UPSC-CSE Main exam syllabus History Paper 2

HISTORY

PAPER – II

1. European Penetration into India:

The Early European Settlements; The Portuguese and the Dutch; The English and the French East India Companies; Their struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars; Bengal -The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal; Siraj and the English; The Battle of Plassey; Significance of Plassey.

2. British Expansion in India:

Bengal – Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim; The Battle of Buxar; Mysore; The Marathas; The three Anglo-Maratha Wars; The Punjab.

3. Early Structure of the British Raj:

The early administrative structure; From diarchy to direct control; The Regulating Act (1773); The Pitt’s India Act (1784); The Charter Act (1833); The voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule; The English utilitarian and India.

4. Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule:

(a) Land revenue settlements in British India; The Permanent Settlement; Ryotwari Settlement; Mahalwari Settlement; Economic impact of the revenue arrangements; Commercialization of agriculture; Rise of landless agrarian labourers; Impoverishment of the rural society.

(b) Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce; De-industrialisation; Decline of traditional crafts; Drain of wealth; Economic transformation of India; Railroad and communication network including telegraph and postal services; Famine and poverty in the rural interior; European business enterprise and its limitations.

5. Social and Cultural Developments:

The state of indigenous education, its dislocation; Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, The introduction of western education in India; The rise of press, literature and public opinion; The rise of modern vernacular literature; Progress of science; Christian missionary activities in India.

6. Social and Religious Reform movements in Bengal and Other Areas:

Ram Mohan Roy, The Brahmo Movement; Devendranath Tagore; Iswarchandra Vidyasagar; The Young Bengal Movement; Dayanada Saraswati; The social reform movements in India including Sati, widow remarriage, child marriage etc.; The contribution of Indian renaissance to the growth of modern India; Islamic revivalism – the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements.

7. Indian Response to British Rule:

Peasant movements and tribal uprisings in the 18th and 19th centuries including the Rangpur Dhing (1783), the Kol Rebellion (1832), the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920), the Santal Hul (1855), Indigo Rebellion (1859-60), Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899- 1900); The Great Revolt of 1857 - Origin, character, causes of failure, the consequences; The shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post-1857 period; the peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

8. Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism; Politics of Association; The Foundation of the Indian National Congress; The Safety-valve thesis relatingto the birth of the Congress; Programme and objectives of Early Congress; the social composition of early Congress leadership; the Moderates and Extremists; The Partition of Bengal (1905); The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal; the  economic and political aspects of Swadeshi Movement; The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India.

9. Rise of Gandhi; Character of Gandhian nationalism; Gandhi’s popular appeal; Rowlatt Satyagraha; the Khilafat Movement; the Non-cooperation Movement; National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience movement; the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement; Simon Commission; The Nehru Report; the Round Table  Conferences; Nationalism and the Peasant Movements; Nationalism and  Working class movements; Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries; Cripps Mission; the Quit India Movement; the Wavell Plan; The Cabinet Mission.

10. Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935

11. Other strands in the National Movement The Revolutionaries: Bengal, the Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P, the Madras Presidency, Outside India.The Left; The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Congress Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India, other left parties.

12. Politics of Separatism; the Muslim League; the Hindu Mahasabha; Communalism and the politics of partition; Transfer of power; Independence.

13. Consolidation as a Nation; Nehru’s Foreign Policy; India and her neighbours (1947-1964); The linguistic reorganization of States (1935-1947); Regionalism and regional inequality; Integration of Princely States; Princes in electoral politics; the Question of National Language.

14. Caste and Ethnicity after 1947; Backward castes and tribes in postcolonial electoral politics; Dalit movements.

15. Economic development and political change; Land reforms; the politics of planning and rural reconstruction; Ecology and environmental policy in post – colonial India; Progress of science.

16. Enlightenment and Modern ideas:

(i) Major ideas of Enlightenment: Kant, Rousseau

(ii) Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies

(iii) Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism.

17. Origins of Modern Politics:

(i) European States System.

(ii) American Revolution and the Constitution.

(iii) French revolution and aftermath, 1789- 1815.

(iv) American Civil War with reference to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery.

(v) British Democratic Politics, 1815-1850; Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, Chartists.

18. Industrialization:

(i) English Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society

(ii) Industrialization in other countries: USA, Germany, Russia, Japan

(iii) Industrialization and Globalization.

19. Nation-State System:

(i) Rise of Nationalism in 19th century

(ii) Nationalism: state-building in Germany and Italy

(iii) Disintegration of Empires in the face of the emergence of nationalities across the world.

20. Imperialism and Colonialism:

(i) South and South-East Asia

(ii) Latin America and South Africa

(iii) Australia

(iv) Imperialism and free trade: Rise of neo-imperialism.

21. Revolution and Counter-Revolution:

(i) 19th Century European revolutions

(ii) The Russian Revolution of 1917- 1921

(iii) Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany.

(iv) The Chinese Revolution of 1949

22. World Wars:

(i) 1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars: Societal implications

(ii) World War I: Causes and consequences

(iii) World War II: Causes and consequence

23. The World after World War II:

(i) Emergence of two power blocs

(ii) Emergence of Third World and non-alignment

(iii) UNO and the global disputes.

24. Liberation from Colonial Rule:

(i) Latin America-Bolivar

(ii) Arab World-Egypt

(iii) Africa-Apartheid to Democracy

(iv) South-East Asia-Vietnam

25. Decolonization and Underdevelopment:

(i) Factors constraining development: Latin America, Africa

26. Unification of Europe:

(i) Post War Foundations: NATO and European Community

(ii) Consolidation and Expansion of European Community

(iii) European Union.

27. Disintegration of Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World:

(i) Factors leading to the collapse of Soviet communism and the Soviet Union, 1985-1991

(ii) Political Changes in Eastern Europe 1989-2001.

(iii) End of the cold war and US ascendancy in the World as the lone superpower.