Best history movie factual errors of all time

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Benediction picture

Factual error: Sassoon's Military Cross medal is shown ending up thrown in the Mersey and sinking. In his own words from "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer", published in 1930 - "I ripped the MC ribbon off my tunic and threw it into the mouth of the Mersey. Weighted with significance though this action was, it would have felt more conclusive had the ribbons been heavier. As it was, the poor little thing fell weakly on the water and floated away as though aware of its own futility."

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The Last Station picture

Factual error: In the dinner scene with Helen Mirren and James MacAvoy, she was playing a gramophone recording of "Un Bel Di" from 'Madame Butterfly,' and the year was 1910. The opera was not recorded until much later.

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Mutiny on the Bounty picture

Factual error: In the film, the mutiny occurs during the day, when Bligh allows a crewman to die of thirst. The actual mutiny occurred in the middle of the night, when Christian and several followers entered Bligh's cabin and awakened him.

wizard_of_gore

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Becket picture

Factual error: At the start of the excommunication scene, the monks are chanting Dies Irae, a thirteenth century Catholic poem, but St. Thomas Becket died in 1170, almost a century before the poem was written.

Connor Attard

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The Wooden Horse picture

Factual error: When the two escapees from the POW camp are in the anchor room of the ship they are on, they leave the harbour and the pilot boat leaves them, but then the chain for the anchor goes out, but they are moving away from the port, why on earth would they be dropping the anchor? If anything they would make sure that all the chain is in the anchor room and the anchor would be on deck.

kh1616

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Chappaquiddick picture

Factual error: The accident takes place the night of July 18, 1969, and they show there being a full moon. That night the moon was actually waxing crescent with only 14% visible, and set at 10:27pm while the accident happened about 12:45am, so there was no moon in the sky anyway.

jimba

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Elvis & Nixon picture

Factual error: The limo shown is a 1990 (or later) Cadillac. It has large halogen headlamps and not the dual headlamps of a 70-71.

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211 (2018)

211 picture

Factual error: The vehicles in the convoy are supposed to be armored since the bullet fired by 50 BMG was absorbed into the glass. First off the vehicles are standard, not up armored since the windows are standard factory and not thick ones used in up-armored cars. The highest rated armored car is B7 which will stop armor piercing not 50 BMG. Also, the windows completely shatter after being shot out; armored windows will never shatter, they stick together and chip off. (00:03:00 - 00:05:00)

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Victoria and Abdul picture

Factual error: Performing for Queen Victoria is the famous opera composer Giacomo Puccini. This happens during her sojourn in Florence in 1888. Puccini was born in 1858, so he was barely thirty years of age, but the actor portraying him, Simon Callow, is in his late 60s (and it shows). Moreover, he is presenting his latest creation "Manon Lescaut"; in 1888 he hadn't even started working on it.

Sammo

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Conspiracy picture

Factual error: All SS members have right collar tabs, except Heinrich Müller. His rank at that time was SS-Gruppenführer, same as Otto Hofmann, but his collar tab corresponds to SS-Brigadeführer (one step lower). For addition, the collar tabs of some general ranks changed after April 1942. The conference took place in January 1942, so they have older versions. But as I wrote, Müller and Hofmann were at the same rank, so the tabs should look the same.

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Female Agents picture

Factual error: The SS Officer is repeatedly addressed as "Herr Oberst". This is a Wehrmacht rank designation, and could possibly have been correct for them addressing an SS officer, but fellow SS officers would have used the correct term "Standartenführer" (without the "Herr"). On one occasion the lower rank SS officer is address as "Herr Leutnant" which is equally wrong, should be "(Ober)sturmführer"

Airborne60

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The Fall of the Roman Empire picture

Factual error: In reality, Commodus did not die in the arena - he was strangled in his apartments in 192 A.D. by an athlete who was hired by a group of Senators conspiring against him.

wizard_of_gore

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Sharpe's Challenge picture

Factual error: Sharpe follows a wagonload of powder kegs into the Western Gatehouse, then down a corridor lit with torches, to the end of the corridor where Indians were tying together quickmatch, once again by torchlight. With the propensity for powder kegs to leak, even an Indian subadar would use closed lanterns.

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Ironclad picture

Factual error: Rochester Castle is seen standing alone and isolated from any other settlement. In actual fact it stands on the edge of the City of Rochester and very close to Rochester Cathedral, both of which certainly existed at this time.

Necrothesp

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Judgment at Nuremberg picture

Factual error: The Mercedes-Benz car in which Judge Haywood is driven to his house shows a license plate with black letters on white background and country plate "D." This was not correct at that time: it should have been white letters on a black background, no country plate. (00:04:09)

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Land of Mine picture

Factual error: The bunkers which are visible in the movie have not been prepped to look how they should in the years after the war. They would have been plastered and painted, not looking old and rusty as they appear in the movie.

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From the Earth to the Moon picture

Factual error: When the command module, with the engine shut down, is in earth or lunar orbit or in trans lunar coast (external shot), you hear a rumbling sound. It's in a non powered coast, so there shouldn't be any engine noise.

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Kursk picture

Factual error: When the saturation divers open the outer hatch on Kursk, they drop a glow stick. When they do, it falls to the floor on the submarine, indicating the inner hatch was open. The inner hatch of Kursk was closed, later opened by an ROV.

Matdan97

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Secretariat picture

Factual error: When Secretariat crosses the finish line, that finish line pole is not from Belmont, that finish line pole is from Keeneland.

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