This is a list of questions on paper IX of History honours syllabus to aid learning and revision but not to serve as sample questions for examinations:-

In what ways has the recent cultural turn in the historiography of the French Revolution altered our understanding of its origins ?

The bourgeoisie was the principal beneficiary of the  revolutionary decade of 1789-99 in France. Discuss.

The  French  revolution lent a lethal blow to the  feudal  social order within and outside France too. Discuss.

The seeds of a revolutionary upheaval were  sprouting  within the  old order in France by 1789. Explain with special  reference to new social and cultural currents leading towards French  Revolution.

Describe  the administrative reforms introduced  by  Napoleon Bonaparte  within and outside France. Would it be correct to  say that  through them he both preserved and destroyed the ideals  of the French Revolution.

The events of 1848 transformed the attitudes of the rulers  as well as the rebels in Europe. Discuss.

What were the factors which led to "a springtime of  peoples" in Europe in 1848 ? Why did the uprisings subside by next  winter in most parts of the continent ?

Industrialisation transformed not only the economy  but  also the  social and political landscape of Britain by the  middle  of nineteenth century. Explain.

Highlight  the variations in the pattern of industrialisation  in France and Germany between 1850 and 1914.

Why is the last quarter of the nineteenth century described as the  second Industrial Revolution ? What were the factors  behind the  edge  gained by the German economy over the French  in  this period ?

Do you think the process of Italian unification  corroborates the assertion that nationalism had become an inexorable force  in European politics by the beginning of nineteenth century ?

To what extent was the unification of Germany a byproduct  of Bismarck's never ending pursuit of Prussian interests ?

What  do you understand by the term `New Imperialism'  ?  How would you account for its rapid surge between 1880 and 1912 ?

The division of European powers into two hostile  blocks  was the major factor behind the catastrophe of 1914. Explain.

What were the reasons for the growth of revolutionary  groups in  Russia by the end of the nineteenth century? What were the major  points  of ideological and tactical differences  between them ?

What  were the factors responsible for the collapse  of  the Tsarist  state in 1917 ? Discuss with reference to the  contributions made by different revolutionary groups to this event ?

What was the purpose and the effects of the Five Year Plans ?

What were Stalin’s motives and justifications for the terror purge ?

After World War I, in country after country, parliamentary democracy  collapsed and authoritarian leaders came to power.  Explain the factors behind this change.

Account for the rise of Nazism in Germany after the I  World War.  How  would you account for its shocking brutality  both  on domestic and international fronts ?

In  what ways was Mussolini less effective  than  Hitler  in establishing a totalitarian state ?

How  did  the Nazis extend their control over Germany  ?  Do  you think that irrationalist philosophical trends also contributed to this process ?

Why did Britain and France practice a policy of appeasement ? Was Stalin’s pact of 1939 with Hitler any more justifiable ?

How was the understanding of the universe and matter altered by modern physics after 1880 ?

The Human Sciences became progressively more diversified, professionalized and specialized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Explain.

In what ways did Nietzsche reflect the growing irrationalism of intellectual life at the turn of the twentieth century. ?

In what ways were both Dada and Surrealism an expression of their times ?

In what ways was the Enlightenment tradition in disarray by the early years of the twentieth century ?

Dr. Devesh Vijay

Zakir Husain College.