After World War I, a Bunch of Officers Got Together to Pay Tribute

Captured here: After World War I, a bunch of officers got together to pay tribute to the fallen horses lost in battle. It is the kind of image that turns a line in a history book into something you can actually see.

Photography has only existed since 1839, which means the camera-recorded past is a narrow window — and every surviving frame from it is a small act of preservation, whether the photographer knew it or not.

History is usually written down long after it happens, but a photograph is made in the moment itself. That immediacy is what keeps images like this one circulating decades after the event they show.