Serious upheaval engulfed Rome at the end of the 2nd century AD, and on the plains outside modern Lyon, France, two rivals decided the future of the empire.

Rome in 193 AD

Lugdunum occurred at the end of the greatest and most peaceful century in Rome’s long history. The emperors from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius (97-180 AD) were all experienced and popular administrators. Crucially each of them had a clear and decisive say in who their successor would be. Tthe Roman Empire enjoyed a golden age of peace, prosperity and stability. The historian Edward Gibbon, writing in the late 18th century, decided that this was the best time in all of history to be born as a free man. So what went so badly wrong?

Nicholo Machiavelli argued that when Aurelius went against the tradition of adopting a worthy successor and instead made his son Commodus his heir, then Rome’s troubles began.  Commodus (the villain of Gladiator) was a disastrous emperor, famous for his alleged random acts of cruelty. In his reign he managed to undo almost a century of good rule. By 192 AD, the prefect of Commodus’ own bodyguard had him strangled in his bath as he prepared to enter the arena as a gladiator. He then declared an ex-teacher and the son of a freed slave, Pertinax, as emperor.

Bust in the National Museum of the Union, possibly of Pertinax

Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0

Opportunity

Pertinax’s intentions are generally seen as worthy, but a desire to discipline the Praetorian Guard led to his own death just five months later. Prefect Laetus then took the extraordinary step of auctioning off the throne, which was bought by a wealthy senator called Didius Julianus.

The people of Rome were outraged. They began to pelt Julianus with filth and stones every time he appeared in public. This chaos was mirrored in the provinces, where the legions who guarded the frontiers were just as incensed by recent developments. Their ambitious generals sensed opportunity.

Septimus Severus

The first of these was Septimius Severus, the experienced and ruthless North African-born governor of the province of Pannonia. Upon hearing of Pertinax’s death, he raised armies and marched on Rome. There was nothing in his way to stop him, and he had Julianus put to death.

The governor of Syria, Pescennius Niger, however, saw the ease with which Severus had seized power and declared himself emperor, too. While Severus could not endure this challenge to his rule, he also had to consider the safety of the western empire from which he was about to draw troops.

Clodius Albinus

His solution was to offer another powerful rival, Clodius Albinus, the governor of Britain, complete control of the western part of the empire and the rank of Caesar and successor if he promised to keep control in Severus’ absence. Portrayed as a Roman with outstanding quality by Julius Capitolinus, Clodius Albinus was a proven military commander originally from modern Sousse, Tunisia. It is even suggested that Commodus had ordered Albinus to succeed him due to the high regard in which he was held.

Albinus agreed to take control of the west. In charge of modern Britain, France and Spain, he had been elevated to equal stature with Severus. With this agreement, Severus was free to head eastward and defeat the remaining contender, Pescennius Niger. When the emperor finally defeated Niger in 194, stability appeared to return to the empire.

Friends turned foes

Severus continued to fight Rome’s Parthian enemies after his victory. For a time the uneasy truce between him and Albinus endured, until Albinus was suddenly replaced by Severus’ son as co-Caesar and declared an enemy of Rome. At the time of the agreement between the two commanders, Severus already had two sons: Bassianus and Geta. Presumably they weren’t pleased when Albinus was declared the preferred successor. But while Albinus had once been useful, now he was an obstacle.

Albinus then declared himself sole emperor, and took 40,000 men from the British legions to Gaul. There he was joined my more men from Spain and set up a vast camp at Lugdunum. Both forces harassed each other, trying to achieve an upper hand. Knowing that the legions in Germany were likely to side with Severus, he decided to strike against them before his enemy returned from the east. Though victorious, the clash was not decisive. Neither had not done enough to radically change the odds by the time the two forces clashed.

In the early weeks of 198, possibly as much as two thirds of the empire’s soldiers were fighting for one of the two sides. Number estimates for the battle extend to 150,000 and even 300,000 troops, depending on the interpretation of Cassius Dio’s later report. The scale was undoubtedly huge and the sides seemed to be roughly balanced.

Why was the Battle of Lugdunum significant?

The result of Lugdunum could have gone either way. After a few skirmishes Severus’ men chased Albinus back to his camp at Lugdunum. We know little about the fighting, only that it was evenly-matched, bitterly contested and lasted over a day, which was extraordinary in this era of close-combat warfare. Whenever Severus appeared to be making a breakthrough on one flank, Albinus countered this on the opposite wing. So close was this engagement that Severus himself was nearly killed.

Eventually, however, Severus rallied his troops and an edge in cavalry swung the battle in Severus’ favour. Dio reports: “At this juncture the cavalry under Laetus came up from one side and completed their victory. Laetus […] so long as the struggle was close, had merely looked on […] but when he saw that Severus’ side was prevailing, he also took a hand in the business.”

The Severan Tondo, c. 199, Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta, whose face is erased.

The actions of Laetus recall those of Lord Stanley at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Lord Stanley had waited with his forces to see how the battle between Richard III and Henry Tudor for the English crown would pan out. When Henry appeared to get the upper hand, Stanley sided his forces with him against Richard.

The victory was costly, but decisive. Albinus died somewhere in Lugdunum. His body was beheaded and run over by the victor’s horse in a public ceremony, and his head sent to Rome. Those friendly with Albinus met a similarly unhappy end: senators were executed and  Severus ordered for Albinus’ entire family to be murdered. Severus thus cemented his new dynasty, which lasted the next 40 years. He proved to be a fairly successful if extremely ruthless emperor. But his sons continued the recent tradition of dangerous incompetence, plunging the empire into chaos.

The day was already a significant one. For the archduke, it marked his wedding anniversary and a rare time that the emperor would allow him to be seen in public with his commoner wife, Sophie. But for many Bosnian Serbs, the archduke’s visit to their country – which had been formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 – was a far less happy occasion.

The plotters

Opposition to the Austro-Hungarian annexation had given rise to the formation of Young Bosnia, a predominantly student revolutionary movement made up mostly of Bosnian Serbs, but also Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats. It was a cohort within this group who plotted the assassination of the archduke.

As Franz and his wife drove through Sarajevo in an open-top car, the plotters were waiting for him. The first two would-be assassins failed to act, but the third, a man named Nedeljko Čabrinović, threw a bomb at the car. The bomb missed its target, however, bouncing off the hood of the archduke’s car and exploding behind it, injuring 20 bystanders.

Gavrilo Princip fires at the archduke and his wife.

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Afterwards, Čabrinović attempted suicide, first taking a cyanide tablet that proved a dud and then throwing himself into a river only to find it was just four inches deep. He was then caught by an angry mob and almost beaten to death before being taken into custody.

The second assassination attempt

The outraged archduke proceeded to a town hall meeting before setting off to visit the hospitalised victims of Čabrinović’s attack. En route to the hospital, his driver took a wrong turn into Franz Josef Street where another of the plotters, Gavrilo Princip, happened to be sitting in a café.

Gavrilo Princip was just 19 when he killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

Princip, a 19-year-old Croat previously rejected from joining Serbian guerrilla bands in the First Balkan War due to his small stature, was determined to prove himself. As the archduke’s car backed out of the street, he seized his chance and opened fire.

Sophie, who was shot first, was struck in the abdomen, while Franz was hit in the neck. As his crying wife lay dying, the archduke cried out to her, “Don’t die darling, live for our children” – but shortly after they were both dead.

The aftermath

Too young to face the death penalty, Princip was tried for the murders and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died in 1918 from a combination of malnutrition and tuberculosis.

Meanwhile, although the 19-year-old and his fellow conspirators attempted to deflect blame for the killings away from Serbia, the assassination of the archduke was viewed as a provocation by the Austro-Hungarians. Exactly one month later, the empire declared war on Serbia.

An ancient gamble

Lotteries are by no means a modern invention. They have been used for centuries by governments looking to make some extra cash. It is even believed that a sort of lottery was used to raise funds to construct the Great Wall in Ancient China.

The first lottery in England

A very rich Lotterie generall, without any Blanckes, contayning a great number of good Prices

The first lottery in England was held during the reign of Elizabeth I, on 11 January, 1567. England’s power was growing and more funds were needed to build ships and harbour facilities. Rather than raise taxes, Elizabeth opted to raise the money through a lottery instead.

Tickets cost ten shillings, making it too rich for ordinary people to enter. There were 400,000 tickets on offer and the prizes were very enticing; top prize was £5,000! Although not all of it came in the form of “ready money,” two thousand pounds of the prize was paid in plate, tapestries and linen.

WHOSOEVER shall winne the greatest and most excellent price, shall receive the value of Five thousande Poundes sterling, that is to say, Three thousande Pounds in ready money, Seven hundreth Poundes in Plate gilte and white, and the rest in good Tapissarie meete for hangings and other covertures, and certaine sortes of good Linnen cloth.

Header Image Credit: British Library

The husband of the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of John and Richard the Lionheart, Henry’s action-packed reign gave rise to England’s position as a European power to be reckoned with.

Henry was a very young man when he was crowned, having been born just twenty-one years earlier in 1133. He was the son of Empress Matilda, William the Conqueror’s granddaughter, and Count Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, and had a legitimate claim to the throne of England through his mother’s line.

Stephen and Matilda

In fact, when her father Henry I died in 1135 Matilda vociferously voiced her own rights to the throne, only to see her cousin Stephen seize it for himself. Though no woman had ever ruled England, she refused to give up and launched a civil war to claim her birthright.

The reign of the unfortunate Stephen was dogged by the internal fighting known as “The Anarchy” and England was economically ruined by the constant ravages of war.

Much of Matilda’s support came from the south-west, and the young Henry was given his first taste of life in England in 1142 when he was sent to be tutored in Bristol. Meanwhile, his mother fought on, and famously escaped from the besieged castle of Oxford in 1141.

Henry’s first military escapade came at the staggeringly young age of 14, when he lead a band of mercenaries to ravage England’s east coast. It would be the first step of a long and illustrious military career.

Contemporary miniature of Henry’s mother, Empress Matilda, from the ‘Gospels of Henry the Lion’

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Chroniclers describe Henry as red-haired, and handsome despite being short and famously scruffy. Though a highly intelligent and learned man, he was infamous for his terrible rages and even more threatening silences if things didn’t go his way.

Despite this, his charm and good humour are equally well attested, and even in his teens he had all the attributes to become an exceptional leader of men.

Henry and Louis

Geoffrey, an ambitious father, made Henry the Duke of Normandy in 1150, beginning a lifelong enmity with Louis, the King of France, a man who resented the growing power of Geoffrey’s Plantagenet dynasty. To add insult to injury, after Geoffrey died a year later the eighteen year-old Henry began an audacious marriage.

Louis’ Queen was the beautiful and intelligent Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman whose dowry included huge swathes of land in what is now southern France. After she failed to give him any children, the French King had the marriage annulled.

Just eight weeks later, however, the teenage Henry had seduced Eleanor and married her, in a move that was both shocking in its rudeness and its aggression, for Henry was now the owner of more French land than the King of France himself. And his ambitions, spurred on by his wife and mother, were only just beginning.

Coming to power and consolidation

1153 would prove to be the decisive year in Henry’s life, as he set sail through winter storms to England.

Though he could only spare a small force of mercenaries, his forces danced around King Stephen’s larger army until worsening weather caused a temporary truce. In that time Henry consolidated his hold on the north and enjoyed playing the part of King while the ageing Stephen fretted.

Luck would favour the younger man when Stephen’s eldest son Eustace suddenly died of an illness, and after the two rivals’ armies faced each other at Wallingford Castle, the exhausted King of England met with Henry and confirmed him as his heir.

Though the peace was precarious and there are theories of an attempted plot to murder Henry and put Stephen’s second son on the throne, the Plantagenet luck stayed with the young invader, for in October 1154 the King died aged 62.

Henry still had a huge amount to do, however. In England at that time much of the power rested with the Barons who had their own castles and private armies. In the lawless years of the anarchy many of them had declared de facto independence and began building new fortresses without royal permission as bases for their armies to harass rivals.

In addition, much of the country’s economy was in ruins and few expected the new and inexperienced King to adequately deal with the situation when Stephen had so conspicuously failed to do so. Henry however set about the kingship with a youthful energy which quickly healed his new kingdom.

King Stephen standing with a falcon, and King Henry II seated on his throne

Image Credit: British Library, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Holding court and smashing the Barons’ illegal castles with glee, Henry quickly became a popular monarch, particularly after forcing the Scottish and Welsh out of their English possessions which they had taken during the chaos of the Anarchy.

Unlike his mother, who had been often-derided for her arrogance, Henry took care to listen to the advice of the English Barons, ensuring that he had enough loyal men doing his bidding to keep the country in check.

He needed them. For Henry did not see himself as an Englishman. Less than a hundred years after the Norman Conquest, to him the English were an alien people to be ruled by their Norman-French overlords.

Though Henry was a fairly benign monarch, he believed that his destiny lay on the continent, the land of his ancestors and the scene of his endless quarrels with France.

One modern French historian has compared the situation in the 1150s with the Cold War, in that Henry and Louis were constantly meeting face to face in order to try and resolve the rowing tensions between them, whilst secretly trying to shift the balance of power in a favourable way.

Henry’s forays into semi-independent Brittany and Tolouse met with success, and in 1161 his rivalry with Louis finally exploded into fighting. After taking the city of Blois in an impressive siege, the King of England was in the ascendancy, and it took the intervention of the Pope to prevent further fighting.

Twenty years into his reign Henry would rule over England, much of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and almost all of the west of modern France. It is not for nothing that historians have come to christen his lands the “Angevin Empire.”

Empires, however, are notoriously difficult to run, and Henry’s dealt with the problem of ruling his extensive lands in a number of ways. Firstly, like the Romans before him, he took a relaxed approach to central control and generally allowed local feudal lords to do the hard business of ruling for him.

The House Plantagenet

Secondly, the governance of the Empire has been described as a “family affair,” with Matilda and Eleanor wielding huge influence. The later was left in charge of England on numerous occasions while the King was away, and was entrusted with much of the responsibility for her homeland of Aquitaine in the south of France.

Having such an ambitious and talented family was seen as a strength initially, particularly after Eleanor gave birth to a host of sons, but it would eventually prove to be Henry’s undoing.

The early years of the 1170s were eventful for the now middle-aged King. By 1173 he had already invaded Ireland, divided up his Empire between his sons and arranged the infamous murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. That year, however, everything fell apart, and family was at the center of it.

Henry’s eldest son of the same name had been chafing for years under his father’s rule, and when some of his castles in France were given to the King’s youngest son John his resentment burst into open rebellion.

Supported by a formidable coalition of France, Scotland, Flanders, his brothers and even his mother – whose relationship with the King had disintegrated – the younger Henry waged war on his own father for over a year.

13th-century depiction of Henry and his legitimate children: (left to right) William, Young Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan and John

Image Credit: Anonymus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Later years and downfall

Few Kings have ever had to face a bleaker situation with his own family against him and invasions on all sides, but Henry held off despair for long enough to defeat all the rebellions and reclaim his lordship over the Empire.

His life, however, could never be the same again. Eleanor was imprisoned, and all the King’s sons but his youngest John could never be fully trusted.

Embittered and resentful, the final years of his reign had him in a strong position but a state of acute misery and mistrust.

By the end of his life his eldest son, Richard, was once again in open rebellion. In hot French weather in 1189 the tired and ailing King met his son and acknowledged him, with some bitterness, as his heir.

Sick and perhaps tired of life, he died shortly after, to be succeeded by the man who would one day be known as the Lionheart, but who had showed little courage in his treatment of his own father.

Henry was not a perfect man. His temper, odd ways and distance as divinely ordained monarch ultimately turned his family against him, but few historians can contend that he was a fine King.

By the end of his reign, his more famous heir was able to leave a stable and prosperous Kingdom and lead the forces of England east to face Saladin and win renown across the world.

The decisive battle of the war took place at Zenta, in modern-day Serbia, where an Ottoman force was ruthlessly crushed by the brilliant leadership of Prince Eugene of Savoy.

The Ottomans suffered a setback at Vienna

The high water mark of Ottoman expansion came at the Hapsburg capital of Vienna in 1683. Since the Sultan’s armies had overrun the remains of the Roman Empire two centuries earlier, they had mercilessly pressed into Christian Europe until they reached modern Austria.

There they suffered stunning defeat at the hands of the besieged Hapsburg forces and their Polish allies, and were forced to withdraw to the east. From then on they were pushed back, losing Belgrade and great swathes of the eastern European plain throughout the 1680s.

Many historians therefore credit Vienna as being a decisive history-changing turning point which forever stalled the steady advance of Islam into Europe, but that is an oversimplification.

‘The Ottoman Army surrounds Vienna’ by Frans Geffels

Image Credit: Frans Geffels, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

But they soon came back with a vengeance

In 1689 the Hapsburg-lead Holy Roman Empire was dragged into a long and bitter conflict with France, just as the Ottoman armies were successfully re-organized and re-grouped by the new Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Pasha.

The results of these new developments were almost instantaneous, as Belgrade was re-captured in 1690 as part of a renewed push west. After that the 1690s were years of Ottoman ascendancy, with Sultan Mehmed’s forces winning important victories in Romania Serbia and Hungary to push the overstretched Hapsburgs back.

Exhausted, fighting a war on two-fronts and dangerously short on money, the situation in Vienna was beginning to look bleak once again.

The man who was to ultimately prove to be their saviour came from Savoy, a Franco-Italian state on the other side of Europe, and only a scandal at court in his youth prevented him from fighting against the Holy Roman Empire.

Prince Eugene’s mother had been implicated in a scandalous accusation of poisoning at the French court, leading to her expulsion from the country, and her son holding enough of a grudge to enter the service of France’s sworn enemy the Hapsburgs.

First seeing action as an ungainly twenty year-old at Vienna, he rose through the ranks of the Imperial armies astonishingly quickly, and in July 1697 he was trusted with the main army in the east, which was gathered to resist the Ottomans on the recently conquered Pannonian plain in modern Hungary.

Sultan Mustafa II, meanwhile, left Istanbul in June, ready to begin his third campaign of expansion into eastern Europe. He was accompanied by as many as 100,000 men, and his military commander, the Grand Vizier Elmas Pasha, whose name – meaning “diamond” came from his famous good looks.

Preparing for war

Eugene, meanwhile, had his work cut out as soon as he took command of the eastern army. Of its nominal strength of 70,000, only 35,000 were fit for military service, and a lack of funds meant that he had trouble paying them or supplying them with the most basic medical necessities.

The prince was forced to borrow the necessary money, and hope that in victory he would have the means to pay it back. The time for caution was over.

As soon as the Hapsburg army was in something resembling fighting shape, news arrived that Mustafa had reached Belgrade, and Eugene knew that the blow had to be struck now. Gathering all the available forces in the region, he marched to give battle with 50,000 men: a polyglot mix of infantry and cavalry, Germans Hungarians Austrians and Serbs.

Sultan Mustafa II dressed in full armour

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The summer was a frustrating one, as all the Prince’s attempts to bring Mustafa into a pitched battle failed, with the Ottoman Sultan wishing to back his superior numbers and treasury in a siege. Only in September, when the Ottomans pushed north to take Szeged, the largest city of the Pannonian plain, did Mustafa present Eugene with an opportunity, and his army followed.

When General Cafer Pasha was captured in a skirmish and revealed his strategic plans, however,  Mustafa’s resolve failed him, and he began to lead his large and ungainly army back south to their winter quarters in Timișoara, Romania. This took them back towards Eugene’s army and gave him his best chance for a crushing victory.

The Battle of Zenta

On 11 September, the Ottoman forces began the slow exhausting business of fording the river Tisza near the city of Zenta, completely unaware that the Imperial forces were closing in on them. They were caught at the worst possible moment, halfway through fording the river and horribly bunched together by the necessity of crossing a narrow ford.

The experienced Austrian artillery caused horrific casualties on the crossing troops, who were unable to respond in any way other than to attempt to swim to safety According to Imperial reports, over 10,000 drowned doing so.

The dismounted Imperial cavalry, meanwhile, began to engage the Ottoman camp on the riverbanks, and with the bridge crossing murderous, the confused and terrified Ottomans were quickly surrounded. The most savage fighting of the day occurred in the trenches around the fortified camp, but eventually Eugene’s jubilant forces broke through and mercilessly slaughtered its inhabitants, and the Prince’s left flank swung round to cut off any hope of retreat across the bridge.

Though Mustafa escaped Elmas was killed, along with 20,000 of his men, to go with 87 heavy guns, the royal treasury and the state seal captured. Eugene would have no trouble paying off his loan, and cemented his reputation as one of Europe’s best commanders.

As victories go, this one was absolutely crushing. The Austrians had lost just 500 men, mostly in the trenches around the camp, and the Ottoman survivors were completely scattered, allowing the Imperial forces to sack Sarajavo and march around Bosnia with impunity.

The “sick man of Europe”

The most important consequence of the battle, however, was that the scale of the defeat forced Mustafa to come to the negotiating table at Karlowitz in 1699, where he was forced to give away huge swathes of central and eastern Europe. This truly marked the end of an era, and the Ottoman Empire never recovered its former glory.

Though it persisted until the end of World War One, it was known as the “sick man of Europe” as its territories, prestige and importance shrank year by year. Today its remnants are confined to its successor state: Turkey.

The Hapsburg empire expanded into Ottoman lands over the following centuries, and remained the dominant power in the region until it was eclipsed by its neighbour Germany after a brief war in 1866. Its cultural and religious legacy over the lands it wrestled from Ottoman rule remains potent to this day.

With the heir dead, this tragedy plunged England into a horrific civil war known as “the anarchy.”

Restoring stability to England

In 1120 England was twenty years into the reign of the Conqueror’s son Henry I. Henry was famous for being an intelligent and learned man, and after wrestling the throne off his older brother Robert he had proved to be an effective ruler who had stabilised a kingdom still growing accustomed to Norman rule.

In 1103 a son and heir was born, and Henry, despite being a younger son of the Conqueror, appeared to have started a stable and successful dynasty that could rule over England for many years to come.

The boy was named after his fearsome grandfather and despite being called “a prince so pampered that he would be destined to be food for the fire” by one chronicler, he ruled England while his father was away in the last year or so of his life, and did so well with capable advisers surrounding him.

In 1119 he was married to Matilda of Anjou in a strong dynastic match which secured the borders of King Henry’s continental possessions (despite her being only eight years old at the time) and he seemed to be the perfect heir.

With so much resting on the shoulders of this young man, his pampered childhood seems understandable in an age where children died very easily, and the trauma his death caused further illustrates how important it was to have a line of succession secure in Medieval Europe.

William’s mission to the mainland

William was made the honorary Duke of Normandy and in 1120 had to pay homage to his feudal liegelord, the King of France, as that Duchy was technically a French possession.

As the owner of the land, Henry was meant to go himself, but disdaining the idea of kneeling before a foreign King he persuaded Louis VI to accept his son’s loyalty instead. Having performed this task, William rode back north and joined his father in Barfleur, a Norman port in northwestern France.

King Henry I. Image credit: NPG / CC.

Henry had his own arrangements to sail home, but William was taken by an offer from a local captain called Thomas FitzStephen. FitzStephen’s father Stephen FitzAirard had captained the vessel which had taken the Conqueror across the sea, and he approached that man’s grandson with an offer to sail him across the channel as a gesture of royal continuity.

Furthermore, Fitzstephen had just had a new ship refitted, which was famous across the channel coast for its elegant beauty and speed. Known as the la Blanche Nef, or “the White Ship,” William and his entourage were eager to be associated with the glamorous offer of a passage on such a vessel.

While Henry sailed ahead on his own royal ship, William’s party drank their generous supplies of French wine as they boarded, and after some encouragement began to hand out the drink amongst the crew as well. At this point, some, including Stephen of Blois (the future King Stephen), disembarked after drinking to excess.

The sinking of the White Ship

What happened next was horribly predictable. Having seen the King’s ship leave, the drunken revellers roared at FitzStephen to try and reach England first, and the captain – who had complete faith in the speed of his beautiful ship, happily welcomed the challenge. How much he himself had had to drink is not known.

As the crew emphasised speed over care as they rushed out of Barfleur, they paid little heed to the dangerous rocks around the point at Gatteville, where there is now a famous lighthouse to warn modern shipping against meeting the same fate.

FitzStephen took the ship too close to the land and suddenly it struck a submerged rock known as the Quilleboeuf and began to sink into the freezing water. Panic ensued as the distinguished passengers tried to reach safety, though enough sober bodyguards kept their heads to ensure that William found his way onto a small lifeboat.

Heroes die young

What happened next is the true tragedy. Seeing his beloved half-sister Matilda floundering, William ordered his little vessel back, even though it was already dangerously overcrowded.

He managed to grab Matilda, but in doing so, allowed many other desperate men to scramble onto the little lifeboat. Unable to bear the weight, it sank, killing everyone on board.

One chronicler writes that FitzStephen actually survived and came to the surface, but upon learning about the fate of William he let himself sink back down and drown rather than face the wrath of the fearsome and grief-stricken Henry.

It is said that after hearing the news the King never smiled again. Henry reigned for another fifteen years and re-married (his first wife Matilda died in 1118) in an attempt to sire another heir: the union produced no children and he was left with just one daughter from his first marriage – yet another Matilda.

The Anarchy

Matilda was clearly very capable and had the official title of Empress after marrying the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. With her character and her bloodline Henry saw no problem with declaring her his heir, but his barons had other ideas.

No woman had ever ruled England, and Matilda’s second husband Geoffrey of Anjou was known as a rival, meaning he was widely disliked in England. When the old and embittered Henry finally died in 1135, Henry’s nephew, Stephen of Blois, usurped Matilda, plunging the kingdom into chaos. The barons crowned Stephen as King, leading to Matilda and Geoffrey invading from Normandy in 1139 in an attempt to claim the crown.

This began the bitter civil war known as “the Anarchy,” though some at the time traced it back to its cause and called it “the shipwreck.” William of Malmesbury, a contemporary historian, wrote “No ship that ever sailed brought England such disaster”, and the effects of the White Ship disaster were longlasting.

Henry’s line and all his good work as King were destroyed as the kingdom was wracked by endless fighting and devastation. For centuries afterwards it would be remembered as one of the darkest periods in English history, and all because of a rock and a series of bad decisions taken on that fateful night in 1120.

Fully aware of the momentous nature of his decision, Caesar ignored the warning and began to march south on Rome. To this day, the phrase “to cross the Rubicon” means to undertake an action so decisive that there can be no turning back.

The civil war that followed this decision is seen by historians as the inevitable culmination of a movement that had begun decades prior.

The crumbling of the Republic

Since the celebrated general (and major influence on Caesar) Gaius Marius had reformed the Roman legions along more professional lines by paying them himself, soldiers had increasingly owed their loyalty to their generals rather than the more abstract idea of a citizen republic.

As a result, powerful men became more powerful still by fielding their own private armies, and the last troubled years of the Republic had already seen the Senate’s power crumble in the face of the ambition of Marius, and his rival Sulla.

The pair were followed by the still-more formidable Pompey and Caesar. Before his military exploits in Gaul, Caesar was very much the junior of the two, and only rose to prominence when elected consul in 59 BC. As consul, this ambitious man of a minor noble family allied himself with the great general Pompey and the rich politician Crassus to form the First Triumvirate.

Bust of Julius Caesar. Image credit: Museum of antiquities, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Museum of antiquities, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Caesar in Gaul

These powerful men had little need of the senate, and in 58 BC Caesar used their influence to secure a command in the Alps which, by giving him years of freedom and 20,000 men to command, broke every law of the Senate.

Caesar used the following five years to become one of the most brilliant and successful commanders in history. The huge, multi-racial and famously fearsome territory of Gaul (modern France) was conquered and subdued in one of the most complete conquests in history.

In his reflections on the campaign, Caesar later boasted that he had killed a million Gauls, enslaved a million more, and left only the remaining million untouched.

Caesar made sure that detailed and partisan accounts of his exploits made it back to Rome, where they made him the darling of the people in a city beset by infighting in his absence. The Senate had never ordered or even authorized Caesar to attack Gaul, but were wary of his popularity and extended his command by another five years when it ended in 53 BC.

When Crassus died in 54 BC, the Senate turned to Pompey as the only man strong enough to withstand Caesar, who now controlled huge swathes of land in the north without any senate support.

While Caesar mopped up his remaining foes, Pompey ruled as sole consul – which made him a dictator in all but name. He too was a famously brilliant commander, but was now ageing while Caesar’s star was in the ascendancy. Jealousy and fear, combined with the death of his wife – who was also his Caesar’s daughter – meant that their formal alliance broke down during the latter’s long absence.

‘Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar’ by Lionel Royer. Image credit: Lionel Royer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

‘The die is cast’

In 50 BC, Caesar was ordered to disband his army and return to Rome, where he was banned from running for a second consulship and would be on trial for treason and war crimes following his unlicensed conquests.

With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that the proud and ambitious general, who knew that he enjoyed the adulation of the people, decided to cross the river Rubicon with his armies on the 10 January 49 BC.

The gamble paid off. After years of war in Rome and across the provinces on a scale never before seen, Caesar was victorious and ruled supreme in Rome, with Pompey now dead and forgotten.

Without any remaining enemies, Caesar was made dictator for life, a move which culminated in his assassination by a group of senators in 44 BC. The tide could not be turned back however. Caesar’s adopted son Octavian would complete his father’s work, becoming the first true Roman Emperor as Augustus in 27 BC.

Our team of editorial experts, passionate historians and enthusiasts spent hours assessing our favourite historical films from the last 50 years. We compiled an editorial selection of 50, then handed the final decision on the order of the top 20 over to you. After totting up your votes, the results are in!

Read on to find out which film has been crowned the winner of History Hit’s top historical film.

50. Pearl Harbor (2001)

As its title suggests, based on the surprise attack Japan made on Hawaii on 7 December, 1941, Pearl Harbor follows Rafe Mcawley (Ben Affleck), Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) and Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) during the events of World War Two. The two male protagonists are pilots who are at first separated by Affleck’s character going to get real combat experience in Kent fighting the Luftwaffe, whilst Josh Hartnett goes to Hawaii to train at Pearl Harbor. In the middle of the movie, they find each other again, and are also engaged in a love triangle with Kate Beckinsale. They are then assigned on the Doolittle raids to avenge the attacks made by the Japanese. 

With 1 Oscar win amongst 4 nominations for Best Sound Editing, the film uses some famous and reportedly true anecdotes to try to add a sense of truth to what is largely an action-packed, fantasy film. 

49. The Remains of the Day (1993)

This historical film is both a story about unfulfilled love and an examination of 1930s post-war appeasement and the lessening of old values. An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1989 Booker Prize winning novel, the film stars Anthony Hopkins as the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, Stevens, and Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton. The pair brilliantly convey the challenges of a growing romance at work, and the maintenance of stuffy decorum and professionalism in a bygone era.

It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, but won none (it was competing against Schindler’s List, which swept the board). Anthony Hopkins won a BAFTA for Best Actor in a leading role, playing a tragi-comic character utterly unable to express his emotions – leading to a heartbreaking ending that tells of a life and love unfulfilled when work takes priority.

The Remains of the Day (1993)

Image Credit: Columbia Pictures / AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

48. Howards End (1992)

James Ivory’s magnificent adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel of the same name explores the intricacies of the changing landscape of early 20th century Britain via three families from three different classes. It is a valuable depiction of pre-war attitudes towards class, with snobbish attitudes clashing with the struggles of the emerging middle classes. 

Beneath its comments on class and society, however, is real passion, with strong performances from Emma Thompson, Antony Hopkins, Helena Bonham-Carter and Vanessa Redgrave adding to the powerful elixir of critical acclaim that the film still enjoys. It secured nine Oscar nominations, and won three, including best actress for Emma Thompson. After her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility three years later, she became, and remains, the only person to win Oscars for both writing and acting.

47. Gandhi (1982)

A co-production between India and the United Kingdom, Gandhi has been praised as a masterpiece of historical biography. Starring Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi, the film is epic in its scope and ambition. It opens with a transformative moment in 1893, when Gandhi was thrown off a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment. The following scenes – marked by epic cinematography – present a sensitive insight into Gandhi’s development, and how he grew to lead the nonviolent non-cooperative Indian independence movement against the British Empire. After 191 minutes, it draws to a dramatic end with Gandhi’s assassination and funeral in 1948. 

The film enjoyed vast critical acclaim. It won eight awards at the 55th Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and – for Ben Kingsley’s masterful performance – Best Actor.

Screenshot from ‘Gandhi’ (1982)

Image Credit: Fair use

46. Dunkirk (2017)

This film is perhaps most notable for its anxiety-inducing soundtrack from Hans Zimmer, and a surprising and very well acted cameo from One Direction star Harry Styles. In terms of building the tension of the Dunkirk evacuation, Christopher Nolan’s film is a remarkable piece of film making. However, the mixture of narratives between land, sea and air, and lack of clear protagonist, can make it a little difficult to follow.

Nonetheless, it was immensely popular amongst the public, and similarly did well at the Oscars, being nominated for 8 and winning three for Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

45. The Pianist (2002)

Perhaps Roman Polanski’s greatest work, The Pianist is a tragic account of the horrors of World War Two. It was based on the autobiography of a Holocaust survivor, titled The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945, which tells the story of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman.

The film opens in September 1939 during the Nazi German invasion of Poland. Szpilman is playing live on radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed. The scenes which follow create a harrowing account of the atrocities committed in the Warsaw Ghetto, including Szpilman’s separation from his family during Operation Reinhard. This was particularly pertinent for the director: as a child, Polanski had escaped from the Kraków Ghetto after the death of his mother.

Scene from ‘The Pianist’ (2002)

Image Credit: Maximum Film / Alamy Stock Photo

44. The Revenant (2015)

Loosely based on a true story of survival in nature, grit and vengeance, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s masterpiece follows frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who sustains life-threatening injuries from a brutal bear attack and is left for dead by his own hunting team whilst exploring the uncharted wilderness in South Dakota, 1823. Nominated in twelve categories at the 88th Academy Awards, the combination of beautiful cinematography, incredible performances from DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, and a perfect score makes The Revenant one of the most iconic historical films ever made. Most notably, the first scene offers perhaps the most realistic depiction of a hostile encounter between indigenous tribes and fur-trapping frontiersmen in early-19th century America on film.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s long wait for an Oscar win finally came to an end as he received the Academy Award for Best Actor. Unsurprisingly, Alejandro González Iñárritu won Best Director and Emmanuel Lubezki won the award for Best Cinematography, however The Revenant was (somewhat controversially) pipped by Spotlight for Best Picture.

43. The Iron Lady (2011)

Phyllida Lloyd’s biographical drama offers a fascinating look into the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher. The whole movie is dominated by a tour de force performance by Meryl Streep, who received her 17th Academy Award Nomination and third win for Best Actress, once again proving that she is the master of accents. Streep even received praise from then Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Iron Lady explores Thatcher in her prime but also her slow decline into dementia. The movie covers some of the biggest challenges she faced during her premiership, from the Falkland War to the ‘Poll Tax’ riots. 

42. Apocalypse Now (1979)

In Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola re-framed the American war of attrition in Vietnam as a psychotropic nightmare. In the creative struggle of his life, Coppola sought to rework Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad’s 1899 critique of imperialism, into a cinematic epic set during the Vietnam War. It depicts its narrator (Martin Sheen) completing a cruise up a river to confront the rogue soldier Kurtz (Marlon Brando). The production of the film itself was marred with disasters; nonetheless, Apocalypse Now performed well at the box office and went on to win Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

Its depiction of the American war machine is most famously expressed by a helicopter assault on a Viet Cong Village set to Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries, cameras tracking explosions and hunched over the shoulders of gunners. The resulting sheer, wanton spectacle is enough to obliterate any irony and commentary on war and empire that Coppola may have intended.

Scene from ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979)

Image Credit: Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

41. The Killing Fields (1984)

This British biographical drama is based upon the real life experience of two journalists, one Cambodian, one American. The famously harrowing film depicts the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rough regime during its rule of the country between 1975 and 1979, immediately following the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975). The film’s title, The Killing Fields, refers to a number of sites in Cambodia that go by the same name where collectively more than a million people were murdered and buried by the Khmer Rouge.

The profoundly moving film was praised highly by critics and wider audiences alike, garnering seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It won three, including Best Supporting Actor for Haing S. Ngor, who had never acted previously. It also won eight BAFTAs, including Best Film and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ngor. The film also frequently features in lists that highlight outstanding British films.

40. Amadeus (1984)

Adapted from the 1979 stage play of the same name, Amadeus is described by writer Peter Shaffer as a ‘fantasia on the theme of Mozart and Salieri’. Set in Vienna during the latter half of the 18th century, the richly-drawn narrative, which focuses on Mozart and Salieri’s rivalry at the court of Emperor Joseph II, naturally features well-placed music by the famed composer throughout. 

A box office and critical hit, the film was nominated for a total of 53 awards, eleven of which were Oscar nominations. Of the eleven, it won eight, including Best Picture. Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham’s performances as Mozart and Salieri respectively were both nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, and Abraham ultimately nabbed the win. In 2019, the film was chosen to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress because it is deemed to be ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.’

Amadeus (1984)

Image Credit: The Saul Zaentz Company / Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

39. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty depicts the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden and the crucial role of a dedicated female operative in catching him. It was released in 2012 to great commercial and critical acclaim. Jessica Chastain, who portrayed the CIA intelligence analyst Maya Harris, won a Golden Globe for her stellar performance.

The movie was listed on many critics’ top ten lists, cementing itself as one of the greatest films of the 2010s decade. Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Sound Editing.

38. The Elephant Man (1980)

David Lynch’s The Elephant Man is based on the true story of John Merrick (John Hurt), a heavily deformed man from the East End slums of Victorian London. The film follows Merrick’s journey, from travelling as a fairground ‘freak show’ to being rescued by Doctor Treves (Anthony Hopkins) and living at the London Hospital where he is introduced to high society, yet effectively treated with the same perverse fascination. The film is shot in eerie black and white and Victorian London is portrayed as bleak and unsympathetic – a contrast to Merrick’s childlike gentleness and hopeful view of the world, no matter how sorely he experiences abuse. 

This compassionate and tender film was nominated for eight Academy Awards yet won none. After receiving widespread criticism for failing to honour the make-up effects, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was prompted to create the Academy Award for Best Makeup the following year. This powerfully moving film includes the heartbreaking scene in a station where Merrick utters the famous line, “I am not an animal. I am a human being”. It’s harrowing to watch, and a salutary reminder for the onlookers to catch themselves in what they’re doing – forcing audiences to do the same.

37. Mississippi Burning (1988)

This 1988 crime thriller is a fictionalised version of the events surrounding the Ku Klux Klan’s murders of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner (the ‘Freedom Summer murders’) in Philadelphia, Mississippi in June 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement. In Mississippi Burning, Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star as two FBI agents investigating the disappearance of three young civil rights activists in fictional Jessup County. Met with hostility by the town’s residents, local police and the Ku Klux Klan, they must somehow find a way to bring those responsible to justice amidst a tangled web of intimidation and silence.

Named one of the Top 10 Films of 1988 by the US National Board of Review, the film went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. However, it only won one, for Best Cinematography. It had been up against tough competition with Rain Man which won four awards, yet a campaign directed against its director for the alleged imbalance in the film’s treatment of racial issues (giving insufficient emphasis to the African Americans’ role in the civil rights movement) also played a part.

Mississippi Burning (1988)

Image Credit: Orion Pictures / AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

36. The Color Purple (1985)

The story of a young African-American girl named Celie Harris captured American hearts and made Whoopi Goldberg into a bonafide movie star. Oprah Winfrey also delivered a strong performance, gaining a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars. Spielberg’s movie is set in the early 20th century and deals with issues such as domestic violence, poverty and racism. The story was based on Alice Walker’s novel of the same name, which was released three years prior to the movie.

This period drama, directed by legendary Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, was a huge box office and critical success, gathering eleven Academy Award nominations in the process.

35. Chariots of Fire (1981)

Chariots of Fire is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Paris Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian (the son of missionaries in China) who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew (whose father is from Lithuania) who runs to overcome prejudice. Each wrestle with issues of pride and conscience, using running as a means of asserting their dignity and proving themselves and their worth on the track. The film opens with a memorial service for Abrahams in 1979, then flashes back to his time at Cambridge University – showing how these once young, fast and strong men are now seen as figures from the past.

Chariots of Fire also highlights British class distinctions in the years following World War One in which the establishment was regrouping. The film’s spiritual and patriotic themes are reflected in its remarkable Academy Award-winning original soundtrack by Greek composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, particularly the iconic Chariots of Fire title theme. Overall the film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 4 including for Best Picture.

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Image Credit: Enigma Productions / Maximum Film / Alamy Stock Photo

34. The Young Victoria (2006)

A far cry from the unamused, mournful image many associate with Queen Victoria, Jean-Marc Vallée’s The Young Victoria breathes new life into the story of this famous monarch. Capturing Victoria’s early life in eye-opening detail, we follow a young girl suddenly thrust from her cloistered childhood home at Kensington onto the throne of Great Britain at the age of 18. Pushed and pulled between warring factions, we are reminded that before she was one of history’s most famous and long-ruling monarchs, Victoria too was a young woman learning the ropes.

From her strained relationship with her overbearing mother to her famously deep love for Prince Albert, Emily Blunt plays a convincing Victoria, growing from relative naivety to self-assurance. Though it has been criticised for its somewhat slow pace, it is an undeniably sumptuous watch and unsurprisingly was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup and Best Costume Design at the 2010 Academy Awards, winning the latter.

33. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

The drama film tells the story of hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana, who provided shelter to more than 1000 refugees fleeing the Rwandan genocide. Directed by Terry George, the film was praised by critics, calling it a sobering tale about the massacres that took place in the African nation. The movie explore genocide, political corruption and the repercussions of violence.

Don Cheadle’s and Sophie Okonedo performances as the hotel owning couple received high praise, securing both an Oscar nomination. Hotel Rwanda was additionally nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 77th Academy Awards.

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Image Credit: United Artists / Cinematic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

32. Lincoln (2012)

One of Steven Spielberg’s masterpieces, Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this biopic of the 16th United States President, Abraham Lincoln. Set during some of the most turbulent years of US history, Day-Lewis delivers a witty, dignified portrait of Lincoln in the final months of his life. The film examines the aftermath of his re-election in 1864 as he attempts to pass the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, an alteration which would abolish slavery. It’s a remarkable window into the mind of a determined, skilled politician and his struggles to negotiate with the Confederacy, all while staying true to his principles.  

To complement the work of Spielberg and Day-Lewis, the score was composed by another movie legend, John Williams. With this stellar team, it’s no surprise Lincoln was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and twelve Oscars, and went on to gross over $275 million at the box office

31. Argo (2012)

Produced and led by Ben Afleck, Argo was adapted from the 1999 book of the same name written by Tony Mendez. Set in the midst of the Iranian revolution, many members of the US embassy are trapped inside their building as Iranian Islamists storm the American Embassy. The Islamists are reacting to the news that the US President, Jimmy Carter, has granted asylum to the Shah. There are sixty six hostages captured, but six survive. Inspired by watching a sci-fi film with his son, Afleck’s character comes up with an elaborate plan to save the six who have found refuge in the Canadian Embassy.

At the 85th Academy Awards, the film received seven nominations and won three, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing.

30. Green Book (2018)

Nominated for five Academy Awards and winning Best Picture, Green Book is a biographical comedy-drama about African-American pianist Don Shirley and Italian-American bouncer and later actor Frank ‘Tony Lip’ Vallelonga. The story was inspired by Shirley’s real life 1962 concert tour of the American Deep South.

Green Book examines racial inequality and the mistreatment of African Americans, while also providing a positive, feel good ending. The name of the movie comes from the The Negro Motorist Green-Book which listed establishments that served black travellers in the segregated South. The movie was well received by audiences and critics alike, with Viggo Mortensen’s portrayal of Don Shirley gaining him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. 

Scene from ‘Green Book’ (2018)

Image Credit: Lifestyle pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

29. Elizabeth (1998)

The movie that made Cate Blanchett a star, ‘Elizabeth’ is a rich and sumptuous biographical period drama about the last Tudor ruler of England. The story begins with the reign of Elizabeth’s sister Queen Mary and her persecution of Protestants. Throughout the movie we see the ‘Virgin Queen’s’ struggles and successes, though the timeframe of events has been considerably condensed and altered to fit the narrative of the film.

Elizabeth was well-received, though it did face criticism regarding historical inaccuracy. Nonetheless, the true standout is Cate Blanchett, who received her first Academy Award nomination for best actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I. Interestingly she was not the first choice of director Shekhar Kapur, since Emily Watson was originally offered the role. 

28. The Hurt Locker (2008)

Sergeant First Class William James is the new team leader of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in the Iraq War. He takes over from much-loved Sergeant Matthew Thompson who was killed by an explosive device. William James (played by Jeremy Renner) is a divisive character, whose maverick techniques often lead to tensions within his unit. Filled with multiple anxiety-inducing moments, the film captures the stress and tensions between American soldiers and members of the Iraqi public, as well as the everyday struggles of EOD units.

Released in 2008, the film won 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It was, importantly but not surprisingly, the first Best Picture winner to be directed by a woman.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Image Credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo

27. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Kubrick’s insight into the Vietnam war in Full Metal Jacket conveys the true lunacy of the conflict, uniquely, through the eyes of a military journalist, who, as a conscripted soldier, wishes to come to some kind of understanding as to why the war is happening. From his coarsening training to his movements through US-occupied Vietnam, he witnesses the horrific dehumanisation of young US conscripts, and how this manifests itself into mindlessly violent treatment towards the Vietnamese civilians AND the enemy VC by the US troops.

Much like our main character, by the end of the film we too are left with no greater understanding as to why this war is taking place. No justification for the lives lost. No sense of reason for the monstrosities we witness. The Oscar nominated film accurately conveys many veterans’ reflection on the war they fought in.

26. War Horse (2011)

Based on Michael Morpurgo’s beloved 1982 novel of the same name, Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse captures the horrors of World War One through the eyes of Joey, a young horse raised in the Devon countryside by teenager Albert Naracott. To Albert’s despair, Joey is sold into the army at the outbreak of the conflict, throughout which we see the horse struggle against unimaginable hardship. As Joey’s journey intertwines with the stories of many others caught up in the often senseless violence, we follow the agonising path of the young Albert as he enlists in the British Army, intent on finding his beloved horse.

Enhanced by a stellar cast (Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Emily Watson to name a few), War Horse was also the feature film debut of Jeremy Irvine, whose moving performance as Albert seems to capture the quintessential spirit of the young British Tommy. Nominated for a host of prestigious awards, including Best Picture at the 2011 Academy Awards, it was also named as one of the top films of the year by several critics.

Scene from ‘War Horse’ (2011)

Image Credit: Cinematic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

25. 1917 (2019)

Director and Producer Sam Mendes’ epic war film was partly inspired by stories his grandfather told him about his service during World War One. The exhilarating story of two British soldiers (played with gravitas and urgency by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) trying to deliver a message to call off a doomed offensive manages to capture the sheer, bloody terror that soldiers felt while charging through the horrific wasteland of No Man’s Land.

In addition to the star-studded supporting cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Colin Firth and Claire Duburcq, the film was likely so well received because of its emotional poignancy, rather than relying upon action alone to bolster its popularity. Most strikingly, the film was stitched together to appear as if it had been shot in two continuous takes. It cleaned up at the Oscars, being nominated for ten, including best picture, and winning three for sound mixing, cinematography and visual effects. This one’s truly an epic if there ever was one.

24. JFK (1991)

Released under the subtitle The Story That Won’t Go Away, JFK is an American epic political thriller film that explores the events leading up to former US President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Crucial to the plot is also the examination of the alleged cover-up through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison. Lee Harvey Oswald being found guilty by the Warren Commission is also depicted in detail. Interestingly – and controversially – writer and director Oliver Stone boldly described the film as a ‘counter-myth’ to the Warren Commission’s ‘fictional myth’.

In spite of the controversy, the film was critically well-received, and went on to do well at the box office. It was also nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and won for Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

23. Good Morning Vietnam (1987)

Written by Mitch Markowitz, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robin Williams, this film is set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. Williams plays DJ Adrian Cronauer, whose  real life experiences are based on the film. Working for Armed Forces Radio, Cronauer’s show always starts with “Good Morning, Vietnam!”. His irreverent humour and mix of Rock n Roll are a constant source of annoyance to his superior. A friendship, love interest and a rebellious broadcast see Cronauer facing a variety of troubles. 

Robin Williams won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Robin Williams in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’

Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

22. Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures tells the true stories of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson (played by Taraji Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe respectively) – a trio of brilliant female African-American mathematicians who played a crucial role at NASA as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit and his safe return, helping turnaround the Space Race. The film celebrates the overlooked yet vital contribution these women made, and follows their rise through the NASA ranks as ‘human computers’ whilst crossing race, gender and professional lines with determination and perseverance to prove themselves.

Although containing a few historical inaccuracies (e.g. when boss Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) smashes the ‘Coloured Ladies Room’ sign – in real life Katherine Johnson refused to walk the extra distance to use the ‘colored bathroom’ and ‘just went to the white one’), the film exposes the everyday racism experienced by the women in a world where inequality was the norm. Despite 3 Oscar nominations, the film left empty-handed, yet its wider impact is of more value. Charities and institutions aiming to improve youth awareness in STEM fields organised free screenings to inspire others, and in 2017 the US Department of State launched an annual ‘Hidden No More’ exchange program, aiming to empower international women leaders in STEM.

Scene from ‘Hidden Figures’ (2016)

Image Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

21. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Shortly after he helped renew Hollywood’s appetite for historical epics with his performance as a revenging Roman general in Gladiator, Russell Crowe returned to historical film as Jack Aubrey, a Royal Navy captain at the helm of HMS Surprise. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was a grand endeavour, with filming taking place at sea and on studio-based hulks. Its production designers went to town in pursuit of authenticity, constructing detailed nautical décor in which to wage Napoleonic-era naval combat, and reportedly used 2,000 hats and 1,900 pairs of shoes to outfit its actors.

Its lukewarm performance at the box office forestalled talk of a sequel. But in a year which saw The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King sweeping the Academy Awards, Master and Commander was nevertheless a critical success, winning Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing. It remains the benchmark for gripping (and more-or-less historically sound) naval action in film.

And now for the top 20, in order, as voted by you…

20. Milk (2008)

Directed by Gus Van Sant and screenplay by Dustin Lance Black, Milk is an American biographical film based on gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual person to be elected for public office in California. The 2008 movie showcases the issues LGBTQ+ people faced during Milk’s life with his assassination in 1978 being a truly heart-wrenching moment. The film was released to great critical acclaim, with Sean Penn receiving high praise for his performance as the title character.

During the 2009 Academy Awards, the movie received 8 nominations, including Best Picture. Dustin Lance Black won the award for Best Original Screenplay and Sean Penn took home the Best Actor statue. Many publications considered Milk to be one of the best movies of 2008.

19. American Sniper (2014)

Directed by Clint Eastwood, this film is a biographical war drama film starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle. The film is based on the real life memoirs of the protagonist. Texan born, Chris Kyle signs up to the US Army after the September 11 attacks and is shortly sent to Iraq, but not before marrying his wife, Taya Studebaker. Despite being visibly upset by his first kills (a woman and child attacking US Marine patrols), he goes on to earn the nickname ‘Legend’ for his eagle-eyed shooting and kill count.

The film then follows Kyle as he goes on to kill many famous al-Qaeda leaders, but struggles to come to terms with life back home. American Sniper received 6 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Cooper, ultimately winning one award for Best Sound Editing.

18. The Queen (2006)

Stephen Frears’s biographical drama film is in many ways a perfect award season movie. It delves into one of the most turbulent times of the British Monarchy, exploring Queen Elizabeth II’s actions following Princess Diana’s death. Helen Mirren delivers a stellar performance as the reserved monarch, gaining an Academy Award for her performance in the process. Tony Blair’s character, portrayed by Michael Sheen, is another standout of the movie.

The Queen is considered to be one of the best movies of 2006, which is reflected in award recognition. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, 10 BAFTAs and 4 Golden Globes.

Scene from ‘The Queen’ (2006)

Image Credit: inematic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

17. Life is Beautiful (1997)

This Italian speaking film is best enjoyed with subtitles on. Set in 1939, it follows a young Italian Jewish couple who fall in love and have a child but are swept up by the occupation of Northern Italy. Guido, Dora and their child Giosue are taken to a concentration camp. They are separated due to their gender, meaning Giosue and Guido remain together whilst Dora goes elsewhere. Determined to stay connected to his wife, Guido pulls off various secretive stunts to communicate with Dora that he and their son are safe. To keep his son from being too scared, he tells him the camp is a game they must win. 

Treating a truly traumatic subject matter with comedy is no easy feat. However, the film managed to navigate it with beauty and grace. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning Best Actor, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Dramatic Score.

16. The Right Stuff (1983)

Based on Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book, The Right Stuff tells the story of the US space program’s development, from the breaking of the sound barrier to the selection of the pioneering Mercury 7 astronauts – the first human spaceflight by America. It follows the US Navy and Air Force test pilots involved in aeronautical research at California’s Edwards Air Force Base (including intrepid test pilot Chuck Yeager – generally acknowledged as the best test pilot ever) with their more gung-ho approach than the program’s more cautious engineers would have preferred.

Written and directed by Philip Kaufman, at over 3 hours long, The Right Stuff is partly a grim reminder of the cost of sending humans into space, yet also chronicles the courage and sacrifice it took for the space race to transform from a secret military program into a public relations triumph for the US. The film was a surprising flop at the box office, yet despite this, received widespread critical acclaim. With a cast including Ed Harris, Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid and Fred War, the film won 4 Oscars, and in 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

15. Titanic (1997)

Following scooping 11 Oscar wins in 1998, including Best Picture and Best Director, James Cameron’s triumphant cry during his speech that he was ‘the king of the world’, was perceived as either egoistical or defensible. Titanic had emerged triumphant from a production beleaguered by chaotic logistics, spiralling costs, and an often openly outraged cast and crew. It scooped the largest clutch of Academy Awards since Ben Hur and was the first film to make $1 billion dollars at the box office. The reason for the latter achievement is widely accepted to be the astonishing amount of repeat viewings, the author of this piece being amongst those who viewed the film at the cinema multiple (seven) times. 

It all begs the question: where did it all go right? From a purely technical perspective, Titanic is an incredible achievement (textbook Cameron), but over and above the visual spectacle, the film manages to empathetically tell the story of the real life disaster through two fantastically cast leads and an accomplished supporting cast. It’s an emotional triumph as much as it is a technical one, which honours the real life victims and (in the author’s humble opinion) deserves many more rewatches yet.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic

Image Credit: AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

14. Dances with Wolves (1990)

Kevin Costner’s 1991 masterpiece about the end of the American frontier won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Costner, the latter whom also stars in the eponymous role. It is one of only three Western films to have won Best Picture, and is widely cited as having revitalised the genre. 

After initiating a near-suicidal action that leads to a Union victory in the American Civil War, Lieutenant Dunbar takes a posting as far away from the action as he can be – the Wild Western frontier. When no additional support arrives, he lives a hermit-like lifestyle until he begins communicating with a local Native American tribe. As he integrates himself into tribal society, he forgets his previous life as John Dunbar and takes the name of ‘Dances with Wolves’. The story has much to say on the human experience – and questions the morality of military and industrial-led expansion into the American wilderness. The landscape is beautifully shot and has a wonderful score – both of which led to further Oscar wins. 

13. Platoon (1986)

The year is 1967, and the Vietnam war has been raging for 12 years. Set in South Vietnam near the Cambodian border, 21-year-old Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) has enlisted in the US Army to fight in the Vietnam War after dropping out of college. It’s not long before Taylor and his comrades, including Sgt. Elias (Willem Defoe), Big Harold (Forest Whittaker) and Lerner (Johnny Depp), realise that moral compromises must be made to facilitate warfare.

Director Oliver Stone draws on his own experience as a veteran of the Vietnam war, which can be keenly felt throughout the film. The movie is less about providing a coherent plot with rising and falling action, and more about highlighting the chaotic pandemonium that is war, from the very bottom ranks to the highest in the platoon. It feels more like a memory than a message, and its story and characters are intentionally disoriented, meaning its audience is too. It was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 4, including Best Picture and Best Director.

12. Forrest Gump (1994)

This heartwarming and incredibly touching film encompasses multiple historical events including the presidencies of JFK and Johnson, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal – all of which are narrated from Forrest Gump’s perspective as they unfold. It is through Gump’s personal story and agenda that the audience is captivated, in part because, as a man from Alabama with an IQ of 75, his perspective is frequently refreshingly innocent and empathetic. In addition, the historical events he innocently stumbles through are merely incidental accompaniments to his main desire to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart Jenny.

Tom Hanks captivates audiences in his transformative and dignified performance as Forrest Gump, with his delicate balancing act between comedy and sadness rightly winning him the 1994 Best Actor Oscar – just one year after winning the same award for his role in Philadelphia. The film won six Academy Awards in total, including for Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis) and Best Visual Effects, with its ingenious placing of Gump in historic situations seemingly interacting with the actual people of the time. Alan Silvestri’s beautiful Oscar-nominated musical score adds even more charm to this touching and magical film that is sure to bring both laughter – and a tear – to your eye.

11. Braveheart (1995)

This 3 hour medieval epic tells of the insurrection of Scotland’s William Wallace against the English in the age of Edward I. It swept the Academy Awards in 1995, winning Best Picture and Best Director for Mel Gibson, who also stars as the hero. 

While the cinematography and (often gory) battle sequences have aged well, Braveheart is well known for playing quite footloose with the history. Wallace himself was a knight, rather than a commoner, and he certainly didn’t have an affair with Isabella of France. That said, it’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking, and really plays on the historical heartstrings through its raw emotion and an Oscar winning bagpipe soundtrack. FREEDOM!

Scene from ‘Braveheart’ (1995)

Image Credit: Maximum Film / Alamy Stock Photo

10. All the President’s Men (1976)

This intelligent political journalism thriller stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the famous Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who, in the early 1970s, uncover the Watergate scandal – a conspiracy to cover up abuses of power leading all the way to the Oval Office and eventually to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Hoffman and Redford are said to have visited The Washington Post‘s offices for months, attending news conferences and conducting research for their roles.

All the President’s Men won four Academy Awards from its eight nominations, including for Jason Robards as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for screenwriter William Goldman who brilliantly adapted the bestselling exposé book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward themselves. Despite director Alan Pakula’s film losing out on the Best Picture award to Rocky, in 2010 it was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant’.

9. The Imitation Game (2014)

Along with The Theory of Everything, this was one of the most talked-about films of 2014, both because of its subject matter – cracking German World War Two intelligence messages at Bletchley Park – and its stellar leading performance from Benedict Cumberbatch as the brilliant but troubled cryptanalyst Alan Turing. The film’s title quotes the name of the game Turing proposed for answering the famous question, ‘Can machines think?’ in his significant 1950 paper ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’.

The film also delves into Turing’s personal life with a particular focus on his struggles with his homosexuality and hormone ‘therapy’ treatment he was subjected to a result. Supported by cast members such as Keira Knightley, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance and Matthew Goode, the film became the highest grossing independent film of 2014, some $233 million, and garnered eight Oscar nominations, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.

8. Darkest Hour (2017)

Gary Oldman stars as Winston Churchill in May 1940, when Britain was very much on the brink of defeat by Nazi Germany. Oldman, who won an Oscar for the role, is barely recognisable as the chaotic and eccentric war leader who drinks champagne at breakfast. However, as the plot moves on, it’s clear Churchill has the true grit to defeat Hitler, and his rousing emotive speech ‘We Will Fight Them on the Beaches’ comes right at the end. 

The film was both critically and commercially successful, garnering 6 Oscar nominations and winning 2.

Screenshot from ‘Darkest Hour’ (2017)

Image Credit: Fair use, Perfect World/Pictures Working Title Films

7. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Difficult to watch a times, the sense of despair and feeling of anguish emoted in this biographical drama, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, is testament to the genius of director Steve McQueen and the performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor along side an all-star cast. Northup, an African-American man who is kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and subsequently sold into slavery, endures unspeakable cruelty at the hands of a malevolent plantation owner (Michael Fassbender) alongside unexpected kindness in his struggle not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity.

Shocking, thought-provoking, educational and gripping, 12 Years A Slave depicts the horrific truth of slavery during the 19th century in a purposefully slow and brutal light. The film earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million and received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress. It was also awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture as well as the BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor.

6. The King’s Speech (2010)

Colin Firth won an Oscar for his portrayal of Prince Albert, the future King George VI who, to overcome his stammer, reluctantly seeks help from unconventional Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. The men form an unlikely friendship as they work together, aware of the increasing importance of the wireless to the royal family combined with Bertie’s brother David’s increasing neglect of his responsibilities. Following his impromptu ascension to the throne in 1936 because of his brother’s abdication, and against the backdrop of looming war, King George VI relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio broadcast after Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1939.

Based on true events and featuring an all-star cast, Tom Hooper’s 2011 feel-good film was a major box office and critical success. It was nominated for 12 Oscars, winning 4 overall, including Best Director and the much-coveted Best Picture.

Colin Firth in the King’s Speech

Image Credit: AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

5. Apollo 13 (1995)

This epic film tells the incredible true story of the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission. En-route to the moon, an on-board explosion deprives the spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, aborting the Moon landing mission. Uttering the immortal line, “Houston, we have a problem”, Commander Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) and his fellow astronauts Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) must then trust in the improvised scientific and mechanical solutions NASA’s flight controllers and astronauts create to try and help return Apollo 13 to Earth safely. It’s a remarkable insight into what America’s space program achieved with the technology it had available.

The film contains incredible special effects, and its zero-gravity scenes are extremely convincing – because they’re real. The film’s director, Ron Howard, convinced NASA to let him film scenes of weightlessness on its reduced-gravity aircraft, and also went to great lengths to ensure technical accuracy, gaining NASA’s assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training. Featuring an all-star cast that also includes Ed Harris as Flight Director Gene Kranz and Gary Sinise as astronaut Ken Mattingly, Apollo 13 was nominated for 9 Oscars, yet surprisingly won only 2 (for Best Film Editing and Best Sound). Nevertheless, and despite knowing the outcome, it’s a compelling watch.

4. Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Daniel Day-Lewis spent time living as an 18th Century indigenous American in preparation for his starring role in this epic drama set amidst the Seven Years War, or French Indian War. His meticulous preparation pays off as he delivers an astonishingly visceral performance as a frontiersman, adopted into a Mohican family, who is caught up in the savage fighting between Britain, France and indigenous groups, as they struggle for domination of the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. 

The story of individuals making their way through the complicated mosaic of war and settlement is compelling, the action is balletic, but in many ways the star is the massive landscape, beautiful yet neutral, dwarfing the intense yet petty human drama that plays along its meadows, mountain paths and rivers. How multiple Academy Award winner Day-Lewis did not pick up another one for this movie remains a mystery. 

3. Gladiator (2000)

The film that made Russell Crowe into a superstar (and a Best Actor Oscar winner) has possibly the best revenge line in cinema history: ‘My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.’

Even if the evil Emperor Commodus did really exist, the plot borders on fantasy. However, the film opens with one of the finest ancient battles ever seen on film, and progresses with a series of spectacular and very violent gladiatorial contests amongst constant political intrigue. It’s a tear jerking epic of doggedly setting the world back to rights – one fight at a time. It was nominated for a staggering 12 Oscars, and won five, including Best Picture and a Best Actor win for Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe played Maximus Decimus Meridius, A Hispano-Roman legatus forced into becoming a slave. Screenshot from the movie

Image Credit: Fair use, DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures

2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

An incredible D-Day opening sequence sees American troops landing to stiff resistance on Omaha Beach, which has been cited as one of the most terrifyingly realistic World War Two battle scenes in cinema. What follows is a mildly implausible plot of a group of men being sent to find one Private Ryan, whose brothers had died on D-Day. The film ends with a remarkable set piece battle amongst a ruined French town – including multiple tanks.

The film was a commercial and critical success, being nominated for 11 Oscars and winning 5, including Best Director for Steven Spielberg, and today is heralded as a classic.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Image Credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo

1. Schindler’s List (1993)

1993’s Best Picture Academy Award winner – and the winner of History Hit’s best historical film of the last 50 years – tells the story of Oskar Schindler, an industrialist and war profiteer who staffs his Krakow factory with Jews, thus protecting more than 1,000 people from almost certain death in Auschwitz. By the middle of the film, Nazi oppression evolves into the horror of the Final Solution, with a central performance from Ralph Fiennes, who co-stars as the utterly inhuman SS Officer Amon Göth, being particularly notable.

Liam Neeson stars as Schindler himself, portraying him as a morally complex character, both charismatic and womanising. He was duly Oscar nominated for his performance. The film is shot in black and white, except for the famous red jacket of a little 3-year-old girl, which helped it nab a win for Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards. In addition, Steven Spielberg was awarded Best Director.

‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

Image Credit: AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

Explore more history through the arts in our Culture section

Contributors: James Carson, Celeste Neill, Lucy Davidson, Teet Odin, Alex Spencer, Kyle Hoekstra, Amy Irvine, Carly Clark, Elena Guthrie, Luke Tomes, Drew Sheldon, Lily Johnson, Annie Coloe, Dan Snow.

At a terrible cost in combatants and civilians, Napoleon was able to escape across the river and save his surviving men after a vicious three-day battle.

The French invasion of Russia

In June 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and Master of Europe, invaded Russia. He was confident, having crushed Tsar Alexander’s armies and forced him into a humiliating deal at Tilsit five years earlier.

Since that victory, however, relations between him and the Tsar had broken down, largely over his insistence that Russia uphold the continental blockade – a ban on trading with Britain. As a result, he decided to invade the Tsar’s vast country with what was the largest army ever seen in history.

‘Grande Armée’ crossing a river

Image Credit: Unknown artist, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Napoleon’s mastery of Europe was such that he could call upon men from Portugal, Poland and everywhere in between alongside his crack French troops, widely considered to be the best in Europe. Numbering 554,000 men, the Grand Armée – as this force came to be known – was a formidable host. On paper.

Historians have argued since that its great size and multi-ethnic nature was actually a disadvantage. In the past, Napoleon’s great victories had been won with loyal and mostly French armies which had been experienced, well-trained, and often smaller than those of his foes. The problems with large multi-national forces had been seen during his wars with the Austrian Empire, and the famous ésprit de corps was thought to be lacking on the eve of the 1812 campaign.

Furthermore, the problems of keeping this vast body of men supplied in a country as vast and barren as Russia were obvious to the Emperor’s anxious commanders. The campaign, however, was far from disastrous in its early stages.

The road to Moscow

A little known fact about the campaign is that Napoleon’s army actually lost more men on the way to Moscow than on the way back. The heat, disease, battle and desertion meant that by the time the Russian capital was seen on the horizon he had lost half his men. Nevertheless, what was important to the Corsican General was that he had reached the city.

Battles at Smolensk and Borodino along the way had been costly and hard-fought, but nothing Tsar Alexander had done had been able to halt the Imperial juggernaut in its tracks – though he had managed to extricate most of the Russian army intact from the fighting.

In September the exhausted and bloodied Grand Armée reached Moscow with its promise of food and shelter, but it was not to be. So determined were the Russians to resist the invader that they burned their own old and beautiful capital in order to deny its uses to the French. Camped in a burned and empty shell, Napoleon dithered about whether to remain over the bitter winter or claim victory and march home.

He was mindful of earlier campaigns into Russia – such as that of Charles XII of Sweden a century earlier – and made the fateful decision to return to friendly territory rather than face the snows without adequate shelter.

Winter: Russia’s secret weapon

When it became clear that the Russians would not accept a favourable peace, Napoleon marched his troops out of the city in October. It was already too late. As the once-great army trudged across the empty vastness of Russia, the cold set in, as early as the French generals could possibly have feared. And that was the least of their worries.

The horses died first, for there was no food for them. Then after the men ate them they started dying too, for all the supplies in Moscow had been burned a month earlier. All the time, hordes of cossacks harassed the increasingly bedraggled rearguard, picking off stragglers and making the survivor’s lives a constant misery.

Meanwhile, Alexander – advised by his experienced generals – refused to meet Napoleon’s military genius head-on, and wisely let his army dribble away in the Russian snows. Astonishingly, by the time the remnants of the Grand Armeé reached the Berezina river in late November it numbered just 27,000 effective men. 100,000 had given up and surrendered to the enemy, while 380,000 lay dead on the Russian steppes.

The Battle of Berezina

At the river, with the Russians – who now finally scented blood – closing in on him, Napoleon met with mixed news. Firstly, it seemed like the constant bad luck that had dogged this campaign had struck again, for a recent rise in temperatures meant that the ice on the river was not strong enough for him to march his whole army and its artillery across.

‘Crossing the Berezina River on 29 November 1812’, Peter von Hess

Image Credit: Peter von Hess, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

However, some troops he had left behind in the area now rejoined his forces, taking the number of fit fighting men up to 40,000. He now had a chance.

Creating a bridge strong enough to take his army across the sub-zero water seemed an impossible task, but the extraordinary courage of his Dutch engineers made the escape of the army possible.

Wading through waters that would kill them in just thirty minutes of exposure, they were able to construct a sturdy pontoon bridge, while on the opposite bank the arriving and outnumbering forces were heroically held off by four Swiss regiments who formed the ultimate rearguard. Only 40 out of 400 engineers survived.

Napoleon and his Imperial Guard managed to cross on 27 November, while the Swiss and other weakened French divisions fought a terrible battle on the far side as more and more Russian troops arrived.

The next days were desperate. With most of the Swiss now dead Marshal Victor’s corps stayed on the far side of the bridge fighting off the Russians, but soon troops had to be sent back over to prevent them from being annihilated.

When Victor’s exhausted troops threatened to break Napoleon ordered a massive artillery barrage across the river which stunned his pursuers and stopped them in their tracks. Taking advantage of this lull, Victor’s remaining men escaped. Now, to stop the enemy’s chase the bridge had to be fired, and Napoleon ordered the thousands of servants wives and children following the army to come over as quick as possible.

His orders were ignored however, and many of these desperate civilians only tried to cross once the bridge was actually aflame. It soon collapsed, and thousands were killed by the river, the fire, the cold or the Russians. The French army had escaped, but at a terrible cost. Tens of thousands of men that he simply couldn’t spare were dead, as were a similar number of those men’s wives and children.

The precursor to Waterloo

Astonishingly, 10,000 men did reach friendly territory in December and lived to tell the tale even after the worst disaster in military history. Napoleon himself went on ahead immediately after Berezina and reached Paris by sledge, leaving his suffering army behind.

He would live to fight another day, and the actions of the Dutch engineers had enabled the Emperor to defend France to the last, and preserved his life so that three years later he could return for the final act of his great drama – Waterloo.

Its settlers were the officers, sailors and over 700 convicts of the First Fleet, a group of 11 ships that had set sail 250 days earlier from Portsmouth, England, over 15,000 miles away. The First Fleet was constituted by six convict transports, three store ships and two Navy vessels. On arriving in New South Wales, territory then inhabited by Aboriginal Australian groups, they founded a penal colony and initiated the European colonisation of Australia.

By the early 20th century, the First Fleet’s arrival was officially commemorated as “Australia Day”. Since the 1938 Day of Mourning protest, counter-observances have been held on the same day to recognise prejudice and discrimination against Indigenous Australians.

Charting Botany Bay

The area around Sydney Cove had first been charted on Europeans maps 18 years earlier by English explorer Captain James Cook. Cook surveyed land inhabited by clans of the Eora people, and what became the southern suburbs of Sydney.

Official portrait of Captain James Cook (cropped). Image credit: Nathaniel Dance-Holland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He was so impressed by the region’s variety of flora and fauna that he gave it the name Botany Bay. He returned to London highly recommending the location at the place to start a settlement. In a period of increasing competition between imperial powers in Europe, and particularly after Britain’s loss of its American colonies, the prospect of colonising Australia was seized upon by the British government.

Central to the government’s objectives was the establishment of a penal colony where criminals could be transported beyond Britain’s overcrowded jails. Consequently, six of the boats in the First Fleet were convict transports.

Setting sail

In May 1787, the 11 ships of the First Fleet left England. The first stage of the journey, from Portsmouth to Tenerife, was pleasant enough: both crew and passengers were allowed to sun themselves on deck. The turn southwards towards Rio de Janiero, however, introduced new hardships.

Torrential tropical rains prevented access to the decks. Weeks without favourable winds left the passengers, particularly the convicts, stuck below decks in sordid conditions with diminishing supplies of water.

Several died during these weeks. A month-long stop in Rio from August brought respite and supplies before the fleet set sail on a course to the east. At the Dutch colony of Cape Town, the ships left the last European settlement of their journey. The fleet faced difficult conditions in the violent seas below the 40th parallel, where they encountered the strong westerly winds known as the “Roaring Forties”.

A land down under

Van Diemen’s Land was sighted by the ship Friendship on 4 January 1788. As the ships crawled along the eastern coast of Australia, the crews were beset by freak storms that tested their endurance. Nonetheless they reached Botany Bay on 19 January 1788 without having lost a single ship. Of the 1,500 people who had set off, 48 had died during the voyage.

The settlers discovered that Botany Bay did not quite live up to Cook’s glowing description. The water was too shallow, the soil too poor and the fresh water limited. Neither did they receive an excessively warm welcome from the Aboriginal Australians who already lived there.

Meanwhile, the colony was exposed to attack and poor discipline among the marines perturbed the expedition’s commander, Captain Arthur Phillip.

‘Founding of the settlement of Port Jackson at Botany Bay in New South Wales in 1788’ by Thomas Gosse (cropped). Image credit: Gosse, Thomas, 1765-1844, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Phillip had been authorised to establish a colony elsewhere if necessary. As a result, Philip and a few companions travelled in three small boats to a better site 12 kilometres north. With sheltered anchorages, fresh water and fertile soil, Port Jackson — a place named but hardly noticed by Cook — proved much more suitable.

Philip later wrote of “the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand ship of the line may ride in the most perfect security.”

Settlement of Sydney

Over the next few days in January 1788, the convicts and settlers were moved to Port Jackson. The site was renamed Sydney Cove, after the then-British Home Secretary Lord Sydney. On 26 January, Philip and officers from the ship Supply planted the British flag and New South Wales was proclaimed a British colony.

The settlers’ struggles did not end there, and nor did those of the Indigenous Australians whom they would engage in sporadic conflict with until 1810. The settlement of Sydney grew and was unrecognisable by the time the last “first-fleeter,” a female convict from Manchester called Betty King, died in 1856.

Captain Arthur Phillip raising the British flag at Sydney Cove, 26 January 1788. Oil sketch by Algernon Talmage, 1937. Image credit: Algernon Talmage, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What is Australia Day?

By the early 19th century, residents of the colony alluded to the date of the First Fleet’s arrival in Sydney as a special occasion, and the first official celebration took place in 1818.

By the end of the century, most colonial capitals in Australia celebrated the anniversary, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that 26 January was being widely celebrated as “Australia Day”.

Invasion Day

26 January 1938 marked the 150th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. It was also the first year that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people publicly protested the brutality of colonisation and the dispossession of Indigenous land.

Purposefully coinciding with Australia Day celebrations, the 1938 Day of Mourning protest rejected reverential treatment of European settlers for demands that Aboriginal Australians achieve “full citizen status and equality within the community”, which they did not possess.

Day of Mourning protests and commemorations have been held in Australia since 1938.