1. What was the storm centre of the 1857 revolt where 21,000 taluqdars had their estates confiscated?
2. Which policy of the East India Company denied the right of succession to Hindu princes and caused suspicion among ruling princes?
3. On whose death in 1856 did Lord Canning announce that the next Mughal prince on succession would have to renounce the regal title and ancestral palaces?
4. The Religious Disabilities Act, which modified Hindu customs by declaring that a change of religion did not debar a son from inheriting his father's property, was passed in which year?
5. Consider the following statements regarding the outside events that coincided with the 1857 Revolt:
(I) The First Afghan War took place between 1838-42
(II) The Punjab Wars took place between 1845-49
(III) The Crimean War took place between 1854-56
Which of the above is/are correct?
6. The General Service Enlistment Act, which required all future recruits to the Bengal Army to serve anywhere required by the government, was passed in which year?
7. Sepoys serving in Sindh or Punjab were denied which allowance, causing dissatisfaction?
8. The annexation of which region, home to many sepoys, further inflamed their feelings before the revolt?
9. Consider the following statements regarding the economic causes of the 1857 Revolt:
(I) High tariff duties were imposed on Indian-made goods while British goods entering India attracted low tariffs
(II) By the mid-nineteenth century, exports of cotton and silk textiles from India had practically ended
(III) The destruction of Indian handicrafts was accompanied by the development of modern industries
Which of the above is/are correct?
10. Who made the observation, "It was the British intruder who broke up the Indian handloom and destroyed the spinning-wheel," in 1853?
11. What legal device did the British administration frequently use to forfeit the land rights of zamindars?
12. Which of the following was NOT among the administrative causes of discontent leading to the 1857 Revolt?
13. British socio-religious reforms such as abolition of sati and support for widow remarriage were viewed by a large section of Indians as what?
14. What, besides mosque and temple lands being taxed, compounded socio-religious fears among Indians before 1857?
15. The greased cartridges of the Enfield rifle were rumoured to be made using the fat of which two animals?
16. .Consider the following statements regarding the discontent among sepoys before 1857:
(I) The sepoy was discriminated against racially and in matters of promotion and privileges
(II) The sepoy's discontent reflected the general disenchantment with British rule beyond military matters
(III) There had been no earlier history of revolts in the British Indian Army before 1857
Which of the above is/are correct?
17. According to S. Gopal's observation cited regarding the sepoy, the Army voiced grievances other than its own and the movement spread beyond what?
18. What did the reports about the mixing of bone dust in atta (flour), along with the Enfield rifle, do to the sepoys' disposition before the revolt?
19. The revolt began at Meerut on which date?
20. Meerut is located how far from Delhi?
21. Which unit refused to use the newly introduced Enfield rifle and mutinied at Berhampore in February 1857?
22. Mangal Pande, who fired at the sergeant major of his unit at Barrackpore, belonged to which regiment?
23. On what date was Mangal Pande executed?
24. Consider the following statements regarding the events immediately preceding the outbreak at Meerut:
(I) On April 24, ninety men of the 3rd Native Cavalry refused to accept the greased cartridges
(II) On May 9, eighty-five of them were dismissed and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment
(III) The general mutiny at Meerut broke out the same day the sentences were pronounced
Which of the above is/are correct?
25. Who was the political agent killed by the local infantry when Delhi was seized by the rebels?
26. Who offered resistance as the officer-in-charge of the magazine at Delhi before being overcome by the rebels?
27. Who was proclaimed the Emperor of India by the rebels after the seizure of Delhi?
28. Bahadur Shah Zafar's proclamation as Emperor is regarded as a recognition of what enduring fact?
29. To whom did Bahadur Shah write letters urging the organisation of a confederacy of Indian states against the British regime?
30. According to one estimate, of the roughly 1,50,000 men who died fighting the English in Awadh, over how many were civilians?
31. Consider the following statements regarding civilian participation in the 1857 Revolt:
(I) Peasants and petty zamindars attacked money-lenders and zamindars who had displaced them from land
(II) Rebels destroyed money-lenders' account books and debt records
(III) Civilian rebels avoided attacking British-established law courts and revenue offices
Which of the above is/are correct?
32. Who led the Bareilly troops to Delhi and headed the court of soldiers that actually conducted the affairs of state in Bahadur Shah's name?
33. Which of the following pairs of storm centre and leader is correctly matched?
34. Nana Saheb was the adopted son of which last Peshwa?
35. Who commanded the British station at Kanpur and surrendered to Nana Saheb on June 27, 1857?
36. On what date did the rebellion break out at Lucknow?
37. Who was proclaimed Nawab of Awadh under Begum Hazrat Mahal's regency at Lucknow?
38. Who was killed during the siege of the residency at Lucknow?
39. Who finally evacuated the Europeans from Lucknow with the help of Gorkha regiments?
40. In which month and year was Lucknow finally recovered by the British, though guerrilla activity continued till September?
41. Khan Bahadur, who organised an army of 40,000 soldiers at Bareilly, was a descendant of the former ruler of which region?
42. Kunwar Singh, who led the revolt in Bihar, was the zamindar of which place?
43. Maulvi Ahmadullah, an outstanding leader of the revolt at Faizabad, was originally a native of which region?
44. What was Rani Laxmibai's battle cry when driven out of Jhansi by British forces?
45. Whose adopted son was Lord Dalhousie refused permission to succeed to the throne of Jhansi, leading to the state's annexation under the Doctrine of Lapse?
46. Who paid tribute to Rani Laxmibai with the words, "Here lay the woman who was the only man among the rebels"?
47. Tantia Tope, who joined Rani Laxmibai after the loss of Kanpur, was a close associate of which leader?
48. Which local ruler decided to side with the English when Rani Laxmibai and Tantia Tope marched towards Gwalior?
49. Shah Mal, who organised the headmen and peasants of 84 villages against British rule, was based in which Pargana?
50. Shah Mal turned an irrigation department bungalow on the banks of which river into a "hall of justice"?
51. Who killed Shah Mal in July 1857?
52. On what date was Delhi finally captured by the British after prolonged and bitter fighting?
53. Who led the siege of Delhi and later succumbed to injuries sustained during it?
54. Who publicly shot the royal Mughal princes at point blank range after their capture?
55. Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled to Rangoon, where he died in which year?
56. Sir Colin Campbell occupied Kanpur on which date?
57. Consider the following statements regarding the fate of the revolt's leaders:
(I) Nana Saheb escaped to Nepal in early 1859, never to be heard of again
(II) Tantia Tope was captured while asleep and put to death in April 1859
(III) Rani Laxmibai died on the battlefield in June 1858
Which of the above is/are correct?
58. Who recaptured Jhansi for the British?
59. Which officer mercilessly suppressed the rebellion organised at Benaras, putting to death all suspected rebels and even disorderly sepoys?
60. By the end of which year was British authority over India fully re-established?
61. Which two regions of India remained more or less unaffected by the revolt, largely because earlier uprisings there had already been brutally suppressed?
62. Consider the following statements regarding participation in the 1857 Revolt:
(I) Big zamindars acted as "break-waters to storm" against the revolt
(II) Even Awadh taluqdars backed off once promises of land restitution were made
(III) Money-lenders and merchants actively supported the mutineers
Which of the above is/are correct?
63. Educated Indians largely viewed the 1857 Revolt as what kind of movement?
64. Which ruler among the following did NOT participate in the revolt and instead gave active help to the British?
65. By one estimate, not more than what fraction of the total population of India was affected by the revolt?
66. What kept the British commander-in-chief informed about the movements and strategy of the rebels?
67. According to Maulana Azad, the Rising of 1857 demonstrated two remarkable facts — Hindu-Muslim unity and what else?
68. Nana Saheb's aide Azimullah, an expert in political propaganda, belonged to which faith?
69. Which British historian described the revolt as "a wholly unpatriotic and selfish Sepoy Mutiny with no native leadership and no popular support"?
70. Which historian described the revolt as "in the main a military outbreak, taken advantage of by certain discontented princes and landlords"?
71. Who first interpreted the 1857 revolt as a "planned war of national independence" in his book "The Indian War of Independence, 1857"?
72. Dr S.N. Sen, in his work "Eighteen Fifty-Seven," considered the revolt as having begun as a fight for religion and ending as what?
73. Which historian held that the revolt was "neither the first, nor national, nor a war of independence"?
74. Jawaharlal Nehru, in "Discovery of India," considered the revolt of 1857 to be essentially what kind of uprising, though with some nationalistic elements?
75. Which commander-in-chief remarked that "had a single leader of ability arisen among them, we must have been lost beyond redemption"?
76. Which of the following best describes Stanley Wolpert's assessment of the 1857 Revolt?
77. The British Parliament passed the Act for the Better Government of India, which abolished Company rule, on which date?
78. Under the Act for the Better Government of India, who was declared the sovereign of British India?
79. The Queen's Proclamation announcing the assumption of Government of India by the British Crown was issued by Lord Canning at a durbar in which city?
80. On what date was the Queen's Proclamation issued?
81. Which scheme moved the East India Company's European troops into the services of the Crown in 1861?
82. Which term describes the British practice of periodically rotating European troops in India back to England to keep them refreshed?
83. The 'conservative brand of liberalism,' which ended the era of reforms after 1857, was a term coined by whom?
84. The Indian Civil Service Act, meant to convey that all were equal under the Queen irrespective of race or creed, was passed in which year?
85. According to Bernard Cohn, in the context of the Queen's Proclamation, the British who had started their rule as "outsiders" became what by vesting sovereignty of India in their monarch?
86. What was the "White Mutiny" primarily a protest against?
87. Prior to 1861, how many separate military forces operated under British rule in India?
