It is already one of the world’s most iconic cities, but this incredible collection shows how much Paris has changed over the course of the past century. The collection, by French photographer Julien Knez, shows Paris in the 1940s against a backdrop of how the same places look today. Knez says he put the striking collection together to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the city’s liberation from Nazi control in August 1944. Here: Soldiers outside the Hotel De Ville in the 1940s. (Photo by Julien Knez/Caters News)

“The Blitz (from German, “Lightning”) was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed. More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, half of them in London”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A fireman attempts to check the flames from a gas explosion, after an air raid in Central London the previous night. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images). 1940

A 41-year-old man going by the name of Chibatman rides his “Chibatpod” on the road in Chiba, east of Tokyo, August 31, 2014. The man, who dresses up as the comic book superhero Batman, came up with his moniker after adding a prefix of the first three letters of the city name, of which he roams on his three-wheeled motorcycle. However, unlike the hero from the Batman series, he rides around in his machine, designed from inspiration of the “Batpod” from the movies The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, delivering smiles instead of fighting crime. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Since Rodrigo Duterte became president last year, his brutal campaign against drugs has claimed thousands of lives. Human rights groups say he is guilty of crimes against humanity, yet that is scant comfort to those mourning loved ones. Here: Constantino de Juan’s seven children sit on a sofa that still bears the bullet hole from their father’s shooting. Juan was preparing a spaghetti dinner on his daughter’s birthday when he was killed. (Photo by James Whitlow Delano/Funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting/The Guardian)

The “Yama” (Pit) memorial is seen in the centre of Minsk May 5, 2015. The memorial is dedicated of the destruction of the Minsk ghetto during World War Two, when several hundred thousands of Jews were slaughtered. Belarus will mark Victory Day on May 9, the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Models of Cold War-era Allied (L) and Soviet Bloc weaponry face one another at the new Bundeswehr Military History Museum (Militaerhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, or MHM) on October 11, 2011 in Dresden, Germany. The museum, redesigned by star architect Daniel Libeskind, traces Germany military history from 1300 to the present, including during the Nazi period and the Cold War, and also examines the influence of the military on popular culture. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A relative of murdered prisoner, lies on a chair next to his coffin during a wake after a prison riot in the city of Altamira, Para state, Brazil on July 30, 2019. At least 57 prisoners were killed by other inmates during clashes between organized crime groups in the Altamira prison in northern Brazil Monday with 16 of the victims being decapitated, according to prison officials. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

Colombian police help carry people's household belongings across the Tachira River from Venezuela, top, to Colombia, on the border that separates San Antonio del Tachira, Venezuela from Villa del Rosario, Colombia, Tuesday, August 25, 2015, during a mass exodus of Colombians. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed to extend a crackdown on illegal migrants from neighboring Colombia he blames for rampant crime and widespread shortages, while authorities across the border struggled to attend to droves of returning deportees. (Photo by Eliecer Mantilla/AP Photo)