Top Ten years I’d like to see more of in historical fiction

It’s been a really long time since I’ve done a Top 10 book-related list, particularly since I’ve not participated in Top Ten Tuesday for ages. Let’s change that with my own Top Ten list about years I’d love to see represented more often in historical fiction. Since historical fiction frequently spans many years, these could be the year a story starts instead of the only year the story takes place.

Historically important years like 1348, 1066, 1939, 1789, 1860, 1929, 1933, 1941, and 1776 are popular starting points since the events of those years are so well-known, but plenty of other landmark events happened over the course of history. Why not show them some attention to help your story with standing out from the crowd?

In no particular order:

1. 1220, the year the Mongols invaded and conquered Uzbekistan and Persia. Georgia and Armenia were invaded in 1221. The conquest of Russia began in 1223 and was complete by 1240, while Poland was invaded in 1240. Hungary, Wallachia, Moldavia, Austria, Croatia, and the German, Bohemian, and Moravian lands followed in 1241, and Bulgaria and Serbia’s turn came in 1242. More raids and attempted invasions followed over the next few decades. Baghdad was besieged and brutally sacked in 1258.

These were hugely traumatic events, with many entire cities, hospitals, libraries, irrigation systems, and farmlands destroyed. There was a possible estimated death toll of between 20–57 million people from 1206, the year of Genghis Khan’s first military campaigns, till 1405, when Tamerlane waged his final battles. Many of these places fell under Mongol rule until as late as the 15th century.

 2. 1478, the year a very deadly outbreak of Bubonic Plague struck Italy. This pandemic lasted until 1482, and was concurrent with an outbreak in England. Many people seem to think there was only the one major wave from 1347–51, but there were regular recurrences throughout the ensuing centuries all across Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. The resulting high death tolls had a major impact on so many things.

I have a future blog post planned about all the various waves.

3. 735, the year a very deadly smallpox epidemic began in Japan. It lasted till 737. About one-third of the population, one million people, died, including many court nobles from politically powerful clans. It significantly disrupted society, with widespread migrations and severely depleted workforces in fields like farming and construction. Emperor Shomu blamed himself.

In 2019, I wrote a MG historical fantasy short story set in 737 Japan, for that year’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group anthology contest. I didn’t win, but I really enjoyed researching and writing that story. I’d love to expand it into a full book someday.

4. 1945, the year WWII ended. Too many memoirs and novels alike stop soon after the liberation, despite how a new, equally-compelling story was just beginning. Shoah survivors, veterans, people on the homefront, and people freed from foreign occupation went through hugely traumatic events, and had to relearn how to function in normal life. Many Shoah survivors also weren’t able to immigrate immediately, and often spent years in DP camps or living under Soviet occupation.

5. 1914, the year WWI began. This really has become a forgotten war, with a dearth of books, films, and TV shows using it as a setting. I’ve seen the theory that it’s not very popular anymore because it’s not as fresh in our collective conscious as WWII, and there aren’t any clear-cut heroes and villains, with a struggle between good and evil. It was a lot more morally ambiguous, and many people view it as a pointless, embarrassing war.

Copyright Sue Ream, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

6. 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, which was part of many revolutions sweeping Europe to bring down the Iron Curtain and end totalitarian rule. This was also the year of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Lots of fertile ground here for good contemporary hist-fic!

7. 1991, the last year of the Cold War and the year the USSR was dismantled. This was also the year of the Gulf War and the start of the brutal ethnic wars in the former Yugoslavia.

8. 1956, the year of the failed Hungarian Uprising. In its wake, about 200,000 people escaped Hungary, tens of thousands of people were arrested, and 26,000 were brought to trial. Sporadic resistance continued till mid-1957.

9. 1848, the year dozens of revolutions broke out throughout Europe. This is still the biggest revolutionary wave in European history. The people wanted to overthrow the monarchs reigning over them and replace that form of rule with modern democracy. Sadly, many of these revolutions were put down, tens of thousands of people were murdered, and a great deal more went into exile.

1848 was also the year of the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights.

10. 1598, when the Time of Troubles (Smutnoye Vremya) began in Russia. Between the end of the Ryurikovich Dynasty and the start of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613, many pretenders to the throne and other unsavory would-be rulers appeared. This era also included a famine, occupation by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and civil uprisings.

And since 11 is my lucky number:

11. 1932, the beginning of the Holodomor, a massive, deliberate, genocidal famine in Ukraine. It was concurrent to a 1930–33 famine in Kazakhstan, in which 1.5 million died. Barely any hist-fic has been written about either famine.