The Current War
Before there was Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos , before there were price like " disruptor " and " fantast " , there was Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse . Two brilliant brain and titans of industriousness in the 1800s , they each rush to develop the electrical magnate transmission system that would light the modern world . Edison favored unmediated current ( DC ) , which was large weighing machine but low voltage , whereas Westinghouse privilege alternating current ( AC ) , which was a higher electric potential and much less expensive to bring on .
The Current Warpits Edison ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) and George Westinghouse ( Michael Shannon ) against one another , as they were in 1886 at the beginning of the " War of the Currents " , a serious of events involving demonstration by the two inventors and mass medium coverage . permit ’s dive in and see what thing were historically accurate about the film and what was n’t .
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: THOMAS EDISON WAS A JERK
Of the two inventors and titans of industry , Thomas Edison was definitely the more vain and stubborn . As is advert by locomotive engineer Franklin Pope ( who once had Edison slumber on his couch ) , Edison did n’t worry how he won , only that he won . This include grease one’s palms the patent of other artificer and perfecting their machination to be credited with their succeeder .
Edison did n’t invent the first incandescent light bulb , but he make the most " commercially executable " one . He was an arrogant and underhanded opportunist , which is more or less how Benedict Cumberbatch portrays him . Edison was obstinately convinced of the superiority of DC stream even when he lost the " War of the Currents " and his own troupe , part of General Electric , adopted AC current and purchase him out of his share .
INACCURATE: THOMAS EDISON AND GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE MEETING FACE TO FACE
While it would have made for more dramatically tense scenes , George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison never met face to face , at least not on record . They exchanged snide correspondence , and duel with op - male erecticle dysfunction in the interior paper during the War of the Currents , but that was the extent of it .
The Current Warwould have do good from a few electrically rouse scenesbetween these two baron house , but audiences had to be satisfied with a abbreviated ( and random ) conciliatory interchange they share at the World ’s Fair in Chicago , where Westinghouse has won the bid to supply its treetop gem attraction , the " City of Light " with his AC stream .
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: EDISON ELECTROCUTED ANIMALS TO SHOW THE DANGERS OF AC CURRENT
In one ofthe film ’s more graphic scene , we see Edison holding demonstration to prove the dangers of AC current . He electrocute a horse to prove that touching a line housing AC stream would prove instantly fatal . Some of these demonstration spark the idea that what could toss off animals without suffering could also be used to kill human beings , thus the parturition of the electric chair .
In reality , Edison not only appalled horse , but also range dogs and African tea to rise his point . He was not responsible for , despite rumors , for the electrocution of Topsy the circus elephant .
INACCURATE: EDISON HELPED INVENT THE ELECTRIC CHAIR
InThe Current War , Edison is heroic to disparage the reputation of his rival Westinghouse to such a level that he agrees to apprise the production of the first electrical chairwoman . He extend information about the necessary expression of the electric chair and voltage necessitate to " humanely " kill a human being provided that it uses Westinghouse AC generator .
Edisondidlobby for Westinghouse ’s equipment to be associate with the electrical chair so that AC flow could be control as deadly . However , he never clandestinely run into with the inventors of the electrical chair , much less sent letters that Westinghouse could use later to shew his competitor was examine to discredit his system . The letters that seem in the moving-picture show have-to doe with to acquiring Westinghouse ’s author , and were not write by Edison .
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: NEW YORK BOTCHED THE FIRST EXECUTION BY ELECTRIC CHAIR
gratefully , the first last via electric chair is n’t shown in the film , because it would have been middling horrific . convict murderer William Kemmler , condemn to dying for kill his married woman with a hatchet , was to be executed by the electric chair via 1,000 volts of AC current . He go lifeless after 17 second , but then come to , forcing the Westinghouse generator to be charge up again .
He was then gain with 2,000 volt , at which point his haircloth fry , he bled from opening , and the odour of burn flesh filled the room where witnesses began to conk . It took a amount of three clip to wipe out him . His consistence took hr to " cool off " before he could be removed from the chair .
INACCURATE: TESLA’S BEHAVIOR
Serbian - bear inventor , futurist , and certified whiz Nikola Tesla certainly merit as much recognition as Edison and Westinghouse , if not more . However , his portrayal in the motion-picture show ( by Nicholas Hoult ) is n’t as certifiable as it should have been .
InThe Current War , Tesla is a exacting mankind , conscientious of his delicately tailored clothing , as well as prostrate to a very brusque attention dyad . This may have made him seem nonconcentric to neurotypical men like Westinghouse and Edison , but the real Tesla was much more out of touch . He became obsessed with pigeon , germs , and often abandoned labor he just began .
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: WESTINGHOUSE BEAT EDISON TO SUPPLY ELECTRICITY TO THE 1893 CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR
Despite Edison ’s unspoiled endeavor to crush Westinghouse ’s AC current organization , it gravel out his tender for the declaration to provide electricity for the " White City " or " City of Light " , the crown jewel expo of the Chicago World ’s Fair in 1893 . Not only was his AC current system of rules proven to be no more grave than the DC current system , but his was significantly cheaper which appealed to investor .
The White City , and later that same year , the Niagra Falls hydro - electric industrial plant , secured Westinghouse ’s triumph in the War of the Currents . He’squotedas say after the fact , " If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the well-being and happiness of my fellow man , I shall be satisfied . "
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: EDISON WAS ALL ABOUT HIS BRAND
Throughout the picture show Thomas Edison is depicted as a man not so much obsessed with the cultus of personality , but with being remember as one of the big inventors of all time . In fact , he seems beleaguered by the construct of " fame " , while at the same time urgently wanting to cement himself and his party as a household name .
When he hire a young Nikola Tesla to fix the design of his DC motor , he promised him interest . Instead , Edison be given off and patent it under the Edison name , ensuring Tesla would get no royalties . It drove Tesla to bring for the fairer employer , Westinghouse , while Edison was busy making a viable stigma .
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: WESTINGHOUSE’S NIAGARA FALLS HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER PLANT ENDED THE CURRENT WAR
One of the smartest decisions that George Westinghouse ever made was partnering with Nikola Tesla , the young futurist and inventor who conceive of one day using the huge actuation power of Niagara Falls to create a hydro - electrical power plant that would generate electricity .
At the end of the film , the plant at Niagra Falls was able to bear AC current 26 miles by to Buffalo . That accomplishment seemed to mark the close of the " War of the Currents " between Westinghouse and Edison . Westinghouse ’s AC current organisation became the standard for electric index .
INACCURATE: EDISON INVENTED MOTION PICTURES
At the end of the film , we see Edison foregoing the job of electrical energy and turning his attention to his kinetograph and kinetoscope . It ’s implied that he was the discoverer of future motion painting , but that ’s is n’t true . His devices were n’t the first used to record consecutive move depiction .
What Edisondidinvent with his kinetoscope was occur igniter over strips of celluloid film . He afterwards constructed a small movie studio apartment , where he tape three of his employees pretending to be blacksmiths . While revolutionary , this equipment only allowed one witness at a clock time through a eyehole to take in the ruined production .
NEXT : The holy terror : 5 Things That Are Historically Accurate ( & 5 Things That Are wholly manufacture )
