100 History Research Paper and Essay Topics

As a history student, you are certainly expected to compose sound essays on world history topics as well as elaborate on any American history topic. To make sure you write quality essays, you need to learn how to process history essay topics, outline your arguments, and depict historical events in a convincing and accurate way. All in all, keeping some pieces of advice in mind can do you good if your goal is to come up with interesting history topics and craft excellent essays. In the following guide, we will talk about the key features of a history research paper, discuss how to choose history topics to write about, and provide you with sample history topics.

What Is a History Research Paper?

A history research paper challenges students with analyzing literature sources that are relevant to a particular historical event or historical era. Writing such a paper requires thorough preparation as well as in-depth research. Just like other types of college essays, a history essay follows a standard structure, where you need to develop a thesis statement and support it with relevant arguments and respective data. Thus, the only difference between a history research paper and other types of academic essays is that the first one analyzes solely historical events.

When writing a history research paper, it is critical to keep several points in mind, namely:

• Relevance of the topic: why is it worth being discussed these days?
• How is the topic related to the current times?
• Why was the topic critical in the past?
• How can a topic contribute to solving current economic and social issues?

Once you consider all the tips outlined above, you’ll become a pro at mastering any subject, from United States history research paper topics to the history of the middle ages.

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A Quick Guide to Choosing the Right Topic

If your goal is to craft an amazing history research paper with a strong thesis statement and not a less strong argument, there is a lot of effort to be made. A huge component of success lies in choosing the right topic. If you select a good and interesting one, you facilitate the writing process for yourself as well as make sure you will ultimately grab the reader’s attention. You might need to step out of your comfort zone and avoid limiting yourself to typical topics that have already been discussed thousands of times. Take a look at some tips that will help you come up with interesting but at the same time controversial topics in history:

Brainstorm

It is always helpful if you take a look at existing, ongoing research topics. Coming up with your topic might be quite a challenge if you have no idea of what is going on in History research. For instance, find 20-30 US history topics, take a look at them, and think for a while. Which one has grabbed your interest the most? Which topic has the most potential  and the biggest importance to you?

Do some prior research

Once you know the approximate direction of your research, go to the Internet and discover what others write about it. Try to search for some evidence you might need to apply in your paper. Once you find enough support and information, you will be able to narrow down the research topic and come up with your arguments for an essay.

Select the best sources

Writing a history research paper has a lot to do with literature research. You will need to find a bunch of online sources and select only the ones that are most relevant to your research topic. Make sure you use only the most reliable sources and always apply appropriate citations to avoid plagiarism.

Start outlining

Once you’re all set with a research paper topic, don’t forget to structure your history paper. Outlining is the key to writing a proficient, coherent, well-argumented paper. You will need to follow standard outlining: introduction, main body paragraphs, and a summary paragraph at the end. Make sure you have reasonable arguments and evidence for each point of your outline.

Develop multiple thesis statements

A thesis statement plays a critical role when we talk about history research papers. First, it gives the reader an idea of what you will be talking about in the essay. Additionally, it does let the reader know which line of arguments you will follow later on and helps them understand why you decided to talk about a specific historical event. To make it easier for you to structure body paragraphs, develop several statements. If you do so, you will develop several different arguments and finally choose the best ones.

Without further ado, take a look at 100 history research paper topics that will serve you as a basis for your own piece of writing:

Ancient History

1. Ancient Rome vs. ancient Greece: which one had more power in the past, and whose impact can be traced better today?
2. The philosophy of ancient greeks and its impact today
3. How the voting system of ancient Greece was organized
4. Protests in the ancient era: how demonstrations were organized in the past
5. The political system of ancient Rome
6. The military forces in ancient Greece
7. How Gladiator games were organized and which goal they pursued?
8. The society organization in ancient Egypt
9. Alexander the Great as one of the most leading figures in ancient History
10. Ancient Rome and civilian life

Middle Ages History Research Paper Topics

1. Crimes in the middle ages and how criminal behavior was treated
2. European Cities’ infrastructure during the medieval times
3. Philosophers of Medieval times and their impact on life today
4. The role of interfaith marriages in Medieval Europe
5. The most meaningful discoveries during the Middle Times and their contribution to the world economy
6. Revival of the Byzantine: the role and importance of the notion
7. Quran and its role in Medieval Europe
8. Middle Ages and the impact on the history of Europe
9. Why do some historians associate the Middle Ages with the era of discoveries?

Modern History

1. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the reasons and possible prevention mechanisms
2. Native Americans in the US today
3. US immigrant policy: the challenges that are being put on the foreign residents
4. Social movements and the role of the industrialization
5. Social movements in the US today
6. The notion of Westward Expansion
7. The most prominent inventions of the 21st century and their inventors
8. Industrialization and its consequences for the US
9. Great Recession: tracing the adverse consequence of the crisis today
10. The role of NATO in the modern society

World History Research Paper Topics

1. The war between the United States and Mexico: the reasons and outcomes
2. The colonization of South America
3. The famous battle at sea Spain and Great Britain
4. How Medieval Europe shaped and perceived social interactions and personal relationships
5. The long-term consequences of the Cold War between the countries of the Soviet Bloc and the United States
6. The Chernobyl explosion: one of the biggest nuclear catastrophes of the mankind
7. 1968 student revolts
8.  Formation of the European Union and the key events that contributed to it

European History

1. French revolution and the force distribution that followed
2. The history of the European economy
3. Early Modern Europe
4. Muslims of Europe
5. The propaganda of western theories in the 20th century
6. England of the 17th century and the problem of gender bias
7. The analysis of Mid-Tudor Crises in Europe
8. The history of Nazi Germany: comparing German government of the past to the government of today

World War I

1. The Treaty of Versailles and its impact on the events of World War I
2. The Gallipoli campaign and the World War I
3. The image of eastern and western fronts in ​​World War I
4. Chemical Weapon in World War I: economic necessity or a hazard?
5. The entrance of America into the World War
6. Most influential alliances during the times of World War I
7. World War I and the Russian revolution
8. Battle at sea vs battle in the air: which countries used which strategies and why?
9. People and World War I: the cost of lives

World War II

1. How the Soviet army entered World War II and why its entry was critical for the World history
2. Child labor during the times of World War II
3. Africa and the World War II
4. Why did America decide to take a neutral role during World War II?
5. The fate of Germany after the end of the World War II
6. The state of diplomacy during World War II
7. The occupation of Japan
8. The events of the final year of World War II
9.  Resistance towards Hitler in Germany during the times of World War II

African American History Research Paper Topics

1. The role of the 14th Amendment in the lives of African American society
2. Attempts to end slavery via Abolitionist Movement: success and failure factors
3. Angela Davis – one of the greatest civil rights activists in African American society
4. How Black Codes were designed to limit the freedoms of African Americans
5. Black History month: the roots of an opportunity to fight racism and learn the history of African Americans
6. Dr. Martin Luther King and his impact that finds reflection in the African American society today
7. Malcolm X and the rights of the people of color
8. How cultural movements of African Americans contributed to the cultural diversity of the United States
9. Robert F. Kennedy and the success of his speech

United States History

1. The causes of civil war in the United States
2. 1776: the years of independence declaration
3. The key personalities during the times of revolutionary war
4. American social movements and the consequences that industrialization has had on the first
5. The history of slavery and human rights deprivation in the United States
6. The role of indigenous people: how is modern culture shaped by the impact of native Americans?
7. Analyzing the period between the wars
8. Emancipation Proclamation of 1863
9. Alcohol prohibition in the US: the roots and long-term consequences for the economy

Cold War

1. Some of the most prominent historical events that took place during the times of Cold War
2. The Image of the United States during the Cold War
3. Cold War ar the period of uncertainty, fear, and resilience
4. The reason why Europe’s impact has been constantly shrinking at the times of cold war
5. Countries involved in the cold war and their role in it
6. Was it possible to prevent the Cold War or reduce its duration?
7. The influence of the Cold War in the current era: comparison of Russian vs. American pop cultures
8. The culture of the Soviet Union at the times of the Cold War
9. Chinese Communist Revolution during the Cold War

20th Century History Topics

1. American history of the 21st century
2. Ronald Reagan and the impact of the Mixed Legacies
3. The Holocaust and Roosevelt’s administration
4. Vietnam war: the role of females
5. Political Risks in American History during the reign of Harry Truman
6. Dictatorship in North Korea: the reasons behind it
7. The uprising of democratic movements
8. The history of organized crime in the 1920s in America
9. The greatest causes and consequences of the Great Depression
10. The death of the Soviet Union: how the world’s biggest country came to an end