Describe an important historical event in your country.
You should say:
- when it happened
- what happened
- who were the most important people involved
and say why it is/was important to your country.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Model Answer 1:
We have a number of important historical events in our country, Bangladesh, and all of those events have played an important role in making our country great. But, the “Victory Day” undoubtedly is the most important event of all in the historical context of my country as it gave us the “freedom” which we sought for more than a thousand years.
This victory day is celebrated all over my country on 16th of December every year because that’s the day when my country defeated the occupying/enemy forces in order to gain its full independence from “Pakistan”. By the way, before 1971, Bangladesh, used to be called “East Pakistan” while the other part of it was called “West Pakistan”. But, unfortunately, there was a lot of discrimination against East Pakistan as far as its economic development was concerned. Even politically, the people of East Pakistan enjoyed very limited power when it came to taking any important decision in order to bring some positive changes or developments in our part of the country.
In fact, East Pakistan had become a safe ground for economic exploitation for the west Pakistani ruling elites. Things got even worse when the military ruling junta of Pakistan refused to hand over the power to a democratically elected government, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971. Eventually, people in East Pakistan started a non-violent movement to seek independence from Pakistan and then a war broke out between two parts of Pakistan. By the way, apart from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, some other key political figures like Taj Uddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, and Major Ziaur Rahman (one of the 11 war sector commanders) actively took part in achieving the war victory on 16th of December of 1971.
Anyway, it was an important historical event for my country, as it gave us a new identity as a new nation in the world map so that we could manage our own affairs as a nation. Besides, it also gave us an opportunity to achieve a more symmetrical economic development in our country which was not present under the rule of Pakistani military junta.
Sample Answer 2:
The Umbrella Revolution is one of the most important historical events in Hong Kong. It was initiated by the students in 2014 and lasted for over three months, blocked traffic and usual activities for a couple of months. The movement was initiated to protest against the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. It was a political movement where the police turned violent and the situation went out of control for a certain time. This is a very smart cue card task for a candidate like me. I will answer the remaining questions in brief.
The umbrella movement protested against some political decisions. In the beginning, it was only some peaceful sit-ins by students of different educational institutions. But later, the movement was participated by thousands of individuals from different classes of society. The demand of the movement was the cancellation of the NPCSS decision. Political harassment was a concerning issue then.
It was a group movement and so, no true leadership was formed here. The movement was participated mostly by a group of students, and after sometimes, the locals started joining the movement. In fact, it was a movement for a free and fair election in Hong Kong so that each of the candidates gets an equal chance to be elected or rejected in the national election. The name was provided by Adam Cotton and social website – twitter helped greatly to spread the name.
It was really important for the country on some grounds. It showed that the people are conscious about their rights and responsibilities on voting in elections. The government termed the movements as instigated by foreign sources and also blamed that the educational institutions were becoming political tools. But it was necessary to give the government a severe blow to political issues.
More Ideas to talk about this Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card topic:
Topic: Describe an important historical event in your country.
1. The Black Death that occurred in the Mid-14th century was a historical event for London. Due to the outbreak of this disease, a good number of people died. People of every class were affected by this health disorder. Now, the event is considered as part of a dark history. The aftermaths of the disorder were notable. People turned back to religion with some new inspirations.
2. The event of September 11 in 2001 was one of the most historically important events in the USA. On this day, some so-called Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center – an American landmark. Some people were brainwashed by Osama Bin Laden and conducted a deliberate attack to cause damage to the USA. It was the beginning of a new history in the USA and the War on Terror begin from that day.
3. The Battle of Plassey took place in 1757. It was the beginning of colonialization in India and surrounding areas. By bribing Mir Jafar Ali Khan, an associate of Siraj Ud-Daulah, the British East Indian company won the battle. Siraj Ud-Daulah was the last independent Nawab of the country and after his fall, the British regime began in this subcontinent. The event was important in some aspects. Settlements from different other places were done based on trade and other purposes.
4. The year 1964 is an important year for Canada. On this year, the country received its own flag. Before this year, Canada had to use the Union Jack. The legislative body of the country is largely commendable for this purpose. In fact, a flag helps to represent sovereignty and the country did not have that. So, it was an important event on December 15 in 1964 when the Canadian flag was hoisted. The maple leaf was picked after different options.
5. Independence of Japan was one of the important events in the country’s history. Before independence, Japan was under the USA authority. The USA emancipated Japan on January 1 in 1952 and declared it as an independent country. The inner movements for independence played an important role in this case. Now, we are an independent nation and have ample options for development.
6. The revolution of China in 1911 was an important event in the country’s history. It was termed as the Chinese Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and played a great role in the fall of the Qing Dynasty. The revolution also ended the feudalist society in China which was around 2000-year-old. The revolution was led by Dr Sun Yat-sen. This was an important event because it helped to create a new society in China.
Your preparation for this cue card topic would help you talk about the following cue card topics as well:
1. Describe an important historical event you know about.
2. Describe something you learned in your school.
3. Describe a national day in your country.
4. Describe something you think most of the people in your country know about.
5. Describe a historic event that changed the fate of your country.