Variation of the tensile and shear yield stresses of metals with the direction of their application due to strain history of extension or shear is deduced from "The Strain History Theory of Plasticity" introduced by one of the authors, and the theoretical results are compared with experiments. The theoretical direction dependence for mild steel was compared with the experimental results of copper, alminium and brass in the case of prestraining about 8%, because of the lack of those for mild steel, and found to show qualitative agreement. This fact is regarded as a further evidence of the validity of the strain history theory.