Notes on the film Brave Heart

Note: This article comes from Douban, and the copyright belongs to the author. Because it is well written, I will share it with you.

The History Behind the Movie Brave Heart

"Freedom!" William wallace's dying cry, starting with the film 1995, shocked the hearts of many viewers. Now let's compare the Scottish War of Independence in movies and history.

Historical background

Here is a historical fact that is not mentioned in the film. As early as the reign of England's father Henry III Edward I of England, England and Scotland were closely related because of the marriage between the royal families. During this long time, England and Scotland basically got along well. Until 1286, King Alexander III of Scotland fell off a cliff and died. Only then did the Scots discover that there was only one 6-year-old girl of Norwegian descent among their legal heirs-Princess Margaret's mother was the daughter of Alexander III and her father was King Eric II of Norway. However, in 1290, Princess Margaret, the sole heir of the royal family, also died of illness. At this point, the Scottish royal family fell, and Scottish lords and nobles immediately began to compete for the throne. William fraser, an influential bishop in Scotland, remembered the king of England who was originally related to the Scottish royal family by marriage, so he wrote to Edward I of England, then king of England, asking him to rule on behalf of the new heir to the throne, so the ambitious king of England, Edward I of England, had the reason to blatantly interfere in Scotland's internal affairs. This English King Edward I of England is the sinister villain "Edward Long Legs" in the movie.

There were many gangs in Scotland at that time, and the most competitive candidate for the new king was of course the most powerful old Scottish hereditary aristocrat Roibert Briuis, who was appointed as the heir to the throne by former Scottish King Alexander II. Longlegs obviously won't let such a natural candidate sit on the throne, so he chose john barry Orr, whose power is far less than that of Roibert Briuis, as king. Think about it. Barriol, who had no hope of getting the throne, was put on the throne. Shouldn't he be grateful and obedient to Long Legs? However, this abacus was completely wrong: Long-legged went to war with France shortly after the new king came to power, but the new king of Scotland was very disdainful of Long-legged's "order" for reinforcements, and instead signed a peace treaty with the king of France! Angry Long Legs immediately made a hasty truce with France and turned the army into Scotland. 1At the end of March, 296, British Edward I of England led troops to capture the Scottish commercial town of Beric. At the end of April, Barriol's 40,000 troops were wiped out by British troops led by John de Valene in Dunbar, and Barriol surrendered. He and more than 2000 Scottish dignitaries were imprisoned. Later, Longlegs claimed to be the ruler of Scotland, and made John de Wallenne the governor to lead the army commander of Scotland. At the same time, he sent a large number of English nobles to Scotland as local officials, and Scotland was equivalent to national subjugation. The unbearable Scots rose up and rebelled, so there was a story in the movie.

Legend has it that william wallace is 2 meters tall and weighs nearly 300 Jin. When he waved his sword on the battlefield, everyone fell! Presumably, in the case of widespread malnutrition among Scots, william wallace's gesture should be tantamount to falling from the sky. Some people say that Wallace's hair is long and white, and he has a lot of thick beards ... why is it far from what Mel Gibson looks like in the movie, but closer to his playmates there? William's sword is the only relic behind him, and it is still enshrined in the Stirling Memorial Hall. This sword is 1.5 meters long and weighs nearly 40 kilograms, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people. It also proves from the side that the above legend may not be false. William wallace's childhood growth experience is unfounded, and even the date of birth is unknown. He can only infer from his name that his ancestors may have immigrated from Wales, because Wallace and Walensis have the same meaning. According to legend, Wallace's father and brother died at the hands of British knight Feinik for resisting British rule. Later, this gentleman was ambushed and killed by Wallace and his partner at the corner of Lawton Mountain. After Wallace's revenge, he got together with his uncle, uncle, cousin and other people, as well as some vagrants and mountain thieves who came to vote for him, and became the original lineup of the "Rebel Army", with a scale of only 100. Wallace became the leader of this small guerrilla group, and the reason may be related to his amazing body. Long legs appointed horsley Ge, the county magistrate of Lanak County, to be responsible for cracking down on bandits. In order to attract Wallace, he kidnapped Wallace's fiancee, brutally killed her, and publicly desecrated her body, which was extremely violent. Unexpectedly, the woman was the daughter of the local patriarch, which aroused public outrage. Wallace led his troops to join hands with her relatives and friends and attacked Lanark at night, killing more than 200 British troops. Wallace even took the head of the county magistrate to heaven to sacrifice his girlfriend's soul. The battle of Lanark made Wallace famous, and the uprising team quickly expanded to more than 3 thousand people.

Battle of stirling

The Battle of Stirling depicted in the film is the first legion battle in which william wallace participated. The British commander was the "number one hero" in the Battle of Dunbar. Starting from Roxburg, he assembled the British defenders of Dundee and Stirling, with 1 0,000 heavy riding and nearly 20,000 heavy steps as the main force, and 1 0,000 light riding and hundreds of long archers as the auxiliary brigades. The main forces of the Soviet Union were 6,000 infantry and 200 heavy cavalry led by Mooney, more than/kloc-0,000 infantry and a small number of light cavalry led by Wallace, and an unknown number of local villagers came to help. Although the Soviet army has no obvious disadvantage in strength comparison, in terms of soldiers' quality and equipment, apart from the fact that the North Army brought by Monny is somewhat regular, the army of William and others can indeed be described as a "rabble": farmers, rattlesnakes, vagrants and landlords have all kinds of private armed forces. Most of the weapons are home-made rough spears and rough swords, and many people may imitate hoes, rakes, sticks and swords. But what is puzzling is that the battle of Stirling won precisely the command and dispatch! The British and Soviet armies confronted each other across the Foss River, with the British in the south and the Soviet in the north. The British attacked first, but there was only a small bridge on the Fox River ... In fact, there were several places on the river where cavalry could wade. Those knights refused to get into the water, preferring to cross the bridge in a crowded way. After crossing the bridge, the British army fell into the soft and low-lying mud on the river bank, and the formation was in chaos. The Scottish army took the opportunity to kill the river bank from a height. After the British army crossed the river, the knights took the most risky strategy after being attacked: breaking away from the cooperation of the infantry and fighting the impact (want to take the lead? ), as a result, countless well-equipped and well-trained knights died in the Scottish spear sea in vain. The on-site command of the British army was completely out of control. When the troops crossing the river were squeezed to retreat, the remaining British troops on the south bank were ready to cross the river for support, and a small number of cavalry who fled from the spear sea rushed back to their positions on the south bank desperately ... The British troops trampled on each other and collided with each other, and countless people were trampled to death and fell into the river. As a result, the wooden bridge collapsed in chaos, and the British army trapped on the north shore was completely desperate. They jumped into the river and went crazy. Finally, hundreds of heavy cavalry and thousands of infantry (including 300 longbowmen) donated their bodies to the river beach, and countless bodies of British soldiers sank or floated in the water. What about Lord Warren, who was all-powerful in the Battle of Dunbar? Before the comrades trapped on the north bank of the fox river died completely, the gentleman turned his horse's head and ran away like a rabbit! He didn't even dare to stay in Scotland for a minute. He worked hard for more than ten days until he ran to Yorkshire, England. The battle fully embodies Wallace and Moni's excellent command ability: if the British troops crossing the river are attacked prematurely and the enemy forces crossing the river are not many, they can quickly retreat to the south bank, and then take advantage of the archer's long range to hedge against the Scottish soldiers by the river, and the consequences are unimaginable; If the attack is too late, the British army after crossing the river will soon complete the battle with rich battlefield experience. Those Scottish troops who are not strictly trained and poorly equipped will never be cheap.

Therefore, this is really a typical "pinch-time" campaign in the history of the war to catch fighters! Unfortunately, such a classic battle, which is full of drama and fully embodies the importance of battlefield command art and fighter grasp, has turned into a well-organized and unremarkable plain positional war in the movie.

The Battle of Stirling took place in September 1297+0 1. On this day, poorly equipped and poorly trained peasant soldiers defeated the powerful Royal British Army! The unique meaning of "9. 1 1" may be the reason why some terrorists who call themselves "rebels" can't put it down, and this day was once again recognized by bin Laden as a disaster day for the powerful in previous years.

Andrew Monney, a Scottish aristocrat, was the most staunch uprising force among the aristocrats at that time, and his power and connections were second only to Roibert Briuis. In fact, the front of the British army in the Battle of Sterling refers to Wallace's army. When Moni heard the news, he came from the north to meet them. Compared with other nobles who retreated, surrendered and have it both ways, Moni was quite loyal, and the first commander of the Scottish army in this battle was actually Andrew Moni, not Wallace! Unfortunately, Moni was killed in the battle, and his troops were defeated by william wallace, who later became the backbone of Wallace's troops. In the film, the director somehow portrays Mooney as a villain who forgets profit and righteousness, and then escapes from the Battle of Falcock, leading to the defeat of Wallace's army (wronged! It snows in June! )。

How much the British lost in the Battle of Stirling is not recorded in detail. However, after the battle, the British army was completely unarmed in Dundee and Stirling, and soon abandoned the city and surrendered. Dunbar and Beric also returned to the hands of the Scots. According to this estimate, this guy Wallener may have mobilized all the troops stationed in Dundee and Stirling in order to "play a big game of chess" in Stirling, so he will run back to York if he doesn't play well. Wallace began to nail down the British strongholds in Scotland one by one, and the British troops stationed in Scotland fled one after another, and all the pro-British Scottish nobles were frightened. Wallace was acclaimed as the "protector of the country" and enlisted in the name of King Barriol (all the conscription documents and mobilization orders were marked as "in the name of King john barry Orr"), which was very effective for the nobles, so Scotland was temporarily unified. 1From the end of June 2997 to the end of1/kloc-0 10, Scots who aimed at revenge began to harass British territory. Residents in rural areas of northern England fled their homes in large numbers, and the fleeing people flooded into castles and walled towns all over the country. Northumberland, Newcastle, cambria, Durham and other places are in a hurry, and the documents requesting military assistance are filled with kings.

Another "battle of the plains" in the film, the battle of Falkirk, is the battle of long legs. 1298 spring, after John de Waloen's counterattack against Scotland became a mere formality, unbearable long legs assembled an army of 2000 cavalry, 1000 infantry and hundreds of long archers, which was almost all that Britain had left at that time. In order to relieve worries, Long Leg signed a two-year peace treaty with his old enemy, King Philip IV of France.

1June 298, British troops entered Scotland. On July 22, they finally met the main force of the Scottish army in Falcock. William Wallace joined forces with the nobles Kanye and Stuart to lead 1 0,000 infantry and 1 0,000 cavalry to meet the enemy. In order to avoid being attacked before and after, the Scottish army turned its back to the jungle. In front of the position was a "speed bump" arranged by Wallace and others, that is, many large and small pits were dug in the original mud, and the battle-hardened "Wallace's own veteran" was arranged at the forefront, equipped with extended spears; On the left and right are cavalry and archers. Behind the cavalry and archers is a platoon leader, followed by armored infantry equipped with shields and machetes, so that even if someone can break through the spear array, they will definitely die by the sword. Obviously Wallace is in defensive formation. There seems to be no difference in strength between the two sides. The equipment, training and morale of the Scottish army have made greater progress during the Buestrin War. Moreover, the Scottish army has been resting for a long time, and the British army from afar seems to have the advantage of "getting earlier and earlier" ... Generally speaking, from the overall strength, the victory is at least greater than the battle of bicester Woods. But the British command is long legs this time!

Drawing lessons from the defeat in the Battle of Stirling caused by rashness, the calm King Edward personally led the army to rush in front of the front line and stood in front of the front line without obeying rashness! The British army stopped at a distance of about 200 meters from the Soviet army, looking at Wallace's dense formation, with an imperceptible smile on his long legs ... The British cavalry easily repelled the Soviet cavalry on the left and right wings with only one round of impact, and this ending was as early as Wallace expected. The central infantry phalanx of the Scottish army did not move and was ready to fight. However, the British cavalry suddenly withdrew, and then hundreds of long archers marched in front of the army. Long legs commanded, the position of the Scottish army suddenly rained down! The range of more than 200 meters just covered the front of the Scottish infantry phalanx, and the falling arrow easily penetrated the shields and armor of Scottish soldiers with great potential energy. Wallace was obviously unprepared for this sudden outbreak (playing the role of Indiana Jones) because the British longbowmen did not perform well in the Battle of Stirling or in previous battles. Seeing that the veterans with the strongest fighting capacity in the front row of the position fell one after another, Wallace, who was deeply troubled, began to order the phalanx to retreat steadily, but every time the Soviet army took a step back, the British army took a step forward, so that the front of the Soviet position was always within the range of the long archers. Some irrepressible Scottish soldiers tried to get away from their positions and rushed to the British army, but the distance of 200 meters was too far for them. Almost none of these soldiers really died in a "heroic battle". It's not terrible to die in battle, but it's sad to be shot! After a period of stalemate, william wallace finally realized that this kind of guard and confrontation was tantamount to chronic suicide, and it was obviously not so easy for the British army to shoot without fail. Wallace gave the order of all-out war. In fact, if he had tried his best to fight hand to hand, the situation might have been better. But at this time, there are not many veterans with the strongest fighting capacity under his command, and this chilling suffering has pushed the morale and confidence of soldiers to the lowest point. What is even more frightening is the "speed bump" between the two armies. The muddy ground and potholes that were originally intended to offset the impact of the British army have now become the nightmare of the Scottish soldiers who charged. Under the command of Long Legs, the long archers of the British army quickly retreated to the back of the battle formation, and the spearmen met the enemy with dense gun arrays (the gun array laid by Long Legs was no different from Wallace's earlier formation, so it was easy to defend but difficult to attack), and countless Scottish soldiers braved the rain of arrows, stepped over the mud and ran to the spears of the British army ... The end of this battle was: john stewart, a Scottish nobleman, died; Conye escaped because his cavalry was defeated at the beginning and failed early; With his amazing martial arts, william wallace killed dozens of people and finally broke through and became a legend ... but not many people have this kind of kung fu and luck. Nearly 9000 Scottish soldiers died in this land. After the battle, William lost the support of the nobles and had to return to his career as a jungle guerrilla. Until his death, he could not organize such a large-scale army.

Long legs hacked Scotland five times in the following years, and finally made the public resistance almost disappear from the Scottish nobles, and won them the title of "Hammer of Scotland".

1305 In August, william wallace was arrested by John Mentis, a Scottish aristocrat who was pro-British, and exchanged the position of county magistrate of Deng Baden from the British. In this film, the great directors once again turned history upside down and blamed william wallace's arrest on Roibert Briuis's father, who had actually died for more than a year.

On August 23rd, Wallace was brutally executed in a blacksmith's shop outside London. His head was hung on the London Bridge, and his limbs were sent to Newcastle, Beric, Aberdeen and Perth, where he was hung on a tower to show the public the "shaking platform".

Two years later, Long Leg died on his sixth expedition to Scotland. Last words in the future, every time you conquer Scotland, you must take your ashes to the front to lead the troops, "in order to see Scotland's complete surrender with your own eyes."

13 14, Edward II, the son of Edward Long Legs, led an army to conquer Scotland with his father's ashes, but was defeated by Roibert Briuis in Bannockburn. Scotland won its independence, and Long Legs' last wish finally came true. ...

Inventory:

Edward I of England: "Scottish Hammer" and "Long Legs". There is no particularly profound reason to call him "Long Legs". The only reason is that his legs are so long that they look a little out of tune. One of the most powerful monarchs of the Plantagenet Dynasty in England, he lost his wife in middle age, his son failed to live up to expectations, and his family came down, but his martial arts were quite good. During Falkirk's March, he camped in the wilderness with the soldiers, and his ribs were accidentally broken by a horse at night. In order not to affect the morale of the army, he kept the injury secret, but also endured the pain and personally went to the battlefield to command. As a result, he actually played a "textbook" class battle example of multi-arms joint operations in the cold weapon era! The fortitude of his character is evident. However, the delay in treatment left the root of the disease and laid the groundwork for the later journey of the disease.

Edward II: Weak and hopeless homosexual. After the death of Long Legs, Edward II ascended the throne and ignored political affairs all day. His eccentric personality and "special hobbies" make people inside and outside the court look down on him. After the defeat of Bannockburn, his reputation fell to the bottom. Before long, he was overthrown by his wife, tortured to death, and there was no intercessor around him.

Isabella: French wolf girl. Daughter of King Philip IV of France. In order to temporarily ease the conflict with France, Lang Laegs married the French princess for his son. Because of this political marriage, Long Leg finally got a "peace agreement" with France, so that Long Leg could push the fallen soldiers to Scotland without hesitation. It is said that Isabella is handsome, talented and extremely arrogant, but Edward II is gay and has no interest in women, which makes the contradiction between husband and wife intensified. Long legs were angry at the "special situation" of their son when he was alive, but there was nothing they could do. After Long Legs died, the princess found a way to escape to her mother's house and led a French army all the way back to London the next year, but no one could stop her. Because of the deep resentment accumulated over the years, the princess ordered the red-hot iron bar to be inserted into Edward II's anus and tortured him to death. During the execution, screams could be heard miles away, and the scene was so cruel that even the executioner turned his head and dared not face it. -How angry a woman is, how horrible her actions are. ?

Edward III: It is impossible to know whether the son of the French princess Isabella is the son of Edward II, so "Edward III" is just his title when he ascended the throne. Some people who study history think that he can't be the parent-child of Edward II, so they all regard Edward II as the last monarch of the Plantagenet Dynasty. Is "Edward III" a descendant of "Plantagenet Dynasty"? Even if it is not, as long as "Fa wolf girl" says he is, no one will dare to say "no" at that time! After Edward II was killed, little Edward was crowned the throne by his mother, and the actual regime has been in the hands of his mother for nearly ten years. Until little Edward grew up, one day he finally figured out his addiction to leading the country, so he launched a soft cabinet ... But unlike those bloody political struggles in history, Edward III still cared about her after her mother was forced out of politics, and did not go too far except forbidding her to participate in politics. Later, when the French king died, Edward III "suddenly remembered" that his mother was a French princess, so "theoretically" he also had the right to inherit the French throne, and it was unforgivable to give up his "due rights", so he "naturally" put forward his own ideas, so … so he became the initiator of the "Hundred Years' War between Britain and France".

Roibert Briuis: No matter the Battle of Stirling or the Battle of Fogg, Longlegs didn't make much noise when he conquered Scotland several times. He also signed more than N agreements with Britain, making him a "dutiful and obedient citizen" ... But as soon as Long Legs closed their eyes, Roibert Briuis immediately tore the stack of "agreements" in his hand in half, raised the flag and sent troops, and Bannockburn won the first world war. Compared with william wallace's stubbornness and unyielding behavior (of course, most people admire this character, including me), Roibert Briuis has a long-term strategic vision and a practical political mind (Scottish version).

About the title: It is said that after Roibert Briuis's death, one of his followers sealed his heart in a tin can and wanted to bury it in the holy land. When passing through Spain, I happened to meet the invasion of Muslim troops, so I joined the Anti-Japanese War without hesitation. Just when I was about to win, I finally fell on the battlefield and died with Roibert Briuis's heart in my arms. Poets of later generations often read this joke, calling Roibert Briuis's heart a brave heart, which means that people can become warriors as long as they have a brave heart (spirit and faith). So ... the movie title Braveheart actually comes from this allusion. Brave Heart refers to Roibert Briuis's heart, not william wallace. ...