Your Special Topic?

Mark

For the unaware, one of the 80 marker questions on the Leaving Cert has an option to do either a essay on some random topics, or if youve prepared, you can do the special topic

Its basically any history related subject from 1870-1970 and its heavily advised you dont do anything like Bismarck or Hitler which will likely come up on another question in the paper, as it negates BOTH answers--->160 marks lost.

It must be well researched and a bit of uniqueness never hurt

Anyway long explanations aside, whos decided theres? If youre not in school, what teh hell, post what you would like to do anyway.

Personally Im in 5th year but have to do it over the summer.
So far I thought of either Stalingrad 42-43 or Marshal Tito guerrila forces in Yugoslavia with Rasputin coming in a possible second

Opinions?

richindub2

Stalingrad is amazingly overdone Id say - my teacher is always suggesting we dont do any of the major battles of the second world war / leading nazis as he feels theyre too common.

I plan on doing Dien Bien Phu myself but havnt started yet...a year to the leaving cert leaves much room for procrastination

ozt9vdujny3srf

I am doing Zhukov's Military campaigns (already finished with full marks from my teacher :P)

I am still only in fifth year but hey !!! :P

/me does a little dance

Winters

Pegasus Bridge, 6th June 1944.

It was a fifteen minute assault on a vital bridge for Overlord. Once captured by the British 6th Airborne they had to defend it from the Caen Panzer Division. I wont tell you the ending but you know the way the war went . Its all about 12 hours long and currantly about 3-4 pages (typed). Ah yes. June

If you copy my idea i kill you :ninja:

PHB

I did hitler in WW1, it went rather well, suprisingly incredibly hard to get info for, had to use about 6 different sources to get a 4 page essay.

But if anyone wants an idea somebody do mussolinis jail break in 43 by some german general so i can read it and find out about it without reading a huge book!!!

Moriarty

I did the berlin airlift from the political and technical viewpoints for my special topic. It was just something to do, as i couldnt think of any other decent topic to do it on at the time.

DapperGent

Originally posted by PHB
But if anyone wants an idea somebody do mussolinis jail break in 43 by some german general so i can read it and find out about it without reading a huge book!!!

By a strange twist of fate this in fact was my special topic when I did my L.C. history.


The cliff notes:

Mussolini is being held by his lads in preparation for him being traded to the allies to secure an armistice. The allied forces are making their way up through italy from the south.

Otto Skorzeny and the boys execute a most impressive glider landing on very rough ground beside the hotel Mussolini is being held at (at the top of a few thousand foot high plateau), some fairly minimal commando action ensues.

Some crazy bastard of a pilot lands near the hotel in a titchy light plane (apparently this was awful hard) Skorzeny and Mussolini pile in, they fly to an airbase, grab a Heinkel and head to the Wolf's Lair where Mussolini gets a dressing down from the big cheese and is sent back to puppet the German regime in north Italy.

And eventually gets himself uncermoniously executed.

Dónall

I did my Leaving in 1987, and I did the Blueshirts for my special topic.
Is Irish History not fashionable anymore?;)

PHB

Blueshirts would be a really bad idea I thought because it would basically mean you'd have a lot of trouble doing a Dev essay 32 onwards

m1ke

I did Stalingrad for my leaving special topic... Back when I did it, it was a fairly obscure topic tbh, and it was before that crap film about it came out too, but i'd say its pretty popular now.

I enjoyed the topic a lot. I read Antony Beevors book on it, a seriously good read and it makes ye want to get bogged into it.

Once you ignore the massive amount of micro detail (although some of it is very interesting like personal accounts etc..) and concentrate on the bigger picture, instead of give a run down account of what happens it becomes much more interesting.

o sleep

i did the ... em ... foreign brigades in the spanish civil war. jeebus, i can't even remember their exact name. but yeah, them. i did my leaving cert something like six years ago, though. would definately recommend doing the special topic.

gandalf

My god you lot are making me think back the many years ago to when I did History in the Leaving Cert, I'm actually surprised they have kept this format.

Anyway as my special topic I did The bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately I have forgotten most of what I actually read up on but I believe there is an excellent book out about the reporter whose reports inspired Pablo Picasso's infamous painting.

It seemed to work I got a B in honours history (days before all these +/-'s, bloody kids never had it so good!!! pah humbug!)

Gandalf.

PHB

Thats what so fantastic about the special topic, you go into the exam and you write it out, do the easy suplementary questions, and you get 20% just like that.

Theres one odd school in the country that think its better to do the other questions in the special topic, I'd love to hear the reasoning behind it

Pompey Magnus

I did the sinking of The Bismarck, the pride of the third reichs navy, I don't remember what made me choose it but it was a nice topic to do, got a fair amount of info from the web.

Germanophile

At the moment it seems like my options are: Ludwig II, Joseph Mengele, Leni Reifenstahl or the Hapsburg dynasty.
I have no idea what to pick.
Is there anywhere online you can see a completed example?

GerryRyan

In 6th year now. Was going to do something local to Kildare, Patrick Sarsfield or something. Now I''m set on the Siege of Jadotville. Had a bit of press recently, and shouldn't be too hard to find a few sources.

"During the course of operations, a company of Irish troops was deployed to protect the inhabitants of the village of Jadotville. Not long after deployment, the troops found themselves heavily out-numbered and engaged in a pitched battle with native Congolese soldiers led by white mercenary officers.
In addition to the overwhelming odds, the Irish also had to contend with being strafed by a jet and had no airpower or anti-aircraft defences to defend themselves.
Appeals for re-supply from UN forces were to no avail. There were a number of attempts by Irish troops in the vicinity to mount a relief operation for their surrounded comrades. However, a mixture of superior fire, physical obstacles and political machinations within the UN led to abject failure. But after numerous rescue attempts failed and the Irish had fought to their last rounds of ammunition and were already using bayonets in hand-to-hand-fighting, Comdt Quinlan decided against the needless bloodshed of his men and surrendered.

Though many of the men fought bravely, some going on to be decorated for valour at later stages, they were made to feel inferior within the army. To have served at Jadotville was something to have been ashamed of."

http://www.maverickhouse.com/books/jadotville.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jadotville

F.i.n.t.a.N.

ThatGuy wrote:

In 6th year now. Was going to do something local to Kildare, Patrick Sarsfield or something. Now I''m set on the Siege of Jadotville. Had a bit of press recently, and shouldn't be too hard to find a few sources.

"During the course of operations, a company of Irish troops was deployed to protect the inhabitants of the village of Jadotville. Not long after deployment, the troops found themselves heavily out-numbered and engaged in a pitched battle with native Congolese soldiers led by white mercenary officers.
In addition to the overwhelming odds, the Irish also had to contend with being strafed by a jet and had no airpower or anti-aircraft defences to defend themselves.
Appeals for re-supply from UN forces were to no avail. There were a number of attempts by Irish troops in the vicinity to mount a relief operation for their surrounded comrades. However, a mixture of superior fire, physical obstacles and political machinations within the UN led to abject failure. But after numerous rescue attempts failed and the Irish had fought to their last rounds of ammunition and were already using bayonets in hand-to-hand-fighting, Comdt Quinlan decided against the needless bloodshed of his men and surrendered.

Though many of the men fought bravely, some going on to be decorated for valour at later stages, they were made to feel inferior within the army. To have served at Jadotville was something to have been ashamed of."

http://www.maverickhouse.com/books/jadotville.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jadotville

great book imo

Bodhidharma

I did mine on the assassination of Reinhard Heidrich. Pretty good i thought. Lots of info on the guy. I got a B.

snb

Yes , Irish History seems out of fashion with the young folk these days.

I did an essay on Jennie Wyse Power, a female republican around the time of the 1916 rising who was closely involved in all things revolutionary at the time & the proclamation was signed in her house.

She fell under the radar of much of written history , so I thought she was fairly interesting. Got full marks

Rocker

I did mine on Michael Collins's Squad or 12 Apostles. It's interesting and it's very easy to get books on because all books on Collins, which there's a lot, have information on it. There actually a new book written by T. Ryle Dwyer called the Squad out now, which wasn't around in my day, which is good.

Pyr0

I'm looking to do my special topic on The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, would this be too broad of a topic ? Or would I have to narrow it down to say their involvement in Karkhovs defense ?

guildofevil

I can't remember what I did at the time. Don't know why. It wasn't THAT long ago.

Knowing my tastes at the time, it was probably something in WW1.

If I were to do it again, I would probably do it about the end of the war in the pacific , focusing on Hiroshima.

Or, now that I think about it, an analysis of the technological advancements during WW1 would be quite interesting.

Or the Boer war, focusing on the use of guerilla tactics by the Boers and how the British responded by using concentration camps.

Ooh. Or the life of Nestor Makhno.

There's lots of interesting stuff to do.

ateam

I did mine on the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 and I got an A in it. I remember one person in my class picked the Munich air crash in the 1950s that killed half of the Manchester United team. Another good one was the Suffragettes.

Aedh Baclamh

Pyr0 wrote:

I'm looking to do my special topic on The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, would this be too broad of a topic ? Or would I have to narrow it down to say their involvement in Karkhovs defense ?

That's pretty broad, isn't it? From what I remember, it was better if the topic was pretty focused. Maybe the latter would be better for you, but I'm not well up on that area.

I know people love doing it on Collins/1916/etc, but wouldn't it be better for the examiner if it's something unique? Surely that's what the students should be looking out for.

Zebra3

Done mine on Gallipoli. Got a B3 so must have done something right.

Defo would have picked a diffferent topic today though. And with all those documentaries on the history channels and the internet...... So easy nowadays.

Mrs. MacGyver

You could do something on Edwatd and Mrs. Simpson (my yeacgher wouldnt let me do it in 1998) so I did it on my great grand uncle TM healy 1st governor general of the Irish Free State 1922-28.
Mick Collins has been done too much (speaking as a former history teacher and a resident of the area he was shot in!)

TerrorFirmer

I did the battle of the Atlantic myself. I already knew it off before I even opened the book, if only every subject had been so easy

I'm looking to do my special topic on The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, would this be too broad of a topic ? Or would I have to narrow it down to say their involvement in Karkhovs defense ?

That seems a bit too specific....I think maybe a broad overview of their origins, role on eastern/western front etc would be sufficent. The defense/recapture of Kharkov is a really interesting topic though. For my special topic I wanted to do the various Foreign volunteers organisations of the SS. Teacher just said "No, do not do that..."

sophya

I'm doing Foreign National Intervention during the Rape of Nanking, 1937-1938. Have only started reading my sources.

Chinafoot

I did the Sack of Balbriggan.

sioda

I did De Valera Irelands greatest anti hero

L5

Rocker wrote:

I did mine on Michael Collins's Squad or 12 Apostles.

ah i was waiting on someone to say this. The most common special topic. Id say examiners take one look at the title and say "not another fúcking squad essay" !!


ps...i also did mine on the squad, as did 3 other people in my class

AbusesToilets

I did mine on the German navy's evacuation of civilians from Danzig and the other cities in that area prior to the Soviet army arriving.Got the idea from a passage in Beevor's Stalingrad book.They managed to rescue around 2-3million people.Ended up getting an A

TerrorFirmer

AbusesToilets wrote:

I did mine on the German navy's evacuation of civilians from Danzig and the other cities in that area prior to the Soviet army arriving.Got the idea from a passage in Beevor's Stalingrad book.They managed to rescue around 2-3million people.Ended up getting an A

That's actually an interesting topic and sadly totally overlooked in most history books. the risks and sacrifices the kriegsmarine made to carry out their duty was astounding

kizzyr

Germanophile wrote:

At the moment it seems like my options are: Ludwig II, Joseph Mengele, Leni Reifenstahl or the Hapsburg dynasty.
I have no idea what to pick.
Is there anywhere online you can see a completed example?

I did mine on Joseph Mengele "The Angel of Death". It was something that interested me hugely, Hitler's obsessive hatered of Jews and how it affected the Germans in the interwar years has always interested me and I did something on this for my undergrad thesis too. There are loads of books and articles out there on it and this can actually be a problem when writing something the size of a special topic. The more info you have the harder it can be to get it down to the size of a special topic. PM me if you want some additional help on this if you opt for Mengele.

Dave!

I wrote mine about Oskar Schindler (did it in 2005), and it turned out quite good! I kinda messed it up a bit during the exam, despite having tried so f*cking hard to memorize it, but I was still quite proud of the idea and the essay

For those of you who don't know, Schindler is the main character in the movie Schindler's List. It's based on his actions during the Holocaust, where he hired I think a thousand or so Jews to work in his factory, thereby saving their lives.

Interesting story, great movie.

Flex

I did mine on the secret talks that went on between the Irish and British governments in 1940 to return the north to us in exchange for our involvement in the war. Got 79/80 on that question

Mushy

Doing mine on Robert Halpins role in the TranaAtlantic Cable Laying of 1865-1866! I hope to do quite well in it as its just about finished now, 5 months in advance

Killaqueen!!!

I thought the Special Topic was a new aspect to the course, only first started last year?

And is it true you can do it on anything historical? Not just wars and battles and whatever. I heard you can do it on the history of a band or something.

boneless

Peacheh wrote:

I did the Sack of Balbriggan.

The Tans should have got medals!!

Only jokin' Pet!!!

My neighbours son is doing the 1913 Lockout. It's lucky for him I live next door!!

TerrorFirmer

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

I thought the Special Topic was a new aspect to the course, only first started last year?

And is it true you can do it on anything historical? Not just wars and battles and whatever. I heard you can do it on the history of a band or something.

Eh....

Manic Moran

Mushy wrote:

Doing mine on Robert Halpins role in the TranaAtlantic Cable Laying of 1865-1866! I hope to do quite well in it as its just about finished now, 5 months in advance

Much though I strongly favour military topics, I applaud you on your choice on this one.

NTM

Ohyeah

Can't rem what I did mine on!!. I am defo getting old :mad:

but I was reading a few weeks ago that a new film about James Connolly is out soon enough, so it might be worth the while of a LC student doing something on an aspect of Connolly's life. Have just read a couple of new books about the guy, and he was involved in many many many small party's and unions in the US/UK and here, that have not been studied and written about in any great detail. Might be worth a look.

PS So so so glad that I never have to do the L C again :eek:

GreenHell

I did Rommell and the Afrika Corps in the Battle of El Alamein. Really interesting topic because I used sources from both sides of the battle, and learned a great deal about how tank warfare had changed since the start of the 20th centuary.

brianthebard

I did mine on the RIC, it was actually quite and interesting topic.

Right now I'm supposed to be writing a 5000 word essay for the 3rd of Fu|cking January! Hence the procrastinating on boards.

Fabio

I did mine last year on the closuing of the Ford Motor Company factory in Cork City.

It was difficult to find good sources but to be honest it was an enjoyable topic to do.

Mrs. MacGyver

D&#243 wrote: »

I did my Leaving in 1987, and I did the Blueshirts for my special topic.
Is Irish History not fashionable anymore?;)

Did my leaving in 1998 did my research topic on 'T.M. Healy, the strengths and weaknesses of his tenure as governor general of the Irish Free State 1922-28' He was my great grand uncle and had loads of primary source info. Then became a history teacher! Originally wanted to do Edward VIII and the implication of the abdication crisis for British Foreign Policy but wasn't left (sulks!!)

TerrorFirmer

GreenHell wrote:

I did Rommell and the Afrika Corps in the Battle of El Alamein. Really interesting topic because I used sources from both sides of the battle, and learned a great deal about how tank warfare had changed since the start of the 20th centuary.

Funny, right now I am doing a piece on the German Spring offensives of 1918, in which they could muster 10 tanks to compete with 800 on the allied side.

Aedh Baclamh

Degree is it HavoK?

TerrorFirmer

Ha, not for a few years...just one of my on the side studies.

The guy

I did the bombing of the north strand.

brianthebard

I'm working on an essay about the 1832 Cholera outbreak. Its for a module on respectability and social control, so I'm looking at how the different classes react, who was worst hit, religions involvement, the role of moderation or cleanliness, etc. Its actually quite interesting. Going to the national archives and library tomorrow. Wish I had more time between the deadline and the start of my exams though!