HSC Modern History Question Thread

[sudodds]

hey!!!

we are currently doing a history interest project (year 11) and are supposed to be choosing a topic, from which we form our own question and answer it.....
problem is.... there are so many things to study!!! i want to do something really interesting, preferably a personality style thing- but i just have no idea what to do!!
i would seriously appreciate any suggestions or tips tho 

thx...

Yo! Freaking loved that assignment! Had to do it for ancient too and I had so much fun (maybe cos I did mine on the role of dogs in the ancient world tho 😉). For my modern investigation I looked at to what extent race was the critical factor in the Jonestown massacre! Really really interesting and crazy stuff - 900 Americans start a commune in Guyana, which ends in a mass "suicide" attempt in the 1970s. As 70% of the commune were African American, I looked at wether race relations in the 1960-70 were a factor in joining the cult (called 'the people's temple') and in the way Jim Jones manipulated the congregation.

Other interesting topics I know some of my friends did include eugenics and the Olympics in Nazi Germany, political influence and origins of punk music etc. etc.

In terms of personalities, I know a girl who did Che Guevara and the "robin hood" interpretation. Friends also chose Al Capone and Gandhi as key figures to discuss and enjoyed their study. Charles Manson could be super interesting!

Hope this helps! Bit of a word vomit of just a million areas of history I find interesting (not even everything tbh haha). This really is the best assignment, so make sure that no matter what you pick something you enjoy!

Susie

EDIT: dammit not again 😠

[MEL7401]

Hey! Interesting... I have to say that your best bet it so find a personality that you are actually interested in. Is there any point in modern history that you've always been attracted to? Any region of the world? Any wars/revolutions/monarchies? Also, you could try to get a head start on next year's content; do you know what options you'll be doing yet? For instance, if you do WWII, whilst you can't do a personality specifically studied in the HSC, you could do another personality (I'm thinking some high-ranking officials in the Nazi regime).

Let me know what you think about the above, and I can try to come up with some more specific suggestions for you!

ok thx very much!!
next year i think we study germany, albert speer and conflict in the pacific, apart from the core study...
so yeh... the personality of a high-ranking Nazi would be interesting and beneficial!!!

[MEL7401]

Yo! Freaking loved that assignment! Had to do it for ancient too and I had so much fun (maybe cos I did mine on the role of dogs in the ancient world tho 😉). For my modern investigation I looked at to what extent race was the critical factor in the Jonestown massacre! Really really interesting and crazy stuff - 900 Americans start a commune in Guyana, which ends in a mass "suicide" attempt in the 1970s. As 70% of the commune were African American, I looked at wether race relations in the 1960-70 played a factor in joining the cult (called 'the people's temple') and in the way Jim Jones manipulated the congregation.

Other interesting topics I know some of my friends did include eugenics and the Olympics in Nazi Germany, political influence and origins of punk music etc. etc.

In terms of personalities, I know a girl who did Che Guevara and the "robin hood" interpretation. Friends also chose Al Capone and Gandhi as key figures to discuss and enjoyed their study. Charles Manson could be super interesting!

Hope this helps! Bit of a word vomit of just a million areas of history I find interesting (not even everything tbh haha). This really is the best assignment, so make sure that no matter what you pick something you enjoy!

Susie

EDIT: dammit not again 😠

thx very much!!!
yeh... al capone would prbly be rather interesting 
just cant make up my mind 

[jakesilove]

thx very much!!!
yeh... al capone would prbly be rather interesting 
just cant make up my mind 

Totally understand the 'not making up your mind thing' aha. Basically, I would come up with a list of a couple people, and do some preliminary reading. You'll usually be drawn to someone in particular

If you wanted to look at WWII, since you won't 'technically' be doing it, but you will be doing everything up UNTIL it, you might look at:

Goebbels
Goering
Rosa Luxemburg (would be helpful for Germany)
Bismark (would help you put Germany and WWI in context)
Riefenstahl (the alternative Germany personality study, who you won't be doing)

Otherwise, Susie knows way more about history in general, so I defer to her wisdom

[sudodds]

thx very much!!!
yeh... al capone would prbly be rather interesting 
just cant make up my mind 

Jim Jones would actually be the most interesting personality I can think of tbh! (though maybe I am just advocating for that because I just really want to have someone to talk about Jonestown with haha). He is insanely interesting though - He was a staunch civil rights activist (first person to adopt an African American child in his deep south state, peoples temple one of, if not the first unsegregated churchs), evangelical (but also kinda atheist?), American Communist during Cold War, Cult Leader and (many, including myself, would argue) mass murderer. He also used to explicitly refer to himself as African American when he very clearly... wasn't (however many members of his congregation still believed him!). But yeah haha, If you want the most interesting topic possible, highly recommend having a look at Jim Jones as a personality.

Linking with Germany could be a very good idea though! Jake knows much more than me on that front, but perhaps Anne Frank? A lot of historiographical things you can do with that topic!

[CaitlinSavins]

Help. Meeeeee....

I have to answer this essay question and once again I've left it to the last minute.
I had some personal issues that stopped me from doing it earlier but now aaaahh.

Assess the role of Ho Chi Minh in the rise of Vietnamese nationalism and communism throughout the period 1954-1964.

This is the question. I am so stuck. All I've got so far is a thesis:
"Though Ho Chi Minh was instrumental in the rise of Vietnamese communism in the period between 1954 and 1964, the already existent Vietnamese nationalism was merely harnessed to his advantage."

Heeelpppp.

[jakesilove]

Help. Meeeeee....

I have to answer this essay question and once again I've left it to the last minute.
I had some personal issues that stopped me from doing it earlier but now aaaahh.

Assess the role of Ho Chi Minh in the rise of Vietnamese nationalism and communism throughout the period 1954-1964.

This is the question. I am so stuck. All I've got so far is a thesis:
"Though Ho Chi Minh was instrumental in the rise of Vietnamese communism in the period between 1954 and 1964, the already existent Vietnamese nationalism was merely harnessed to his advantage."

Heeelpppp.

Unfortunately, I didn't do this module, and neither did Susie. Hopefully someone in the community can help you out!

[MEL7401]

Totally understand the 'not making up your mind thing' aha. Basically, I would come up with a list of a couple people, and do some preliminary reading. You'll usually be drawn to someone in particular

If you wanted to look at WWII, since you won't 'technically' be doing it, but you will be doing everything up UNTIL it, you might look at:

Goebbels
Goering
Rosa Luxemburg (would be helpful for Germany)
Bismark (would help you put Germany and WWI in context)
Riefenstahl (the alternative Germany personality study, who you won't be doing)

Otherwise, Susie knows way more about history in general, so I defer to her wisdom

thanks very much everyone!!
this website is awesome
i think i might do Leni Riefenstahl...
do u have any really good ideas for a question i could focus my essay on???

[jakesilove]

thanks very much everyone!!
this website is awesome
i think i might do Leni Riefenstahl...
do u have any really good ideas for a question i could focus my essay on???

With Riefenstahl, you could potentially investigate the issue regarding her Nazi identity. Was she a Nazi? Was she just a film producer? Was she complicit in Nazi ideals and ideology? Essentially, is she to blame for the rise and consolidation of power of the Nazi state?

[MEL7401]

With Riefenstahl, you could potentially investigate the issue regarding her Nazi identity. Was she a Nazi? Was she just a film producer? Was she complicit in Nazi ideals and ideology? Essentially, is she to blame for the rise and consolidation of power of the Nazi state?

thankyou very much!!!
that is very, very helpful

[jakesilove]

thankyou very much!!!
that is very, very helpful

I'm glad

[sudodds]

Help. Meeeeee....

I have to answer this essay question and once again I've left it to the last minute.
I had some personal issues that stopped me from doing it earlier but now aaaahh.

Assess the role of Ho Chi Minh in the rise of Vietnamese nationalism and communism throughout the period 1954-1964.

This is the question. I am so stuck. All I've got so far is a thesis:
"Though Ho Chi Minh was instrumental in the rise of Vietnamese communism in the period between 1954 and 1964, the already existent Vietnamese nationalism was merely harnessed to his advantage."

Heeelpppp.

As Jake said, didn't study this unfortunately I'm assuming this is for the Conflict in Indochina unit (just because I know that Ho Chi Minh is also a personality study option - this type of question doesn't look like one you could receive for that section, but just want to make sure!)? However, even though I haven't studied this, structurally I might be able to help you out a bit! In terms of your thesis, it looks like you are setting yourself up to write a differentiated essay, which is super awesome, and when done well, really sophisticated A differentiated essay allows you to discuss other factors alongside the stem (ie. Ho Chi Minh in this instance). With that in mind, you have two options;

a) Ho Chi Minh was the underpinning factor - in this instance, you want to argue that he had a significant influence over all the other factors. Each paragraph will focus on another issue, but how Ho Chi Minh directly related to/influenced it, thus asserting him to be the most critical factor.

b) Ho Chi Minh was one of many interrelated and important factors - Each paragraph is on a different factor (make sure that Ho Chi Minh paragraph is the first/largest paragraph though!), asserting that they all worked in tandem, and cannot be ignored, when assessing the rise of nationalism and communism!

Though content wise I don't know much, we did a bit on indochina in Year 11. I remember my teacher once saying that he didn't think that Ho Chi Minh was that committed to Communism, more so that he used communism as a vehicle to achieve Vietnamese nationalism - maybe something you could discuss? Taking a look at the syllabus, my gut is telling me that other things you'd want to mention would be; Victory against the French, Impact of US foreign policy and intervention in Indochina and maybe the Second Indochina War? Again, I don't know if that is exactly correct as I didn't study the unit, just took a look at the syllabus and made a guess.

Hope this helps! Sorry I could not be more specific with my advice,

Susie

[soha.rizvi1]

Hi,


I just had a question. Does anyone have historian quotes for the strategies and tactics of the Vietminh and American in the second Indo CHina war? Also, Any quotes that would come under the Consqueneces of French defeat?

[jakesilove]

Hi,


I just had a question. Does anyone have historian quotes for the strategies and tactics of the Vietminh and American in the second Indo CHina war? Also, Any quotes that would come under the Consqueneces of French defeat?

Whilst we didn't do this option, check out our notes section here, where there is heaps of Indochina stuff!

[jakesilove]

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