The parachute harness goes from a simple backpack to a fully-rigged modern-style jump pack, complete with crotch straps.
Oxford tells his team they're starting the attack on the elevator at dawn, but the lighting is consistent with it beginning much later in the day, mid-morning at the earliest.
At 20'33", Conrad's arms' position between shots (crossed then apart).
On the boat when the general is looking over the dead reports he puts down the paper with his right hand and is still holding a page in his left.
But in the next scene he is holding the folder with his right hand and is pointing on the page with his left.
But in the next scene he is holding the folder with his right hand and is pointing on the page with his left.
There is a brief flashback showing the death of Tsar Nicholas and his family, and while the scene has been painstakingly reconstructed down to the wallpaper of the basement, the family is shown being quickly killed with a single discharge of what appears to be a machine pistol by one person pretending to be a photographer. The real execution was far messier and cruel: the assassins tricked the family into posing for a photograph, but no camera was brought. Instead, the chief of the guards read a makeshift death sentence and then an entire squad entered the room. After the shooting, the Tsar, his wife and son had been killed, but the four daughters were still alive, due to the fact they had sewn jewels in their clothes, so the troops finished them off with bayonets and the butts of their rifles. Due to the gruesome nature of this, it is possible this is a deliberate alteration by the director.
The film portrays Tsar Nicholas II abdicating the throne in front of Vladimir Lenin. In reality, the Tsar abdicated after the February Revolution of 1917 to the Russian Duma, or Parliament, on a train coming back from the front. By then, Lenin had no direct involvement in the Revolution and was not even in Russia, being in exile in Switzerland. A provisional government took over, with Lenin taking power after a second revolution, in October 1917. Of course, along with other liberties with real history, this might have been deliberate.
When His Grace lands his biplane in front of his home, the all too common screeching sound of a plane's wheels touching down is heard. In reality, that sound is caused by the fast-moving airplane's braking wheels suddenly contacting pavement. In this case, the plane is landing on grass. No such sound would be made.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand depicts Gavrilo Princip both throwing the first bomb and shooting the Archduke and his wife. In reality, these were done by different people. They were three conspirators, and by the time Princip shot the Archduke the first accomplice had already been captured. However, this is likely to be a deliberate alteration by the filmmakers to simplify the plot.
The Duke of Oxford tells his son, Conrad, that King George V, Czar Nicholas II, and Kaiser Wilhelm were all cousins and that their grandmother was Queen Victoria. Although both George and Wilhelm were first cousins and grandsons of Victoria, and Nicholas was George's first cousin, he was not Victoria's grandson. He and George were first cousins through their mothers, who were not Victoria's children. Nicholas was the second cousin of Wilhelm and the grandson of Victoria's third cousin, King Christian IX of Denmark and his wife Queen Louise.
Nicholas did, however, go on to marry one of Victoria's grand-daughters, Alexandra, who was also his second cousin and a first cousin of George and Wilhelm.
In his final scene, the King is seen wearing a military uniform with the epaulette pins "VR" and "ER". The "VR" stands for Victoria Regina or Queen Victoria. The "ER" is not an incorrect reference to Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Regina), but rather likely stands for King Edward VII (Edward Rex) who was the father of King George V and would have been King during George's service in the Royal Navy.
Toward the end of the film, Woodrow Wilson destroys the incriminating evidence against him by throwing a reel of film into the fire. Given that this would have been around 1917, the film stock used would undoubtedly have been made out of cellulose nitrate and so might be thought to have caused a serious explosion in the White House. But while nitrocellulose would burn very rapidly, it would not explode.
Erik Jan Hanussen was not an advisor to Kaiser Wilhelm II during the war and was not politically active until much later. The character appears to be a replacement for either Erich Ludendorff or Paul von Hindenburg. However, this is likely a deliberate alteration to fit the plot of the movie, as Hindenburg and Ludendorff have very well defined historical careers, unlike the less known and very shady Hanussen.
While HMS Hampshire is believed to have been sunk by a mine, rather than a torpedo, this is a deliberate alteration to fit the conspiracy plot of the film rather than an error, and the "true" fact is still shown in the magazine Conrad is reading.
The flag flying at the US Embassy in London is the modern 50 star flag. The movie is set prior to the admission of Alaska and Hawai'i, so the flag used should have been the 48 star flag.
The characters are trying to retrieve a ''film negative'' whereas it is already shown that this particular film has been used in a screening. That means that the film is actually positive.
A road sign reading SAVILLE ROW W1 is seen in 1914. Postal districts in London were not numbered until after the war broke out and many postal workers left to fight for King and country, as the new employees didn't know all of the streets in a region (West London in this case).
Oxford refers to the "Beryozka glide" when talking to Rasputin. The Berezka Dance Ensemble was renown for moving across a dance floor in long gowns, appearing as though floating. This is how Rasputin appeared, entering the room flanked by two women, gliding with no apparent steps. However,
choreographer and dancer Nadezhda Nadezhdina didn't found the ensemble nor the specialized choreography until the mid 1940s and didn't tour the West until the early 1950s.
King George tells Oxford about the effectiveness of the German blockade and people being hungry in the street. This never happened, and while British trade routes were being attacked, the submarine warfare in WW1 was not that good, and the British public never starved. However, this did happen in WW2.
The exterior of the White House shows the Truman Balcony on the second floor of the south face. The Truman Balcony wasn't completed until 1948. Prior to that, there was no balcony.
The poem that the Duke of Oxford recites, 'Dulce et decorum est' by Wilfred Owen, was not published until 1920 and not popularized until it was included in some war poetry anthologies in the 1960s. There is no way he could have had that poem in 1916.
Conrad waited for the sunrise to get his comrade and himself out of the no-man's-land when they would have had all the time to do it safely during darkness.
Mata Hari's real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. Her stage name Mata Hari means 'sun' in Indonesian and is not a first name and surname. She would not have been addressed as Mata.
Kitchener says to King George "As Russia's Ally..." BUT the UK and Russia were NOT allies. France and Russia had entered an alliance in order to threaten Germany with a two front war if Germany were to attack either. In that event, the other ally would be obligated to enter the war against Germany. And though friendly with both Russia and France, the UK had no formal alliance with either. The UK only entered the war when German invaded Belgium (Germany invaded Belgium in order to flank France's fortifications along the Franco-German boarder). When that happened, the British became obligated by a guarantee the UK had made to Belgium when Belgium was established in 1830. Britain made this guarantee to ensure that if they ever had to land an army on the continent again (during the Napoleonic Wars, the UK had been largely shut out of the continent of Europe), they would have a safe harbor to do so in Belgium. Accordingly, when Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, they threatened that access and Britain became obligated to defend Belgium in order to defend their own interests. But it was ONLY when Britain did enter the war that the UK became, through default, an ally of Russia (and France). And as a British career military officer, Kitchener would have known and understood this. Therefore, Kitchener would NEVER have stated (up through the crisis in August of 1914) that the UK was Russia's ally. All in Britain (Kitchener included) felt sure that the UK could avoid the coming war and worked diligently toward that objective.