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 term Romanesque is applied to architecture in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries which attempted to connect the early Middle Ages with the architecture of the Roman Empire, both in the materials used and in the form achieved. Building on the Norman style, Romanesque became …
Next to the Great Wall of China the Grand Canal was the most important engineering feat in ancient China and was undertaken during the Sui dynasty (581– 618). Earlier, during the Qin (Ch’in) dynasty and Han dynasty major canals had been built for land reclamation and irrigation and …
Little is known about Gratian. He was probably born at the end of the 11th century in Chiusi in Tuscany and died in Bologna around 1160. Around 1140 he completed his Decretum Gratiani, which made him one of the most renowned canonists of all time. The Decretum Gratiani …
It is said that on a good day one can glimpse distant Greenland from Iceland. This may be an exaggeration, but the existence of links of land across the North Atlantic played a key role in Norse exploration, along with the development of new types of ships and …
Gregory Palamas was born in the city of Constantinople in 1296. His father was a prominent official under Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus. His father died while Gregory was an infant, and the emperor actively took a part in Gregory’s formation and education. Intelligent and hardworking, Gregory was …
The dissemination of knowledge occurred more quickly after Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440. Gutenberg, the son of a businessman named Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, was born in Mainz, Germany, and was a goldsmith by profession. Movable type made of wooden blocks had been developed by …
Although the Habsburg dynasty became especially prominent after the election of Rudolf of Habsburg as king of the Romans in 1273, its history goes back to the 10th century. Emperor Otto I (936–973) had a subject named Guntram the Rich (c. 930–990), who was grandfather of Radbot of …
Hafiz, a pen name for Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Shirazi, was born in Shiraz in present-day Iran. Following the death of his father, a merchant, Hafiz lived in poverty until his poetry earned him the patronage of several Persian rulers. He is perhaps the most admired poet among Persians, …
Hangzhou is situated near the West Lake and the coast in southern China. In 605 Emperor Yangdi (Yang-ti) of the Sui dynasty had the Grand Canal extended from Yangzhou (Yangchou) on the Yangzi (Yangtze) River to Hangzhou. As a result an already fast-developing area of the lower Yangzi …
The Hanseatic League, or Hanse, was an association of German merchants, and later of towns, that dominated trade in northern Europe from the 13th through the 15th century. During this time the Hanse comprised around 75 member towns plus around 100 associate towns. The word hanse means an …
Harsha Vardhana was a king of northern India who reunited some of the small city-states that had become independent after the fall of the Gupta dynasty and who used his position to reinvigorate the practice of Buddhism throughout his territory. Harsha Vardhana was a son of Prabhakaravardhana, the …
Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) came to power as the fifth Abbasid caliph after his brother Musa al-Hadi died under mysterious circumstances, perhaps on the order of al-Khaizuran, al-Rashid’s mother. While still in his teens al-Rashid had led successful military advances against the Greek Byzantine empire in Anatolia. He …
The early origin of the Hausa people is shrouded in mystery. Some scholars believe they originally came from the Sahara, as did the Bantu, while others feel that they migrated from the region of Lake Chad. Still another school believes they were the region’s original inhabitants. The rise …
The term Heian is derived from modern-day Kyoto’s previous name of Heian-kyo, a city founded in 794. The literal translation of Heian-kyo is “Capital of Peace and Tranquility” and was meant to reflect its peaceful and protected surroundings. The literal translation of Heian is “peace” in Japanese. Located …
Henry II was the first of the Plantagenet kings of England, reigning from 1154 to 1189. He was born in 1133 in LeMans, France. From his mother, Matilda, he inherited a claim to the English throne, as she was the daughter of Henry I of England (r. 1100 …
Henry IV was the eldest son of Henry III of Germany, from the Salian (Frankish) dynasty, and Agnes de Poitou, the daughter of William V of Aquitaine. He was born in 1050 and at the age of three was elected by the German assembly of nobles as his …
Henry V of England and Agincourt was the son of Henry IV Bolingbroke, from the House of Lancaster, and Mary de Bohun, the daughter of the seventh earl of Hereford. At the age of 12, King Richard II knighted him as duke of Lancaster. In that same year …
Prince Henry the Navigator, the duke of Viseu, was the third son of Joa˜ o I, who began the famous Aviz dynasty in Portugal (1385). Henry’s mother, Philippa of Lancaster, was the daughter of John of Gaunt, a prominent English nobleman. The marriage of Philippa and Joa˜ o …
In the centuries before Martin Luther led Christian dissent into an alternative faith of the 16th century, there were other progenitors for reform. In southern France and northern Italy there was a movement associated with the Albigensians that took deep root and provoked a crusade against them in …
Hildegard of Bingen was an abbess, theologian, scientist, musician, preacher, and visionary who wrote major theological works. She was also called Sybil of the Rhine. She was the last and 10th child of Hildebert of Bermersheim and Mechthild of Merxheim. The wealthy couple had promised her as a …
