It's a black and white decision to me. If the image is part of the content such as a logo or diagram or person (real person, not stock photo people) then use the img tag plus alt attribute. For everything else there's CSS background images.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.