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UPSC CSE Mains 2018 — History Questions with Answers
All 73 History previous-year questions from UPSC CSE Mains 2018, each with the correct answer and a full explanation. Practise them as a free, timed mock test with instant scoring.
Practice History as a timed test →- Q1.Medieval & Source History
Assess the importance of the accounts of the Chinese and Arab travellers in the reconstruction of the history of India.
- Q2.Freedom Struggle
Throw light on the significance of the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times.
- Q3.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Megalithic burial site
- Q4.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Chalcolithic site
- Q5.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Cave paintings
- Q6.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Paleolithic site
- Q7.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Painted Grey Ware site
- Q8.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Political and Cultural centre
- Q9.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Terracotta centre
- Q10.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Harappan site
- Q11.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Vaishnava cultural site
- Q12.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Chalcolithic site
- Q13.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Early agricultural centre
- Q14.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Early Harappan site
- Q15.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: An ancient temple
- Q16.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Political and Cultural centre
- Q17.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: A Jaina centre
- Q18.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: An ancient sea port
- Q19.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Buddhist centre
- Q20.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: Inscriptional site
- Q21.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: An ancient capital
- Q22.History Optional — Paper I
Identify the following place marked on the map and write a short note of about 30 words on it: An ancient capital
- Q23.History Optional — Paper I
How did early Indian historical tradition, as reflected in Itihasa-Purana, emerge? What are the distinctive features of this genre?
- Q24.History Optional — Paper I
“Archaeological evidence does not give direct access to the possible social and political dimensions of the decline of the Harappan civilization. What it does indicate very clearly is that the Harappan culture underwent a gradual process of de-urbanization”?
- Q25.History Optional — Paper I
Give an account of gana-sanghas (non-monarchical state systems)? Why did they decline?
- Q26.History Optional — Paper I
Do you agree with the popular view that Mauryas established a unitary and highly centralized if not monolithic state system?
- Q27.History Optional — Paper I
The concept of Shramanic religions, with particular reference to Buddhism, had their roots in Upanisadic ideas. Discuss.
- Q28.History Optional — Paper I
“Doubtless it was not a free state; it was any rate a state” (K A N Sastri). Reflect upon the nature of local self government institutions in the Chola country.
- Q29.History Optional — Paper I
What was the impact of trans-regional and trans-continental trade in the post Mauryan period on social and cultural life of India?
- Q30.History Optional — Paper I
“Utpanna dravide bhaktih, Karnate vriddhimagata I Sthita kinchit maharashtre gurjare jirnatam gata II” – Padmapurana. Account for the emergence of bhakti in Dravida desa.
- Q31.History Optional — Paper I
Discuss the experimentations with art and architecture during the Gupta-Vakataka period.
- Q32.History Optional — Paper I
“The battles of Tarain and Chandawar laid the foundations of Turkish rule in India”. Elaborate.
- Q33.History Optional — Paper I
Discuss evidence of slavery provided by Ibn Batuta with special reference to female slaves.
- Q34.History Optional — Paper I
Discuss the advancement made in Textile Technology under the Delhi Sultans.
- Q35.History Optional — Paper I
“Akbar wished to assert his strong belief in God, but his concept of the way God is to be worshipped was independent of either orthodox Islam or Hinduism.” Comment.
- Q36.History Optional — Paper I
Discuss the literature written in Hindi in Mughal India.
- Q37.History Optional — Paper I
Critically analyze the changing nature of caste and gender relations during the early medieval period.
- Q38.History Optional — Paper I
“An important feature of agriculture in Mughal India has been the large number of crops raised by the peasants”. Illustrate by giving examples.
- Q39.History Optional — Paper I
“The policy of creating heterogeneous nobility by Muhammad Tughlaq started the process of disintegration of Delhi Sultanate”. Explain.
- Q40.History Optional — Paper I
Do you agree that convergence of political vacuum and impact of Islamicate culture and polity in peninsular India has much to do with the growth of Vijayanagara kingdom?
- Q41.History Optional — Paper I
Describe the new architecture features added by successive Sultans in the construction of Tombs in India.
- Q42.History Optional — Paper I
What was the role of Sufi Folk literature in the diffusion of Islam in India in general and Deccan in particular.
- Q43.History Optional — Paper I
Discuss the working of Zamindari System under the Mughal rulers. Also describe the role played by the Zamindars in the agrarian economy of Mughal Indian.
- Q44.History Optional — Paper I
“The art of building was carried to highest degree of perfection under Shahjahan”. Illustrate by giving architecture details of two of his most celebrated buildings.
- Q45.History Optional — Paper I
“The Afghan invasions in the Eighteenth Century not only signified the military irrelevance of the Mughal Empire but also hastened its decline”. Explain.
- Q46.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “The Battle of Plassey (1757) thus marked the beginning of political supremacy of the English East India Company in India.”
- Q47.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “The passing of the land from the hands of the peasant proprietors into the hands of non-cultivating landlords brought about increasing polarization of classes in agrarian areas.”
- Q48.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “Faced with the challenge of the intrusion of colonial culture and ideology an attempt to reinvigorate traditional institutions and to realize the potential of traditional culture developed during the nineteenth century.”
- Q49.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “An ideology of paternalistic benevolence, occasionally combined with talk of trusteeship and training towards self-government, thinly veiled the realities of a Raj uncompromisingly white and despotic.”
- Q50.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “States’s reorganization did not, of course, resolve all the problems relating to linguistic conflicts.”
- Q51.History Optional — Paper II
Was the Moplah Rebellion in Malabar an expression of anti-landlord and anti-foreign discontent? Discuss.
- Q52.History Optional — Paper II
Analyse various trends in Dalit Movements in various parts of post-independent India.
- Q53.History Optional — Paper II
Could Dyarchy (1919) satisfy the national sentiments of the Indians?
- Q54.History Optional — Paper II
Underline the growth of various forms of Socialist ideologies in the Indian National Movement between World War I and II.
- Q55.History Optional — Paper II
Trace the development of land reforms in India between 1947 and early 1960’s.
- Q56.History Optional — Paper II
What was the significance of Orientalist-Anglicist controversy in nineteenth century India? Analyze.
- Q57.History Optional — Paper II
Do you consider the suspension of Non-Cooperation Movement a “national calamity”?
- Q58.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the turns and twists in the politics of partition in 1930’s and 1940’s.
- Q59.History Optional — Paper II
Can method and politics of the moderates be referred to as ‘political mendicancy?
- Q60.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “With the writings of Karl Marx, Socialism assumed the form of Scientific Socialism.”
- Q61.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “The American War of Independence transformed Europe as well as America.”
- Q62.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “The Industrial Revolution put mobility in the place of stability.”
- Q63.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: At the end of the Battle of Sedan (1870), “Europe lost a mistress and gained a master”.
- Q64.History Optional — Paper II
Critically examine the following statement: “Until December 1941, the battlefield of the Second World War was exclusively European and Atlantic; thereafter it became also Asiatic and Pacific.”
- Q65.History Optional — Paper II
Explain the major ideas of Enlightenment. Discuss the contribution of Rousseau in Enlightenment.
- Q66.History Optional — Paper II
Discuss how Japan industrialised after the Meiji Restorations. What were the consequences for its neighbours?
- Q67.History Optional — Paper II
Explain the features of Apartheid in South Africa.
- Q68.History Optional — Paper II
Examine the role of Bismarck in state building in Germany.
- Q69.History Optional — Paper II
Discuss the factors constraining development of Africa after decolonization.
- Q70.History Optional — Paper II
Outline the circumstances leading to the adoption of Marshall Plan.
- Q71.History Optional — Paper II
In the Chinese Revolution of 1949, the elements of communism and nationalism were discernible. Explain the statement in the light of Mao’s strategy which was different from that of Lenin.
- Q72.History Optional — Paper II
Discuss how far the United Nations has been successful in resolving global disputes from year 1946 to 1991.
- Q73.History Optional — Paper II
Review the policy of Glasnost adopted by Gorbachev.
UPSC CSE Mains 2018 — other subjects
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