History Essay

[Baris345]

Right, I've known I had to do this for the last year or so, but being the idiot I am, I've put it off until now. Basically, I have to write a 1200 to 1500 word essay on a significant event from at least 20 years ago, and also write about why that essay was worth writing. The event can't be a big thing (yay, articulation), for example the assassination of JFK or the battle of Midway would be fine, but Operation Barbarossa is too broad a subject.

I had a draft of it written up about Apollo 13, but I'm finding that pretty hard to write about, so I need new ideas, and then I have to do the entire thing by Friday...

TL;DR: Throw out some ideas for an interesting 1500 word history essay.

 

[Magnalian]

Try looking into the history of other countries. You might find something of use there, and chances are few people in your class will have heard about it, so it wouldn't really be a big thing, would it?

 

[Hippobatman]

How about a specific topic from the Cold War? EG, The Cuba Incident, the arms race between the US and USSR, The Manhattan Project, etc. There are plenty of stuff to write about and it's quite interesting, for me at least.

Just the first historical topic I can come up with that I'd be interested in writing about.

 

[Davrel]

The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - one of the most important events of all time.

You could do an outline of the events and the reasoning behind them in 1500 words.

Won't be particularly detailed but 1500 words is hardly enough to give detail to any significant event.

 

[GundamSentinel]

The battle of Hastings, D-Day, one of the Crusades, battle of Agincourt, sacking of Rome, some of the Persian wars, Peloponnesian wars, Spanish reconquista, (re-)discovery of America.

So much history, so many epic moments.

Oh right, no big things... Well, still enough battles and conflicts to choose from... Also, there is way more history than just American history...

 

[Pandalisk]

Vietnamn war, Very interesting time

 

[Wadders]

Heh. I have to do 3 essays, 2500 words each, in 4 weeks for my History course

Procrastination sucks.

But maybe try the Falklands War?

 

[Vie]

Do it on the Falklands, plenty of material and outside of the UK and Argentina its not a particularly well known or understood conflict.

 

[ZeeClone]

The miners strikes of 84-85
The falklands
Attempted assassinations of Pope John-Paul II

There's a lot of history to be had Baris345

 

[Satin6T]

creation of a game developer or production company and it's affects on the world
ie creation of bungie -> Halo -> modern day shooters
or Tim Shafer = God

 

[ZeeClone]

Ah of course

The video game collapse. ET phone fail!

 

[Angerwing]

Battle of Agincourt.

Oh God this. Not only was it important from a military/strategic standpoint, it actually led to a cultural shift. Nobility used to be the elite warriors, as they'd be decked out with their fine horses and armour. Then the longbow came in, and they quickly became irrelevant, as they were easily overcome by peasants with bows.

Do this.

 

[Baris345]

I knew The Escapist would be the right place to ask, thanks for all the suggestions that have already been given. So far I'm trying to decide between the bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Falklands War or the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, which is very interesting because I'm half Turkish and half Irish. I found people pointing out that there's more than American history amusing since I've never even been to there, but it was my fault for 3 of the 4 topics I mentioned being from the USA

Please feel free to keep throwing out ideas, I probably won't be able to decide until later this evening anyway.

creation of a game developer or production company and it's affects on the world
ie creation of bungie -> Halo -> modern day shooters
or Tim Shafer = God

Coincidentally, I did write something on Tim Schafer a couple of weeks back.

EDIT: The Battle of Agincourt seems very interesting too, although I'm not sure I'd be able to link it's influences to anything that's still prevalent today. Do point out if I'm being stupid and missing something huge though.

And just to clarify, I do understand the longbow changing how wars were fought, but that seems like it'd only fit into a few paragraphs of an essay about the battle itself rather than being a focus.

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

I'm noticing alot of American incidents, being suggested by people who aren't American which is weird. Anyway, yeah, I'd look further abroad. I'd try something not as well-known, like the Opium Wars in China, or the Bolshevik Revolution.

I reckon you could easily pump out an essay on those, and you'd at least APPEAR to be really smart

 

[HerrBobo]

Right, I've known I had to do this for the last year or so, but being the idiot I am, I've put it off until now. Basically, I have to write a 1200 to 1500 word essay on a significant event from at least 20 years ago, and also write about why that essay was worth writing. The event can't be a big thing (yay, articulation), for example the assassination of JFK or the battle of Midway would be fine, but Operation Barbarossa is too broad a subject.

I had a draft of it written up about Apollo 13, but I'm finding that pretty hard to write about, so I need new ideas, and then I have to do the entire thing by Friday...

TL;DR: Throw out some ideas for an interesting 1500 word history essay.

The Battle of Thermopylae. It was a small, but significant, battle in the greatest invasion of Europe untill June 1944.

I have a BA in History and have done countless essays; 1200-1500 words is not alot. Break it down like this; 300-400 words for into/conclusion. That leaves you with 1000(ish) words for the main body of the text. In these 1000 words make 3-4 main points about why the battle was important. Dont try and talk about everything that happend, or you will just do a little bit of everything and focus on nothing.

I'm a massive fan of ancient history. I'm sure you have heard of Thermopylae. It is a very intresting battle.

If it were me, in the intro I would quickly talk about the invasion of Europe by Xerxes and then outline what you are going to say in the essay.

What you say in the essay is really up to you. The Graco-Persian war was really won at battle of Salamis and the battle of battle of Plataea. However, the delaying action of the Greeks at Thermopylae ment that the people of Athens could be evacuated to Salamis, and thus, could take the fight to the Persians at Plataea. Thermopylae was also one of the first examples of the Greek city states working together to defeat a foreign invader. Remember that the Greek city states fought each other before and after the Graco-Persian war.

Thats why I find Thermopylae a very intresting battle. Th Greeks were defeated, but with out the holding actions for 3 days the whole war might have been lost. If it were not for that battle the history of Europe might be very, very diffrent.

Another good thing about Thermopylae is that there are loads of books and info about it. Minds what you read online though. Lots of it can be bullshit. If you have time find a book called "Persian Fire" by Tom Holland and read the bits about Thermopylae.

If you decide to do it and have any questions just ask.

 

[gilthanan]

Waterloo, Napoleon killing the Holy Roman Empire and how it led to the creation of the German Empire or Napoleon, Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel, or Camil Cavour and their relationship to the unification of Italy. The little known US involvement in wars of the Russian revolution between the Whites and Reds.

Is there any specific time period, country, or subject you would like to write about?

Agincourt was an important turning point in the role of the Knight and nobility and war, but it was not as dramatic as one would like to think.

However you could use it to talk about how the role of the nobility was no longer in fighting war, but in leading the army, something that was in place in many countries till WWI, (Germany, Russia) but also Agincourt is one of the first major battles that starting using professional armies on any large scale since Roman times, and this period (1400's) you begin to see the emergence of a strong centralized state capable of supporting this type of army.

 

[Layz92]

The Pig War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_war
Really catch your teacher off guard with something unusual

Also the turkish/armenian war and the croatia/serbia war (croatians like serbians as much as an hydrophobic would enjoy a refreshing glass of water I found out from my croat friend. Attempted genocide really does make some countries the best of friends...)

 

[Precious Pikachu]

Russian history is fascinating. You can talk about the revolution or Stalin's regime or even the Soviet involvement in the Spanish Civil war. Good stuff.

 

[Danny Ocean]

TL;DR: Throw out some ideas for an interesting 1500 word history essay.

Try looking into the history of other countries. If anything before 1990 is fair game you've got a lot you can do. Falklands, Korea, Vietnam, for example. Yom Kippur War. Or, if you really really push it: the first gulf war.