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Mrunal (World History) 500 Mock Questions On Colonization, Decolonization Revolutions - French, American, Russian Unification - Italy, Germany, World Wars & More Print
Mrunal (World History) 500 Mock Questions On Colonization, Decolonization Revolutions - French, American, Russian Unification - Italy, Germany, World Wars & More Print
French, American, Russian; Unification: Italy, Germany, World Wars & More
1. Prologue
2. Imperialism and Colonization
3. Industrial Revolution
4. Socialism, Communism, Capitalism, Revolutions
5. France
6. America
7. Russia
8. China
9. Japan
10. Germany
11. Italy
12. World Wars
13. Decolonization, Nationalism Rise of, Redrawing Boundaries Post WW2
Prologue
if the question contains less than 4 words then assume it is meant for 2 or 5 marker,
Otherwise 12-15 marker.
1. Last 12 term end exams of IGNOU BA, MA history course code: EHI6, EHI7 and MHI2
2. Previous papers of UPSC (History) Optional Subject Paper II from 1979 to 2012
3. Old NCERT Class 10 (Arjun Dev): all the relevant chapters already uploaded on
Mrunal.org/History
Some of these questions are outside the syllabus and/or beyond the (expected) difficulty
level of General Studies Mains paper, hence Readers’ discretion is advised.
History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution,
world wars, redraw of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political
philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society
the foundation material for most of these questions=available in Old NCERTs, uploaded
on Mrunal.org/history
for additional points to make up a 10-12-15 marks content, selective study of those
IGNOU courses: EHI6, EHI7, MH2 (from Egyankosh.ac.in) or Arjun Dev / Norman Lowe
/ Jain-Mathur
and search google/Britannica as and where necessary.
Industrial Revolution
1. Explain why the Industrial Revolution led to the emergence of imperialism
2. Analyse the different ways in which industrialization took place in Europe.
3. Critically discuss the process of industrialization in Britain, France and Germany.
4. How did industrial revolution impact the family system in Europe?
5. How did the industrialisation of Russia take place in the period prior to the Russian
Revolution?
6. How was Russia industrialized during the 19th century? Examine.
7. Give a critical account of the Agricultural Revolution in Western Europe in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. How did it affect the social and economic life of the people?
8. The Industrial Revolution brought about great changes in the social and economic life of
Europe. Explain.
9. The Industrial Revolution Changed England in character and culture.
10. The Industrial Revolution put mobility in the place of stability.
11. The period 1500 to 1700 in Europe has been called the heyday of the Commercial
Revolution. Explain the causes that led to this Revolution examine its impact on society.
12. The process of industrialization in some other countries of Europe was different from that
in England.
13. What was the extent of industrialization in western Europe by the end of the nineteenth
century?
14. Whoever says Industrial Revolution, says cotton. Comment.
15. Identify the main features of industrial development in India from 1914 to 1947 with
special reference to the emergence of a class of factory laborers.
16. What conditions are most favourable or essential for industrialization?
17. Give examples to show that the Industrial Revolution with its demand for raw materials
and markets made nations more dependent on one another.
18. Describe the conditions which prevailed in industrial cities and factories as the Industrial
Revolution spread. How these conditions were slowly improved?
19. The Industrial Revolution was a mixed blessing’.
20. Why does industrialization affect farming, transportation, communication, trade and how
does it result in the need for more education?
21. How does industrialization help in raising the level or the standard of living?
22. Would you say that industrialization was ‘a natural step’ in man’s progress? Why or why
not?
France
1. French political writers of the eighteenth century were influenced by Locke and also by
the curious contrast. Which they perceived between the government of his country and
their own.
2. How did Napoleon Bonaparte heal the wounds of France inflicted by the Revolution and
correct the errors perpetrated by its leaders?
3. How did Napoleon fuse the French of the ancient regime with the France of the post-
revolutionary ear?
4. How did Nepoleon Bonapart fuse the old France with the new?
5. If monarchical misrole ignited the French revolution, lofty ideas both inspired and
sustained it.
6. Napoleon was the child of the Revolution, but in many ways he reversed the aims and
principles of the movement from which he sprang
7. No event as encompassing as the French Revolution occurs in an intellectual vacuum.
8. The connection between the philosophers and the outbreak of the French Revolution
(1789) is somewhat remote and indirect.
9. The French Revolution (1789) really achieved far less than what it intended to effect. Do
you agree?
10. The French Revolution (1789) sought to remove both the religious and secular props of
the existing social order. Elucidate.
11. The French Revolution attacked privileges and not property.
12. The most important single factor … in the years following 1919 was the French demand
for security.
13. The Napoleonic Empire was doomed because of its inherent and self-defeating
contradictions. Elucidate.
14. The writings of the philosophers had a tremendous influence on the minds of the people
and created a revolutionary awakening in their minds and formed the intellectual creed of
the French Revolution
15. To what extent did Napoleons economic war with England become his undoing?
16. What were the ideals of the French Revolution of 1789? How far is it correct to say that it
overthrew mercantilism and the surviving relics of feudalism and contributed to the
political supremacy of the middle class?
17. What were the main ideas behind the French Revolution?
18. Explain why the following documents were ‘revolutionary’ when they were written :
Declaration of Independence, Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Communist
Manifesto,
19. Explain the impact of the French Revolution on the Spanish colonies in America.
20. Cultural Legacy of the French Revolution
21. What is the legacy of the French Revolution for the modern world?
22. What was the impact of the French Revolution on the social and political life of France?
23. Discuss some aspects of agriculture in France during the 18th century.
24. Write a note on Bonapartism. What led to the failure of the Second Empire in France?
25. Write a note on the process through which a modern state developed in France.
26. Discuss the factors leading to the French evolution of 1789.
27. Discuss the impact of the French Revolution on political systems in Europe.
28. Explain how repression was combined with mobilisation of popular support under
Bonapartism.
29. Explain the role of masses in overthrowing the Ancient Regime in France.
30. Landed classes in France
31. 2 markers each: The Bourgeoisie, The Girondins
32. The Jacobin Republic and Terror
33. What are the salient features of modern politics as it developed in Europe after the French
Revolution?
34. What led to the downfall of the Ancient Regime in France?
America
1. Critically examine the nature of the American War of Independence.
2. What were the distinguishing features of American society before the American
revolution? How did they affect the subsequent revolutionary process?
3. Discuss the characteristics of pre-revolutionary American society.
4. Discuss the important factors responsible for the American Revolution. What were the
effects of the Revolution?
5. How did the ‘peculiarity of being a new society’ affect the American Revolution?
6. The American Revolution
7. The notion of liberty
8. At the news of the Declaration of Independence crowds gathered to cheer, fire guns and
cannon and ring church bells in Philadelphia. Boston and other places, but there were many
people in America who did not rejoice.
9. No Taxation without representation.
10. The American Revolution was a natural and even expected event in the history of colonial
people who had come of age.
11. The American Revolution was essentially as economic conflict between American
capitalism as British mercantilism.
12. The American War of Independence deprived Great Britain of one empire, but it
strengthened the foundations of another .
13. The American war of Independence transformed Europeans as well as America.
14. The Great Depression (1928-34) was attended by momentous consequences in the
economic as well as in the political sphere.
15. To some extent, the American War of Independence inspired the French Revolution
16. What were the factors that worked in the drafting of the American Constitution? Do you
agreee the US constitution being an Economic Document?
17. How far is it correct to say that every feature of the American Constitution was ultimately
of English Origin?
18. Explain briefly the conditions that brought about the American and French revolutions.
19. Write a note on “People Revolt when Conditions become Unbearable”, using the either
French, Russian or American revolutions as evidence.
20. Examine the issues involved in the American Civil War. Was it a contest between two
separate nations?
Russia
1. What were the main features of industrialisation in Russia?
2. Bolsheviks
3. What is the significance of the Russian Revolution in the modern world?
4. What led to the Russian Revolution of 1917?What was its legacy?
5. Write a note on the October Revolution in Russia.
6. Write a note on the significance of Russian Revolution for 20th century politics.
7. Collectivization of Agriculture in USSR.
8. Account for the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in Russia.
9. Analyze the causes of the Russian Revolutions of 1917. Why was the second Revolution
significant in more than one way?
10. Examine the causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and indicate its significance in
world history.
11. In Russia, Lenin was the father of socialism, organizer of the revolution and the founder of
the new Russian society. Examine the statement.
12. Lenin’s role in the Russian Revolution of 1917
13. The impact of the French Revolution (1789) was initially confined the Europe, but, that of
the Russia Revolution (1917) was global. – Critically review.
14. The Russian Revolution (1917) was an economic explosion hastened by the stupidities of
the autocratic Government’s
15. The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a single revolution which developed two phases.
Elucidate.
16. What were the causes for the success of Bolshevik Revolution of 1917? Discuss its
significance in the history of the world.
17. Stalinist Russia was a despotic regime. Critically examine this view.
18. Explain the following terms: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Soviet, February Revolution,
October Revolution, Bloody Sunday, Communist International
19. Describe the social and economic conditions in Russia before the Revolution of 1917.
How did Russia’s participation in the First World War help create conditions for the fall
of the Russian autocracy,
20. What were the main objectives of the Russian revolutionaries?
21. Describe the immediate consequences of the October Revolution on Russia’s
participation in the First World War, the ownership of land, and position of the non-
Russian nationalities of the Russian empire.
22. Explain the attitude of the USSR. towards the movements for independence in Asia.
23. Discuss the impact of the Russian Revolution on the world.
24. Discuss the view that the Russian Revolution was brought about by a small group of
revolutionaries without the support of the masses.
China
1. What were the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese economy? What was the
attitude of Chinese bourgeoisie towards the 1911 Revolution?
2. Examine the main features of the May Fourth Movement.
3. By 1861, China may be said to have been fully though grudgingly opened to the
Westerner.
4. Critically analysis the cause and the results of the Chinese revolution of 1940
5. Discuss the circumstances leading to the Chinese Revolution of 1949 and analyse its
significance.
6. Discuss the internal problem of China after the First World War and account for the
establishment of Communist rule in the China in 1949
7. Divided into spheres of influence by foreign powers, China in the 19th century presented a
sorry spectacle. How did China react to it?
8. Examine the circumstances in china in the years 1945-49. What did the United States do
to resolve the conflict between the Nationalists and the Communists there?
9. How did the Treaty Port System in China develop between 1840 and 1860? What was its
inference on Chinese attitude to foreigners?
10. Importance of the Opium War in the history of China. Give a critical account of the
progress of merchantalism in the 17th century. How far is it correct to say that it paved
the way for the Industrial Revolution?
11. Review the political circumstances in China in the years 1945-49 leading to the
establishment of the Communist rule in the land. How did the United States seek to
resolve the conflict between the Nationalists and the communists in the period?
12. The Treaty of Nanking is the basic act in the imposing but unstable structure of
international relations which governed China for a hundred years.
13. With the proclamation in Nanking of a Chinese Republic with Sun-Yat-Sen as the
President in 1911, the old China wilted rapidly.
14. The years 1840 to 1860 confronted the Ching dynasty and the people of China with
unprecedented crises due to imperialist designs of western powers. Discuss critically.
15. To what extent did the Western powers bring China under their domination without
annexation?
16. Trace the distinct phases of the Sino-Japanese War. Assess its political economic and
cultural impact on China, both occupied and free.
17. Why is the period from 1842 to 1900 considered as half a century of humiliations in the
history of China? What was the reaction of China?
18. All long marches begin with small steps.
19. Analyse the factors responsible for the victory of the Communists in the civil war in China
during 1945-49.
20. Analyse the nature and impact of Taiping Rebellion.
21. Analyse the various factors responsible for the early nineteenth-century crisis in China.
22. Boxer Rebellion
23. Canton system
24. Communist Party of China
25. Critically analyse the factors responsible for Boxer Rebellion. What was its significance?
26. Describe the main characteristics of traditional Chinese economy.
27. Discuss the agrarian programme of the Taipings. Why did the uprising fail?
28. Discuss the Chinese response to Western imperialism in the 1840s.
29. Discuss the contribution of Sun-Yat-Sen in the Chinese liberation movement.
30. Discuss the emergence of nationalism in China. Explain its important features.
31. Discuss the factors that hindered the growth of capitalism in China.
32. Discuss the factors which led to the Boxer Uprising. Explain the Boxer Protocol.
33. Discuss the impact of Opium Wars on China.
34. Discuss the relationship between religion and peasant revolts in China.
35. Discuss the role of Mao Tse Tung in the Chinese Revolution.
36. The announcement of the creation of the Peoples Republic of China on October1, 1959
by Mao Zedong ended the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the
Nationalist Party (KMT). – Elaborate.
37. Discuss the role of students and intellectuals in the development of new culture after the
revolution of 1911.
38. What led to the emergence of the ‘New Culture’ movement in China after the revolution
of 1911? What was the role of intellectuals in this movement?
39. Discuss the role of Sun Yat Sen in the anti- imperialist struggle in China.
40. Discuss the role of the communist party in the success of the Revolution of 1949 in
China.
41. Discuss the significance of the Boxer protocol.
42. Discuss the significance of the May fourth movement in China.
43. Discuss the socio-political reasons behind the emergence of Marxism in China.
44. Examine the attitude of Chinese bourgeoisie towards the 1911 Revolution.
45. Examine the main features of the May Fourth Movement.
46. Explain the unequal treaties signed after the Opium Wars.
47. Manchukuo
48. Open Door Policy
49. The Wuchang Rebellion.
50. What led to the Taiping Uprising? Why did it fail?
51. What was the Chinese response to Western imperialism in the 1840s?
52. What was the impact of the Opium trade on Chinese economy?
53. What was the impact of Warlordism on Chinese society?
54. What was the Long March? Did it achieve its goals?
55. What was the nature of Chinese response to western imperialism in the second half of the
nineteenth century. Discuss the growth of Japanese industrial economy between the two
World Wars.
56. What was the significance of the May Fourth Movement in China.
57. What were main reasons for the failure of the Taiping Rebellion?
58. What were the causes of the Opium Wars? How did they affect China’s relations with the
Western powers?
59. What were the initiatives taken by the Meiji government to establish a centralized political
system
60. What were the main features of the self-strengthening movement in China? Examine.
61. What were the Twenty One Demands? Discuss the reaction of China on these demands.
62. Write a note on the significance of the Chinese Revolution of 1949.
63. Write an essay on Sun Yat Sen and the rise of Nationalism in China.
64. Kuomintang
Japan
1. How did Japan develop between 1868 and 1894? Did the Restoration of Meiji mark a
sharp break with the past?
2. How did the Japanese occupation of South-East Asian countries during the Second World
War give a boost to nationalize in the regions? Explain with examples.
3. Show how the presence of a weak and helpless China next door brought about the rise of
militarism and collapse of democracy in Japan.
4. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty (1962) marks a milestone in the development of Japan as an
Asiatic power.
5. The years 1853-1894 witnessed the transformation of Japan. Explain.
6. Trace the growth of militarism in Japan in the inter-war years. What international reaction
did it provoke?
7. Describe the imperialist expansion of japan up to 1914
8. Militarism in Japan
9. Analyse the main factors responsible for the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
10. Analyse the significance of Anglo-Japanese alliance.
11. Anglo-French rivalry in Japan
12. Discuss the causes of the Russo-Japanese War. What was its impact on the nationalism in
Asian countries?
13. Discuss the economic policies of the Meiji government.
14. Discuss the factors which led to the decline of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan.
15. Discuss the main features of Meiji constitution.
16. Discuss the major characteristics of the Meiji political system.
17. Discuss the nature of Japanese imperialism up to the Second World War.
18. Discuss the political and economic implications of the Allied occupation of Japan.
19. Discuss the political and economic reforms which contributed towards the modernisation
of Japan.
20. Discuss the stages of Japan’s emergence as an imperialist power during 1894-1912.
21. Explain the developments in the economy of Japan prior to World War II.
22. Explain the various ideologies behind the expansionist policy of Japan.
23. Outline the stages of Japan’s emergence as an imperialist power during the period 1894 –
1912.
24. What was the impact of the Russo-Japanese War?
25. What was the political implication of the Allied Forces’ occupation of Japan after the
Second World War?
26. What were the main economic reforms carried out in Japan after the First World War?
27. What were the political and economic reforms which contributed towards the
modernization of Japan?
28. What were the primary issues in the economic development of Japan between 1868 –
1885?
29. What were the various ideologies behind the expansionist policy of Japan?
30. What was the role of political parties in Japan between the two World Wars?
31. Discuss the significance of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.
32. Account for the rise of militarism in Japan between the two World Wars. How did it affect
the peace of the world?
33. Write a Note on Zaibatsu
Germany
1. Write a note on Zolleverein (Customs Union)
2. Did the Weimar Republic represent liberal democratic experiment in Germany? How
successful was this experiment?
3. Discuss Bismarck’s role in German unification.
4. Discuss the changes brought by Nazi rule in Germany.
5. Discuss the role of Bismarck in unification of Germany.
6. Write a note on the emergence of Nationalism in Germany?
7. Discuss the emergence of Nationalism in Germany.
8. Discuss the ‘German National Idea’.
9. Explain the emergence of the ‘two Germanies’ in post war Europe
10. Gestapo
11. State and Society in Nazi Germany
12. Besmirch created a new Germany with the policy of blood and iron.
13. Bismarck united Germany not by majority of votes and speeches but by a policy of Blood
and iron. In the light of this statement assess the contribution of Bismarck to the
unification of Germany.
14. Comparison of the fascist regime in Italy with the National Socialist regime of Germany
is almost inevitable. The similarities are obvious, but there is one point of difference
which is worth mentioning.
15. Critically examine the main features of the foreign policy of Nazi Germany.
16. What were the weaknesses and difficulties of the Weimer Republic? How did Hitler
succeed in establishing his dictatorship?
17. Hitler did not really want a world War. His intention was only a short war with Poland.
18. Hitler was a creature flung to the top by the tides of revolutionary change, or the
embodiment of the collective unconsciousness of a people obsessed with violence and
death.
19. How did the policy of appeasement escalate the problem of Nazi aggrandizement?
20. Isolation of France constituted the keystone of Bismarck’s foreign policy. Elucidate.
21. It is one of the ironies of history that Napoleon was the creator of modern Germany.
22. Napoleon kindled the national sentiment, but German unity was achieved by Bismarck.
Discuss.
23. The political unification of Germany was accomplished solely by Bismarck
24. The Unification of Germany was the one thing Bismarck was determined to prevent.
25. There was an element of system in Hitlers foreign policy His outlook was continental.
26. Was German unification achieved more by coal and iron than by blood and iron?
Italy
1. Comment briefly on the cultural background of Italian nationalism.
2. Discuss the main features of the revolutions of 1848.
3. Discuss the emergence of Nationalism in Italy.
4. How do you explain the rise of fascism in Europe?.
5. Italian Nationalism
6. What are the general features of fascism?
7. What is Fascism? Discuss the foundation of Fascist state in Italy.
8. What led to the rise of fascism in Italy? Discuss the nature of the fascist state.
9. Corporate State was Mussolini’s answer to sociopolitical problems of his country.
Elucidate.
10. Extreme nationalism of the Fascist Variety has various faces in various countries, but it
has everywhere certain common characteristics.
11. The roots of the rise of Fascism lay in Peace Treaties.
12. The unification of Italy and that of Germany constituted a contrast in respect of the ways
they were affected and impact they left on later international politics. Elucidate.
13. The unification of Italy completed…the destruction of the European order.
14. Trace the course of the movement for Italian Unification from 1848 with special
reference to the contribution of Mazzini.
15. Trace the various stages that led to the Unification of Italy between 1848 and 1870.
16. What were the obstacles to Italian unification till 1852? How and with what methods was
the unification of Italy achieved?
17. Describe the different stages in the unification of Germany and Italy.
18. What were the main features of the fascist and Nazi movements?
19. Describe the consequences of the victory of fascism on Italy and Germany.
20. What were the main aims of the foreign policies of Italy, Germany and Japan?
21. What were the views of Jawaharlal Nehru and the Indian National Congress on fascism?
World Wars
1. How did the two World Wars affect politics in the 20th century?
2. What were the consequences of the advent of Nuclear Weapons in WW2?
3. Chemical Warfare
4. Write a note on the nature of the two World Wars.
5. Discuss the implications of first world war on human society.
6. Discuss the implications of second world war on human society.
7. How did the two World Wars affect the politics and economy of Europe?
8. What are main features of modern warfare?
9. Analyze the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and examine the validity of
Germany’s objections to the treaty.
10. Any single explanation for the outbreak of the First World War likely to be too simple. An
amalgam of factors intellectual, social, economic as well as political and diplomatic
contributed to this horrifying conflict of monumental propositions. – Explain.
11. In the long run, the Locarno Treaty (December 1925) was descriptive both of the Treaty of
Versailles and of the Covenant.
12. In the post -Second World War scenario friends in war did not remain friends in peace.
Examine the truth of this view in the period of your study.
13. Show how the Spanish Civil War a prelude to World War II.
14. The Manchurian crisis decided the fate of the league of Nations.
15. The peace of Versailles lacked moral validity from the start.
16. The Treaty of Versailles was merely an armistice for twenty years.
17. The Wars (First World Wars) most permanent contribution to the spirit or the post-War
years was disillusion.
18. Thus the League sought to achieve to profoundest of all psychological revolutions to
transform the war mentality of man into a peace mentality.
19. Treaty of Versailles contained the seeds of future conflicts.
20. Until December 1941 the battlefield of the Second World War was exclusively European
and Atlantic; thereafter it became also Asiatic and Pacific.
21. What led to the formation of the Berlin-Rome Tokyo axis? Indicate its impact on
international politics.
22. Explain the basic reasons for the conflicts between European nations from the late
nineteenth century to the early years of the twentieth century.
23. What were the countries comprising the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente? What
were the main aims of these groupings?
24. What is meant by the Pan-Slav movement? Why did it add to the conflict between Russia
and Austria?
25. Explain the reasons for the entry of the United States in the First World War.
26. Why the war that broke out in 1914 is called the First World War?
27. Explain the consequences of the First World War on Germany, Austria, Hungary and
Turkey
28. What were the purposes for which the League of Nations was established?
29. Why did Russia withdraw from the war after the 1917 Revolution?
30. On a map of the world, show the areas in Asia and Africa which caused conflicts among
various European countries Also show the European countries which emerged as
independent states after the First World War.
31. How was the world ‘redivided’ among the victorious powers? Prepare a map to show the
territories which were taken over from the defeated countries by the victorious countries.
32. How far were imperialist rivalries the basic cause of the First World War?
33. Do you think the peace treaties laid the foundations of a just and stable peace? Discuss.
34. How is it that an otherwise minor incident led to the outbreak of a world war? Discuss.
35. What is meant by the term ‘Axis Powers’
36. Describe the main events between 1936 and 1939 which created conditions for another
world war
37. What did the Western powers do to counter the aggressive acts of Japan, Italy and
Germany between 1931 and 1938?
38. Explain the terms: ‘Phoney War’, Second Front, the Battle of Britain
39. Do you think Western policy of appeasement of the fascist powers brought about the
Second World War? Why? Or why not?
40. What was the basic reason for the policy of appeasement?
41. Do you think the United States was justified in using the atom bomb against Japan?
42. Why did the Soviet Union sign the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany? What did she gain
from it? Discuss
43. What were the immediate consequences of the Second World War in Europe?
44. For a tired and timid generation Metternich was the necessary man.
45. The Brussels Treaty of 17 March, 1948 paved the way for the formation of NATO.
46. The international situation that confronted the peacemakers in Paris was in the brutal
realities of history, the result of a temporary redistribution of the balance of power in the
world.
47. There was not only a difference of principles at Paris (Peace Conference) but a clash of
personalities.
48. What do you understand by the notion of Total War? How did it affect military strategy?