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 most famous Hindu epic literature arose in India during the Vedic period (c. 1000–c. 500 b.c.e), which helped define the essentials of Indian belief and culture. While Hinduism is not the sole religion in the region, these texts set forth many of the ideas and practices held …
Members of this Japanese family were warriors or warlords during the Kamakura Shogunate and rose to the rank of shikken (hereditary regents) from 1203 until 1333. They traced their descent from Taira Sadamori, with the founder of the family, Tokiie, taking the surname Hojo while he was living …
Following the death of Emperor Louis the Pious (814– 840) and the Frankish civil war (840–843), the Carolingian Empire was divided among three sons of Louis. On the eastern ruins of the empire a new kingdom, that of Germany, had emerged, stretching from Holstein in the north down …
A Japanese Buddhist philosopher and the founder of the Jodo Shu (Pure Land Buddhism), Honen Shonin was born in the Mimasaka province on the southern part of Honshu Island, Japan. His father, Uruma Tokikumi, was a provincial official, and his mother was from the Hada clan, her family …
The Battle of the Horns of Hattin occurred on July 4, 1187, and resulted in the almost complete annihilation of the forces of the crusader army of Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem (r. 1186–92), by the Muslim forces led by Saladin (Salah ad din, Yusuf). The destruction …
Much of what is known about the Huaxteca, or Huasteca, before the Spanish conquest of Hernán Cortés is because of the work of Dr. Gordon F. Eckholm, who was curator of Mesoamerican (Middle American) archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History from 1937 to 1974. Eckholm began …
Huizong was the reign name of the eighth emperor (r. 1101–1125) of the Song dynasty. His misrule led to the nomadic Jin (Chin) dynasty’s conquest of northern China, ending the Northern Song dynasty (906–1126). Chance brought him to the throne when his elder brother Zhezong (Che-tsung) died without …
In 1251 Mongke Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, became the grand khan of the Mongols and convened his three brothers and close relatives in a meeting to divide the vast territories that had been conquered. To his brother Kubilai Khan, who would eventually play host to Marco …
In battles fought from 1337 to 1453 primarily by England and France for control of France and the French Crown, England initially had the upper hand, but in 1429 the French, inspired by Joan of Arc, regained all areas of France that they had lost except for Calais. …
John Huss was a forerunner of the Reformation. He was born into a prosperous peasant family in the small southwestern Bohemian town of Husenic (Goosetown), close to the Bohmerwald and not far from the Bavarian frontier. Little is known of Huss’s early life except that his parents died …
Ibn Batuta (also Ibn Battuta), Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd Alah, born in Tangier, Morocco, was one of the greatest Arab travelers in the 14th century. A descendant of a scholarly family that produced many judges, he was educated in Tangier. As other travelers from Morocco, he began his travels …
‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn Muhammad Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis and died in Cairo. The greatest Arab historian, he developed the philosophy of history and laid the foundation of sociology in his masterpiece, the Muqaddima. He was also a politician and diplomat. According to his autobiography, Al-Ta’rif bi …
Abu ‘Ali al Husayn Ibn Sina, or Avicenna, was born in northern Persia (present-day Iran) and as a youth studied both mathematics and medicine and expressed a keen interest in philosophy. His five-volume al-Qanun fi’l tibb, translated into Latin with lists of known diseases, treatments, and medicines, was …
Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya was born in Syria and spent most of his life in Damascus. His father was an Islamic scholar and Ibn Taymiyya became a teacher in Islamic law and tradition when he was still a young man. Ibn Taymiyya followed the puritanical Hanbali school, the …
Iconoclasm (Greek for “image-smashing”) was a religious movement against icons (religious portraits) in eighth–ninth century Byzantium. Christian art proliferated in the fourth century because of the patronage of newly Christian emperors and aristocrats. While the majority of Christians accepted this tendency, a minority, influenced by the biblical injunction …
The history of the Île-de-France, the true heart of Paris, began in the third century b.c.e. when a group of Gallic Celts built a settlement there for safety. They surrounded their settlement with a wooden palisade, at least one gate, and watchtowers. Buildings were made of wood, or …
Innocent III was born into the noble family of Scotti and named Lothar. Aided by his familial ties to Pope Clement III, Innocent rose rapidly through the curia. The popular debate regarding the pontificate of Innocent III can best be summed up in the title of a series …
From the time of Charlemagne (800–814) and beyond, the peoples of Europe were united by the teachings and practices of the Western (Latin) Church. So deep and abiding was this consensus that any deviation from the Inquisition common faith was felt to be a serious threat to the …
Irene of Constantinople (also referred to as Princess Piroska) was the daughter of King Ladislas of Hungary, who ruled from 1077 c.e. He was the son of Béla I of Hungary and Richeza, princess of Poland. Ladislas astutely used the political divisions of 11th century Europe to carve …
The golden age of Irish monastic scholarship spans the sixth through ninth centuries’ flourishing of art, literature, calligraphy, manuscript preservation, and research that transpired primarily in the newly established monastic schools following the fifth-century advent of Christianity in Ireland. During this same period, the collapse of the Roman …
