Category: History Essay Examples
See our collection of history essay examples. These example essays are to help you understanding how to write a history essay. History is a fascinating puzzle with both personal and cultural significance. The past informs our lives, ideas, and expectations. Historians study the past to figure out what happened and how specific events and cultural developments affected individuals and societies. Also, see our list of history essay topics to find the one that interests you.
The Spanish civil war raged from July 17, 1936, until April 1, 1939, when the Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco (1892–1975), overcame the ruling Republican, or Loyalist, government to take control of Spain’s future. The origins of the war can be found in Spanish political instability, which …
The SS was the abbreviated form of the German Schutzstaffel, meaning “protection squadron,” which began as a small personal bodyguard for Adolf Hitler and grew into a large multipurpose arm of the Nazi Party by the end of World War II. In 1925 the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler was …
Joseph Stalin seems to have dedicated himself to acquiring and maintaining political power in the manner of Machiavelli’s prince. Unlike the prince, however, Stalin subscribed to an ideology that suggested his priorities while foreclosing certain policy options. As the leader of the Soviet Union from 1925 until his …
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the decisive battles of World War II. Lasting from August 1942 to February 1943, the battle pitted the forces of the Soviet Union against those of Nazi Germany amid the ruins of the city of Stalingrad. Soviet victory in February 1943 …
Joseph Stilwell (1883–1946) was assigned to China between 1920 and 1923 and between 1926 and 1928 as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. legation in Beijing (Peking). He learned spoken Chinese. Between 1932 and 1939 he served as U.S. military attaché to China. China fought Japan alone …
After the area of present day Sudan was conquered by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in the 1820s, Great Britain began to exert pressure on Egypt to halt the flourishing slave trade that was prevalent in the area. Strong resistance arose among the Sudanese, who had grown wealthy and …
Sun Yat-sen was the son of a farmer from southern China, a region that had the most contact with Westerners. In 1879 he went to Hawaii with his successful elder brother and studied in a Christian missionary school. Later he received a medical degree in British Hong Kong, …
The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret agreement between the British and the French regarding the dispensation of Ottoman territory in the Middle East. François Georges-Picot represented the French and Mark Sykes represented the British. Formalized in May 1916 at the height of World War I, the agreement was …
Emperor Taisho, whose personal name was Yoshihito, was the emperor of Japan from 1912 to 1926, the 123rd ruler of the Japanese imperial line, and the son of the hero-emperor Meiji and an imperial lady-in-waiting, Yanagiwara Naruko. The Empress Shoken Haruko was appointed his official mother. In 1912, …
Tanganyika is the name applied to a section of East Africa given over to British rule after World War I. The territory had been part of German East Africa, which was captured by Britain. After World War II the United Nations made Tanganyika a trust territory still under …
The Tenente rebellion took place in Brazil in 1924 and had the aim of overthrowing the oligarchy that was ruling the country at that time. The revolt rose out of “Tenentismo” politics—the name coming from lieutenants in the Brazilian army who wanted the country to have new leadership. …
With his bald, bullet-shaped head and large eyeglasses, Hideki Tojo was a definitive image of Japanese militarism writ in human form. But to many of his colleagues in Japan Hideki Tojo was a detail-obsessed, jumped-up filing clerk who led Japan in its largest and bloodiest war without any …
The Tokyo International Court was appointed by the supreme commander for the Allied powers, General Douglas MacArthur, to implement the terms of surrender for Japan in World War II. Also known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), it held proceedings from 1946 to 1948 …
Construction on the Trans-Siberian Railway began in May 1891. The main part of the system connected Moscow with the port of Vladivostok on the Pacific. Today that system runs between the two cities and a web of other cities for 9,297 kilometers (5,578 miles). This monumental achievement was …
The Triangle Waist Company, which manufactured women’s cotton and linen blouses (known in the early 20th century as shirtwaists) was the site of New York City’s worst factory fire on Saturday, March 25, 1911. The company occupied the top three floors of the 10story Asch Building on Washington …
Leon Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, was a principal participant in the Russian Revolution of 1917, which brought the Bolsheviks to power. Trotsky was born in the Ukraine to Jewish parents. His father, although illiterate, became a successful farmer and landowner, which enabled Trotsky to attend a good …
One of the longest-serving Latin American dictators, Rafael Trujillo ran the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. For some of that period he was president of the country, and for the rest he was the effective dictator of the Caribbean nation, ruling through hand-picked presidential …
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president (1945–53) of the United States at a time when momentous events were taking place around the globe. World War II was nearly over, and other wars loomed on the horizon, while the specter of Soviet communism haunted U.S. policy makers. It …
France controlled Tunisia from 1881 but, unlike in Algeria, maintained the local ruler, Bey Muhammad al-Sadiq, who officially continued to rule. By the end of the 19th century, wealthy, urban Tunisians were already seeking more equality under the French regime. Abdul Aziz al-Tha’alibi became the leader of this …
The Twenty-one Demands of 1915 were Japan’s most comprehensive and aggressive plan to control China up to that date. Immediately after Japan declared war against Germany in August 1914, it sent troops to the German sphere of influence in Shandong (Shantung) Province in China and conquered it. It …
