Edmund Blackadder be killed onscreen (the first two are murdered, whilst the fourth dies in battle); while history records this version of Blackadder as having been shot dead by the Duke of Wellington, in actuality Prince George is masquerading as Blackadder and vice versa, which results in Blackadder assuming his identity and later becoming King George IV. Ebenezer Blackadder, the Victorian Blackadder, appears in "Blackadder's Christmas Carol". Unlike his ungenerous, cynical ancestors, he is by repute the nicest man in Victorian England. Unfortunately, this only serves to make him a target for the cynical crooks and cheats he is surrounded by, and
Blackadder Goes Forth noted that the television series has become a pervasive view of the war in the public's perception of World War I, with Max Hastings calling the common British view of the war "the "Blackadder" take on history." Military historian Richard Holmes commented in his book "The Western Front": "Blackadder's aphorisms have become fact...A well turned line of script can sometimes carry more weight than all the scholarly footnotes in the world." Stephen Badsey, analysing trends in television programmes about the war, remarked that "Blackadder Goes Forth" as a popular comedy series was subject to particular criticism from historians, remarking that