Historical Fiction

"Admitting that genius which has familiarized itself with all the relics of an ancient period can sometimes, by the force of its sympathetic divination, restore the missing notes in the "music of humanity," and reconstruct the fragments into a whole which will really bring the remote past nearer to us, and interpret it to our duller apprehension,–this form of imaginative power must always be among the very rarest, because it demands as much accurate and minute knowledge as creative vigour."

— George Eliot, Silly Novels by Lady Novelists

This is fiction set in a distinctive historical period other than the one the author lives in, which brushes up against actual historical figures if it doesn't star them outright. Depending on the bent of said author, they may let their biases bleed through via Historical Hero Upgrade or Historical Villain Upgrade. A Historical Beauty Update will make the story more fun without making it much less accurate. Important historical events are at least mentioned in passing if they don't have a strong influence on the plot. Deliberate Values Dissonance will frequently happen in a Historical Fiction story unless the author embraces Politically Correct History. Often, the period predates a Trope Breaker (though sometimes the audience doesn't realize that). Foregone Conclusion is also a major aspect of Historical Fiction since the events in question will usually end in the same way they did in Real Life.

This can overlap with Alternate History if the history is shown to play out differently and Historical Fantasy if fantastic elements are present. Compare to Period Piece, which uses the past as a backdrop for the drama, while Historical Fiction is fiction in which historical events significantly affect the plot. Historical Detective Fiction is a common subgenre. Historical AU is for when writers take an existing canon and place its characters/events in a historical fiction context.

Usually it includes one or more Historical Domain Characters, and may commonly employ Artistic License when the author feels the story is more important than accuracy. See also Docudrama, which tends to aim for more adherence to the facts, but adds its own interpretation to the details, and The Abridged History, which parodies history.

Compare and contrast Field Trip to the Past and Adventures in the Bible, in which characters from the present day go back in time to experience history.

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Examples:

Categories

Works by medium

• Literature
• Live-Action TV
• Webcomics

Works by setting

• Common Historical Settings

Works by subgenre

• Alternate History
• Costume Drama
• Historical Detective Fiction
• Historical Fantasy
• Period Piece

Anime & Manga

• Angolmois
• Anna Comnena, set in The Byzantine Empire.
• Aoi Horus no Hitomi
• Arte: Set in Florence, Italy during The Renaissance.
• Black Butler, set in Victorian Britain.
• Blissful Land, set in 18th-century Tibet.
• A Bride's Story
• Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto is set in Renaissance Italy and focuses on the life of Cesare Borgia.
• Le Chevalier d'Eon, set in 18th-century Europe.
• Claudine, set in France in the first decade of the 20th century.
• Dívčí Válka, set during the Hussite Wars.
• Evyione Ocean Fantasy, set in 18th-century Europe.
• Golden Kamuy, set in early 1900s Imperial Japan, specifically the northern island of Hokkaido.
• Haikara-san ga Tooru, set in Imperial Japan, in 1923.
• Historie, set in the time of Alexander the Great.
• Honey Honey, set in Vienna, 1907.
• Innocent
• Innocents Shounen Juujigun, set in 13th-century France and focusing on the Crusades.
• Kasei Yakyoku, set in Imperial Japan of The Roaring '20s
• Kaze Hikaru, set in 1860s Japan during the Meiji Era, where main heroine Sei disguises herself as a boy, joins The Shinsengumi and has a budding romance with historical Shinsengumi captain Souji Okita.
• Kaze to Ki no Uta, set in 1880s France.
• Kemuri to Mitsu
• Mademoiselle Butterfly, set in the 1930s with geishas.
• Mars Red, set in the Taisho era.
• Moriarty the Patriot, set primarily in the Victorian Britain.
• Night Raid 1931, set in the Showa era around 1931 prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• Red Mudan
• Red River (1995), set in the Hittite Empire.
• Requiem of the Rose King, set during the Wars of the Roses but taking some inspiration from William Shakespeare's two own well-known Roses plays.
• Revenger, set in 19th century Japan.
• The Rose of Versailles, set in pre-revolutionary France.
• Sakura Gari, set in the Taishou Era, more exactly in 1920.
• Shut Hell, set in the early 13th century, during Genghis Khan's time.
• Sidooh, set in the mid-to-late 1800s, during the chaos of the Bakumatsu Era.
• Touge Oni, set in 7th century Japan.
• Utae! Erinna
• Vinland Saga, set in the 11th century during the Viking Age, and chronicling the adventures of famed explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni and the rise to power of Cnut the Great, among other things.
• Vlad Drăculea
• A Witch's Life in Mongol, set in the Mongol Empire.
• Wolfsmund, set in early 14th-century Switzerland and focusing on the Swiss war of independence against the Habsburgs.
• Yume no Shizuku, Kin no Torikago, set in the early 16th century and focusing on the history of the Ottoman Empire.

Comic Books

• Barracuda is set during the Golden Age of Piracy.
• Championess is a fictionalized account of the rise of Elizabeth Wilkinson, a pioneering female boxer in 1720s London.
• Cossacks, a French comic book about a young early 17th century Lithuanian Hussar from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth who deserts the Polish army to join a group of Ukrainian Cossacks and live among them.
• Democracy is a graphic novel about the formation of democracy in Ancient Athens. The story is told by a fictional character to boost his comrades' spirit before the Battle of Marathon and it features many Historical Domain Characters.
• The Eagles of Rome is about the Battle of Teutoburg Forest where several Roman legions were destroyed by a Germanic uprising. Numerous characters really did exist (such as Arminius), while others are fictitious.
• From Hell by Alan Moore is an impeccably researched depiction of Victorian London during the Jack the Ripper murders. It mixes historical fiction and accurate detail with Conspiracy Kitchen Sink.
• Gustav Vasa set in 16th-century Sweden.
• The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, by Don Rosa, sets its main character in various decades from the 1870s to the 1940s, featuring such characters as Murdo Mac Kenzie, Wyatt Earp, and Theodore Roosevelt.
• Magneto: Testament takes place during the late interwar period and World War II, specifically the Holocaust.
• Marvel 1602 is set in early 17th century America and Europe.
• Maus by Art Spiegelman is more like non-fiction. It documents the experiences of Vladek Spiegelman, the author's father, during The Holocaust.
• Mendoza The Great: Follows the story of legendary boxer Daniel Mendoza from the late 18th century to early 19th century.
• A People's History of the American Empire uses a lecture by historian Howard Zinn as a framing device to tell about several controversial and often ignored parts of American history from the end of the Civil War to 9/11.
• The Scorpion takes place in Rome during the second half of the eighteenth century, but feature several deviations from known history, such as one of the main bad guys becoming Pope.
• Three is set in Sparta in the fourth century BC. It features some Historical Domain Characters, but the plot itself is fictional.
• Tomahawk is set in colonial America and during The American Revolution. The last issues jump ahead to the opening of the American Midwest (early 1800s) and focus on Tomahawk's son.

Fan Works

• Sister Floriana is set right in the middle of the Spanish Civil War.
• Sixes and Sevens is an Agent Carter fanfic that also takes inspiration from The Invaders, so naturally it becomes this. Following Michael Carter and OC Emily as they try to track down an old colleague of Dr. Erskine's in Turkey, the author mixes actual historical fact and espionage procedure alongside the pulp elements.
• A Thing of Vikings reimagines the characters of How to Train Your Dragon as if they existed in the actual Middle Ages. The emergence of dragons from Berk causes numerous changes to world history from thereon.
• The Uplifted series is this. Especially the first trilogy, which takes place during World War II.

Films — Animation

• An American Tail, though taking place in a Mouse World, mirrors what life was like for immigrants in New York during the 1880s.
• Anastasia
• Mulan
  • Mulan II
• Pocahontas

Films — Live-Action

• The Admiral (2014), set in Joseon-dynasty Korea.
• Against All Flags, set in Madagascar in 1700.
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God, set in South America during the Age of Exploration.
• Anne of the Indies, set in the Caribbean circa 1720.
• Around the World in 80 Days (1956): Set during the Victorian era.
• Around the World in 80 Days (2004): Set in Victorian London. The movie has Lord Kelvin as Big Bad with Historical Villain Upgrade. Cameos include Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Queen Victoria, Wong Fei-hung, the Wright Brothers, and even the Statue of Liberty!
• Barry Lyndon set during the Seven Years' War and Georgian England.
• Belle (2013), set in the mid-to-late 1700s.
• Ben-Hur, set during Jesus' lifetime.
• Bertie and Elizabeth starts in the 1920s and ends in the 1950s.
• Blonde, set in The '30s through The '60s about the life of Marilyn Monroe adapted from a novel by Joyce Carol Oates, containing so much Artistic License it could not be called a biopic.
• Braveheart, set in the First War of Scottish Independence.
• Brother Future involves an African-American teenager from the 1990s being transported to the year 1822 in the Antebellum South.
• Brotherhood of the Wolf, set in 1760s France.
• Carry On Cleo, set in 64 AD and starring Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
• Carry On Columbus, set during Christopher Columbus' voyage to America.
• Carry On Cowboy, set in the time of the Wild West.
• Carry On Dick, set in England in 1750.
• Carry On England, set in the darkest days of World War II.
• Carry On Henry, set during the reign of Henry VIII.
• Carry On Jack, set at sea in the early 1800s.
• Carry On Screaming!, set in England in 1907.
• Carry On Up the Jungle, set in Africa in 1900.
• Carry On Up the Khyber, set in India in 1895.
• Cartouche, about a famous French highwayman of the early 18th century.
• Centurion, depicts a possible fate of the Legio IX Hispania - the legendary Ninth Legion that mysteriously disappeared from Roman records in the early second century AD.
• The Children of An Lac, a film depicting two American women assisting a courageous Vietnamese orphanage caretaker evacuate hundreds of orphaned children to the United States shortly before the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War.
• The Chorus (2004) is set primarily in 1949.
• Corsage, set in 1877-1878, about Elisabeth of Austria.
• The Courier (2021): Set primarily in the early 1960s during the Cold War; a dramatization of the espionage work of Oleg Penkovsky and Greville Wynne.
• Cromwell is about Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War.
• Don't Lose Your Head, set during the French Revolution.
• Dumas (2010), based around Alexandre Dumas and his Ghostwriter, Auguste Maquet.
• Eiffel is a fictionalized tale around the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.
• The Emigrants and The New Land, depicting the story of a Swedish family's taking part in the beginning of the Swedish migration to the upper Midwest in the 1850s.
• Emperor (2012), set during the post-World War II occupation of Japan.
• Ever After, during the French Renaissance. Complete with Leonardo da Vinci (and The Mona Lisa).
• The Favourite, set in England during the early 18th century, about Queen Anne's relationship with her Royal Favorites Sarah Churchill and Abigail Masham.
• The Flesh and the Fiends, based on the true case of Burke and Hare, who murdered at least 16 people in 1828 Edinburgh, Scotland and sold their bodies for anatomical research.
• Follow That Camel, set in North Africa in 1906.
• Forrest Gump inserts the title character at various points in American history from Elvis Presley to Hurricane Camille.
• 1492: Conquest of Paradise, about Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America to the Europeans.
• From Hell: Adapted from the comic (see above).
• Gangs of New York, set just before the 1863 New York draft riots, which break out during the climax.
• Gladiator, set during Commodus' reign.
• Gold (2017), set during the Spanish conquest of Latin America
• Gone with the Wind, set during the waning days of the Civil War and featuring an iconic burning of Atlanta.
• Hacksaw Ridge, The famous story of a conscientious objector who served as a combat medic on Okinawa during World War II.
• The Handmaiden, set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s.
• Inglourious Basterds, set during World War II.
• Invictus, set in South Africa, in the early years of Nelson Mandela's administration.
• Iron Will, a young musher sets out on a quest to save his family farm by winning a sled dog race through the Minnesota wilderness during World War I.
• Jew Süss (1934), set in 18th century Duchy of Württemberg.
• Jew Süss (1940), set in 18th century Duchy of Württemberg.
• Julius Caesar (1953), set in the last days of The Roman Republic.
• Julius Caesar (1970), same as above.
• The King and the Clown is set in Joseon-dynasty Korea during the reign of Yeonsan-gun of Joseon.
• Kundun, set in Tibet in the youth of the Dalai Lama.
• The Last Duel, set in late 14th century France.
• The Last Emperor, a biography of the Emperor Pu Yi, chronicles Chinese history in the 20th century.
• The Last King of Scotland is about Ugandan dictator Idi Amin during The '70s.
• The Leopard, set during the Wars of Italian Independence
• Lincoln, set during the final stages of The American Civil War and the final days of Abraham Lincoln.
• Louis, the Child King, about the youth of French king Louis XIV in the mid-17th century.
• Marketa Lazarová, set during the High Middle Ages, particularly towards the end of the 13th century.
• The Married Couple of the Year Two, set during the Reign of Terror phase of the French Revolution.
• Mary, Queen of Scots (2018), follows the life of Mary, Queen of Scots from her arrival in Scotland (1561) until her death in England (1587).
• Mary Shelley, follows the courtship of the titular character, her life with her husband and what inspired her to write Literature/Frankenstein.
• Masquerade (2012) is set in Joseon-dynasty Korea.
• Master and Commander, set during The Napoleonic Wars.
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, dramatization of the life of Joan of Arc.
• Mississippi Burning, two investigators descend on a racist-ridden Mississippi town investigating the murders of three Civil Rights activists.
• The Molly Maguires, about a secret society of Irish-American coal miners in 1870s Pennsylvania.
• The Mongols, about the mid-13th century invasion of Poland by Mongol hordes.
• Munich - The Edge of War, about the infamous Munich Agreement in 1938.
• North Face, about the 1936 attempt to climb the north face of the Eiger, a mountain in Switzerland.
• The Northman, based off the medieval Scandinavian legend of Amleth.
• North West Frontier, set in early 20th-century India.
• Northwest Passage, dealing with "Rogers' Rangers" during the French and Indian War.
• Padmaavat, set in 13th-century India.
• The Patriot, set in a very anachronistic version of the American Revolutionary War in the South.
• Pearl Harbor. Unlike other Pearl Harbor movies, you have to sit through Developing Doomed Characters first.
• Pope Joan, set in 9th century Central Europe.
• The Promise (2016), set during the Ottoman Empire's involvement in World War I and the Armenian genocide.
• Quo Vadis, set during Nero's reign.
• Rampant, set in Joseon-dynasty Korea.
• The Raven Trilogy set in and around, Viking age Iceland
• The Ripper (1997): a dramatization of the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.
• The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, a biopic about the rise and fall of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 1970s.
• The Robe, set during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula.
• Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt is set in the Galician countryside in Spain in 1851, and centres around the hunt for Spain's first documented Serial Killer.
• A Royal Affair, set in 18th-century Denmark, following the love affair of Queen Caroline Matilda and Dr Johann Struensee, her husband's advisor
• The Secret Garden, set in Edwardian England where a ten-year-old girl is sent to live with her bitterly widowed uncle at his manor in the country after her parents are killed in an earthquake.
• Spartacus, a retelling of Spartacus' revolt.
• Sweaty Beards, set in 10th-century Sweden.
• Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon, based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, much like the aforementioed Red Cliff.
• Titanic (1997), set during the 1912 sinking of the famous ship.
• U-571, set during World War II.
• Up Pompeii, set right before the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
• Up the Chastity Belt, set during the time of the Crusades.
• Up the Front, set during World War One.
• Vaincre ou Mourir, about a royalist insurgency figure during The French Revolution.
• Valhalla Rising, a group of Vikings and Christian crusaders accidentally end up in North America in 1000 AD.
• The Vikings, Viking raids in Northumbria in the 9th century.
• Les Visiteurs, a film series in which an early 12th century French knight and his squire Time Travel to different eras by mistake, including The '90s and The French Revolution.
• The War Lord, a 11th century Norman warlord has to rule and defend his fiefdom.
• Wang De Sheng Yan AKA The Last Supper, portraying the rise to power of Gaozu, the first Han emperor, and his last days.
• When the Last Sword Is Drawn (Mibu Gishi Den), set during the Boshin War).
• The Woman King, set in 1820s Western Africa.
• Young Mr. Lincoln, set during the early years of Abraham Lincoln.
• Youth (2017), set in China, mainly in the 1970s during and after the Cultural Revolution, with part of it set during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979.
• Zodiac, a Docudrama about the unidentified Serial Killer, Zodiac Killer. Set from The '60s to The '80s, while the final single scene is set in an early 90s.

Literature

See Historical Fiction Literature.

Live-Action TV

See Historical Series.

Podcasts

• 1865 deals with the fallout from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Theatre

• Anastasia
• Annie: Set in Depression-era New York City, an orphan is taken in and eventually adopted by a millionaire.
• Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto
• Dunsinane
• Elisabeth
• The Emperor Constantine
• Götz von Berlichingen
• Hamilton
• Marat/Sade
• Marie Antoinette (Musical)
• Mozart!
• Mozart L'Opera Rock
• Rebecca
• Sovereignty
• The Takarazuka Revue has performed many original musicals with historical settings. Shows set in ancient Japan are so common they have their own name: nihonmono (日本物), meaning literally "Japanese thing".
• Many of William Shakespeare's works, including:
  • Antony and Cleopatra
  • Henry IV
  • Henry V
  • Henry VI
  • Henry VIII
  • Julius Caesar
  • King John
  • Macbeth
  • Richard II
  • Richard III

Video Games

• The Assassin's Creed franchise uses Conspiracy Kitchen Sink to indulge in recreations of actual historical events, places, and figures in the Animus parts of the games.
  • Assassin's Creed is set during the Third Crusade.
  • Assassin's Creed II takes place during the Italian Renaissance.
  • Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is also set during the Italian Renaissance, and adds the Italian Wars as context.
  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations is set in early 16th century Ottoman Empire, with memories set during the Third Crusade and Mongol conquest of Syria.
  • Assassin's Creed III is mostly set before and during The American Revolution.
    • Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is also set during the American Revolution, but in the French colony of Louisiana this time around.
  • Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is set during The Golden Age of Piracy.
    • Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry is also set during the Golden Age of Piracy, but focuses more on the slavery aspect of the era.
  • Assassin's Creed Rogue is set during the Seven Years' War.
  • Assassin's Creed: Unity is set during The French Revolution.
  • Assassin's Creed: Chronicles takes place in three different settings: Imperial China, the First Anglo-Afghan War and The Russian Revolution.
  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate is primarily set in Victorian Britain.
  • Assassin's Creed Origins is set in Ptolemaic Egypt and Ancient Rome.
  • Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is set in Ancient Greece during The Peloponnesian War.
  • Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is set in The Viking Age and Dark Age Europe.
• Aviary Attorney is set in Paris in 1848 (or at least a World of Funny Animals version thereof), and includes some of the events of the February Revolution.
• Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic steampunk recreation of America in the Presidency of William McKinley.
• Like many World War II games, Call of Duty recreates actual battles of World War II, some with more accuracy than others.
• The Imperivm franchise recreates the old times of Rome.
• The Invisible Hours, an Environmental Narrative Game set in Christie Time.
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance is set circa 1403 in the Kingdom of Bohemia as Civil War breaks out.
• L.A. Noire recreates Los Angeles in the 40s and involves actual historical figures and real-life events such as the Black Dahlia murder as part of its plot.
• My Child Lebensborn: The plot is about a fictional Norwegian Lebensborn child and their adoptive parent in a mostly accurate post-World War II Norway.
• Nobunaga's Ambition: Set during Sengoku Jidai.
• The story of Pentiment is heavily defined by late-medieval Catholicism and the burgeoning Reformation as they affected the Holy Roman Empire.
• Phantom Doctrine is set during the late Cold War of the 1980s and touches upon things like sneaking across the Berlin Wall and the 1983 bombing in Beirut.
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Koei): same as Dynasty Warriors except it's mostly a strategy game.
• Samurai Warriors: Set during Sengoku Jidai.
• Sniper Elite: Set during World War II's War in Europe and Africa, detailing an Allied agent's hunt to stop Nazi wonder weapon projects.
  • Sniper Elite V2
  • Sniper Elite III
  • Sniper Elite 4
• Total War
  • Shogun: Total War
  • Medieval: Total War
  • Rome: Total War
  • Medieval II: Total War
  • Empire: Total War
  • Napoleon: Total War
  • Total War: Shogun 2
  • Total War: Rome II
  • Total War: Attila
  • Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga
  • Total War: Three Kingdoms

Visual Novels

• Hakuouki is another Shinsengumi tale, covering through the end of the Boshin War.
• Heileen

Webcomics

See Historical Webcomics.

Web Original

• Confessions d'Histoire
• The History of Arturius Aurelianus

Western Animation

• Liberty's Kids, set in The American Revolution.
• Molierissimo, French series set in the century of King Louis XIV and centered on Moličre's theatre. The young protagonist meets quite a lot of important people of the era.
• Princess Sissi, a German series that takes a lot of liberties with the life of Elizabeth of Bavaria.
• The Storykeepers, which doubles as Religious Edutainment. It tells the story of ancient Christians escaping persecution by the Roman emperor Nero.

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