Bash – How to set the number of commands history recalls

This is the actual code that loads the history (from bashhist.c around line 260):

/* Load the history list from the history file. */
void

load_history ()
{
  char *hf;

  /* Truncate history file for interactive shells which desire it.
     Note that the history file is automatically truncated to the
     size of HISTSIZE if the user does not explicitly set the size
     differently. */
  set_if_not ("HISTSIZE", "500");
  sv_histsize ("HISTSIZE");

  set_if_not ("HISTFILESIZE", get_string_value ("HISTSIZE"));
  sv_histsize ("HISTFILESIZE");

  /* Read the history in HISTFILE into the history list. */
  hf = get_string_value ("HISTFILE");

  if (hf && *hf && file_exists (hf))
    {
      read_history (hf);
      using_history ();
      history_lines_in_file = where_history ();
    }
}

If the values of HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE are set, they will be used.

Readline, the library that actually handles input / line editing and history does offer facilities to put a cap on just how big the history buffer can grow. However, Bash does not place a hard ceiling on this where values any larger would be ignored, at least that I could find.

Edit

From comments, readline was indeed the culprit. I was looking (rather foolishly) at functional parameters:

there is a variable called history-size that can be read from the inputrc file. that variable sets the maximum number of history entries saved in the history list. I checked it's value in my local inputrc file to found it equal 5000. Setting it to a larger value solved the problem.

This is what the fc command is for. For the last 12 commands:

fc -12 -1

or for commands numbered #10000 to #10012

fc 10000 10012

This is not quite what you want as it will launch an editor first, but that is probably a good thing since it gives you a chance to double check that you have the correct commands and even edit them using all the capabilities of your favorite editor. Once you save you changes and exit the editor, the commands will be run one after another.