I have written countless history essays in my time. To give you a rough idea, it takes 1 hour to produce 100 words.
So if you have a 1,500 word essay, you should give yourself 15 hours working time. Keep going! Take notes because something you read early on that you think is not relevant maybe...
Assess and explain are very different terms when it come to writing a history based essay, they are not interchangeable and selecting one will set the structure of your essay.
Explain = Clarify a topic by giving a detailed account as to how and why it occurs, or what is meant by the use of this...