10 War Shows With the Most Realistic Battle Scenes, Ranked

When it comes to depicting war on the big or small screen, realism is often an asset. Historians and enthusiasts will endlessly critique a film for its realism, especially if it’s bad, and rightfully so. If you’re going to make a war film or TV show, you should probably do quite a lot of research and ensure you’re honoring the dead with your portrayal of the conflict, after all. This is especially true when it comes to battle sequences, as one needs to reflect the anxiety and horror that combatants felt while actively engaged.

In the world of television, there have been lots of war-themed TV shows that have tried and failed to depict the horrors of war, many of which just couldn’t be bothered to be realistic enough. This is kind of a disservice, but fortunately, it is balanced out by a collection of the best, which do a pretty good job of portraying combat. Though there are obviously some artistic liberties taken for entertainment value, for the most part, these war TV shows do some good work in realism when it comes to their battle scenes.

10

‘Tour of Duty’ (1987–1990)

Tour of Duty is a series that has been sadly forgotten and lost to the sands of time. This is kind of a shame, because it does a lot of things right. Now, it does make an honest effort to depict battle in as realistic a way as possible, but of course, sometimes this is limited by the filming technology available in the 80s and 90s, which wasn’t quite as advanced as current methods. Still, it really makes use of what it has. Set during the Vietnam War, the series follows a group of American soldiers in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam War was notorious for the usage of guerrilla warfare on behalf of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, often taking the American forces by surprise by setting traps and ambushes in the thickest parts of the jungle. Many such ambushes occur in this show, which can sneak up on the viewer without warning. While this is a realistic aspect in itself, the show also deals with the emotional toll of war, showing the conflict on soldiers’ faces as they are forced to make the decision to take another human life for the sake of their own, sometimes for the first time. This is an aspect of realism that many shows and movies don’t always touch on. It’s harrowing, and shows why exactly the Vietnam War was particularly horrible for everyone involved.

9

‘Turn: Washington’s Spies’ (2014–2017)

Turn: Washington’s Spies is set during the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire, and largely centers on the Culper Ring, America’s very first ring of spies. While the primary purpose of the show is espionage, the series does feature a few pretty famous battle sequences, including the Battle of Monmouth, which became notorious for its brutality. At the time, firearms weren’t nearly as advanced as they are now, meaning enemy soldiers would line up in ranks, stand in place, and take turns firing at each other.

This sounds like pure insanity, but it was done for good reason, as radios didn’t exist either, so the lines allowed commanders to control their ranks, especially when the battlefield becomes choked with smoke from the gunpowder. In spite of this relatively boring means of combat, it is portrayed pretty well in this show, not only depicting the damage musket balls and cannonballs could inflict upon the human body, but also dealing heavily with the tactics used by both the Americans and the British. There are more than a few liberties taken to make things more exciting, but this is to be expected, after all.

8

‘The Long Road Home’ (2017)

The Long Road Home is a miniseries kind of unheard of, but it’s definitely worth a watch, nonetheless. The story takes place during the early years of the Iraq War, specifically during the Siege of Sadr City in 2004. This prolonged engagement lasted four long years and was a frequent site of death and injury for all the armed forces involved in the combat. Of course, the main characters are Americans, with it being an American show and all.

While some lauded the show for feeling a bit like propaganda at times, overall, critics loved how it showed the audience the logistical side of things, meaning the planning phases and the actual tactics involved. This helps it feel more grounded and adds to the realism factor. Of course, when it comes to actual combat, it makes sure to be just as realistic, as well. While this show could have done a lot better, for the most part, it does a lot of things right in the way it exhibits modern combat.

7

‘Das Boot’ (2018)

The original 1981 film Das Boot was acclaimed for its harsh realism, showing how brutal life was on a German U-boat and the treacherous conditions of submarine life. The 2018 series was also received pretty well in this regard, albeit not quite to the same extent. While the original Das Boot movie reigns supreme, the show also does a pretty good job at letting the audience feel the claustrophobia of combat on a submarine.

The combat in this series is truly terrifying due to the implications of being on a submarine. Not only are the crew confined to tight quarters and are oftentimes completely alone, but they are also buried beneath several tonnes of water, meaning they have no means of retreat or escape if things go wrong. But this is also what’s so great about it, because the show lets the audience know that life at sea during the Second World War was just as bad as the war on land, and that there were a bunch of different ways one could die. It’s frightening, but also painfully realistic.

6

‘Rome’ (2005–2007)

Rome broke a lot of boundaries when it was first released. This was a show that was completely unafraid to depict the gore and the carnage of combat, especially in its second season as it moved to cover Caesar’s Civil War in Egypt during the First Century BCE. The battles depicted in this war series are incredibly intense, showing the desperate struggle for survival during wartime, along with the horrid ways in which people died.

Blood litters the ground and gore flies through the area—it’s quite shocking, really. And yet, this is what helps the show stand out as being one of the more realistic ones. Anyone who’s been in an active war zone can attest to the fact that it certainly isn’t pretty, which is a part of war that a lot of media deliberately decides not to cover. Rome is a show that went there, showing the realism of ancient warfare and of battle to an astonishing degree.

5

‘The Last Kingdom’ (2015–2022)

Right off the bat, The Last Kingdom lets its audience know that the combat sequences are going to be rough. The very first episode features a pretty sizable battle sequence, depicting a lot of blood and gore as a result of the Medieval weaponry used in the conflict between the Anglo-Saxon realms and the Vikings. Medieval combat like this isn’t like combat with firearms—it’s more up close and personal. It’s dirty, rough, and taxing for all parties involved.

The numerous battles that take place over the course of the series are extremely chaotic, even if many of them are on a smaller scale. Don’t expect any censorship either. People get impaled, disemboweled, and decapitated pretty frequently, and the show doesn’t cut away for any of it. For this reason, it’s easy to say that the battles in the series are actually pretty realistic. Most have a picturesque vision of Medieval knights in their heads, involving chivalry and shining armour, but this series establishes the truth that no, Medieval combat was filthy, gruelling work.

4

‘Barbarians’ (2020–2022)

Netflix’s Barbarians is set in the early First Century CE, and features one of the earlier conflicts between the Roman Empire and the Teutonic Tribes of Central Europe. The Teutons were often at each other’s throats, but when confronted with the superior numbers and organized tactics of the Roman Empire, they put their differences aside to crush the invaders, really giving the Romans a hard time in their attempted conquests.

Famously, Barbarians features the climactic Battle of Teutoburg Forest, a decisive battle which left the Romans sorely defeated, something that their ranks didn’t experience often. This battle sequence was acclaimed for its accuracy, depicting how the Teutons used tactics that the Romans did not expect or were unfamiliar with, which largely contributed to their harrowing defeat. The violence is gruesome, and the chaos of the battle is portrayed with near-perfection, with a lot of thought going towards historical accuracy, although there are, of course, some liberties taken.

3

‘Generation Kill’ (2008)

Generation Kill is set during the Iraq War, and follows the true experiences of war correspondent Evan Wright as he travels with a group of American soldiers during the American Invasion. This miniseries actually came out while the war was still going on, so it was kind of a politically sensitive series at the time. Evan Wright made sure to document his experiences without sugar-coating anything, so the show, of course, wanted to emulate that as closely as possible.

Generation Kill is pretty eye-opening as it shows what exactly happened during the Iraq War, much of which was censored or omitted by many news outlets. It was no great crusade, it was Hell on Earth, and the showrunners wanted everyone to know it. The chaos, the panic, and the loudness of modern combat are shown in full force, and let the audience feel what it was like for Wright and the soldiers he accompanied. It was a bleak, yet honest portrayal of the Iraq War, one that is still fresh in the minds of many veterans.

2

‘The Pacific’ (2010)

The Pacific is set during World War II, setting its sights on the Pacific Theater rather than the war in Europe. The Pacific Theater was a totally different ballgame, as the primary enemy fought by the Allied forces was the Japanese Empire, which knew their surrounding islands well, and used the thick jungles to their advantage. Like its companion series, Band of Brothers, The Pacific takes audiences through some of the most important battles of the Pacific War, from Peleliu to Okinawa.

The Japanese forces are no strangers to the use of guerrilla warfare, and make sure to use it to their advantage. Even though it is set in the same universe as Band of Brothers, it feels so drastically different, yet almost equally realistic. The horrors of war are nothing to ignore in this show, as it’s kind of hard to ignore the panic and the fear of active combat, as well as the common maneuvers used by American forces. In the end, while not quite as good as its predecessor, The Pacific still delivers in the realism department.

1

‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)

Band of Brothers is a miniseries created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who conceived of the idea following the commercial success of their 1998 World War II movie, Saving Private Ryan. This miniseries focuses specifically on the Western Front of the war and features all the most pivotal and most famous moments, from the D-Day landings at Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge. The protagonists are, of course, the American ground forces, who go through Hell and back as the vice slowly closes around the Third Reich.

Band of Brothers is easily the greatest war-themed TV show of all time, due to multiple factors. For one, it nailed the aspect of brotherhood among platoons, which was a crucial part of the Allied effort to win. This unifying bond ensured the Allies looked out for each other and kept going until the end. But apart from that, the action is thrilling and frantic, as well as unashamedly brutal. While there are some things that are historically inaccurate, nothing is perfect—for the most part, the chaos and maneuvers that occur during battle are pretty spot-on, allowing the audience to really feel what being in an active war zone was like.