11 EXAMPLES OF WELL-KNOWN HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS - HISTORY - 2025

The historical accounts are textual narratives describing important passages of history analytically, explaining in detail the facts, causes and consequences. In this article we give as examples the great migration, the second world war and the fall of the Berlin wall.

They are distinguished from the narrative that writes about history in a purely analytical way, since historical accounts allow the inclusion of a greater or lesser degree of narration, in addition to the analytical or interpretive exposition of the story.

Traditional historical accounts focus on the chronological order of history and tend to focus on individuals and on the actions and intentions carried out during the historical event.

In contrast, modern historical narrative typically focuses on general structures and trends. A modern historical account would break with the rigid chronology if the historian believes that in this way it would better explain the historical event that it is intended to narrate.

Historians using modern narrative often say that traditional historical accounts focus too much on what happened and not enough on why and causation. Instead, historians using traditional narrative might say that modern historical accounts overload the reader with trivial data.

Historical accounts are based on documents, ledgers, memos, newspapers, correspondence, diaries, figures, and tax lists.

The use of these primary sources does not determine the plot of the historical account, but it does ensure that the story is told using facts as close to objective reality as possible.

Examples of traditional historical accounts

1- The Great Migration

African American youth play basketball in Chicago, 1973. Source: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S). Public Domain File

The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African Americans from the rural southern states of the United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970.

Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregation laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first emerged during World War I.

As Chicago, New York, and other cities saw their black populations expand exponentially, these migrants were forced to contend with poor working conditions and competition for living space, as well as widespread racism and prejudice.

During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place in public life, actively addressing economic, political, and social challenges and creating a new black urban culture that would exert enormous influence for decades to come.

Supremacy of the white population

After the Civil War, white supremacy was largely restored in the South, and segregationist policies known as the Jim Crow laws soon became the law of the land. Blacks in the south were forced to earn a living by working the land.

Furthermore, although the Ku Klux Klan - a homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-communist and anti-Catholic organization of the American extreme right - had been officially disbanded in 1869, it continued to exert intimidation, violence and even execution of southern blacks.

Outbreak of the First World War

In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I in Europe, industrialized urban areas in the North, Midwest, and West faced a shortage of industrial workers so entrepreneurs lured African-Americans to come north, to dismay. of the southern whites.

The summer of 1919 began the greatest period of interracial fighting in American history, including a disturbing wave of race riots.

As a result of segregation, many blacks ended up creating their own cities within large cities, fostering the growth of a new African-American urban culture.

The most prominent example was Harlem in New York City, a once-all-white neighborhood that was already home to about 200,000 African Americans in the 1920s.

Some historians differentiate between the First Great Migration (1910-1930), with around 1.6 million migrants leaving mainly rural areas to emigrate to the industrial cities of the North and Midwest, and a second Great Migration (1940 to 1970), in which 5 million or more people moved, including many to California and other western cities.

Between 1910 and 1970, blacks moved from 14 southern states, especially Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, to the other three cultural regions of the United States. More villagers with urban skills moved during the second migration.

2- World War II

American gut during the Normandy landings

World War II was a global conflict that began in 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved most of the world's nations - including all the great powers - eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million soldiers mobilized.

In a state of "total war", the main participants put all their economic, industrial and scientific capacity at the service of the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources.

Marked by various significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the use of nuclear weapons, it is the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 50 million to more than 70 million fatalities.

Development of the war conflict

Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 prompted Britain and France to declare war on Germany. In April 1940, Germany invaded Norway and Denmark.

In May, German forces attacked Belgium and the Netherlands until reaching the Meuse River where they struck French forces at Sedan. With France on the brink of collapse, Benito Mussolini of Italy signed the Pact of Steel with Hitler declaring war against France and Great Britain.

Throughout the summer of 1940, German planes bombed Britain including night raids on London and other industrial centers that caused heavy civilian casualties and damage.

However, the Royal Air Force (RAF) eventually defeated the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) so Hitler postponed his plans to invade Britain.

In early 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia and Greece, a precursor to Hitler's real goal: the invasion of the Soviet Union.

However, arguments between Hitler and his commanders delayed the next German advance until October, when it was stalled by a Soviet counteroffensive and the onset of harsh winter weather.

In the Pacific, at the end of 1941, 360 Japanese planes unexpectedly attacked the main US naval base in Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), claiming the lives of more than 2,300 soldiers.

Following this attack the United States declared war on Japan, and Germany and the other Axis powers promptly declared war on the United States.

The approach of winter, along with the decline in food and medical supplies, ended the wars on the Soviet front in January 1943. In July 1943, the Allies invaded Italy and the Mussolini government fell.

On June 6, 1944, celebrated as "D-Day", the Allies began a massive invasion of Europe, landing 156,000 British, Canadian and American soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, France.

In response, Hitler turned his entire remaining army into Western Europe ensuring the defeat of Germany in the east. Soviet troops rapidly advanced into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania while Hitler mustered his forces to drive the Americans and British out of Germany at the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 to January 1945), the last major German offensive. from the war.

In February 1945, an intense aerial bombardment preceded the invasion by the Allies of Germany, who formally surrendered on May 8 as Soviet forces had occupied much of the country and Hitler was already dead, having committed suicide on April 30. in his bunker in Berlin.

World War II turned out to be the most devastating international conflict in history, killing 35 to 60 million people, including 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Millions more were injured and lost their homes and property. As a legacy of the war, communism spread from the Soviet Union into Eastern Europe.

3- Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Fall of the Berin Wall, 1989. Lear 21 at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

On August 13, 1961, the communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began to build a wall with barbed wire and concrete between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this wall was to prevent Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and to avoid breaking up the socialist state.

In total, at least 171 people died trying to climb over, under or around the Berlin Wall. However, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border.

They did this by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through sewers, and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.

The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they wanted.

That night, ecstatic crowds knocked down the wall. Some freely crossed into West Berlin, while others cut holes in the wall with pickaxes and hammers.

To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

4- The conquests of Alexander the Great (Greece to India)

Alexander the Great was one of the most influential military strategists of all time. Source: pixabay.com

Few leaders have been as influential as Alexander the Great, who was born in Macedonia in 356 BC. C. and became one of the most important military strategists of all time.

From a young age Alexander learned the military arts from his father, King Philip II of Macedonia, and was fortunate to be educated by one of the great minds in history: Aristotle.

In 336 a. Alexander succeeded his father on the throne, and without wasting time embarked on what was one of his great conquests: that of the Persian Empire. A group of 40,000 soldiers were commanded by this strategist, who began the fight in 334 BC. C.

Other territories

That victory was just the beginning. From then on, Alexander the Great managed to unify the Greek peoples and won relevant victories in other areas, such as Egypt, Central Asia and the Middle East. The peak of his military career was the victory over the Indian troops: he defeated King Poro and added that space to his conquered territories.

Without a doubt, the fact that Alexander the Great has been able to conquer such a vast territory in just three years - the time that his reign lasted - is an unprecedented feat that meant an evolution in the military, social and cultural spheres of all the world.

Despite having died shortly after his victory in India and having had such a short reign, the important legacy of this Greek was decisive both in his time and in later times.

5- The conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

Episodes of the Conquest: The Cholula Massacre (oil on canvas) - Source: Félix Parra (1845-1919) In 1519 the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés touched Mexican lands and proclaimed them as property of the Spanish Crown. However, it was not until two years later that Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) definitively surrendered to the conquerors.

The first territories conquered were those that were in the Yucatan peninsula and, once they had their most consolidated power, the Spanish dared to confront the Aztecs, inhabitants of Tenochtitlán.

At that time, the Aztec Empire was made up of more than 300,000. For this reason, the Spaniards acted with strategy and promoted a very cordial first approach. Even the Tatloani king Moctezuma invited Cortés to sleep in one of the most important palaces of the Empire.

Capture of Moctezuma

Drawing of the huey tlatoani Moctezuma II, who witnessed the arrival of the Spanish. Via wikimedia commons.

What came next was the trigger for the conflict. The Spanish kidnapped Moctezuma and the members of the Empire rose up against the conquerors.

Times of intense fighting passed and, finally, Moctezuma was assassinated by the Spanish conquerors. This so infuriated the Aztecs that they carried out a historic victory, defeating the Spanish in 1520 and driving them out of their territories.

However, barely a month after this victory the Spanish managed to rearrange their troops and carried out a major siege, through which they deeply limited the supply of the Empire. This was the reason why the Aztecs finally surrendered to the conquerors.

This action was the beginning of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the definitive installation of the Spaniards in what was the largest viceroyalty of the conquered territories.

6- The Mexican Revolution

Porfirio Díaz, Pancho Villa and Victoriano Huerta, characters of the Mexican Revolution

Between 1910 and 1917, Mexico experienced very relevant moments of conflict that definitively marked several generations: it was the Mexican Revolution.

The main purpose was to prevent Porfirio Díaz, who held power for 35 years, from staying in power for longer. This general malaise was expressed in different ways and armed groups with different motivations emerged, which made the conflict much more complex and, therefore, lasted for seven years.

The triggering action of the Mexican Revolution took place after the electoral victory of Porfirio Díaz, who was elected president of Mexico for the period between 1910 and 1914. Among the claims that demanded transparency in the electoral processes, the voice of Francisco Madero was raised, who was also a candidate for the presidency.

Plan of San Luis

Madero led the San Luis Plan, whose main purpose was to put on the table the importance of workers' rights, among other aspects of relevance to Mexican society.

The plan was to be executed on November 20, 1910, but some participants were discovered before this date, so they decided to take up arms early.

Important Mexican leaders fought alongside Madero, such as Pancho Villa, Pascual Orozco and Emiliano Zapata. Very soon the Mexican Revolution paid off: on May 25, 1911, Porfirio Díaz resigned from his position as president. Madero was Díaz's successor in what they called Mexico's first legal and democratic election in 30 years.

During the Mexican Revolution, more than a million men and women died. However, the political liberation of Mexico was fundamental for the development of a more egalitarian and evolved society.

7- The expedition of Magellan-Elcano

Map of the first circumnavigation of the world, by Fernando de Magallanes and Juan Sebastián Elcano, from 1519 to 1522. via Wikimedia Commons

The first round the world took place in 1519 and the protagonists were the Portuguese Fernando de Magallanes and the Spanish Juan Sebastián Elcano.

Five ships manned by 250 men began this historic journey. The starting point was Sanlúcar de Barrameda and the destination was the Moluccan Islands in Indonesia, crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

They set sail on November 15, 1519 and returned to the same port of departure three years later with a greatly diminished crew: only 18 men returned.

The idea was born from Magellan, who believed he had discovered a faster way to get to Indonesia. Given the refusal by the King of Portugal, Magellan proposed the idea to Carlos V of Spain, who accepted it with enthusiasm.

A couple of months after setting sail, the first complications appeared, reflecting the miscalculation that Magellan had not anticipated. The weather conditions were devastating and it was not possible to get the correct route.

In addition to this, riots were the order of the day, food became scarce after some ships deserted and spirits were strongly affected.

The Philippines and the murder of Magellan

Magellan came across the Pacific Ocean, named after him, and very soon realized the vastness of this sea, which implied the lengthening of the trip in very precarious conditions.

In the midst of this context, and with no hope of reaching Indonesia, the crew arrived in the Philippine islands, where they tried to conquer the inhabitants. This action was unsuccessful and Magellan was assassinated.

Juan Sebastián Elcano was in command, who managed to reach the Moluccas Islands. They loaded the two ships that were left with the products of the islands and decided to return through different routes: one made it through the Pacific Ocean and was captured by the Portuguese; the other -commanded by Elcano- took the route of the Indian Ocean.

Later, the latter was forced to dock in lands dominated by the Portuguese given the conditions of the ship. There they were arrested, but 18 sailors managed to escape.

Finally, on September 6, 1522, the ship commanded by Elcano arrived in Spain, thus closing a period of intense events and relevant discoveries: thanks to the voyage of Magellan and Elcano it was possible to understand the size of the globe and demystify the sea, which back then it was believed full of frightening mythological figures.

8- 9/11 attacks

Twin Towers. Karl Döringer / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

On September 11, 2001, up to four suicide attacks perpetrated by Al Qaeda jihadists on US soil occurred throughout the morning.

Four planes with more than 200 passengers were hijacked and directed to hit the World Trace Center - specifically the two Twin Towers -, the Pentagon and the Capitol. The first three achieved the objective, but the fourth plane ended up crashing in the open after a rebellion on board the passengers against the hijackers.

In addition, he had planned a fifth plane that would target the White House, the residence of the nation's president. However, the jihadist in charge of the mission was arrested a month before the events.

In total, more than 3,000 people (including kamikazes) died and there were about 6,000 injured. This makes it the largest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, surpassing the one carried out in 1995 by two terrorists who detonated an explosive in a building that caused 168 deaths.

Afghanistan war

9/11 was the precedent for the United States to launch a "war against terrorism" on Afghan soil, a place governed by the Taliban who were behind the attacks.

The armed conflict lasted 14 years, with the United States being highly criticized for its way of managing the conflict. The result of all this was the Fall of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the death of the Taliban leader Osama Bin Laden and more than 150,000 dead and 1.2 million displaced.

9- Arrival to the Moon

Man's footfall on the moon. NASA / Buzz Aldrin / Public domain

On July 16, 1969, a United States space mission was mounted on board Apollo 11 in order to allow human beings to touch the surface of the Moon satellite. The starting point was the Cape Kennedy compound in Florida and the crew would be Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin, all Americans.

On July 20 of that same year the moon landing was achieved and the next day, the astronauts Armstrong and Collins were able to land on solid ground. It was at this time that Commander Armstrong mentioned the famous words "It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." That moment was broadcast live throughout the world.

Later, the astronauts pin the United States flag to the surface and have a conversation with President Richard Nixon. Hours later, the mission was preparing to head home and after a long journey they landed in the Pacific Ocean about 1500 km from Hawaii.

Conspiracy theory

There are many conspirators who have questioned whether this event really happened. They argue that NASA and the US government faked the arrival and that it was only a strategy to win the space battle that was being carried out with the Soviet Union.

However, the evidence from subsequent explorations has collapsed these theories, which lacked scientific value, but had popular support, with many still mistrusting whether man had really stepped on the Earth's satellite.

10- Invention of the printing press

First printing press. Source: Own work. Via Wikimedia Commons

When Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press in the mid-15th century, he was most likely unaware of how the world was going to evolve thanks to his invention.

Its creation revolutionized the printing techniques existing until then, being the xylography and its mold system the most widespread.

Gutenberg, who was born in Mainz (now Germany), was previously able to practice as a blacksmith, which gave him some knowledge to develop his famous press. However, he could not get down to work until years later due to financial difficulties.

It is believed that it was the printer Johann Fust who trusted Gutenberg's model and granted him a loan, being the key to the printing press seeing the light. It has always been said that the first printed book was the famous 42-line Bible, but certain studies ensure that the Missal of Constance was the first test carried out.

The expansion of the printing press

Fust, as Gutenberg's patron and benefactor, took ownership of the printing business. In front he put Gutenberg himself and his nephew, who learned to use it.

Eventually, Fust fired Gutenberg from the business because Gutenberg was never able to repay the loan, leaving his nephew in charge.

For this reason, Johann Gutenberg lived the last years of his life ruined, having to subsist by telling other printers how he could develop and work on his invention. This soon resulted in the printing press gradually reaching most countries.

11- Discovery of penicillin

Alexander Fleming in his laboratory observed by chance how the Penicilliun notatum fungus inhibited the development of a bacterium known as Staphylococus aureus. Via Wikimedia Commons

Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) was a medical microbiologist in a London hospital until he was called up by the British army to give medical service to soldiers fighting in World War I.

His experience was traumatic due to the large number of young people he saw die, so on his return to London he dedicated himself to looking for an antiseptic to avoid agony in those who suffered weapons wounds.

Previously, the scientist discovered lysozyme by chance, but his great discovery was penicillin. This was also serendipitous, that is, in a fortuitous and unexpected way.

It was 1928, and after going on vacation and coming back, he noticed that some culture plates had been damaged due to his failure to clean them, so he discarded them in a bin. At the time, he went to definitely throw the plates away, but after removing them from the bins he noticed something strange, so he looked at her again.

The bacteria cultures had disappeared and only one fungus remained, which is not very clear how it got there. This was specifically Penicillium notatum, which gave off a mold called Penicillium that was responsible for eliminating bacteria. That was when Fleming discovered the most famous antibiotic in history.

The success of penicillin in numbers

At the end of World War I (1914-1918), it is estimated that 18% of soldiers' deaths were not caused by firearms, but by pneumonia and other similar respiratory diseases.

In World War II (1939-1945), since with penicillin discovered and developed, the percentage of deaths from pneumonia dropped drastically to 1%.

Themes of interest

What is a historical account?

References

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