Films about National Wars in the 19th Century
This collection provides information on selected movies, TV productions and documentaries on the themes of gender, military and war in the period covered by the Oxford Handbook.
The most important wars included for this period are:
- Mexican American War (1846–48)
- European Civil Wars (1848–49)
- Wars of Italian Independence (1848–49, 1859, 1866)
- Crimean War (1853–56)
- American Civil War (1861–65)
- German Wars of Unifications (1864, 1866, 1870–71)
- Russo-Japanese War (1904–05)
Previous | War Periods | Next
Raintree County is a 1957 American Technicolor melodramatic film set during the American Civil War (1861–1865), directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film was adapted from the 1948 novel of the same name by Ross Lockridge Jr.. When Southern...
This television miniseries presents a dramatization of the life of Sidney Reilly (1873-1925), one of the most famous spies in the history of modern British espionage and the eventual inspiration for James Bond. In this miniseries, Reilly (Sam...
Based on the 1987 novel, Woe to Live On, by Daniel Woodrell, Ride with the Devil is a 1999 American revisionist Western film, set during the American Civil War (1861–65). It follows a group of men who join the First Missouri...
An epic film spanning from the Meiji Restoration (1868–1889) to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), director Keisuke Kinoshita portrays the decline and rise of militarism in one family over three generations in Japan. The first generation's...
The 19th century was a turbulent one for Japan. Enduring the throes of change brought about by the Meiji era, it still struggled to join the world and be considered a "civilized, modern nation." After 300 years, samurai turned to labor, farmers...
This love story set at the dawn of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) reveals the limitations of modernity within Japan's hierarchical and patriarchal society. In 1905, small-town girl Okane married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty...
Senso is a 1954 Italian historical melodrama film, an adaptation of Camillo Boito's Italian novella Senso, written around 1882, by the Italian director Luchino Visconti. Senso is set in Italy around 1866, the year the...
The 1965 American Civil War film Shenandoah, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen is starring James Stewart and featuring Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and, in their film debuts, Katharine Ross and Rosemary Forsyth. The American...
This documentary explores the Athenaeum Girls' School summer camp program, where young white teenage girls immerse themselves in the culture and idealized femininity of the Antebellum American South. Although the directors show their subjects...
Historical drama detailing the 1835-36 Texas revolution before, during, and after the famous siege of the Alamo (February 23-March 6, 1836) where 183 Texans (American-born Texans) and Tejanos (Mexican-born Texans) commanded by Colonel Travis,...
In 1836, the Mexican army, led by General Santa Anna, is invading Texas. Hoping to create a diversion for Santa Anna's forces, General Sam Houston (Richard Boone) orders Colonel William B. Travis (Laurence Harvey), joined by Colonels Jim Bowie (...
Major Geoffrey Vickers is a dashing young officer with the 27th Lancers in India. He's engaged to the beautiful Elsa Campbell but unknown to him, she has fallen in love with his brother Perry Vickers and he with her. When he is sent out on patrol...
Director Tony Richardson used one of the biggest blunders in British military history to offer commentary on the ongoing Vietnam War. This film chronicles the events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia, the siege...
This award-winning PBS documentary by Ken Burns brings the American Civil War (1861–65) to life through the use of archival photographs, maps, diaries, letters, and other sources. It covers the politics, military campaigns, and the so-called...
The historical drama The Conspirator tells the story of Mary Surratt (1820–65), a wife, mother and boarding house owner in Washington D.C., who was the only female conspirator charged in the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the first...
An example of the national embrace of the Lost Cause in popular culture in the early 20th century, The Coward explores the theme of courage in battle. The elderly Winslow, a proud and prominent Virginia planter, volunteers his and his...
The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film, inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The story was adapted from the 1889 memoir The Great...
This film reexamines the controversial war that resulted in the United States taking control of what was nearly half of Mexico's territory. Featuring lavish reenactments, and interviews with both Mexican and American historians to ensure accuracy...
The White Angel is a film rendition of the life of Florence Nightingale (1820–1910). In particular, this film shows how the pioneer nurse defied military orders during the Crimean War (1853–1856) to attend to the wounded.
A subversive film made during World War II, director Vittorio de Sica hides a message of resistance within a comedic drama about the Italian Wars of Unification. A woman looks back on her youth, when she and another girl fell for a Garibaldian...