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History Research Paper Topics

Academic writing

History is one of the most important subjects in a school, college, and university curriculum. Studying past events, people develop a better understanding of the processes that take place in the world so that they can build a bright future. There is a saying that history repeats itself; so we can use this to our advantage by tracing cultural and economic patterns and learning from past mistakes. Such an approach will allow us to make more reasonable decisions and live a better life.

Every intelligent person should know how our world reached the current development stage and how wars, tragedies, and other misfortunes could have been avoided if certain circumstances were different. Working on interesting history research paper topics could give you answers to these questions.

History also allows students to get acquainted with the culture and traditions of other nations, find out why specific laws are established, as well as discover the roots of social movements. For example, studying the slavery period, you will understand why there are so many human rights organizations nowadays. In addition, you will be able to develop your critical analysis skills as each historian interprets events differently, so you have an opportunity to look at one event from different perspectives. That is why there are so many controversial history research paper topics for college students. In this case, your task is to uncover the truth in the informational flow and offer your readers an idea supported by convincing arguments.

Besides, you may have noticed that history books occupy an important place in the world literary heritage. Learning how to describe events in a compelling, accurate, and convincing manner, you will generate greater reader interest. Many outstanding writers started their triumphant career with the consideration of history research paper topics for high school students. Their desire to explore and understand some facts as well as diligence, talent, and perseverance helped them to achieve amazing success. Why don’t you try?

Of course, it may be rather challenging to choose a research direction that would highlight your knowledge and analytical skills. Firstly, you should be interested in a subject because readers can respond to the writer’s emotions expressed in the text. Secondly, it is preferable to narrow down the topic. For example, if a general direction is Ancient Rome, you can choose a certain emperor’s reign period and discuss its economic, educational, or religious aspects. Finally, your topic may imply a comparison of political systems and social structures in different countries or description of battles.

While working on the paper, you have to make sure that reliable sources are available to you. To make sure they are, you can ask your professor’s advice. He or she can compile a list of literature or guide you on adjusting a research direction. You can also visit a library and surf the Internet to find more information. However, be careful because not all data found on the Web is trustworthy. Plots of historical movies and books are also bad sources because most of them are romanticized and supplemented by fictional details.

To simplify your choice, we have compiled several lists of good topics for a history research paper. Using them, you may be sure that your study will be relevant and interesting to a scientific community.

20 World History Research Paper Topics

• The Role of the Shogun in Japanese History
• China and Japan Development in Recent Historical Stages
• Mutual Influence of Greek, Egyptian, and Roman Cultures
• The Role of Church in Medieval Europe
• The Ottoman Empire Most Important Events
• How Could World War II Be Prevented?
• The Mongol Empire Power
• The Contribution of Gandhi to the World Peace
• Why Do Empires Fall?
• Lessons World Wars Taught Us
• Ancient Conquests and Their Influence on the Modern World Map Formation
• Western World Social Stratification
• Women’s Rights Movement: The Main Achievements of the Last Century
• Jamaican History of Violent Events
• Child Emperors of Rome
• Everyday Life of Peasants in Medieval Europe
• The Byzantine Empire Development
• Links Between World War I and World War II
• South Africa Apartheid
• Nuclear Weapons and Their Influence on the World Military Clashes

World history is quite broad and diverse research area, which covers a significant period of time: from the rise of civilizations to more recent events, such as dreadful wars of the 20 th century and development of social movements. Therefore, there are many interesting world history research topics to choose from.

Issues discussed in history papers usually touch upon significant phenomena and changes which affect humanity and determine a course of its development. A good reason for choosing world history topics for a research paper is that your project may attract the attention of the readers from different countries.

First of all, you should decide on a general research direction; for example:

• Interaction between people and the environment: agriculture, fighting diseases, demographic or climatic changes.
• Development and interaction of cultures: spreading religions or ideas like humanism.
• State-building: armed conflicts, rise and fall of empires.
• Economic systems: globalization, communism, capitalism.
• Social structures: labor specialization, social hierarchies based on gender, race, or class.

These are good world history research paper topics for high school, college, and university students. Of course, you may change the topic a little bit or elaborate on it further. Sometimes it is enough to prepare a 20-page report and make a brief conclusion, whereas in other cases an aspiring researcher has to make his or her own discovery and contribute to a scientific heritage, so you have to consider your choice wisely.

United States history research paper topics

There is no doubt that the United States has one of the most advanced economies in the world. The country reached a high development level over a short period of time; however, the American nation had witnessed many dramatic events. That is why American history research paper topics for college students are so popular.

You can write about any period of US history; for example, the Pre-Columbian era, colonial period, the American Revolution, the Federal period, the Gilded Age, the Great Depression, or the Cold War. Here are some good examples of US history topics for a research paper:

• Impact of European colonization on Native Americans
• Salem Witch Trials
• Debate between Federalists and Anti-federalists
• Labor unions, conflicts, and strikes in the 1800s
• John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry
• Indian Removal Act
• Was imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th century justified?
• Causes and results of the Mexican War
• McCarthyism
• Legends vs. reality in the West: Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, George Custer, etc.
• Effect of the cotton gin on economy and slaves labor
• Hurricane Katrina
• The most prominent people in American history
• Women’s suffrage movement
• Pearl Harbor
• Transcontinental railroad and westward expansion
• Discriminating African American soldiers in the Union army
• Colonial America women, their role in the revolution. Who is a “republican mother”?
• Abolitionist movement
• Sacco-Vanzetti case
• American Indian Movement
• Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• The San Francisco earthquake and fire
• Oklahoma City bombing
• Kent State shootings
• Settlement house movement
• Baby boom (1950s-present)
• 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago
• Truman’s containment policy
• New York draft riots during the Civil War
• Mormons and their impact on American society development
• Gold Rush in California
• D-Day invasion
• Were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg spies?
• The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794
• Civil rights movement in the 1960s
• Impact of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
• The Underground Railroad
• U-2 incident
• 9/11 attacks
• March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963
• US in the Vietnam War
• Yellow journalism and the Spanish-American War
• Galveston hurricane
• Black Sox Scandal
• The Cuban missile crisis
• The Dawes Act impact on the United States and Native American policy
• Compare and contrast analysis of Lincoln-Douglas debates
• Immigration in the late 1800s
• My Lai Massacre
• Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society
• Battle of Midway
• Oregon Trail: why did people want to move to the West despite great risks?
• Manhattan Project
• How did Constitution eliminate drawbacks of the Articles of Confederation?
• Nat Turner’s Rebellion
• The colony of Roanoke disappearance theories
• The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
• How did Marbury v. Madison case influence the judicial system?
• Causes for North-South confrontation during the Civil War

European history research paper topics

European history is also a rather popular direction. Many young people are looking for easy research paper topics on AP European history to prepare a good project for Advanced Placement. Sometimes students struggle to find the research area because there are many European countries with a unique culture, political, and economic background. If you find yourself in the same situation, don’t worry! The examples below can simplify your task. Let’s start with Medieval & Renaissance Europe topics:

• Reformation
• Byzantine Empire
• Medieval economic history
• Knights and knighthood
• Courtly love
• Medieval church
• Women in the Middle Ages
• Women in the Renaissance
• Black Death (Black Plague)
• Medieval philosophy
• Medieval universities
• Papal monarchy
• Medieval law
• Justinian I (Byzantine emperor)
• Medieval warfare
• Hundred Years War
• Islamic Empire

Here are more good European history research paper topics:

• Age of Reason
• Enlightenment
• Crimean War
• Rothschild dynasty
• Revolutions of 1848
• Christopher Columbus and his outstanding discoveries
• Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
• The Medicis dynasty
• Congress of Vienna
• Industrial Revolution
• Eighteenth-Century Europe
• Napoleonic Wars

Interesting European history research paper topics on World War I:

• Lawrence, T. E. (Lawrence of Arabia)
• Gallipoli Campaign
• World War I diplomatic history
• Causes of World War I
• Treaty of Versailles
• War propaganda
• The main battles of World War I

Good topics for a European history research paper on World War II:

• Allied occupation of Germany
• Katyn Forest Massacre
• Propaganda of Joseph Goebbels
• Jewish resistance during the Holocaust
• World War II causes
• World War II naval history
• Nazi Germany
• Children in the Holocaust
• World War II War correspondents
• Nuremberg trials
• World War II Eastern front
• World War II home front
• Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors)
• Allied occupation of Japan
• Holocaust survivors
• World War II air warfare
• German resistance to Hitler
• Atlantic Wall
• World War II letters and diaries
• Atrocities of Gestapo
• Battle of Britain
• The biggest concentration camps
• World War II diplomatic history
• Battle of the Bulge
• Appeasement of Hitler

Art history research paper topics

Human life would be incomplete without art. All of the greatest civilizations had left painting, music, and literary legacy. Art always reflects social, economic, and political processes. That is why art history topics for a research paper constitute a separate and important category.

Of course, it is rather hard to understand what writers, musicians, sculptors, or painters aimed to express in their masterpieces. Fortunately, a research project operates with facts and arguments without any guesswork, personal interpretations, or speculative conclusions. It is not obligatory to understand the feelings of an artist whom you never met; instead, you can explore their creations and understand the message they sought to convey.

We invite you to get acquainted with ideas for brilliant academic projects on art. Let’s start with ancient art history research paper topics:

• Scythian gold adornments
• Greek theater development
• Mesopotamian art
• Ancient Greece sculptures. How did they influence modern art?
• Egyptian and Greek canons of proportions

Easy research paper topics for Eastern art history:

• Buddhist art 
• A rt of Tibet
• Influence of Hinduism on early Indian art
• Japanese and Chinese traditional costumes
• Religious motifs in Cambodian art
• Mughal paintings in India
• The Great Wall of China construction
• Islamic ascendancy in Indian art
• Korean pottery

Middle Ages and Renaissance history research paper topics for college students:

• Medieval churches
• Renaissance women’s clothing
• Medieval drama
• Medieval literature
• Caravaggio and his followers
• Architecture in Renaissance Italy
• Medieval music
• Domestic art in Renaissance Italy
• Botanical imagery in European painting
• Gothic architecture
• Early Netherlandish painting
• Arms and armor in Renaissance Europe
• Raphael’s paintings
• The birth and infancy of Christ in Italian paintings
• Cameo appearances
• Medieval romance literature
• Commercial exchange, diplomacy, and religious difference between Venice and the Islamic states
• Medieval theater history
• Anatomy in the Renaissance epoch
• Bronze sculptures in the Renaissance
• Christian symbols in Renaissance art
• Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome, 1500–1600
• Renaissance literature
• Ceramics in the French Renaissance
• Troubadours

18-19 th -century art topics:

• Baroque architecture
• Classical art and modern dress
• Marquis de Sade’s novels
• Legacy of Jacques-Louis David
• Lithography in the nineteenth century
• Neoclassicism sculpture
• Paul Gauguin savage art
• Industrialization of French photography after 1860
• “Dancing” paintings by Edgar Degas
• Georges Seurat and neo-impressionism
• Exoticism in the decorative arts
• Rococo and Baroque: compare and contrast analysis

Modern art history research paper topics:

• Kinetic art
• Frida Kahlo’s painting symbols
• Thomas Nast’s political cartoons
• Dau-al-Set  movement
• Harlem Renaissance
• Evolution of Pablo Picasso’s paintings
• Post-minimalism
• Jackson Pollock’s art

By far, these are just a few research paper topics on history. The world heritage is too vast to include everything in this article. However, we hope that this list has simplified your choice. If you face any obstacles when writing an academic project, feel free to contact Pro-Papers. We will gladly provide valuable advice or complete any tricky assignment for you!

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