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.
With the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934 the U.S. Congress created the Philippine Commonwealth and promised self-rule for the Philippines within a decade. Propelled by economic self-interest and xenophobia, the act marked a new stage in U.S. control of the Philippines, a shift from a period of political training …
The president of Guatemala from 1931 until 1944, Jorge Ubico y Castañeda was one of the major political figures in Central America, inheriting the caudillo, or “strongman,” tradition from predecessors such as Manuel Estrada Cabrera. Jorge Ubico was born on November 10, 1878, the son of Arturo Ubico, …
The southern regions of Africa were colonized by the Dutch (Boers), who moved inland after the British capture of the area around the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. The discoveries of diamonds and gold in the region during the late 19th century prompted a wave of European …
Officially, the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) is called the United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union. It is one of North America’s largest unions, with 950 locals in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico and 700,000 members. It was founded in Detroit, …
The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 had two major impacts on China: establishment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 and reorganization of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), in 1923. The result was the formation of the first (in retrospect) United Front. The Japanese invasion …
United Fruit was one of the largest multinational companies in the early 20th century. In 1954 it lobbied the U.S. government to overthrow the elected government of Guatemala. Formed in 1898 by the merger of Boston Fruit Company and Tropical Trading and Transport Company, United Fruit dominated all …
The term urbanization is commonly misused. Frequently and mistakenly, urbanization is employed to mean urban growth. When used correctly, however, urbanization refers to the increased degree of urban development within a region or a nation, that is, a defined geographical area, while urban growth, when used in its …
Éamon de Valera was the dominant Irish nationalist leader for much of the 20th century. De Valera was born in New York City but was raised in Ireland by his mother’s family. After attending a university he joined the Irish Volunteers. He participated in the Easter Rebellion of …
Getúlio Vargas served as president of Brazil for almost 20 years. Between 1930 and 1945 he filled the role of provisional president, elected leader, and dictator. Between 1951 and 1954 he held the presidential office by means of a democratic election. During his tenure he worked to modernize …
José Vasconcelos was born on February 28, 1882, in Oaxaca, in the south of Mexico. His family later moved to the far north of Mexico. For his education Vasconcelos attended primary school at Eagle Pass, Texas, crossing the U.S.-Mexican border each day. After the U.S. invasion of Cuba …
Vichy France is the name given to the right-wing, authoritarian government that succeeded the Third Republic after the fall of France to the Nazis in 1940. It was named for the French spa town to which many of its leaders fled after the occupation of Paris. The government …
Francisco “Pancho” Villa was a general in the Mexican Revolution from 1911 until 1920; he commanded troops mostly in the northern part of Mexico. Villa joined an antigovernment group in 1910 and started recruiting fighters. Villa could be vicious and was willing to kill those who opposed him. …
The Wafd was the major political party in Egypt from its inception in 1918 to the military-led revolution in 1952. In the fall of 1918, shortly before the end of World War I, a delegation, or Wafd, of Egyptian nationalists, led by Sa’d Zaghlul, met with Reginald Wingate, …
Wang Jingwei’s given name was Zhaoming (Chaoming), but he was better known by his revolutionary name, Jingwei. The son of a poor government official, he was educated in traditional schools in China and then studied law in Japan, where he met Chinese revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen and …
Although the warlord era in China officially lasted only a decade, its roots went back to the late Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty, and it persisted after 1927. A warlord, junfa (chun-fa) in Chinese, was a military leader with a personal army ruling autonomously over a region. Warlords were a …
In 1921 President Warren Harding of the United States called an international conference in Washington, D.C., and invited representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, China, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal to attend. The issues at hand were a looming naval race between the United States and Japan, …
The term most commonly used for the government of Germany from 1919 until 1933, named after the town in central Germany where its constitution was drafted, the Weimar Republic was Germany’s first experiment with a liberal democratic government. Throughout its existence the Weimar Republic faced almost constant attacks …
Chaim Weizmann was one of the founders of the modern state of Israel. Born in Motol (now in Belarus) when it was under Russian rule, Weizmann studied chemistry in Switzerland, where he met his future wife, Vera Chatzman, a medical student. In 1904 they moved to England, where …
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, in 1856. Wilson’s father, a Presbyterian minister, moved the family during the Civil War to Georgia, where his son witnessed the devastation wrought upon the South by Northern troops; this left a lifetime impression on him. Wilson graduated from the …
It took civil disobedience and a world war, but after 1900 new campaigns in the long struggle for woman suffrage finally succeeded. By 1950 most of the world’s women could vote, although holdout nations remained. Legal restrictions and customs also discouraged women from seeking political office. Success made …
