World History Essay Examples and Topics

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832 samples

Due to the breadth of their topic, essays on World History require an understanding of events at various times and places in history. While this prospect may seem daunting, but there are a few means of making your workload look less than it is when it comes to world history topics.

First, start your paper by creating an outline. Even if you have only five paragraphs to write, jotting a few words for each will help you get a few world history essay ideas with which you can begin working.

Doing so prevents you from repeating yourself, as well as gives you a head start on your work.

Second, you should do your research. However, instead of going for only specialized books, try searching for titles that help you get an overview of your subject. This action ensures that you have a perspective that is both wide and informed enough to write such an essay.

Third, you can and must use the tools that are available to you, for example, periodization. Creating a timeline and working within it can help you generate some world history writing prompts.

Another essential tool is contextualization. Since your work relies on finding recurring patterns worldwide, giving them meaning and context will help you evaluate these circumstances better.

Finally, do not make your essay’s subject too scattered. You have a limited amount of pages to get your idea across, so do your best to condense your thought to suit your instructions.

If you can explain your idea in fewer words, then you have a higher chance of being understood by your readers, rather than boring them.

Need more help to start writing? Check the samples below on our website!

831 Best Essay Examples on World History

The History of Cars

The next natural thing that the inventors of the wheel did was to design the axle so that it could fit into the hole made in the centre of the wooden wheel.
  • 5
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2474

Technological Advancement Essay

In the state of Virginia during the 17th century, human labor was imperative due to the pressing need to grow enough food to serve the people in the community during the winter spell hence the [...]
  • 4.3
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1994

Vietnam War: History and Facts of War That Began in 1959

The Second Indochina War began in 1959, five years after the division of the country, according to the Geneva Agreement. South Vietnam's troops failed to substitute American soldiers, and in 1974 the peace agreement was [...]
  • 4
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 405

The Zulu Nation’s History and Culture

The Zulu people live on the continent of Africa, in the southern part of it, which is known as KwaZulu-Natal. In this family, the husband stands for the chief, and institution of marriage is hallowed.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 587

Communism and Capitalism Through the History

In this system, the means of product and service production is mainly carried out and owned by the individuals instead of the government while communism also known as fascism is contrary to this where production [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 882

Post-Cold War Challenges

At the time when strained relations between the US and the Soviet Union ended, the financial systems of several countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe, were in the process of collapsing.
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3258

The History Civilization of China

The prominent dynasties that had significance in the social and the political phases of China included the Shang dynasty and the Ch'in the Chou dynasty.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1214

The Conclusion of The Civil War

The main reason that the Confederacy succeeded from the Union was the issue of States' rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution but were almost completely lost following the Civil War.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 615

The Cold War Impact on African States & Societies

The Cold War became a global geopolitical, military, and economic confrontation between the two blocs of states, the centers of which were the United States and the USSR, from 1946 to the end of 1980.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 348

The Emergence of the Bipolar World

It demonstrates that the consequences of the bipolarity and the Cold War emerging from it were not positive because the world felt constant pressure resulting from the confrontation between the United States of America and [...]
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2464

State Formation Factors in Africa Before 1880

Even though several reasons led to the states' formation, they were formed due to cultural homogeneity, political organization, trade and commerce, and military body. Trade and commerce also led to the formation of states in [...]
  • 3
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 573

History: Cultural Exchanges in the Medieval Period

Based on an appreciation of the contribution of international trade to the growth and development of the medieval world, this paper explores the role of spice, salt, sugar, and silk as important trade commodities of [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1393

Holocaust and Bosnian Genocide Comparison

The current paper aims to compare some of the most notable genocides in history, the Holocaust, and the Bosnian mass murder in terms of their aims, death tolls, tactics, and methods.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1713

American, French and Haitian Revolutions

The main differences between the revolutions lie in their origins: the American Revolution was stimulated by the unwillingness to pay higher tax revenues to Britain, the French one was stimulated by the willingness to replace [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 328

Historical Schools of Thought

They are sure that it is impossible to describe truth with the help of language, which presupposes that historical facts can also be questioned.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 852

African Nationalism as Colonial Legacy

The oppression of rural areas and production and the prioritization of the urban population has become the main reason for the spread of poverty among the African population.
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1469

Nationalism in the Postcolonial Viewpoint

As such, the school of thought also challenges the notion that Western nationalism is the sole form of the phenomenon. This essay will discuss the dangers of nationalism, as seen from the postcolonial perspective, as [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1125

The Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Accordingly, the option for administration style came from the empire's direct connection to the previous failed Sejuks dynasty and the closeness to the monarchical Byzantine political structure.
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3438

Comparing Life in 1800s and Now

The purpose of this paper is to compare the life during the 1800s and now based on the fact that the two eras coincide with two epochs of industrialization.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 570

The Islamic Golden Age

The paper will highlight some of the accomplishments made by famous Muslim scientists in order to underscore the contribution of Islam to science. The House of Wisdom contributed to the advancement of research efforts by [...]
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 2753

The Maasai and Bushmen of Africa

The Busmen and the Maasai are two communities that are found in Africa and they inhabit the Eastern and Southern regions of the African continent, respectively.
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 3208

The Process of Production

The hit of the industrial revolution in Europe and America in the 18th century led to a lot of changes and advancement in the production industry.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 613

A History of Romantic Love

The paper examines the history of love starting from the ancient times then to the medieval chivalry and finally the contemporary period.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2011

The End of the Cold War

Analyzing Gorbachevs actions and his incentives in the economy of the USSR, it is possible to conclude that the primary aim of these actions was the destruction of the welfare of the country, the growth [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 587

Marriage and Adultery Laws of Emperor Augustus

The laws were enacted to deal with marriage avoidance, the preference for childless unions, marriage of lower class women by the Roman elite, and adultery, all of which threatened the continuity of the Roman aristocracy.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1791

The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Causes and Effects

The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 in which the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States were involved was the turning point of the states' confrontation in the Cold War because of risks to develop [...]
  • 5
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2531

East Versus West

The East usually refers to Asia and the Middle East while the West usually refers to Europe and the American continents. The East views the West with contempt in terms of how the Orient values [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1417

Mexican vs. Cuban Revolutions: Comparative Analysis

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the Cuban Revolution of the 1960s show that the Revolution's tentacles may spread far and wide due to preexisting sociopolitical, economic, and cultural systems.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1238

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” by H. Zinn

Focusing on two major issues - the difference between the native civilizations and the Western civilization in the context of sharing; and the depopulation of the natives in Bahama due to Spanish exploitation and natives [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 720

History: Role of Knowing the Past

The present is a myriad of events in the past. As a historian, the study of these preserved artifacts is important in knowing about the past.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 520

Reflecting the Horrors of War

People learn more about the horrors of war through literature but do not infer from experience they gain; the only way they apply the knowledge about the war is the development of more sophisticated weapon [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 612

French Revolution Main Events

The year 1789 was marked by celebrations of the centenary of the glorious revolution in Britain. There was much travel between Britain and France and the individuals who supported events in France started to dress [...]
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 252

Imperialism in India

By 1858, the British regained control and immediately passed the Government of India Act, which allowed the British Crown administrators to run the country instead of the British East India Company.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1095

British Colonial Racism for Aboriginal Australians

Precisely this colonial racism and genocide can be considered to be the cruelest in the history of the world and may have influenced the ideas and plans of Adolf Hitler, who got inspired by the [...]
  • Pages: 15
  • Words: 4206

Education in South Africa Analysis

The government was not inclined to spend too much costs at African education and thus the role of Christian missionary schools was maintained in education of African population.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1655

The Four Voyages by Christopher Columbus

The voyages were made in the Caribbean and Central America between 1492 and 1504 following the consent granted to him by the monarch. In the course of his expedition, he discovered and named the Island [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 845

The Slave Trade Across the Sahara Desert

The trans-Saharan slave trade was driven by the increased demand for slave labor, the use of slaves as legal tender, and the decline in gold and other products in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2794

History of Soviet Union

The key mandate of United Nations Organization was to promote political, economical and social stability in the world. The European nations were in the process of recovering from the after math of the First World [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1671

Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment

Certain ceremonies that demonstrated customary practices such as baptism and sacraments were abolished by the reformed churches, and this affected the lives of the people because the initial rituals used to shape the social lives [...]
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1702

The Europeans and Native Americans Relationships

This series of military conflicts became a significant constituent of the history of interaction between Europeans and Native Americans and demonstrated the power of the concept of conflict partly forming these relationships.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1107

The 20th to 21st Century History

The 20th century was the beginning of many social changes across the globe and several worldwide war conflicts that affected both Western and non-Western countries.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 400

The History of Death Penalty

The death penalty became legal in America in 1776 during the revolutionary war. The US Supreme court ruled the death penalty as unconstitutional in 1972.
  • Pages: 13
  • Words: 594

Ottoman and Safavid Empires Comparison

The Ottoman empire came to decline as well, but it prospered for a considerably longer time, and its fall was largely determined by the pressure of political powers in Europe.
  • 5
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 624

The Comparison of the Roman and the U.S. Senate

First of all, one should mention that the institutions have to be responsible for limiting the power of political leaders. This is one of the tasks that the Roman Senate had to cope with.
  • 5
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1104

Fidel Castro and His Achievements

Castro was proud of being a Cuban and he strived to create the Cuban identity. Castro deprived Cubans of the rights to life, liberty, and property.
  • 5
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1385

History of Tents in Saudi Arabia

It is seated in a valley that is about eight kilometers away from Mecca, the Holy City and one of the main destinations for the pilgrims during the celebration of Hajj.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 832

Nelson Mandela’s Speech from the Dock

Of great importance was the apprehension of Mandela that further awakened the clamor for independence in the Africans especially after delivering a speech on the trial day, in his defense.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 887

French and Russian Revolutions

In fact, what later came to be known as "Russia's Great October Socialist Revolution", was more of a political coup the members of Russia's Provisionary Government, which was formed after Czar's abdication in 1916, we [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 598

The General Maritime Treaty of 1820 in UAE History

Kourosh Ahmadi, the author of the book "Islands and International Politics in the Persian Gulf: The Abu Musa and Tunbs in Strategic Context," expresses an opinion that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, an [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1139

Chile Before, During, and After Colonization

It borders Argentina to the east, Peru to the north and finally Bolivia to the northeast. Before the landing of the Spanish colonizers during the 16th C, the Inca governed northern Chile while the indigenous [...]
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 3058

A Brief History of Chili

Other theories have also suggested that it first spread from Portugal to India and to the rest of the world. Several theories have come up to describe the origin and distribution of chili throughout the [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 611

The Two World Wars: Brief History

The Trade barriers were believed to be the reasons for the war and to avoid war in the future the Bretton Woods system was introduced.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 656

The Role of Ideology in the Cold War

The Cold War was a significant period for the history of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Bloc, as well as other countries.
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2015

Schelling and Kahn on the Deterrence Power

Schelling proposed that the power of deterrence in the nuclear age is pegged not only on the equality or balance of the nuclear-possessing countries, but on the "stability of the balance".
  • 5
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2750

Historical Facts of Australia

Among those events that Australia considers most important politically, economically as well as socially are the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, the Victorian Gold Rushes, the Federation in 1901 and the Second [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1200

History of the European Union

The signing of the Lisbon Treaty on December 13, 2009, transformed the structure of the European Community, which was subsequently renamed the European Union.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 818

East Meets West: Culture Differences

He described the Japanese as the best people known among the heathens.[2] "Portuguese Views of Chinese"[3] is an account of the first impression the Portuguese had upon encountering the Chinese.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1010

India and Indochina: Colonization and Decolonization

France considered the colonization of Indochina as a political opportunity to increase its authority and influence in the region and compete with the expanding influence of the British Empire in the region.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1116

Discussion of the Life of Aboriginal People

Despite the effects of colonization in the past and now, Aboriginal structures, customs and traditions continue to exist, and Aboriginal individuals, families, and communities remain strong and resilient.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 919

Colonization of Australia Review

The focus of this paper will cover the initial stages of the development of the Australian colony of New South Wales in the period between 1788 and 1792.
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2085

The Pax Romana and the Pax Mongolia

They further had improved the system to bring water from the mountains to the cities of roman.most of Northwest Europe and almost all lands around the Mediterranean Sea were under the jurisdiction of the vast [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 748

Impacts of Colonialism on Africa

In this, it suffered the fate of "imperialism," which after 1900 was adopted by critics of European expansion to serve ideological purposes and used imprecisely to suggest both the annexation of territories and their subsequent [...]
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 3054

Anglo-Zulu 1879 War Analysis

The Zulu nation had been invaded by Voortrekkers and up to the time it was subdued by the British, it had fought numerous battles and even when the Zulu finally lost to the British, they [...]
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 2284

Jamaica Independence History

The Tainos are said to have stayed in the island peacefully until the Spanish arrival which is said to have caused a lot of unrest in the island.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 575

Ireland History and Development

8 million people live in the Republic of Ireland while the rest inhabit Northern part of Ireland and is part of the United Kingdom.
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1651

How Did the Gold Rushes Change Colonial Australia?

In the history of nations that throve on the territories of North America and Australia, the nineteenth century is marked by a series of gold rushes that forever changed the ways of development in economical [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 845

The Scale of Scottish Witch Hunts

Meilan Solly, in her article published in 2019 and titled "This Map Shows the Scale Of 16th and 17th Century Scottish Witch Hunts", explains the stories of witchcraft practice in Scotland between 1590 and 1727.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 304

The Nineteenth Century’s Paradigm Shifts

2 As a result, this led to ideological differences and social perceptions among the two countries, which potentially contributed to the growing tensions in the political sphere that led to World War I.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1016

The Ottoman Empire History: the Rise and Fall

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, with a lot of focus on the factors that were very instrumental in the decline of the Empire.
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2229

History of the Indian Castes

The aim of this essay is to describe the system of castes in India as well as to characterize the diversity of Indian society. In general, the caste system in India represents the stratified hierarchy [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1077

Historical Methodologies

This approach sets to highlight the economic history of the society by examining the modes of production used in the society through time.
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1950

The Cold War in Context: Geopolitics

In such difficult times, as the Cold War and the spread of terrorism, the role of Christians is to pursue one of God's main principles, which is hope.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 596

Oduduwa in the Yoruba History and Traditions

Today, "the Yoruba people occupy the South-Western part of Nigeria, they account for about 20% of the population of the country". According to experts, "the Yoruba people are mainly involved in the financial, press and [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1386

The History of Russian Revolution

Bolsheviks constituted the largest radical group in revolutionary Russia that played the most important role in the initiation and the course of the revolution.
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 1150

Victorian Era Science Discoveries

Initially, the theme of the evolution of animals and humans was considered ridiculous and even blasphemous since the idea of creational theology was widespread in Victorian society.
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 288

Impact of Oil in the Middle East

The large revenue from oil has stirred the growth and development of the other sectors of the economies thus widening the economic belt of these Arab states.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 892

Public Schooling in 19th Century Canada

Anglicans however, had a major effect in the founding of public schools, which emphasized the teaching of Latin and Greek, and which were proposed to educate youth for future positions of occupational and social leadership [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 1023

Empires and Whether They Exist

The first is the definition of empires i.e.what is an empire? This is prevalent in many empires ranging from the Roman to the British Empire
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1669

Ataturk: The Great Father of Turks

One side of the Turkish nation supported the movements of Ataturk and this action was under the name of "Kemalism", while the other side of the Turkish nation supported the traditional religious rules to be [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1638

The History of Tanzania

Tanzania is the country with a rich history that began with the migration of the first Cushitic tribes, continued with its colonization by Germany and Britain and its struggle for independence, and resulted in the [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1316

Imperialism and Modernization

The skills learnt in farming were of great help to the colonies since they applied them in their farms after independence and this accelerated their modernization process.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 927
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