UPSC Mains 2019 History Optional Paper II questions

29 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2019. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All History Optional PYQs

1. "Tipu Sultan was trying to build in Mysore a strong centralised and militarised state, with ambitious territorial designs."

   10 marks

2. "Not until independence, when economic development became a conscious and pursued policy, did the Railways begin to realize their potential for assisting in the transformation of the Indian economy."

   10 marks

3. "Two important intellectual criteria which informed the reform movements were rationalism and religious universalism."

   10 marks

4. "... the Kol Insurrection was mainly a war of the tribal inhabitants of Chotanagpur against the non-tribal settlers and service-holders."

   10 marks

5. "The Cripps Mission was plagued throughout, and ultimately torpedoed."

   10 marks

6. How far was the drain theory a focal point of nationalist critique of colonialism?

   20 marks

7. Examine the forces at work for the introduction of western education in India. Analyse the thrust given to it by the Christian Missionaries.

   20 marks

8. Do you subscribe to the view that the Anglo-French tussle in Carnatic demonstrated the internal decay of the provincial chieftains of South India?

   10 marks

9. How would you explain the major trends of the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal?

   20 marks

10. Is it justified to say that the Government of India Act of 1935 had all brakes, but no engine?

    20 marks

11. How far was the widow remarriage movement effective in arousing social concern for Indian women?

    10 marks

12. Why is the Quit India Movement characterised as a 'Spontaneous Revolution'? Did it accelerate the process of Indian independence?

    20 marks

13. Assess the role of Subhas Chandra Bose in India's struggle for independence.

    20 marks

14. How did the introduction of Community Development Programme and Panchayati Raj promote welfare of rural India?

    10 marks

15. Critically examine the following statements in about 150 words

16. "The arguments of the free traders were a curious mixture of economic hard-headedness, social benevolence, cosmopolitan idealism and class prejudice."

    10 marks

17. unprecedented, and in human history, entirely novel."

    10 marks

18. "The ineffectiveness of the League of Nations to prevent or to check Japanese aggression against China was the first serious blow to its prestige as an agency for providing security."

    10 marks

19. "Non-alignment came to symbolize the struggle of India and other newly independent nations to retain and strengthen their independence from colonialism and imperialism."

    10 marks

20. How would you explain the nature of pre-Marxian Socialism?

    10 marks

21. How did the policies of governments facilitate the process of How in Europe?

22. How was Italy transformed from 'a geographical expression' to a nation-state?

    20 marks

23. How far did the Napoleonic preferential stance to help out the French economy result in embroiling France in continental conflicts?

    10 marks

24. Which factors would you attribute to the British colonial intervention in Malaya in the 19' century? How did Malays react to British colonial rule?

    20 marks

25. Explain why Latin America was beset with chronic political instability and endemic military conflicts throughout most of the 19* century.

    20 marks

26. Do you agree with the view that the formation of NATO marked a revolution in American attitude to the world problems?

    10 marks

27. Do you subscribe to the view that the Anglo-French tussle in Carnatic demonstrated the internal decay of the provincial chieftains of South India?

    20 marks

28. Was Czechoslovakia served on a dish to Hitler at Munich? What were its implications?

    20 marks

29. Analyse the role of Egypt after the Second World War in bringing about Arab unity.

    10 marks