Military Historian Reviews 250 Years of Warfare in Movies | Part One

Military historian Dan Snow MBE reviews the evolution of warfare over the course of 250 years depicted in historical movies.

Spanning from the late-18th to early-21st Century, Dan charts the development of battle tactics and strategy, as well as the rapid evolution of weapons technology which have transformed the battlefield.

In the first episode, starting of with The Patriot (2000), Dan comments on the use of columns of infantry advancing slowly toward the enemy musket volleys in the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783 - a battlefield strategy that seems almost archaic to us now. He also details the early forms of guerilla warfare seen in the American Revolutionary War, that were used to chip away at British morale.

Moving on over half a century later in Glory (1989) - a film starring Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick and Samuel L. Jackson depicting the horrors of the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865 - Dan notes how battlefield strategy, such as that seen at the Battle of Antietam in 1862, had barely changed from that seen several decades earlier during the American Revolution. That being said, with new rifles and artillery that were far more deadly than the muskets and cannons used in the late 1700s, the casualties of the American Civil War were far greater.

Lastly, Dan reviews the classic film Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which depicts the lesser known Middle Eastern frontier during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. Whilst men were chewing barbed wire in Europe and marching toward the enemy in columns over no man's land (not to dissimilar to the American Civil War) to take enemy trenches, a more mobile kind of warfare was taking place in the deserts of Syria and Jordan. Dan analyses the famous attack on Aqaba, an Ottoman stronghold that succumbed to the genius of Sherif Nasir, Auda abu Tayi and T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") who chose to attack on horseback from the desert as opposed to carrying out a beachhead assault.

Part Two arriving Friday 17th 6PM GMT!

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.

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00:00 Introduction
00:33 The Patriot (2000)
08:44 Glory (1989)
19:39 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

[HistoryHit]

Part Two is arriving Friday 17th 6PM GMT! Please leave a like and subscribe if you love historical movies!

[Tadicuslegion]

you know what's a very underused era of warfare for film, games, etc, that period of the 1500s-1600s when it was pike and shot and some people were still technically dressing like knights and firearms were those massive matchlock smoothbore hand cannons

[nozdormu]

I like how in Glory, the death of Shaw simplely enraged the regiment rather then disheartening them. In a lot of modern games and movies depicting combat of that era, the death of a Commander is shown to break morale.

[Techgnome]

I like how non biased Dan is in these reviews. He doesn't get too nitpicky with historical inaccuracies and instead focuses more broadly on how each movie portrays the historical events.

[Liam_Mellon]

I'm guessing you guys keep coming back to these movie-based videos mostly because they get lots of clicks, but I want you to know that I really do love them. They're incredibly engaging as well as they are informative

[magnificus]

Even after seeing it dozens of times, I still get goosebumps when I see the assault in Glory, accompanied by that amazing score. Thank you for this review!

[PiotrekSzostak]

Dan has been the one who started my 2 years long interest in the videos showing an expert discuss movie scenes, and after those 2 years and dozens of videos watched I must say - Dan does it the best and I even watched some of his content more than once because it's just so nice to listen to

[nothingseehere]

I love how Dan Snow explains things, it's not dull and drawn out it was matter of fact in informational.

[QuinnJACKSON-zxdx]

At 18:21, when the 54th stop running before the cannon blast, the image looks like something from a painting. And with the epic music....my goodness, what a work of art!

[leonconnelly]

That battle sequence in glory looks absolutely incredible, I've never seen anything like it

[mendo]

As someone who loves movies and history this was great. Looking forward to part 2 and hopefully part 3, 4, 5...

[Drosophilax]

Lawrence of Arabia is a masterpiece. I was fortunate to be able to see this in a big cinema. The cinematography is stunning. No comparison to a screen at home. I have to brush up on the other two movies. I'm getting into older war movies at the moment. I just watched Kubrik's Paths to Glory from 1957. What a great movie.

[curiousworld]

You make an excellent point in your discussion of 'The Patriot'. America has forgotten its lesson from its southern fighting during the Revolution, which is that winning the ground is one thing. Holding that ground is another. Winning the 'peace' is far more difficult than winning the battle. 'Glory' is an amazing film, and rightfully covered the role Black soldiers played during our Civil War, and your description of Ft. Wagner was very helpful in visualizing the scene. 'Lawrence of Arabia' is a classic and its battle scenes are incredible, even if 'made up', as much of what was said or written about TE Lawrence. Thanks, as always, for great reactions/reviews of historic battles and warfare.

[cleverusername]

I love Dan doing all these movie breakdowns, reviews, and interviews with war movie directors. Excellent series.

[erikcarrillo]

Glory is one of the greatest civil war movies ever made. I watched it in history class back in high-school and i remember crying at the scene where Mathew Broderick dies and Denzel is killed yet he stands strong flag in hand. I felt an overwhelming sense of patriotism and respect. I couldn't imagine the bravery it must of took to fight under those conditions and for a truly just cause they all believed in. It all just hit me so hard.

[amandalynnlucarini]

I had forgotten how awesome the Glory film soundtrack is. Good on ya, James Horner.

[turboprickle]

I don't know if I'm weird..but watching this brought me to tears. "There is no greater love than this—that a man should lay down his life for his friends."

[demontimeonly]

Man I love Dan snow so much he is just such a vibe 💯

[annwilliams]

Much may have been filmed in the Middle East but one part was filmed on the sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr on the south Wales coast. It is where Peter O’Toole, as Laurence, first dons Arab clothing and walks down the dune towards Omar Sharif and the Arab troops.
Another excellent film about the desert warfare in WWI is The Light Horsemen. It is about the Australian unit - the Light Horsemen - and how they took an essential Turkish radio and water outpost at the Battle of Beersheeba. It was a frontal attack that succeeded in the main because 1) the Turks expected the Australians to ride up so far then dismount and fire their guns. 2) when this did not happen, and the Australians continued their charge, the Turks could not depress their machine guns far enough. Therefore the bullets flew over the riders heads. There is a brilliant film about this charge, made in the 1980s

[myouatt]

Honestly, that was really good and interesting! I'm really looking forward to Part Two this weekend! Thanks for posting!