Modern Indian History
Session- 1
Unit 1 and 2
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Q1. The factors that led Europeans to the quest for a sea route to India were:
1. Arab domination of land and sea routes made it difficult for Europeans to establish direct
contact with India.
2. During the Renaissance, the economic development of many regions of Europe was
declining rapidly, making it difficult for Europeans to purchase oriental goods at high
prices.
Which among the above statement(s) is/ are true?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None of the above
Q2. Which of the following is/are true about the Treaty of Tordesillas?
1. Under the treaty, the rulers of Portugal and Spain divided the non-Christian world
between them by an imaginary line in the Atlantic.
2. Under the treaty, Portugal could claim and occupy everything to the west of the line,
while Spain could claim everything to the east.
Select the correct answer given below
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both
(d) None
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Q3. Blue Water Policy was the vision of:
(a) Alfonso de Albuquerque
(b) Francisco De Almeida
(c) Nino da Cunha
(d) Pedro Alvarez Cabral
Q4. Consider the following statements about Farrukhsiyar’s Farmans
1. The East India Company’s imports and exports were exempted from additional customs
duties excepting the annual payment of 3,000 rupees in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
2. The Company was permitted to issue dastaks.
3. It was decreed that the coins of the Company minted at Bombay were to have currency
throughout India.
Which among the above statement(s) is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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Q5. Consider the following statements about First Carnatic War
1. The First Carnatic War was an extension of the Anglo-French War in Europe which was
caused by the Austrian War of Succession.
2. The First Carnatic War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Peace of Paris, bringing
the Austrian War of Succession to a conclusion.
Which among the above statement(s) is/are true?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both
(d) None
Q6. Consider the following statements
1. The first Battle of Panipat in 1526 was between Babur and Hemu.
2. The Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 was between Akbar and Ibrahim Lodi.
3. The Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 was between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Which among the above statement(s) is/ are true?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1 and 2 only
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Q7. Consider the following statements
1. The Successor States were the states set up by the rebels against the Mughal empire.
2. The New States were the Mughal provinces that turned into states after breaking away
from the empire without challenging the sovereignty of the Mughal ruler and remaining
virtually independent.
3. Independent Kingdoms were those states that came into existence primarily due to the
destabilisation of the Mughal control over the provinces
Which among the above statement(s) is/ are correct?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Q8. Consider the following pairs:
Maratha Family Associated Region
1. Gaekwad Nagpur
2. Bhonsle Baroda
3. Holkars Indore
4. Sindhias Gwalior
5. Peshwa Nashik
How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
(a) Only one pair
(b) Only two pairs
(c) Only three pairs
(d) All five pairs
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Q9. With reference to the British administrative policy during the late 18th century and the late
19th century, consider the following statements:
1. Warren Hastings followed a policy of ring-fence, which aimed at creating buffer zones to
defend the Company’s frontiers.
2. The subsidiary alliance system was used by Lord Wellesley, which allowed the
permanent stationing of a British force within the territory of an allying Indian ruler and
to pay a subsidy for its maintenance.
3. Under the doctrine of lapse policy followed by Lord Dalhousie, the adopted son could be
the heir to his foster father’s private property, but not the state; it was for the paramount
power (the British) to decide whether to bestow the state on the adopted son or to annex
it.
Which among the above statements are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Q10. Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?
(a) Battle of Buxar—Mir Jafar vs. Clive
(b) Battle of Wandiwash—French vs. East India Company
(c) Battle of Chilianwala—Dalhousie vs. Marathas
(d) Battle of Kharda—Nizam vs. East India Company
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Q11. Who among the following was the first European to initiate the policy of taking part in the
quarrels of Indian princes with a view to acquire territories?
(a) Robert Clive
(b) Dupleix
(c) Albuquerque
(d) Warren Hastings
Q12. Consider the following princely States of the British rule in India:
1. Jhansi
2. Sambalpur
3. Satara
The correct chronological order in which they were annexed by the British is:
(a) 1, 2, 3
(b) 1, 3, 2
(c) 3, 2, 1
(d) 3, 1, 2
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Q13. Consider the following
1. The officials of the Company made rampant misuse of its trade privileges that adversely
affected the finances of the nawab of Bengal.
2. The workers of the company stopped paying the taxes.
3. The English fortified Calcutta without the nawab’s permission.
Which among the above factors led to the Battle of Plassey?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Q14. Arrange the following in chronological order
1. First Anglo-Burmese War
2. First Anglo-Afghan War
3. First Anglo-Maratha War
4. First Anglo-Mysore War
Select the correct code from below
(a) 1-2-3-4
(b) 4-3-1-2
(c) 3-1-2-4
(d) 2-4-1-3
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Q15. The Treaty of Yandabo is related to
(a) Second Anglo-Afghan War
(b) Third Anglo-Maratha War
(c) First Anglo-Burmese War
(d) Second Anglo-Burmese War
Q16. Consider the following
1. The importance of this battle lay in the fact that not only the Nawab of Bengal but also
the Mughal Emperor of India was defeated by the English.
2. The victory made the English a great power in northern India and contenders for the
supremacy over the whole country.
3. This battle laid the real foundation of the English power.
The above facts are in reference to which of the following?
(a) Battle of Plassey
(b) Battle of Buxar
(c) Battle of Kharda
(d) Battle of Wandiwash
Q17. Consider the following
1. He organised his army on the European model with Persian words of command.
2. He is credited as the ‘pioneer of rocket technology’ in India.
3. He gave his support to the French soldiers in his kingdom in setting up a Jacobin Club
and planted the Tree of Liberty.
The above statements depict which of the following prominent figure?
(a) Chatrapati Shivaji
(b) Peshwa Baji Rao I
(c) Hyder Ali
(d) Tipu Sultan
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Q18. The Governor-General who followed a spirited "Forward" policy towards Afghanistan was:
[ UPSC 1999]
(a) Minto
(b) Dufferin
(c) Elgin
(d) Lytton
Q19. Who among the following Indian rulers established embassies in foreign countries on
modern lines? [ UPSC 2001]
(a) Haider Ali
(b) Mir Qasim
(c) Shah Alam II
(d) Tipu Sultan
Q20. Which one of the following is the correct chronological order of the battles fought in India
in the 18th Century? [2005 UPSC]
(a) Battle of Wandiwash–Battle of Buxar–Battle of Ambur–Battle of Plassey
(b) Battle of Ambur–Battle of Plassey–Battle of Wandiwash–Battle of Buxar
(c) Battle of Wandiwash–Battle of Plassey–Battle of Ambur–Battle of Buxar
(d) Battle of Ambur–Battle of Buxar–Battle of Wandiwash–Battle of Plassey
All the best!
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Solutions
Q1. Answer: (a)
Statement 1 is correct: In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, who were on the
ascendant. Merchandise from India went to the European markets through Arab Muslim
intermediaries. The Red Sea trade route was a state monopoly from which Islamic rulers
earned tremendous revenues. The land routes to India were also controlled by the Arabs. In
the circumstances, these Europeans were keen to find a direct sea route to India.
Statement 2 is incorrect: The economic development of many regions of Europe was also
progressing rapidly with expansion of land under cultivation, the introduction of an improved
plough, scientific crop management such as crop rotation, and increased supply of meat (which
called for spices for cooking as well as for preservation). Prosperity also grew, and with it the
demand for oriental luxury goods also increased.
Q2. Answer: (a)
Statement 1 is correct: In 1497, under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the rulers of Portugal
and Spain divided the non-Christian world between them by an imaginary line in the
Atlantic, some 1,300 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Under the treaty, Portugal could claim and occupy everything to
the east of the line, while Spain could claim everything to the west. The situation was thus
prepared for the Portuguese incursions into the waters around India.
Q3. Answer: (b)
Almeida’s vision was to make the Portuguese the master of the Indian Ocean. He opposed
establishing a territorial empire in India and wanted that the Portuguese should maintain
supremacy on sea and confine their activities to purely commercial transactions. This policy was
known as Blue water policy. The Blue water policy was reversed by Alfonso de Albuquerque.
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Q4. Answer: (b)
Farrukhsiyar’s Farmans
In 1715, an English mission led by John Surman to the court of the Mughal emperor
Farrukhsiyar secured three famous farmans, giving the Company many valuable privileges in
Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad. The farmans thus obtained were regarded the Magna Carta of
the Company. Their important terms were:
● In Bengal, the Company’s imports and exports were exempted from additional customs
duties excepting the annual payment of 3,000 rupees as settled earlier. Hence statement
1 is wrong.
● The Company was permitted to issue dastaks (passes) for the transportation of such
goods. Hence statement 2 is correct.
● The Company was permitted to rent more lands around Calcutta.
● In Hyderabad, the Company retained its existing privilege of freedom from duties in trade
and had to pay the prevailing rent only for Madras.
● In Surat, for an annual payment of 10,000 rupees, the East India Company was exempted
from the levy of all duties.
● It was decreed that the coins of the Company minted at Bombay were to have currency
throughout the Mughal empire. Hence statement 3 is wrong.
Q5. Answer: (a)
First Carnatic War (1740–48)
Background: Carnatic was the name given by the Europeans to the Coromandel Coast and its
hinterland. The First Carnatic War was an extension of the Anglo-French War in Europe which
was caused by the Austrian War of Succession. Hence statement 1 is correct.
Result: The First Carnatic War ended in 1748 when the Treaty of Aix-La Chapelle was signed,
bringing the Austrian War of Succession to a conclusion. Under the terms of this treaty, Madras
was handed back to the English, and the French, in turn, got their territories in North America.
Hence statement 2 is incorrect.
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Q6. Answer: (c)
● The first Battle of Panipat in 1526 was between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi. The result
of the battle laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire by ending the rule of the Delhi
Sultanate.
● The Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 was between Akbar and Hemu; it decided in
favour of the continuation of the Mughal rule.
● The Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali
put an end to the Maratha ambition of ruling over India.
Q7. Answer: (b)
(i) Successor States: These were the Mughal provinces that turned into states after breaking
away from the empire. Though they did not challenge the sovereignty of the Mughal ruler, the
establishment of virtually independent and hereditary authority by their governors showed the
emergence of autonomous polity in these territories. Some examples are Awadh, Bengal, and
Hyderabad.
(ii) Independent Kingdoms: These states came into existence primarily due to the
destabilisation of the Mughal control over the provinces, examples being Mysore and the
Rajput states.
(iii) The New States: These were the states set up by the rebels against the Mughal empire,
examples being the Maratha, the Sikh, and the Jat states.
Q8. Answer: (b)
Bajirao I (1720–40), considered greatest of all the Peshwas, had started a confederacy of
prominent Maratha chiefs to manage the rapidly expanding Maratha power, and to some extent
appease the Kshatriya section of the Marathas (Peshwas were brahmins) led by the Senapati
Dabodi. Under the arrangement of the Maratha confederacy, each prominent family under a chief
was assigned a sphere of influence which he was supposed to conquer and rule, but in the name
of the then Maratha king, Shahu. The Maratha families which emerged prominent were:
a. Gaekwad of Baroda
b. Bhonsle of Nagpur
c. Holkars of Indore
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d. Sindhias of Gwalior
e. Peshwa of Poona
Q9. Answer: (d)
The Policy of Ring-Fence: Warren Hastings took charge as the governor general at a critical
period of British rule when the British were to encounter the powerful combination of the
Marathas, Mysore, and Hyderabad. He followed a policy of ring-fence which aimed at creating
buffer zones to defend the Company’s frontiers. Broadly speaking, it was the policy of defence of
their neighbours’ frontiers for safeguarding their own territories.
Subsidiary Alliance: The subsidiary alliance system was used by Lord Wellesley, who was
governor general from 1798–1805, to build an empire in India. Under the system, the allying
Indian state’s ruler was compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within his
territory and to pay a subsidy for its maintenance. The Indian ruler had to agree to the posting of
a British resident in his court. The Indian ruler could not employ any European in his service
without the prior consultation with the Company. Nor could he go to war or negotiate with any
other Indian ruler without consulting the governor-general. In return for all this, the British
would defend the ruler from his enemies and adopt a policy of non-interference in the internal
matters of the allied state.
Doctrine of Lapse: In simple terms, the doctrine stated that the adopted son could be the heir to
his foster father’s private property, but not the state; it was for the paramount power (the British)
to decide whether to bestow the state on the adopted son or to annex it. Though this policy is
attributed to Lord Dalhousie, he was not its originator. Dalhousie showed too much zeal in
enforcing this policy which had been theoretically enunciated on some previous occasions.
Q10. Answer: (b)
Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 - French were finally defeated by the English.
Battle of Buxar (1764) - English under Munro defeated Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-daula and Shah
Alam II.
The Battle of Chillianwala was fought in January 1849 during the Second Anglo-Sikh War.
The Battle of Kharda took place in 1795 between Nizam and Maratha Empire, in which
Nizam was badly defeated.
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Q11. Answer: (b)
Dupleix succeeded Dumas as the French governor of Pondicherry. His ambition was to acquire
for France vast territories in India. For this purpose, he entered into relations with the native
princes and adopted a style of oriental splendour in his dress and surroundings. He built an
army of native troops, called sepoys, who were trained as infantrymen in his service, that also
included the famous Hyder Ali of Mysore.
Q12. Answer: (c)
These princely states were annexed by Lord Dalhousie under the Doctrine of Lapse. Jhansi -
1854, Sambalpur- 1849 and Satara - 1848.
Annexed Lapsed States
It was a matter of chance that during Lord Dalhousie’s term, many rulers of states died without a
male issue, and seven states were annexed under the Doctrine of Lapse. The most important of
these were Satara (1848), Jhansi, and Nagpur (1854). The other small states included Jaitpur
(Bundelkhand), Sambhalpur (Orissa), and Baghat (Himachal Pradesh).
Lord Dalhousie annexed Awadh in 1856 after deposing Nawab Wajid Ali Shah on the
grounds of misgovernment. Thus, Dalhousie annexed eight states during his eightyear tenure
(1848–56) as governor general. In these eight years, he annexed some quarter million square
miles of the territory of India. His reign almost completed the process of expansion of British
power in India, which began with the victory over Siraj-ud-Daulah at Plassey in 1757.
Q13. Answer: (d)
The Battle of Plassey (1757 AD): The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British
East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757.
Background: The officials of the Company made rampant misuse of its trade privileges that
adversely affected the nawab’s finances. The English fortified Calcutta without the nawab’s
permission. Also, The workers of the company stopped paying the taxes. The Company further
tried to mislead him and compounded their sin by giving asylum to a political fugitive, Krishna
Das, son of Raj Ballabh, who had fled with immense treasures against the nawab’s will. The
Company, on its part, suspected that Siraj would drastically reduce its trade privileges in
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collusion with the French in Bengal. Thus, when Siraj attacked and seized the English fort at
Calcutta, it brought their hostility into the open.
Q14. Answer: (b)
First Anglo-Burmese War (1824- 26)
First Anglo-Afghan War (1838- 42)
First Anglo-Maratha War (1775- 82)
First Anglo-Mysore War (1767- 69)
Q15. Answer: (c)
The Treaty of Yandabo, or the Yandabu Accord, was the peace treaty that resulted in the end
of the First Anglo-Burmese War. This treaty was signed on February 24, 1826, after two years
of the war between the British and Burmese.
It led to the Annexation of Assam in British India. This treaty ended not only the most
expensive war of the British in Indian territory but also led to end of independence of
Burmese in due course. It resulted in end of the Third Burmese Empire (which was known as
terror of British India). Burma was no longer a threat to British on eastern frontiers.
Q16. Answer: (b)
The Battle of Buxar (1764)
The combined armies of Mir Kasim, the Nawab of Awadh, and Shah Alam II were defeated
by the English forces under Major Hector Munro at Buxar on October 22, 1764, in a closely
contested battle. The English campaign against Mir Kasim was short but decisive.
The importance of this battle lay in the fact that not only the Nawab of Bengal but also the
Mughal Emperor of India was defeated by the English. The victory made the English a great
power in northern India and contenders for the supremacy over the whole country.
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Q17. Answer: (d)
Tipu Sultan was born in November 1750 to Haidar Ali and Fatima. A well-educated man, he
could freely converse in Arabic, Persian, Kanarese, and Urdu. Tipu was a great warrior (he
was known as the ‘Tiger of Mysore’) and gave maximum care to the raising and maintenance
of an efficient military force. He organised his army on the European model with Persian
words of command. Though he took the help of the French officers to train his soldiers, he
never allowed them (French) to develop into a pressure group. Like his father, Tipu realised the
importance of a naval force. In 1796, he set up a Board of Admiralty and planned for a fleet of
22 battleships and 20 large frigates. Three dockyards were established at Mangalore, Wajedabad,
and Molidabad. However, his plans did not fructify.
Tipu was a patron of science and technology. He is credited as the ‘pioneer of rocket
technology’ in India. He wrote a military manual explaining the operation of rockets. He was
also a pioneer
in introducing sericulture to the Mysore State.
Tipu was a great lover of democracy and a great diplomat. He gave his support to the
French soldiers at Seringapatam in setting up a Jacobin Club in 1797. He ordered a salute of
2,300 cannons and 500 rockets to celebrate the occasion. Tipu himself became a member of the
Jacobin Club and allowed himself to be called Citizen Tipu. He planted the Tree of Liberty at
Seringapatam.
Q18. Answer: (d)
Lord Lytton (1876-80)
The forward policy followed under the Viceroyalty of Lord Lytton was a set of foreign
policies applicable to territorial ambitions and disputes in which emphasis was placed on
securing control of targeted territories by invasion and annexation or by the political creation of
compliant buffer states.
It became the standard policy during the Great Game, a period where the Russian and British
Empires both tried to control Afghanistan either through military or political means. Lord Lytton
was criticized for his aggressive pursuit of this policy as it put economic pressure on British
India. Hence option (d) is correct.
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Q19. Answer: (d)
Tipu Sultan established embassies in France, Turkey and Egypt on modern lines.
Q20. Answer: (b)
Battle of Ambur-1749, Battle of Plassey-1757, Battle of Wandiwash-1760, Battle of Buxar-1764.
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