Duels of History is a documentary series which premiered in 2022. In 2023, it was shown on French and German television (arte). There are 10 episodes.
Here is some basic information about this series:
** Directors: Olivier Carpentier and Nicolas Brénéol
** Narration: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 10 x 12 minutes = 120 minutes
Here are the titles of the 10 episodes:
# 01. Malinche VS. Moctezuma
# 02. Angela Davis VS. Ronald Reagan
# 03. Rosa Luxembourg VS. Friedrich Ebert
# 04. Marie Antoinette VS. Maximilien Robespierre
# 05. Camille Claudel VS. Auguste Rodin
# 06. Marie Curie VS. Jeanne Langevin
# 07. Jiang Qing VS. Deng Xiaoping
# 08. Lucrezia Borgia VS. Pope Alexander VI
# 09. Billie Jean King VS. Bobby Riggs
# 10. Messalina VS. Agrippina
The ten duels cover different historical periods, from ancient Rome until the 20th century:
** Episode # 10 is set in ancient Rome during the first century AD
** Episodes # 1 and # 8 are set in the 16th century
** Episode # 4 is set in the 18th century
** The other six episodes are set in the 20th century
In most episodes, we have a woman facing a man. But in two episodes, two women are facing each other:
** In episode # 6, Marie Curie is facing Jeanne Langevin
** In episode # 10, Messalina is facing Agrippina
The historical duels are illustrated by modern drawings and old photographs.
Some historical moments are illustrated by clips from old movies or television series.
Two examples:
Episode # 3 (Rosa Luxembourg VS. Friedrich Ebert) is illustrated by clips from an old German movie. In this clip, the characters speak German.
Episode # 10 (Messalina VS. Agrippina) is illustrated by clips from the British television series I Claudius.
The directors have used a version which is dubbed in French.
In the original version, the characters speak English. In antiquity, Messalina and Agrippina spoke Latin.
Each episode runs for ca. 12 minutes. This does not seem like much time for each case, but the pace is quick, and the basic facts about each duel are included.
The directors of this series have managed to present a lot of information about these duels in a short time.
They deserve credit for a job well-done.
As far as I can tell, most facts presented in this series are relevant and correct. But I noticed three flaws.
The first flaw
In episode # 3 (Rosa Luxembourg VS. Friedrich Ebert), the narrator mentions the armistice of World War One which was signed on 11 November 1918.
According to the narrator, this event took place in Rethonde, a commune in northern France.
This is not true.
Rethonde is sometimes associated with the signing of the armistice which ended World War One in 1918, but the actual signing of the armistice took place on the other side of the river Aisne in the commune of Compiègne.
It is a well-known fact that the armistice was signed in the commune of Compiègne.
Why do the directors of this series not know this fact? Why do they mention the neighbouring commune Rethonde instead of the correct commune?
The second flaw
In episode # 7 (Jiang Qing VS. Deng Xiaoping), the narrator mentions the student demonstration which took place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing from 15 April to 4 June 1989.
Regarding the end of the demonstration, the narrator says:
“… when students peacefully challenged the dictatorship in 1989 in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, it was he, Deng Xiaoping, who ordered the army to fire at the crowd, killing thousands in just a short time.”
What we have here is the standard western version of how the demonstration ended: the massacre in Tiananmen Square.
But this version is not true. It is not supported by the evidence available. It is, in fact, contradicted by the evidence available.
When the army moved into the square on one side, they allowed the students to leave on the other side. There was no massacre in Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989.
Since 1989, several reporters have tried to present this basic fact, but the standard western version refuses to go away. It appears over and over.
The number of students killed is counted in hundreds or in thousands, but the keyword “massacre” is always used.
It is sad that the directors of this series decided to follow the standard western version of this historical moment.
The third flaw
In episode # 9 (Billie Jean King VS. Bobby Riggs), the narrator talks about the famous Battle of the Sexes.
What the narrator says is relevant and true, but one significant detail is never mentioned.
The famous match took place in 1973. Many years later, a rumour about the match began to circulate:
** It was fixed
** It was rigged
Bobby Riggs was addicted to gambling. He owed a lot of money to the mafia. One way to solve this problem was to throw a match which he was likely to win.
According to the rumour, Bobby threw the game in order to clear his debt to the mafia.
While this rumour has never been confirmed, it should not be dismissed. It should not be ignored. It deserves to be considered.
Since Riggs was a gambler. the rumour is not impossible.
It may well be true.
A report about the famous tennis match should at least mention the suspicion that it was fixed. Even if the suspicion is not accepted as true, it deserves to be mentioned.
It is odd that the directors of this series do not mention this rumour in their account of the famous match.
Conclusion
Duels of History is an interesting series. I like it and I want to give it a good rating. But as you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored.
I have to remove one star because of these flaws. I think this series deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent)
REFERENCES
# 1. Regarding Tiananmen Square 1989
Jay Matthews
“The Myth of Tiananmen”
Columbia Journalism Review
September-October 1998
(republished 4 June 2010)
Jim Mann
“Debunking the myths behind Tiananmen crisis”
Los Angeles Times
02 June 1999
Richard Roth
“There was no Tiananmen Square massacre”
CBS News
04 June 2009
Malcolm Moore
“Wikileaks: no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square, cables claim”
The Telegraph
04 June 2011
Brian Becker
“Tiananmen: The massacre that wasn’t”
Liberation
04 June 2021 (first published in 2014)
CCHS
“Myths of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre”
Centre for Hegemonic Studies
05 June 2023
Nury Vittachi
“How psy-ops warriors fooled me about Tiananmen Square: A warning”
Pearls and Irritations
07 June 2023
# 2. Regarding the Battle of the Sexes
Gio Benitez
“Billie Jean King’s Battle of the Sexes win reportedly rigged”
ABC News
27 August 2013
Jon Swaine
“Battle of the Sexes match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King a mafia fix”
Sydney Morning Herald
28 August 2013
Eliana Dockterman
“The True Story Behind the Battle of the Sexes Movie”
Time
22 September 2017
*****
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