I intend to submit a short story to a Historical Fiction competition category, which follows some murders by a serial killer in the trenches in WWI. My question is: is it important to have a known historical figure that the story bounces off, or is the event itself sufficient?
thanks both, it's not really my usual genre but some I've read use real historical figures not as the central character but as a pivot and I do enjoy them. That said, Wilhelmina, I take your point and it is probably safer with periods further back than more recent times.
Historical fiction is fiction. You're meant to be able to set it in a given period. (i.e. no mobile phones in 18th C France [though they did have them in Denmark from 1791 onwards].) You don't have to mention any real people. In fact, I'd advise against doing so. You don't want to be done for libel or have someone's irate descendants coming after you with pitchforks.
And if *I* were a judge, I'd value more a story that DIDN'T lean on famous figures from the history books.
I see no reason to include a historical figure, as long as you ground the reader in the time and place the novel is set, however, that shouldn't stop you from mentioning historical figures to enhance the reality.