25
u/Termsandconditionsch 6d ago
Mussolini was also an elementary school teacher for a while, but I don’t think there are any interviews or similar with his former pupils or what he was like as a teacher. He did get into trouble for having an affair with a married woman during this time.
33
u/I_Automate 6d ago
Honestly an Italian having an affair is one of the most "normal" parts of his life in a lot of ways
15
u/Useful_Secret4895 6d ago
Stalin was also forced by his teachers to watch public hangings of criminals as a schoolboy, with his entire class.
15
13
u/No_Savings_9953 6d ago
Interesting fact regarding Putin. Thank you for mentioning it.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)15
u/Proud-Cartoonist-431 6d ago edited 6d ago
in a way Stalin and Lenin also created Putin because he wouldn't be anywhere without free public education actually being decent and the government doing an ok job raising kids instead of their parents. Someone growing up with apsent parents in a more capitalist setting is likely to end up a drug addict, not as a well-read law major. In the USSR kids like that would recie two hot meals a day from the school, read books and do homework at the library, go join a free sports club, and be morally guided by a youth organisation or by a sports coach (many of them would parent you if you do good at competitions and your parents fail).
18
u/Termsandconditionsch 6d ago
Apparently Churchill had a quite shitty childhood. His parents were very distant, busy with their own lives.
His dad was in politics, thought he was indispensable, resigned and.. turns out he was not indispensable.
→ More replies (3)18
u/Snorky71 6d ago
Churchills father was a Lord who contracted syphills from a servant. He died of it. They all look weird as fuck.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)13
20
u/AdderallOfHearts 6d ago
Seriously, even as kids they already got this "I'ma f**k shit up"-look in their eyes.
→ More replies (19)40
u/Ok-Brush5346 6d ago
Stalin looks like a real bully and Churchill looks like he looks like a posh mama's boy who sends the bully home with a black eye.
→ More replies (6)55
u/NeverTrustATurtle 6d ago
→ More replies (7)26
u/Jebusfreek666 6d ago
I was waiting for someone to link youtube. That was not what I expected. I thought it would be this.
→ More replies (5)86
u/Eric_EarlOfHalibut 6d ago
And Churchill was already smug
81
u/Jebusfreek666 6d ago
A smug member of the British aristocracy? That's a rarity lol
→ More replies (1)104
u/Bobala 6d ago
“If you could go back in time and kill Hitler when he was just a child, would you?”
<Looks at photo of kid Hitler>
“Yeah”
→ More replies (6)17
46
u/Soloact_ 6d ago
It’s like his face knew early on it was gonna be on a lot of history tests and wanted to stay consistent.
14
→ More replies (63)68
5.3k
u/dingboodle 6d ago
Damn Stalin looks like he’s already running a gang and making people disappear.
1.4k
u/AmphibianOk5663 6d ago
Yeah he's the meanest looking one out of all of em lol
266
80
u/flashmedallion 6d ago
The only one born poor, I think? Definitely going by these photos
→ More replies (1)93
u/Termsandconditionsch 6d ago
Hitler wasn’t born rich. He had a somewhat comfy childhood as his dad was a customs official, but his dad regularly beat the shit out of him. Hitler then lived a borderline homeless existence in Vienna for a couple of years before WW1.
→ More replies (16)→ More replies (4)88
u/Mbyrd420 6d ago
He was definitely the meanest and toughest of the European leaders as a child. Maybe of all of them.
→ More replies (1)192
u/ZestyNewt 6d ago
Listen to the "Behind the Bastards" podcast on young Stalin. He was a bad mf right out the gate.
→ More replies (1)168
u/TimeEfficiency6323 6d ago
Poor little fucker got beaten black and blue by his abusive alcoholic father, until the guy walked out on them. Then his mother beat him 'for his own good ".
60
u/Spare-Willingness563 6d ago edited 6d ago
I got beaten because my mom wanted to make me hate her so she could take a good, long nap. She literally beat me for years because, I am dead serious, I wouldn't stop loving her. She..."didn't want me to miss her".
I say that to say Stalin is a piece of shit and our history doesn't determine who we become.
edit: I feel like that tidbit is more messed up than I realize.
What's with these sadistic women (edit: I meant these very few. Men are far from innocent, but there's something that has always felt especially wrong about a mother that not only was not a safe place for her child but their source of pain. I've just always expected better from women. Maybe I need to reflect on that.), though? I was told I needed to stop being a sissy so many times and it was, also, for my own good. To "toughen me up". Like, bro, you been beating me for an hour. I think I qualify at this point. To be fair, I'm insanely durable thanks to all that nonsense. If it wasn't for this insane pain tolerance my cat would be dead, so, yeah. Fuck it. Everything for a reason.
35
u/morija_ 6d ago
hope youre doing fine
30
u/Spare-Willingness563 6d ago
I appreciate you. I've long come to terms with those lessons and they fuel me to be a better human now. I just can't stand people saying, "Oh this awful person had a reason to be awful." No. Forget all that. Every one of us is suffering from some trauma and we don't need to embolden bad people to be worse. We need more good.
There are so many kind people that have been through hell, the entire time only thinking about helping all those lost souls they meet along the way. I'm definitely being sensitive right now cause my dog is going through some issues, but I just had to say something. Maybe take out some of this frustration with the Universe out on that particular person...my bad.
But, again, I genuinely appreciate you. I'm healed, but I still find solace in knowing there are people like you who see others. You heal the world. Thank you for being here.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (11)8
u/toolongforyoutoread 6d ago
Wait now I want to know the cat story
→ More replies (1)15
u/Spare-Willingness563 6d ago
I wrote this whole wall of text and it was too long.
Obviously very long story short, my two cats escaped, the larger, very strong, very panicky one was about to fall on either side of our backyard fence and there were our neighbors very rabid dogs trying their best to kill her.
I run over while trying to keep her calm, grab her, she bites with her fang penetrating into the joint capsule of my right thumb, I decide "don't let go. You can handle the pain." and hold on for dear life as she kicks through my left forearm and causes about an 8-inch gash then kicks through my bicep at several points which I don't even notice because she has since let go of my thumb and clamped down on the pinky of that same hand with her fang now lodged deep into the bone and nerves and all the tendons. Still, I hold on to make sure I get her in the window, toss her ass inside, cuss her out to keep myself from going into shock, then look down and think, for the first time in my life, "Exactly how much blood does it take to bleed out?"
I did the usual to fight off the oncoming shock as my hand trembled in excruciating pain (it felt like somebody had lit me on fire while tasing me with a taser that injects pepper spray directly into your nerve endings) and walked around my entire neighborhood bleeding and applying all the pressure I had the strength to apply to my mangled hand as I tried to find my much smarter, much less murdery cat.
Took a year and a half to be able to close my hand right. Probably was real close to blood poisoning as well, but I wasn't going to go to the hospital until I found my baby.
And I'd do it again every single time.
I swear the original rendition of this had more pizazz, but I hope that was a decent retelling. But there's definitely a reason we keep big dogs and not big cats. A 12 pound Turkish Angora damn near took me out. 6', 250, and getting roundhoused to the face since I could walk (I grew up doing Muay Thai in the 80s), and I had NEVER felt pain that excruciating.
edit: When I got back in I comforted her with my good hand as best I could. Poor baby had peed on the floor and was terrified. She was apologetic for months. She's back to being my sweetheart though.
108
u/piponwa 6d ago
To be fair, he got someone killed at age 23. Probably the youngest of all the guys on the picture.
→ More replies (1)63
u/IDownvoteHornyBards2 6d ago
I mean some of them fought in World War I and may very well have killed people.
→ More replies (2)20
u/DisasterAmazing3863 6d ago
In fact, he was a seminary boy, going to chapels daily and singing church music. Not even kidding.
→ More replies (1)17
→ More replies (81)6
1.7k
u/HeWhoLost3OfThe9 6d ago
Damn, didn’t know they all went to the same school
And on the same page in the yearbook, no less.
263
u/SupertrampTrampStamp 6d ago
"Yoooo Benny, so rad having Math together. Have a bitchin summer and KIT bro." ---Adolf
19
u/sakri 6d ago
"Yoooo, I thought your drawings were dope af! F that art teacher man, you gonna show everybody fam!" Benny
→ More replies (1)29
60
u/FoeWithBenefits 6d ago
The closest actual fun fact is probably that Stalin and Hitler lived about 7 miles apart for a short period of time.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (13)9
u/Putrid-Bath-470 6d ago
They all attended The Academy of World Leaders and Dictators.
→ More replies (1)
558
u/batdog20001 6d ago
Now make it a musical. We'll have a new Disney movie in no time.
→ More replies (24)94
786
u/AntiSoCalite 6d ago
Churchill is mommy’s fancy little boy.
334
u/ILL_Show_Myself_Out 6d ago
Churchill looks rich and Roosevelt makes him look poor.
27
u/Earlier-Today 6d ago
Looking things up, it looks like Churchill was the richer of the two.
When he first inherited that is. He was apparently pretty wasteful with his money, so he burned through a lot of his wealth.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)139
u/Jjaiden88 6d ago
I would invert that. Churchill looks yacht club and golf rich while Roosevelt looks working class rich.
→ More replies (12)21
37
→ More replies (9)49
217
148
u/End_Of_Passion_Play 6d ago
Stalin looks like he'd beat you for your lunch money, then go back to playing rugby with the other square headed kids.
→ More replies (1)
137
u/jetbirger5000 6d ago edited 6d ago
Mussolini looks like he didn't have time to go to the bathroom.
20
u/delayed_potato 6d ago
That’s cuz Stalin and his hooligans are blocking the bathroom unless you pay the peppermint tax.
522
u/LadenifferJadaniston 6d ago
Hitler and Stalin already look evil
183
68
41
u/shadow_irradiant 6d ago
Meanwhile Mussolini looks like his father just beat him up
→ More replies (1)15
13
→ More replies (15)12
u/Torontopup6 6d ago
Is evil born or bred? I wonder if these two boys had been born into loving homes, would they have gone onto live very different lives...
→ More replies (2)
87
u/HKLifer_ 6d ago
Eisenhower was such a cutie patootie! Are we sure this is him? He Def looks like a different person as an adult! 🤣
59
u/Nyxie_RS 6d ago
May I introduce you this pic of Eisenhower
50
u/delayed_potato 6d ago
I didn’t know Ike was a member of the village people. The sass in that photo is too much. What a divvvaaaaa!
→ More replies (3)12
→ More replies (4)11
u/Fantastic_Try6062 6d ago
Eisenhower and de Gaulle looked like cute kiddos. Maybe upbringing hardened them 😅
7
46
688
u/Optimistic_Futures 6d ago
Stalin looks sort of baddass and Churchill seems like He was born to be exactly who he became.
88
u/I_Eat_Onio 6d ago
Well churchill was convinced that he would become pm at one point and lead his coutry through a difficult time, its just that these otherwise delusional dreams for others became a reality
333
u/stonecuttercolorado 6d ago
Stalin looks like a bully.
→ More replies (5)98
u/Altruistic_Bird2532 6d ago
Stalin’s alcoholic father would beat him severely,& he was bullied in school
→ More replies (3)55
u/Average_Scaper 6d ago
Makes a lot of sense as to why he looks like he's about 200 bodies deep in that picture.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (11)33
u/MrsRainey 6d ago
Churchill was born in a palace as a member of the aristocracy. His father was an MP. He went to an exclusive boarding school attended by 6 prime ministers before him. There was definitely a higher than average chance that he'd become PM.
→ More replies (1)
82
46
23
42
66
34
u/Kiboune 6d ago
Hitler had this haircut since childhood and I don't understand what's going on Roosevelt's head
→ More replies (1)7
34
u/Tadpole-Mother 6d ago
Even as a child you could tell Churchill was gonna be a cigar smoking alcoholic
59
u/Readymade4007 6d ago
You could tell already that Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini were going to be trouble.
→ More replies (2)54
u/delayed_potato 6d ago
I couldn’t with Mussolini. In fact, if I saw this kid with that expression I’d think they’ve lost their mommy or smthng.
→ More replies (1)28
227
u/aacawe 6d ago
Why is Getulio listed here? If ever there was a minor player in WW2 it was Brazil. Canada was much more involved with soldiers and materials. As was Spain.
116
u/JimDixon 6d ago
I never heard of anyone named Getúlio until I just now looked him up. Turns out it must be Getúlio Vargas, president of Brazil. Odd that he was called by his first name. I suppose only Brazilians would do that. I conclude a Brazilian must have compiled this page of pictures.
→ More replies (2)18
u/Malzair 6d ago
I think Brazilians generally call each other by their first names or a nickname, even politicians are like Dilma or Lula.
Not sure where it actually comes from though
→ More replies (3)21
u/Last-Woodpecker 6d ago
Yeah, we basically call everyone by first names. Even strangers, or in doctor offices. Also, little school children call their teachers "aunt" or "uncle".
56
→ More replies (29)65
u/HistoryNerd101 6d ago
Yes, we need Franco in here instead of Getulio.
77
12
u/redpandaeater 6d ago
At that point you may as well have Canaris since he was instrumental in keeping Franco out of the war. Kai-shek or Mao would probably make the most sense but since they have a few other generals they had tons of options just to fill out the grid.
→ More replies (1)
16
17
u/M3chanist 6d ago
Now I understand that Mussolini just wanted revenge for the 1000 wedgies they gave him when he was a kid.
13
u/RCalliii 6d ago
Little Churchill already has the pose.
https://karsh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Yousuf-Karsh-Winston-Churchill-1941-1557x1960.jpg
→ More replies (1)
13
22
u/twobearsonabike 6d ago
I may be biased, but hitler and Stalin look like little fuckers even as children. Hitler very much looks like the kid who will correct some fact or story you are telling, but be wrong about it. Stalin looks like the bully from A Christmas Story.
10
13
11
50
u/PeckerNash 6d ago
Hitler looks like an utter fist magnet.
19
u/Salty_Tea_2606 6d ago
Stalin too, both got beat by their dads. But violence only creates problems in the long run
30
u/red-at-night 6d ago
I actually lol’d at how Hitler Hitler looked.
→ More replies (1)11
u/Zamtrios7256 6d ago
He looks like someone decided to dress their kid up as Hitler for Halloween because it's funny
29
u/LiterallyBelethor 6d ago
There’s only one here who looks remotely normal, and it’s not Roosevelt.
12
→ More replies (2)12
9
8
u/michaltee 6d ago
I wanted to come into this objective and fair…but Hitler and Stalin both look like little dickheads even back then.
9
u/Imperial_12345 6d ago edited 6d ago
Hitler hits a little different.
Edit: he looks like he knows what he wants to do already. lol
11
u/ronkoscatgirl 6d ago
Funny how kid Hitler looks exactly like hitler
But ww1 hitler looks nothing like him
16
u/EzmegaziS 6d ago
interesting. The two worst ones hold their noses up. Do you have a childhood picture of the current management?🤔
→ More replies (3)
7
u/NorthernCobraChicken 6d ago
Stalin looks like a little bitch that pushes kids down stairs and then Cries when someone gently punches him in the arm playfully.
8
9
u/boisheep 6d ago
School be like.
Eisenhower: The weird kid with the weird hobbies.
Hitler: The wanna be bully kid who would coward at the last moment.
Hiroito: The kid that always did his homework and was well behaved.
Getulio: The quiet kid you didn't want to mess with.
Stalin: The actual class bully.
Musolini: The always crying kid.
De Gaulle: The chill kid.
Churchill: The class clown.
Roosevelt: The rich kid.
9
25
64
u/Witold4859 6d ago
You forgot about William Lyon Mackenzie King, The Prime Minister of Canada.
When you mention WWII, nobody thinks of Canada as one of the main players. After all, we're the big friendly country. However, we were involved in WWII. Very, very involved.
- We had a navy that rivaled that of the US Navy.
- We made aircraft for the British Air Force, namely the Lancaster bombers and the Spitfires.
- In the beginning, we created border airports to smuggle US Aircraft into the war.
- We flew the Dutch Royal Family to safety, and gave them a piece of land so that their daughter could be born on Dutch soil.
- We sent pilots to fight in the Battle of Britain.
- We invented amphibious tanks to storm the beaches of Normandy.
- We stormed Juno Beach.
- We planned the Do Little Raid, which used bouncing bombs to blow up a dam.
- We developed countermeasures against the German guided torpedoes.
- The Germans killed Leo Major's buddy, so he went nuts and killed them back.
- We liberated Holland, and then returned the Dutch Royal Family when the rest of the Netherlands were liberated.
But it wasn't all good.
- We interred people of German or Japanese descent as enemies of the state.
- We had a bad habit of shooting prisoners rather than capturing them.
- POWs that were saved were taken to Canada.
- We didn't put any effort into securing POWs or looking for any POWs that escaped. (This sounds nice, but getting lost in the Canadian wilderness can be a death sentence. So that's in the Geneva Conventions now.)
- We don't break rules often, but when we're done there's a whole new batch of new rules.
13
u/Spalding_Smails 6d ago edited 4d ago
We had a navy that rivaled that of the U.S. Navy.
Canada had quite a few ships but didn't have any full size aircraft carriers and only two escort carriers compared to the U.S.'s 75+. It also didn't have any battleships of its own during the entire war. It had two cruisers compared to the US's 70+. It had a whole bunch of destroyers, about 45, but the U.S. had over 350. There were numerous frigates, and corvettes, though, as well as other smaller craft. It also had only two submarines. The U.S. had over 250. It was an impressive navy for a country of its size (looks like 12 million in 1945), but it really wasn't anywhere near comparable to the U.S.'s, and understandably so. I got into studying World War II when I was in fifth grade which was the 1977-78 school year so I have a decent grasp of Canada's impressive contributions to the war effort, and I would agree their heavy involvement isn't nearly as well known as other countries.
10
u/Funny-Ice6481 6d ago
I think Canada's support was impressive given their size but the list they created is a strange assortment of their achievements. As you point out the fleet claim is pure delusion or an incredible lie that anyone who's familiar with WW2 should recognize immediatel. In addition, unless the Do Little is something used for something else outside the US, they're confusing the Doolittle raid with the Dambusters raid.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (18)18
67
7
8
u/deseymour 6d ago
I do find it rather ill to include Hirohito into this mix, as his role is more equivalent to the likes of George VI.
A more appropriate choice would be Tojo, and yet he did not oversee the entirety of the war as the head of government.
7
u/mcmineismine 6d ago
Eisenhower already looks tired... he's like, fuck, I'm gonna have to deal with these choads
31
u/Wild_and_wooly_123 6d ago
Is this post made by a Brazilian? Why is getulio on this
→ More replies (2)
5
6.6k
u/Icy_Pudding6493 6d ago
some of them are using literally the same exact poses as when they are old