A fascinating research paper topic dealing with history would be the fight between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla over electricity. Edison tried to prove that his electricity distribution process of direct current was more useful and less dangerous than Tesla's system that used alternating current. This paper would reveal the lengths that Edison went to, including publicly electrocuting elephants, to try to foist his lighting scheme on the world.
A research paper into the history of the Freemasons may lead either to a confirmation of your belief that members of this secret organization currently run the world or the dismissal of such a conspiracy theory. The myths and legends of the Freemasons are more more well-known than truth due to the society's secrecy. Research a paper that busts the myths and reveals the truth.
Vandals today are much maligned, but a research paper can help determine whether even the most egregious of overpass taggers are anywhere near as bad as the original Vandals from which they get their name. The Vandals were a Gothic tribe made up mostly of Scandinavian tribes who attacked Rome in the fifth century. A research paper could uncover whether the Vandals were as bad as the Roman historians made them out to be or whether their legacy is another case of how history written by the winners may not be history at all.
In his book "Iraq Confidential," author Scott Ritter, a member of the United Nations team who looked for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for more than a decade, concludes that United States intelligence was fixed around policy as far back as 1992 and certainly during the period leading to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. A research paper could start with Ritter's book and attempt to determine whether Iraq and its former leader, Saddam Hussein, ever at any time between the two Gulf Wars presented a clear and present danger to American interests or whether politicians from both parties created intelligence to fit their own policies toward that country.