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Robert Capa was born Endre Erntildeo Friedmann on October 22, 1913 in Budapest, Hungary. He left home at the age of 18 wanting to be a writer and believing that there was still a future under the regime in Hungary. He first worked as a darkroom apprentice in Berlin picture agency which developed his love to the art. He then moved to France because of the growing tension due to Nazism.

Robert Capa found it difficult to find a decent job being a freelance journalist. The story of Capa's struggle in France is recounted in John Heresey's magazine article, "The Man Who Invented Himself". It is during this time that he changed his name to Robert Capa- "capa" meaning shark which used to be his name in school. He found it easier to sell his photographs under his new name because it sounded more like an American name. He then gradually adopted the persona of Robert Capa. With the help of his girlfriend, who acted as the middleman between the buyers of his photographs and the imaginary great American photographer, Robert Capa.

The secret was soon discovered by an editor of Vue namely Lucien Vogel. But the truth did not matter. Capa and Gerda were sent to Spain where Capa became more famous because of his remarkable photograph of a dying Spanish soldier. But Gerda met her death on the battlefield in Spain. Robert Capa then went to China, taking a series of photographs at the battle of Taierchwang. This battle is the only important Chinese victory of the entire war.

Upon returning to Europe, he covered the Spanish war until it ended in the year 1939. In 1942, he joined the invasion convoy to North Africa, doing his work under the Life. Capa jumped into Sicily together with the paratroops and went on to the attack on "the soft under belly of the axis".

On June 6, 1944, Robert Capa captured four rolls of films which became the most famous films of history. It is when an assault barrage landed on them on Omaha Beach. But all eleven frames were ruined in Life's London darkroom when an emulsion ran over an over-heating drying cabinet. However, Life and the world press were still able to publish the surviving images which they called "slightly out of focus". Because of this, Capa maintained his dangerous franchise as the most colorful war photographer.

Capa is recognized as the famous photographer who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, World War II in Europe, Ara-Israeli War in 1948 and the First Indochina War. His war photographs portray the violence of war with exceptional impact. He knew war so well, but he also despised it. He wanted for peace without expecting it. Robert Capa co-founded Magnum Photos together with the French Photographer Henri-Cartier-Bresson. It is the very first cooperative agency for freelance photographers.

On May 25, 1954, Robert Capa's career came to an end when he stepped on a landmine on a battlefield in Indochina.

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