# Obscure historical events made famous by works of art **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 25, 2025, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373 "2025-09-25T04:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/21 "2025-09-25T14:14:22Z")
Bob Dylan has written his share of topical songs about events which might be forgotten today if not for the songs. Maybe the best example is “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll”. Who would remember her murder and the name of her killer without the opening line “WIlliam Zanzinger killed pour Hattie Carroll”? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/22 "2025-09-25T14:20:34Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I’d argue the fact they made five movies has more to do with the success of the earlier movies and the compelling nature of the story, than the significance of the historical event it’s based on The success of the three novels by Nordhoff and Hall is the reason any films were made at all. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/23 "2025-09-25T14:24:56Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > > > The tragedy of the Medusa > > This is definitely the first thing to pop into my mind Mine as well. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/24 "2025-09-25T14:26:26Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@Telemark](#): > > > > I don’t think the Dresden firebombings were obscure, but they were brought into a new generation’s attention by **Slaughterhouse-Five**. > > And then again by **Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close** Possibly this is my own low standards when it comes to knowledge of art and literature. But I had no idea either of those works were about the Dresden fire bombings but am well aware of the fire bombings as a historical event ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/25 "2025-09-25T14:30:37Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Lord Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib” - and that poem was itself largely forgotten I would disagree with that assessment. I came across the poem in several English classes, in a variety of poetry collections. Now, poetry collections may not be best-sellers, but it was not forgotten. “The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold / His cohorts all gleaming in purple and gold…” ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/26 "2025-09-25T14:32:49Z")
The 1982 film _Fitzcarraldo_ is based on Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald’s 1893 attempt to have a disassembled steamboat transported over the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald by natives. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/27 "2025-09-25T14:36:45Z")
I have never heard of the Osage Indian Murders until the 2023 film _Killers of The Flower Moon._ ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/28 "2025-09-25T14:37:07Z")
The wreck of the _Edmund Fitzgerald_ comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/29 "2025-09-25T14:38:27Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > [@hogarth](#): > > > > > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > > > > > The tragedy of the Medusa > > > > This is definitely the first thing to pop into my mind > > Mine as well. Same thing here. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/30 "2025-09-25T14:46:25Z")
Steven Spielberg’s epic WWII film brought attention to a little known battle of the war. I am, of course, referring to _1941_ and the Battle of Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/31 "2025-09-25T14:48:38Z")
The [Herero and Nama genocide](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Nama_genocide) gained newfound notoriety via _Gravity’s Rainbow_. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/32 "2025-09-25T15:40:28Z")
The Patriot is hardly a historically accurate film. But the Battle of Cowpens did occur. I think most people never heard of it. It’s all Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, crossing the Delaware, Bunker Hill, Yorktown, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/33 "2025-09-25T15:55:35Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Though as I understand it the mutiny itself was not particularly remarkable, it was the feat of Captain Bligh and his officers in successfully making their way back to the UK in a tiny boat, that was the remarkable part. And that is not covered in the movies. I think it’s the whole thing really - including the fact the mutineers weren’t caught and established a community on a remote island that survives to this day. If it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t write it ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/34 "2025-09-25T16:24:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The bombing of Guernica, Spain in 1937. The death toll there would soon be overshadowed by far greater ones in World War II. (The Spanish Civil War itself has been overshadowed by World War II.) I’m not sure about that. Wasn’t it the first major bombing of an urban center by massed bombers ? That’s a pretty important milestone in human conflict. So i think it would be well known even if was dwarfed by later WW2 bombing raids. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/35 "2025-09-25T16:28:41Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > the film _Battleship Potemkin_ And the film _Battleship Potemkin_ is only remembered because of the baby carriage scene in _The Untouchables_. Because if people couldn’t smugly say “The baby carriage scene is an homage to _Battleship Potemkin_”, no one would care about an old Russian silent film. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/36 "2025-09-25T16:51:17Z")
_The Last of the Mohicans_, and the Siege of Fort William Henry. Alexandre Dumas’ novels are about as historically accurate as John Wayne’s portrayal of Genghis Khan, but _The Three Musketeers_ does tell you that the French wars of religion existed, specifically the Siege of La Rochelle. The Loudon demonic-possession scare is still pretty obscure, but Aldous Huxley’s book, the _Devils of Loudon_, John Whiting’s play _The Devils_, and Ken Russell’s movie _The Devils_ bring it to mind. The film _Glory_ brought attention the the U.S. Army’s formation of African-American regiments, and the attack on Fort Wagner. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/37 "2025-09-25T16:53:57Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Alexandre Dumas’ novels are about as historically accurate as John Wayne’s portrayal of Genghis Khan, but _The Three Musketeers_ does tell you that the French wars of religion existed, specifically the Siege of La Rochelle. I can recall being astonished the first time I learned that the Three Musketeers (all four of them) were based on real people. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/38 "2025-09-25T16:57:10Z")
I had heard of the Osage Indian Murders a year or so ago while watching [The FBI Story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_FBI_Story) starring Jimmy Stewart. The investigation of the Osage Indian Murders was one of the cases shown. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/39 "2025-09-25T17:14:58Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > the Three Musketeers (all four of them) were based on real people Including Dumas’ own father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, who was a black (Haitien, though the country didn’t exist yet) commander under Napoleon. The fact we’ve had five mutinies on the bounty but no big Hollywood movie about him is a travesty ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373/40 "2025-09-25T20:05:50Z")
Probably doesn’t count, as The Hindenburg disaster is pretty well known, but it did make a great album cover for Led Zep. [Oh! The Humanity!](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=JO%252ByfvBn&id=9F2BFC0A29FE46A792036CD3359ECF354E182EC7&thid=OIP.JO-yfvBnQi-uFh5rXPL_EgHaHa&mediaurl=https%253A%252F%252Ftownsquare.media%252Fsite%252F295%252Ffiles%252F2020%252F08%252FLed-Zeppelin-I.jpg%253Fw%253D780%2526q%253D75&cdnurl=https%253A%252F%252Fth.bing.com%252Fth%252Fid%252FR.24efb27ef067422fae161e6b5cf2ff12%253Frik%253Dxy4YTjXPnjXTbA%2526pid%253DImgRaw%2526r%253D0&exph=780&expw=780&q=led+zeppelin+album+covers+in+order&FORM=IRPRST&ck=718D40CEC80934DED88109883526BAAE&selectedIndex=13&itb=0&cw=1527&ch=743&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-historical-events-made-famous-by-works-of-art/1023373.md?page=3)