Best history movie factual errors of all time

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Boudica picture

Factual error: Catus Decianus actually managed to escape from the massacre at Camulodunum and fled to Gaul.

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Battle of Britain picture

Factual error: The door of the garage next to the house is of the aluminum up-and-over type, not available until the late 1960's.

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Hotel Rwanda picture

Factual error: The movie is set in Rwanda in 1994. At the start of the movie you see a billboard advert for MTN, a South African cellular service provider that was not available in Rwanda in 1994.

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The Passion of the Christ picture

Factual error: Two-humped (Bactrian) camels are not native to Judea. They're found in the Gobi desert and didn't get to the Eastern Mediterranean until the Turkish migrations westward.

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Casino picture

Factual error: In the jewelry robbery montage, Joe Pesci is shown holding a rechargeable Mag-Lite flashlight which would not have been available at that time.

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Zulu Dawn picture

Factual error: Throughout the film the British infantry are armed with carbines. These were intended for issue to cavalry and are much shorter than the infantry issue Martini-Henry rifle.

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Three Musketeers picture

Factual error: Not long into the film, D'Artagnan jumps in some hay. There's a flag of the province of Québec (Canada) visible in the background. This film is set in France at a time this flag didn't even exist.

Dr Wilson

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Michael Collins picture

Factual error: The Lee Enfield rifle is chambered by singular repetitions with a bolt action. When Collins' wayward friend is shot in the water, the rifle shots are rapid semi-automatic fire.

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Munich picture

Factual error: In the final scene with the New York skyline in the background, the new glass/stainless steel Manhattan complex at 731 Lexington Avenue is seen; this building is just being finished now in early '06. The building stands where Alexander's dept store once was. (On a related note, it is a nice touch on Spielberg's part to overlay the Twin Towers onto the skyline in that same scene.)

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Mad Love picture

Factual error: Philip uses his left hand to sign the decree declaring Joan officially crazy. No one in the 15th century would have used his left hand to write, as 1) it was considered the wrong hand to write with and 2) writing with the left hand would have smudged the fresh ink and rendered any document unreadable.

Sereenie

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Flags of Our Fathers picture

Factual error: When the Marines strip off and run into the sea in the final scene, Doc takes off a pair of white socks that would be more appropriate for a final at Wimbledon. Not only are they white rather than khaki, they are virtually spotlessly clean which would be impossible after a week of fighting on the black sands of Iwo Jima.

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Gettysburg picture

Factual error: During the engagement of the 20th Maine in defense of Little Round Top there is a tremendous amount of firing going on as they repel charge after charge of Confederates. Yet, there is not a single leaf, or tree branch, that falls to the ground. With that amount of lead flying around there would have been debris everywhere. There are actual Civil War accounts where whole trees were cut in half by bullet fire.

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A Mighty Heart picture

Factual error: There are a number of computers and gadgets shown which were not introduced in early 2002, i.e. HP LaserJet 1320 Printer at Asra's place, HP Color LaserJet shown at the consulate, Acer Notebook used in investigation, and the Nokia 1100 cellphone used by Captain.

www.translingua.com.mx

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Elizabeth: The Golden Age picture

Factual error: In the beginning of the film, a variety of different suitors are presented to Elizabeth. Amongst them are Eric XIV of Sweden, reportedly "still madly in love [with her]". Even though he was born the same year as Elizabeth; when this film takes place, in 1585, he had already been dead for 8 years.

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The Heroes of Telemark picture

Factual error: The daylight air-raid on the Norwegian Heavy Water plant in 1942 was done by Boeing B17G bombers, with the distinctive chin gun turrets. These planes did not come into service until 1944, when they were introduced to counter the head-on attacks by German fighters.

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Cheyenne Autumn picture

Factual error: The narrator mentions that the Cheyenne tribe split in half in northern Nebraska. The scenery would suggest otherwise, as there are no mountains that high in Nebraska.

manthabeat

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Letters From Iwo Jima picture

Factual error: When American Cosair fighter planes strafe the Japanese soldiers with their machine guns, only two columns of bullets are seen striking the ground. These planes had six machine guns; there should be six columns.

Bruce Trestrail

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Thirteen Days picture

Factual error: One of the scenes shows the buildup of American readiness as tensions mount. A B-52 bomber appears carrying four white menacing-looking missiles under her wings. Such missiles can easily be identified as the Hound Dog type, which was under test in the mid-60s but never became operational. America would never deploy those missiles either for real or for training, because the project was scrapped before even being accepted into the Air Force.

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Good Night, and Good Luck picture

Factual error: There is a three prong electrical outlet visible in the Wershba's bathroom. These were not used at the time the film takes place, they were introduced decades later.

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