Dr. Zar’s Favorite History Movies and Documentaries

A Brief History

This article showcases a table featuring some of Dr. Zar’s favorite movies and documentaries for teaching history.

Digging Deeper

For more about the historical accuracy of the films listed above, check https://www.historyvshollywood.com/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20190330124144/https://www.stfrancis.edu/content/historyinthemovies/.

The list below features notable historical people named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.  NOTE: Some people on this list may be legendary or even mythological rather than historical.

1. Khufu (died 26th century BC)
2. Hemiunu (fl. 2570 BC)
3. Noah
4. Ham (Genesis)
5. Abraham (1948 AM – 2123 AM)
6. Thutmose III (died 11 March 1425 BC)
7. Zerubbabel (born c. 587–539 BC, died unknown)
8. The Buddha (c. 563 or 480 BC–c. 483 or 400 BC)
9. Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BC)
10. Hanno the Navigator (lived during the fifth century BC)
11. Dionysius I of Syracuse (c. 432 – 367 BC)
12. Plato (born c. 428–423 BC, died 348/347 BC)
13. Aristotle (384–322 BC)
14. Alexander the Great (20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC)
15. Qin Shi Huang (February 259 – 12 July 210 BC)
16. Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC)
17. Virgil (15 October 70 BC – 21 September 19 BC)
18. Gaius Cassius Longinus (consul 30) (Born around 13 BC)
19. Claudius (1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54)
20. Simon of Cyrene
21. Jesus (c. 6 to 4 BC – AD 30 or 33)
22. Paul the Apostle (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD)
23. Caligula (31 August AD 12 – 24 January AD 41)
24. Lucius Pedanius Secundus (d. AD 61)
25. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (fl. AD 40–69)
26. Emperor Huan of Han (132 – 25 January 168)
27. Perpetua and Felicity (c. 182 – c. 203)
28. Constantine the Great (27 February 272 – 22 May 337)
29. Hotu Matuꞌa (sometime between 300 and 800)
30. Alaric I (c. 370 – 411 AD)
31. Gaiseric (c. 389 – 25 January 477 AD)
32. Licinia Eudoxia (422 – c. 493)
33. Clovis I (c. 466 – 27 November 511)
34. Benedict of Nursia (2 March 480 – 21 March 547)
35. Justinian I (482 – 14 November 565)
36. Theodora (wife of Justinian I) (c. 490/500 – 28 June 548)
37. Pope Gregory I (c. 540 – 12 March 604)
38. Muhammad (c. 570 – 8 June 632)
39. Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah al-Ghafiqi (died 732)
40. Bede (672/3 – 26 May 735)
41. Charles Martel (c. 688 – 22 October 741)
42. Charlemagne (2 April 748 – 28 January 814)
43. Carloman I (28 June 751 – 4 December 771)
44. Ælla of Northumbria (fl. 866; died 21 March 867)
45. Ivar the Boneless (died c. 873)
46. Abbas ibn Firnas (c. 809/810 – 887)
47. Alfred the Great (c. 849 – 26 October 899)
48. Egill Skallagrímsson (c. 904 – c. 995)
49. Ahmad ibn Fadlan (10th-century)
50. Thorvald Eiriksson
51. William the Conqueror (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087))
52. Pope Urban II (c. 1035 – 29 July 1099)
53. Tancred, Prince of Galilee (c. 1075 – 5 or 12 December 1112)
54. Raynald of Châtillon (c. 1124 – 4 July 1187)
55. Saladin (c. 1137 – 4 March 1193)
56. Balian of Ibelin (c. 1143–1193)
57. Guy of Lusignan (c. 1150 – 1194)
58. Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem (c. 1159 – 1190)
59. Marco Polo (c. 1254 – 8 January 1324)
60. Pope Clement VI (1291 – 6 December 1352)
61. Jani Beg (died 1357)
62. Ibn Battuta (24 February 1304 – 1368/1369)
63. Petrarch (20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374)
64. Agnolo di Tura (14th century)
65. Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398)
66. Empress Ma (Hongwu) (18 July 1332 – 23 September 1382)
67. Jiao Yu
68. Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1393–1406 – 3 February 1468)
69. Pachacuti
70. Mehmed II (30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481)
71. Bartolomeu Dias (d. 29 May 1500)
72. Isabella I of Castile (22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504)
73. Christopher Columbus (between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506)
74. Ferdinand II of Aragon (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516)
75. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515)
76. Bartholomew Columbus (c. 1461 – 12 August 1514)
77. Moctezuma II (c. 1466 – 29 June 1520)
78. Hernán Cortés (c. 1485 – 2 December 1547)
79. Tlahuicole (c. 1497–1518)
80. Bartolomé de Medina (mining specialist) (born around 1504)
81. Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603)
82. Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 28 January 1596)
83. Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (c. 1583 – 17 December 1663)
84. Mukambu of Matamba (died 1666)
85. Funji of Ndongo (born in the 1500s)
86. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625)
87. John Rolfe (c. 1585 – March 1622)
88. Squanto (c. 1585 (±10 years?) – November 30, 1622 O.S.)
89. William White (25 January 1586/7 – 21 February 1621)
90. Samoset (c. 1590 – c. 1653)
91. William Bradford (c. 19 March 1590 – 9 May 1657)
92. Shah Jahan (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666)
93. Susanna White (c. 1592 – after 1654)
94. Edward Winslow (18 October 1595 – 8 May 1655)
95. Pocahontas (c. 1596 – March 1617)
96. Jan van Goyen (13 January 1596 – 27 April 1656)
97. Semyon Dezhnev (c. March 7, 1605 – 1673)
98. Martha Corey (around 1620 – September 22, 1692)
99. Rebecca Nurse (February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692)
100. Increase Mather (June 21 (O.S.), 1639 – August 23 (O.S.), 1723)
101. Isaac Newton (4 January [O.S. 25 December] 1643 – 31 March [O.S. 20 March] 1727)
102. Sarah Osborne (c. 1643 – May 29, 1692)
103. John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719)
104. William Phips (February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695)
105. Samuel Parris (1653 – February 27, 1720)
106. Sarah Good (July 21 [O.S. July 11], 1653 – July 29 [O.S. July 19], 1692)
107. Mercy Lewis (fl. 1692)
108. Ann Putnam (April 24, 1679 – 1716)
109. Abigail Williams (born c. 1681, date of death unknown)
110. Betty Parris (November 28, 1682 – March 21, 1760)
111. Dorothy Good (born c. 1687/1688)
112. Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755)
113. Voltaire (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778)
114. George Monro (1700 – 3 November 1757)
115. Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705] – April 17, 1790)
116. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm (28 February 1712 – 14 September 1759)
117. John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792)
118. James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779)
119. Simon Fraser of Balnain (26 May 1729 – 7 October 1777)
120. John Parker (July 13, 1729 – September 17, 1775)
121. George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799)
122. Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792)
123. John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826)
124. Daniel Morgan (July 6, 1736 – July 6, 1802)
125. John Hancock (January 23, 1737 [O.S. January 12, 1736] – October 8, 1793)
126. Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 [O.S. January 29, 1736] – June 8, 1809)
127. George III (4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820)
128. Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805)
129. Prince Estabrook (c. 1741-1830)
130. Joseph Banks (24 February [O.S. 13 February] 1743 – 19 June 1820)
131. Thomas Jefferson (April 13 [O.S. April 2], 1743 – July 4, 1826)
132. Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797)
133. Isaac Davis (February 23, 1745 – April 19, 1775)
134. Timothy Murphy (c. 1751 – c. 1818)
135. James Madison (March 16, 1751 [O.S. March 5, 1750] – June 28, 1836)
136. Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804)
137. Joseph Plumb Martin (November 21, 1760 – May 2, 1850)
138. John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848)
139. John Forsyth (politician) (October 22, 1780 – October 21, 1841)
140. John C. Calhoun (March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850)
141. Davy Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836)
142. Roger Sherman Baldwin (January 4, 1793 – February 19, 1863)
143. William S. Holabird (c. 1794 – May 20, 1855)
144. James Bowie (April 10, 1796 – March 6, 1836)
145. Almaron Dickinson (1800 – March 6, 1836)
146. Theophilus Freeman (c. 1800 – May 18, 1860)
147. Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860)
148. Tamsen Donner (November 1, 1801 – March 1847)
149. William Prince Ford (January 15, 1803 – August 23, 1866)
150. Benjamin Henry Latrobe II (December 19, 1806 – October 19, 1878)
151. Solomon Northup (July 10, c. 1807/1808 — unknown; after 1857)
152. Samuel Bass (abolitionist) (August 1807 – August 30, 1853)
153. Edwin Epps (1808 – March 3, 1867)
154. William B. Travis (August 1, 1809 – March 6, 1836)
155. John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858)
156. Joseph Cinqué (c. 1814 – c. 1879)
157. Susanna Dickinson (c. 1814 – October 7, 1883)
158. Lewis Keseberg (May 26, 1814 – 1895)
159. Patsey (c. 1817–after 1863)
160. Isabella II (10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904)
161. Iwasaki Yatarō (January 9, 1835 – February 7, 1885)
162. Leopold II of Belgium (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909)
163. William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901)
164. Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919)
165. Wright brothers: Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912)
166. Alice Seeley Harris (24 May 1870 – 24 November 1970)
167. Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955)
168. William M. Hoge (13 January 1894 – 29 October 1979)
169. Roswell Garst (June 13, 1898 – November 4, 1977)
170. Amelia Boynton Robinson (August 18, 1905 – August 26, 2015)
171. Louis Washkansky (12 April 1912 – 21 December 1967)
172. Paul Tibbets (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007)
173. Jim Clark (sheriff) (September 17, 1922 – June 4, 2007)
174. Christiaan Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001)
175. Mary Kilbourne Matossian (July 9, 1930 – July 9, 2023)
176. Laurie Cabot (born March 6, 1933)
177. Colin Powell (April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021)
178. Tom Brokaw (born February 6, 1940)
179. Richard Slotkin (born November 8, 1942)
180. Newt Gingrich (born June 17, 1943)
181. Rudy Giuliani (born May 28, 1944)
182. Michael Douglas (born September 25, 1944)
183. Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946)
184. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950)
185. Sylvester James Gates (born December 15, 1950)
186. Timothy Brook (born January 6, 1951)
187. Patrick Hunt (archaeologist) (born 1951)
188. H. W. Brands (born August 7, 1953)
189. Richard Norton Smith (born October 2, 1953)
190. Anthony Bourdain (June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018)
191. Kelly DeVries (born December 23, 1956)
192. Brian Williams (born May 5, 1959)
193. Susanna Elm (born November 11, 1959)
194. Jeannette Walls (born April 21, 1960)
195. John Shea (born 9 May 1960)
196. Mehmet Oz (born June 11, 1960)
197. David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960)
198. Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961)
199. Richard Machowicz (May 30, 1965 – January 2, 2017)
200. Bonnie Effros (born September 3, 1965)
201. Josh Brolin (born February 12, 1968)
202. Philip Daileader (born October 25, 1968)
203. Sean Combs (born November 4, 1969)
204. Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 21 July 1970)
205. Reza Aslan (born May 3, 1972)
206. Agnes Hsu-Tang (born 1972)
207. Michelle Trachtenberg (October 11, 1985 – February 26, 2025)
208. Ali S. Khan

The list below features notable religions and philosophies named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Witchcraft
2. Christianity
3. Islam
4. Protestantism
5. Wicca

The list below features notable supernatural beings named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. God
2. Devil
3. Satan
4. Allah
5. Inti
6. Huītzilōpōchtli

The list below features notable fictional characters named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Merlin
2. Lancelot
3. Chingachgook
4. Natty Bumppo
5. Magua
6. Tony Soprano

The list below features notable historical documents named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Bible
2. Book of Genesis
3. Rule of Saint Benedict (c. 530)
4. Quran (AD 610–632)
5. Ecclesiastical History of the English People (about AD 731)
6. The Travels of Marco Polo (c. 1300)
7. Common Sense (January 10, 1776)
8. United States Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
9. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)
10. Pinckney’s Treaty (signed on October 27, 1795)
11. Emancipation Proclamation (published on January 1, 1863)
12. Heart of Darkness (1899)
13. The Da Vinci Code (March 18, 2003)

The list below features notable court cases named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. United States v. The Amistad (Decided March 9, 1841)

The list below features notable historical cities named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. London (settled by Romans AD 47)
2. Venice
3. Kilwa Kisiwani (built 9th century)
4. Great Zimbabwe (major construction on the city began in the 11th century until the 15th century)
5. Tenochtitlan (founded 1325)
6. Jamestown (established May 14, 1607)
7. Plymouth, Massachusetts (settled 1620)
8. New Amsterdam (settled 1624); became New York City (renamed September 8, 1664)
9. Boston (settled 1625)
10. Salem, Massachusetts (settled 1626)

The list below features notable historical building projects named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Stonehenge
2. Great Pyramid of Giza
3. Great Wall of China
4. Aqua Claudia
5. Colosseum
6. Church of the Holy Sepulchre
7. Walls of Constantinople
8. Hagia Sophia
9. Church of Saint George, Lalibela (dated to the late 12th or early 13th century AD)
10. University of Timbuktu
11. Forbidden City (constructed from 1406 to 1420)
12. Taj Mahal
13. Alamo Mission (built in 1718)
14. Lomboko
15. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
16. Alaska Highway

The list below features notable historical works of art named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Vitruvian Man (dated to c. 1490)
2. David (Michelangelo) (created from 1501 to 1504)
3. The Creation of Adam (painted 1508–1512)

The list below features notable vehicles named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Nuestra Señora de la Concepción
2. Mayflower (maiden voyage occurred before 1609)
3. HMS Endeavour (launched in 1764)
4. La Amistad (acquired Pre-June 1839)
5. USS Maine (launched 18 November 1890)
6. RMS Titanic (launched 31 May 1911)
7. Enola Gay (manufactured 18 May 1945)

The list below features notable historical events named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC) (April 16, 1457 BC)
2. Sack of Rome (410) (24 August 410 AD)
3. Sack of Rome (455) (2–16 June 455)
4. Fall of the Western Roman Empire
5. Early Middle Ages
6. Nika riots (January 532 AD)
7. Plague of Justinian (AD 541–549)
8. Battle of the River Garonne (732)
9. Battle of Tours (10 October 732)
10. Massacre of Verden (October 782)
11. Sack of Lindisfarne (8 June 793)
12. Peace and Truce of God
13. Crusades (1095–1291)
14. First Crusade (15 August 1096 – 12 August 1099)
15. Siege of Jerusalem (1099) (7 June 1099 – 15 July 1099)
16. Second Crusade (1147–1149)
17. Third Crusade (1189–1192)
18. Fourth Crusade (1202–1204)
19. Siege of Zhongdu (1213–31 May 1215)
20. Fifth Crusade (September 1217 – August 29, 1221)
21. Sixth Crusade (1228–1229)
22. Seventh Crusade (1248–1254)
23. Eighth Crusade (1270)
24. Lord Edward’s crusade (1271 – May 1272)
25. Little Ice Age (about 1300 to about 1850)
26. Siege of Caffa (1343–1344, 1345–1347)
27. Black Death (1346–1353)
28. Strasbourg massacre (14 February 1349)
29. Renaissance
30. Fall of Constantinople (6 April – 29 May 1453)
31. Scientific Revolution (1543 or 1572 – 1687)
32. Myth of the First Thanksgiving (1621)
33. Salem witch trials (February 1692 – May 1693)
34. Industrial Revolution
35. Age of Enlightenment
36. Siege of Fort William Henry (3–9 August 1757)
37. American Revolution (1765–1783)
38. Pine Tree Riot (April 14, 1772)
39. 1775–1782 North American smallpox epidemic
40. Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)
41. Battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776)
42. Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777)
43. Valley Forge (December 19, 1777 – June 19, 1778)
44. Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780)
45. Battle of Cowpens (January 17, 1781)
46. Second Great Awakening (c. 1790–1840)
47. Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836)
48. Siege of the Alamo (February 23  – March 6, 1836)
49. Donner Party (1846–1847)
50. 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak (1854)
51. Great Stink (July and August 1858)
52. American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865)
53. Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898)
54. World War I (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918)
55. World War II (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945)
56. Civil rights movement (May 17, 1954 – April 11, 1968)
57. Human mission to Mars (?)

The list below features notable historical diseases named in my favorite documentaries in alphabetical order.  You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

1. Cholera
2. Dysentery
3. Plague (disease)
   • Bubonic plague
   • Pneumonic plague
   • Septicemic plague
4. Smallpox

Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What are your favorite movies and documentaries for teaching history?

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Historical Evidence

For more information, please see these companion books to some of the above listed movies and documentaries:

Baker, Kevin.  America The Story of Us: An Illustrated History.  History, 2010.

Baker, Kevin, Arie Kaplan, William Messner-Loeb, Justin Peniston, Charles Soule.  MANKIND: The Story of All of Us Volume 2 (MANKIND STORY OF ALL OF US TP).  Zenescope, 2012.

Brock, Shawn and Joan Hilty, eds.  MANKIND: The Story of All of Us Volume 1 (MANKIND STORY OF ALL OF US TP).  Zenescope, 2012.

Toler PhD, Pamela D.  Mankind: The Story of All Of Us.  Running Press Adult, 2012.

The featured image in this article, a photograph of Dr. Zar in a classroom taken by one of his students on August 26, 2024, is under the copyright of Dr. Zar and this website.