Help with ideas for history paper

[podsaurus]

What my professor is looking for is small stories. What I mean is not writing about WW2 but getting specific and write about something like Project Valkyrie. Which was german officers conspiring against Hitler to kill him(basically).

I was not sure if people here would know of little stories like that. I would really like the setting to be South American or the caribbean. That is to geographical area I'm more interested in than anything else.

Any ideas?

[The Black Wolf]

Is "Bay of Pigs" small enough or do you want something smaller?

[DeviousOne]

The paper master



Do a history of the PS1

[keefy]

Does it have to be WW2?

Operation Mince Meat

Operation Mince Meat was top secret ingenious but also rather gruesome plan which originally started as an idea by Ian Fleming the author and creator of James Bond.
The 2 men that put it into action were really quite extraordinary 1 was an RAF pilot that didnt fly and the other was a Naval commander that didn't go to sea.

or more than 60 years, the real story behind Operation Mincemeat has been shrouded in secrecy. Now, Ben Macintyre reveals the extraordinary truth in a documentary based on his bestselling book.

In 1943, British intelligence hatched a daring plan. As the Allies prepared to invade Sicily, their purpose was to convince the Germans that Greece was the real target. The plot to fool the Fuhrer was the brainchild of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

British agents procured the body of a tramp and reinvented his entire identity. He was given a new name, an officer rank and a briefcase containing plans for a fake invasion of Greece. The body was floated off the Spanish coast where Nazi spies would find it.

The deception was an astonishing success. Hitler fell for it totally, ordering his armies to Greece to await an invasion that never happened. Meanwhile, the Allies landed in Sicily with minimal resistance. The island fell in a month. The war turned in the Allies' favour.

Together with original witnesses, Macintyre recreates the remarkable story of how one brilliant team, and one dead tramp, pulled off a deception which changed the course of history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wllmb

I wtched and it was very interesting.

[podsaurus]

@BW That would be ok. I would probably have to narrow down to a specific aspect of it but I don't think that is too broad.

@DO Cute

@keefy No it does not need to be WW2. The topic should be narrow but there has to be enough info out there I can research. I do need to have ten primary and secondary sources total. 13 pages long(that is not bad at all).

As long as there is enough information out there that I can find and use it can be history from anywhere. But like i said my interest is in South America or the caribbean but please suggest anything you all think of!

[Morganator]

I know of an excellent subject in regards to WWII if you want. Do the research on the Potsdam Declaration made to Germany. I find the events "interesting" if not completely chilling. If you want an even better search criteria, include President Roosevelt's and Winston Churchill's complicity.

Another subject is the true origin and invention of the television.

Still, another subject you could go with is the CIA's involvement with Al'Quida during the 1980s.

[podsaurus]

I know of an excellent subject in regards to WWII if you want. Do the research on the Potsdam Declaration made to Germany. I find the events "interesting" if not completely chilling. If you want an even better search criteria, include President Roosevelt's and Winston Churchill's complicity.

Another subject is the true origin and invention of the television.

Still, another subject you could go with is the CIA's involvement with Al'Quida during the 1980s.

I think I'm ok now. All good suggestions but the area I'm still looking at is the caribbean. We are going to be talking about our topics on tuesday so I hope my professor can help me narrow things down. Right now I'm thinking to the topic will be what slavery was like in that region and then analyze specific uprisings against the British/French/Spanish or whoever happened to be ruling. I found a book on Cuba that is pretty interesting. I might switch to focusing on Cuba.

[squirrelbo1]

do the Spanish on hispanola. Arguable the first case of genocide by an occupying power. Its early modern history, you say your interest is caribean or south america, but what time period ?


Or what about the slave uprising on the French controlled island of what is now haiti. Really interesting socio economic consequences of that revolution. Not least the complete and utter disconnection of the island from trade routes, the impacts of which are still felt on what is one of the poorest nations on earth.

[spyrde]

Well I'm from Finland and I can tell you that WW2 was a very interesting time over here. I think this picture tells a lot about it, but there's a lot more to the whole thing:

The Soviets and Nazi Germany had planned secretly on what countries they wanted from Europe, and after the Soviets faked an attack and blamed it on the Finns, they had an excellent reason to invade the country. Well, we didn't surrender and Finland managed to cause the Soviets so many losses, that they agreed on a peace treaty.

After that, Germany stepped in with the whole Operation Barbarossa on invading Russia, so of course they wanted Finlands help because of it's vital location (Finlands curse lol, the location). Kind of impossible to say no at that point and also we had lost a couple areas so we wanted them back. So the strike commences and it's doing great. Finland regains it's old territories and the enemy is getting heavy casualties (At this point the Allies have labeled us as enemies). (Un)fortunately the Nazis lose at Stalingrad and Finland is pushed back aswell due to the massive attack Russia launches towards Finland. We agree to peace and lose a few areas, but still kept our independence. We were the only country Russia couldn't invade that was originally in their plans.

Well, then comes part III. The Soviets forced the Finns to push the German army out of the country, because it was part of the peace treaty. The Nazis burn everything when they retreat to Norway.


That was the whole thing in a nutshell, but there was so much stuff going in the background aswell. The constant pressure from every front was pretty tough for a small and poor country, and even the time after the war was pretty crazy due to the Soviets constant breathing on the neck.

[podsaurus]

@squirrel We are thinking of the same time period. I like that colonial period when European countries first started sailing over and taking over the islands. Haiti cod be something I can check out. The book I have talks about civil war that broke out in Cuba, I though perhaps what led up to that would be good to write. From what I have read there was constant tension between Cuba and Spain. Alot of tension came from agriculture and industrialism sides butting heads in Cuba. I think I could write about all that and why eventual war was unavoidable.

@spy NOT being sarcastic but that is a cool story.....bro lol. That is something I'd like to read about on my own time. I didn't even know about all that so thanks!