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 epithet “Gang of Four” was Mao Zedong’s (Mao Tse-tung) name for his wife, Jiang Qing, and her three lieutenants, Yao Wenyuan (Yao Wen-yuan), Zhang Chunqiao (Chang Ch’un-ch’iao), and Wang Hongwen (Wang Hung-wen) in 1976; the four rose to power during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Jiang …
Charles de Gaulle represented French strength and resilience throughout his career, first as an officer during World War I and the interwar period, then as leader of the Free French government abroad during World War II, and finally as the president of the republic during an era characterized …
The birthplace of the modern gay liberation movement in the United States is usually considered to be the Stonewall Inn, where riots took place in June 1969 in New York City. The Stonewall Riots and the social movement they engendered were influential in many countries. Stonewall did not …
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was an international agreement, originally between 23 nation-states, resulting from meetings held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947. Its goal was to promote global trade through a reduction in tariff barriers and other obstacles to the free flow of goods and …
At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the leaders Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation following its military defeat. The three countries and the French …
Ghana celebrated its independence from Britain on March 7, 1957. Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, merged with a part of British Togoland, a former part of German West Africa ceded to Britain after World War I. Ghana was the first nation in Africa south of the Sahara to …
First investigated by Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan in 1964 and then further explored since the 1970s, globalization is the process through which world populations become increasingly interconnected and interdependent, both culturally and economically. The process is often perceived by its critics as creating a sense of standardization throughout …
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was general secretary of the Communist Party, then president of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. He was a reformer who attempted to fix the economic problems of the system and wanted democracy to grow within the country. He presided over the dismemberment and …
William Franklin (Billy) Graham is one of the best known and respected religious leaders of the 20th century. His influence has been immense in his roles as evangelist, as a shaper of modern evangelicalism, and as a link between evangelicalism and prominent political leaders, particularly Republican presidents. Graham …
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) followed the Soviet Union’s model of planned economy on the socialist model. The success of the First Five-Year Plan (1953–57), undertaken with Soviet financial and technical aid, prompted the government to announce a more ambitious Second Five-Year Plan for 1958–62 that called …
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (shortened to Cultural Revolution) that disrupted and ruined life, destroyed innumerable cultural artifacts, and caused the deaths of countless people between 1966 and 1976 was a power struggle within the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The background for this event was …
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society was an aggressive agenda of domestic legislative reforms. Introduced at a speech given at the University of Michigan in May 1964, Johnson’s list of programs seemed limitless, and would lead, he hoped, to better schools, better health, better cities, safer highways, a …
The Greek Junta is the name given to the April 21, 1967, military coup that after seven years ended Greek parliamentary democracy. The suggested reason for this military action was the prevention of an impending communist takeover. However, there remains little or no evidence to confirm that this …
The term Green Revolution refers to the incredible transformation of agriculture in developing nations between the 1940s and 1960s. Programs of agricultural research and the development of infrastructure led to significant increases in agricultural production. The Green Revolution has had significant social and ecological impact on the world, …
On October 25–28, 1983, the United States—under President Ronald Reagan—invaded the small Caribbean island-nation of Grenada, deposed its leftist government, and installed a government more in keeping with the Reagan administration’s perception of U.S. geostrategic interests in the Western Hemisphere. A clear violation of international law, the action …
From 1960 to 1996, the nation-state of Guatemala was convulsed by a civil war that caused the deaths of at least 200,000 people. The worst years of the violence were 1981–82, when the U.S.-backed government launched what has been accurately characterized by the Report of the Guatemalan Commission …
An iconic Latin American revolutionary whose visage remains emblematic of leftist and Marxist struggles throughout the continent and world, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna joined Fidel Castro’s 26 July Movement in late 1955. An exceptionally effective guerrilla leader, his charisma, intelligence, and revolutionary idealism soon made him one …
The First Gulf War was fought by a coalition of forces from 34 countries against Iraq in 1991 in response to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The war began because of several crises stemming from the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–88. The Iran-Iraq War ended on August 8, …
The invasion of Iraq officially began on March 20, 2003, under the name “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” The stated justification for the invasion was that Saddam Hussein, ruler of Iraq, had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and supported terrorism, and that the Iraqi people were suffering under his tyranny …
Hamas—an acronym of Harakat al-Muqawama alIslamiyaa in Arabic, literally “Islamic Resistance Movement”—was both a part of a region wide radical Islamic movement that developed in 1980s and an expression of the Palestinian struggle against Israeli domination and occupation. Hamas was established shortly after the outbreak of the first …
