50 Active Vs Passive Voice Topics for History Students

Choosing between active and passive voice in history is not just a grammatical choice but a decision about historical agency and responsibility. This list provides specific research angles to help students navigate the tension between structural forces and individual actions in historical narratives.

48 topics organized by theme, with difficulty levels and suggested sources.

Agency and Accountability in Military History

Examine how the choice of voice shifts responsibility for strategic failures or battlefield atrocities.

Obfuscating Command in the My Lai Massacre Reports

Analyze how the use of passive voice in official military reports served to detach specific officers from the decision-making process during the 1968 incident.

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: The Peers Commission Report, 'Facing My Lai' by David Anderson

Active Agency in Napoleonic Logistical Failures

Argue that active voice is necessary to attribute the failure of the Russian Campaign to Napoleon’s specific administrative choices rather than 'the winter' as a passive actor.

Beginner · Argumentative — Sources: Journal of Military History, 'Napoleon's Wars' by Charles Esdaile

The 'Friendly Fire' Passive: Gulf War Post-Action Reviews

Investigate how passive constructions like 'mistakes were made' in AARs minimize the accountability of technological systems versus human operators.

Advanced · Case-Study — Sources: Parameters (US Army War College), 'The Generals' by Thomas Ricks

Attributing the Blitz: German Intent vs. British Resilience

Contrast the active voice used to describe Luftwaffe aggression with the passive voice often used to describe civilian suffering to highlight nationalistic bias.

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: The Myth of the Blitz by Angus Calder, 'The Luftwaffe' by James Corum

Passive Voice in Medieval Siege Narratives

Explore how chroniclers used passive voice to attribute the fall of cities to divine will rather than specific military tactics.

Advanced · Research-Based — Sources: The Crusades through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf, Speculum Journal

Active Command: Grant vs. Lee in Historiography

Evaluate how the 'Lost Cause' narrative utilizes passive voice for Confederate defeats while using active voice for Union 'aggression.'

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: The Myth of the Lost Cause by Gallagher and Nolan

The Language of Total War: Mobilization Rhetoric

Analyze how WWI propaganda used active voice to humanize the enemy as an aggressor while using passive voice to describe domestic sacrifices.

Intermediate · Expository — Sources: American Historical Review, 'The Pity of War' by Niall Ferguson

Naval Mutinies and the Passive Voice of Rebellion

Compare how the 1797 Spithead Mutiny was recorded by the Admiralty (passive) versus the sailors' petitions (active).

Advanced · Compare-Contrast — Sources: The Wooden World by N.A.M. Rodger, Mariner's Mirror

Colonialism and Post-Colonial Historiography

Investigate how grammatical structures have been used to erase or highlight the agency of colonized peoples.

The Passive Erasure of Indigenous Land Theft

Argue that phrases like 'the land was settled' erase the active displacement of tribes in 19th-century American history textbooks.

Intermediate · Argumentative — Sources: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Active Resistance in the Haitian Revolution Narratives

Examine how C.L.R. James uses active voice to center enslaved people as the primary drivers of political change in 'The Black Jacobins.'

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James, Small Axe Journal

Passive Voice in Decolonization Documents

Analyze British 'Transfer of Power' documents in India to see how passive voice frames independence as a gift rather than a hard-won victory.

Advanced · Case-Study — Sources: The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History

The 'Discovery' Trope: Active vs. Passive Discovery

Deconstruct the shift from 'Columbus discovered America' to 'America was encountered' and how both influence the perception of European agency.

Beginner · Expository — Sources: The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov

Agency in the Middle Passage: Ship Logs vs. Slave Narratives

Contrast the passive, inventory-like language of ship captains with the active, survival-focused language of Olaudah Equiano.

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, William and Mary Quarterly

The Passive Voice of 'Civilizing Missions'

Explore how 19th-century French colonial records used passive voice to describe the 'improvement' of infrastructure while hiding the forced labor involved.

Intermediate · Research-Based — Sources: French Historical Studies, 'Burying the Chains' by Adam Hochschild

Orientalism and the Passive Eastern Subject

Apply Edward Said’s theories to analyze how Western historians used passive voice to depict the 'unchanging' East.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: Orientalism by Edward Said, Past & Present Journal

Active Voice in Subaltern Studies

Discuss how Ranajit Guha advocates for active voice to restore the peasant as the subject of their own history.

Advanced · Argumentative — Sources: Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency by Ranajit Guha

Social History and Structuralism

Debate whether historical change is driven by individuals (active) or systemic forces (passive).

The Passive Voice of the Annales School

Analyze how Fernand Braudel’s focus on 'longue durée' structures naturally lends itself to passive voice over individual action.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: The Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel, French History Journal

Active Voice in Thompson's Working Class History

Evaluate E.P. Thompson’s use of active verbs to argue that the working class 'made itself' rather than being a product of the industrial revolution.

Intermediate · Argumentative — Sources: The Making of the English Working Class by E.P. Thompson

Passive Victimhood in Holocaust Historiography

Discuss the ethical implications of using passive voice when describing victims, and the push by historians like Raul Hilberg to use active voice for perpetrators.

Advanced · Research-Based — Sources: The Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg, Holocaust and Genocide Studies

The Great Man Theory and Active Verb Bias

Examine how 19th-century biographers used hyper-active voice to credit individuals for complex social shifts like the Reformation.

Beginner · Expository — Sources: On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

Structuralism vs. Agency in the French Revolution

Compare accounts that use active voice for 'The Mob' versus passive voice for 'The Monarchy' to determine political bias.

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: Citizens by Simon Schama, The French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre

Gendered Agency: Active Voice in Women’s Suffrage

Analyze how early 20th-century newspapers used passive voice for suffragette arrests to diminish their political intent.

Intermediate · Case-Study — Sources: Gender & History Journal, 'One Hand Tied Behind Us' by Jill Liddington

The Passive Voice of Economic Determinism

Critique Marxist histories that use passive voice to describe the inevitable 'collapse' of capitalism as a law of nature.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi, Journal of Economic History

Active Voice in Oral History Transcripts

Investigate how the transition from spoken active voice to written historical narrative can lead to a loss of the subject's agency.

Intermediate · Research-Based — Sources: The Voice of the Past by Paul Thompson, Oral History Review

Legal and Diplomatic History

Analyze how the precision of active voice and the ambiguity of passive voice affect international law and treaties.

Ambiguity in the Treaty of Versailles

Identify where passive voice was used in the 'War Guilt' clause to balance political pressure with diplomatic caution.

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: The Economic Consequences of the Peace by J.M. Keynes, Diplomatic History Journal

The Active Voice of the Nuremberg Trials

Examine the legal necessity of active voice in the indictments of Nazi war criminals to establish individual criminal responsibility.

Advanced · Case-Study — Sources: Nuremberg Diary by G.M. Gilbert, Journal of International Criminal Justice

Passive Construction in the Balfour Declaration

Analyze how the phrase 'view with favour' and other passive-leaning structures allowed Britain to avoid specific commitments in Palestine.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: The Question of Palestine by Edward Said, Middle Eastern Studies

Executive Orders and the Active Voice of Power

Compare the active voice in FDR’s Executive Order 9066 with the passive voice used in subsequent Supreme Court justifications.

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: Korematsu v. United States, Journal of American History

The Passive Voice of Diplomacy: The UN Charter

Investigate how passive voice is used in UN resolutions to create consensus by avoiding the naming of specific aggressors.

Advanced · Research-Based — Sources: Global Governance Journal, 'A Life in Peace and War' by Brian Urquhart

Active Voice in the Declaration of Independence

Argue that the shift to active voice in the 'list of grievances' was essential for establishing the King as a tyrant.

Beginner · Expository — Sources: The Declaration of Independence by Carl Becker

Passive Voice and the Nullification Crisis

Analyze how John C. Calhoun used passive legalisms to argue for state rights while avoiding the active word 'secession.'

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: The Union at Risk by Richard Ellis, Journal of the Early Republic

The Language of the Magna Carta

Examine the use of active voice to limit the King's power versus the passive voice used to describe the 'liberties' of the people.

Advanced · Research-Based — Sources: Magna Carta by J.C. Holt, English Historical Review

Historiographical Debates & Methodology

Focus on how historians themselves argue about the best ways to write history.

Ranke and the Passive Voice of 'Objectivity'

Critique Leopold von Ranke’s 'wie es eigentlich gewesen' and how it encourages a passive, 'objective' narrative style.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: The Theory and Practice of History by Leopold von Ranke

Active Voice and the 'Linguistic Turn'

Discuss how Hayden White’s 'Metahistory' views the choice of voice as a narrative strategy rather than a neutral grammatical choice.

Advanced · Argumentative — Sources: Metahistory by Hayden White, History and Theory Journal

Passive Voice in Scientific History

Analyze how the 19th-century trend toward 'scientific' history led to an increase in passive voice to mimic laboratory reports.

Intermediate · Expository — Sources: The Idea of History by R.G. Collingwood

The Active Historian: Howard Zinn’s Narrative Style

Evaluate how Zinn’s use of active voice for grassroots movements challenges the passive 'status quo' of traditional textbooks.

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Passive Voice and the 'Death of the Author'

Apply Foucault’s theories to historical writing: does passive voice support the idea that 'history writes itself'?

Advanced · Research-Based — Sources: The Archaeology of Knowledge by Michel Foucault

Active Voice in Narrative History: Barbara Tuchman

Analyze how Tuchman’s preference for active voice contributes to the 'readability' and dramatic tension of her historical accounts.

Beginner · Case-Study — Sources: Practicing History by Barbara Tuchman

The Passive Voice of Archival Silences

Discuss how the passive voice in archival catalogs can hide the active exclusion of marginalized voices during the collection process.

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: Silencing the Past by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Active Counter-Narratives in Black Historiography

Examine how W.E.B. Du Bois used active voice in 'Black Reconstruction' to dismantle the passive 'myth of the Dunning School.'

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois

Environmental and Technological History

Explore how voice impacts our understanding of nature and technology as historical actors.

The Passive Voice of Natural Disasters

Argue that using passive voice for the Dust Bowl obscures the active agricultural choices that led to the ecological collapse.

Intermediate · Argumentative — Sources: Dust Bowl by Donald Worster, Environmental History Journal

Active Technology: The Steam Engine as Agent

Analyze whether historians should use active voice for technology (e.g., 'the engine transformed society') or keep it passive (e.g., 'society was transformed by...').

Advanced · Analytical — Sources: Does Technology Drive History? by Smith and Marx

The Passive Voice of Climate Change in History

Examine how the Little Ice Age is often described in the passive voice, making human adaptation seem like a reaction rather than a choice.

Intermediate · Expository — Sources: The Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan

Active Agency in the Green Revolution

Contrast the active voice used for Norman Borlaug’s 'miracle seeds' with the passive voice used for the resulting social displacements.

Intermediate · Compare-Contrast — Sources: The Hungry World by Nick Cullather

The Passive Voice of the Industrial 'Revolution'

Critique the use of passive voice in textbooks that describe industrialization as something that 'happened' to people rather than something people did.

Beginner · Analytical — Sources: The Unbound Prometheus by David Landes

Microbes as Active Agents: The Black Death

Analyze the rhetorical effect of using active voice for the plague (e.g., 'the bacteria killed millions') versus the passive voice for the societal response.

Intermediate · Research-Based — Sources: Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill

The Passive Voice of Urban Planning

Examine how Robert Moses’ projects in NYC were described in passive terms ('slums were cleared') to hide the active destruction of communities.

Advanced · Case-Study — Sources: The Power Broker by Robert Caro

Active Voice in Space Race Rhetoric

Compare the active, achievement-oriented voice of NASA press releases with the passive voice used to describe the risks and failures.

Intermediate · Analytical — Sources: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, Technology and Culture Journal

Pro Tips for Choosing Your Topic

• Use active voice when you want to emphasize human agency and hold historical figures accountable for their decisions.
• Switch to passive voice if the actor is unknown or if the focus is intentionally on the recipient of the action (e.g., 'The city was leveled').
• Scan your draft for 'was' and 'were' to identify passive constructions that might be hiding a specific historical actor.
• In historiography papers, use active voice to describe the arguments of other historians (e.g., 'Foucault argues' rather than 'It is argued by Foucault').
• Be wary of 'nominalization'—turning verbs into nouns (e.g., 'the colonization of')—which often forces the use of passive or weak verbs.
• Read your thesis statement aloud; if it uses passive voice, it may be lacking a strong, debatable claim about who did what.

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