← Home

Modern Indian History and the Freedom Struggle: key facts and practice questions

Revise Modern Indian History and the Freedom Struggle for SSC, Railway, police and state PSC exams: the facts and distinctions that keep coming up, a one-glance revision list, and 10 practice questions with answers and explanations.

Drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked on 2026-10-15; not yet read line by line by a human editor. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Editorial standards & corrections

Jump to practice questions ↓

Key concepts and facts

Arrival of Europeans and Company rule: The Portuguese came first (Vasco da Gama at Calicut, 1498; Albuquerque took Goa from Bijapur, 1510), then the Dutch (1602), the English East India Company (charter of 31 December 1600; Surat factory 1613; Madras 1639; Bombay 1668; Calcutta 1690) and the French (1664; Pondicherry 1674). The three Carnatic Wars (1746-63) decided the Anglo-French contest: Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 1748, Battle of Wandiwash 1760 (Eyre Coote beat Lally), Treaty of Paris 1763. Plassey (23 June 1757) saw Clive defeat Siraj-ud-Daulah through Mir Jafar's treachery. Buxar (1764) saw Hector Munro defeat Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II together; the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the Company the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Clive's Dual Government (1765-72) was ended by Warren Hastings.
Governors-General and their policies: Regulating Act 1773 made Hastings Governor-General of Bengal and set up the Supreme Court at Calcutta (1774). Pitt's India Act 1784 created the Board of Control. Cornwallis gave the Permanent Settlement (1793) and the covenanted civil service. Wellesley introduced the Subsidiary Alliance (1798; Nizam of Hyderabad first). Bentinck, the first Governor-General of India under the Charter Act of 1833, abolished Sati (Regulation XVII, 1829) and accepted Macaulay's Minute (1835). Dalhousie applied the Doctrine of Lapse (Satara 1848, Jhansi 1853, Nagpur 1854), annexed Awadh for misgovernment (1856) and started the railway and telegraph (1853); Wood's Despatch came in 1854. Canning faced 1857 and became the first Viceroy. Lytton passed the Vernacular Press Act and Arms Act (1878); Ripon repealed the Press Act (1882), gave local self-government (1882) and the Ilbert Bill (1883). Curzon partitioned Bengal (16 October 1905); Hardinge II annulled it at the Delhi Durbar of 1911 and shifted the capital to Delhi. Minto II gave separate electorates (1909), Chelmsford dyarchy in provinces (1919), and the Act of 1935 provincial autonomy. Charter Acts: 1813 ended the trade monopoly (except tea and China) and funded education; 1833 ended the Company's commercial role; 1853 brought open competition for the civil service.
Wars with Indian powers: Anglo-Mysore wars ended with the treaties of Madras (1769), Mangalore (1784), Seringapatam (1792) and Tipu's death in 1799. Anglo-Maratha wars: Salbai (1782) ended the first; Bassein (1802, Baji Rao II) preceded the second; the third (1817-18) abolished the Peshwaship. Anglo-Sikh wars: Treaty of Lahore (1846) ended the first; Punjab was annexed in 1849 after Chillianwala and Gujarat.
The Revolt of 1857: Mangal Pandey fired at Barrackpore on 29 March; the sepoys rose at Meerut on 10 May and proclaimed Bahadur Shah II at Delhi. Leaders: Bakht Khan (Delhi), Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope (Kanpur), Begum Hazrat Mahal (Lucknow), Rani Lakshmibai (Jhansi), Khan Bahadur Khan (Bareilly), Kunwar Singh (Arrah). Consequences: the Act of 1858 ended Company rule and created the Secretary of State; Queen Victoria's Proclamation (1 November 1858, read by Canning at Allahabad) renounced further annexation. V.D. Savarkar called it the First War of Independence.
Socio-religious reform: Brahmo Samaj 1828 (Rammohan Roy), Young Bengal (Derozio), Prarthana Samaj 1867 (Atmaram Pandurang, Ranade), Satyashodhak Samaj 1873 (Jyotiba Phule), Arya Samaj 1875 (Dayananda, Satyarth Prakash), Theosophical Society 1875 (Blavatsky and Olcott; Adyar 1882; Annie Besant), Aligarh movement (Sir Syed, MAO College 1875), Deoband 1866 (Nanautawi and Gangohi), Ramakrishna Mission 1897 (Vivekananda, Belur Math). Vidyasagar secured the Widow Remarriage Act 1856.
Peasant and tribal revolts: Santhal rebellion 1855-56 (Sidhu and Kanhu), Indigo revolt 1859-60 (Digambar and Bishnu Biswas; Neel Darpan by Dinabandhu Mitra), Deccan riots 1875 (against moneylenders), Munda Ulgulan 1899-1900 (Birsa Munda).
Congress and the national movement: INC founded 1885 by A.O. Hume; first session Bombay under W.C. Bonnerjee; Tyabji the first Muslim president (1887); Naoroji declared Swaraj the goal at Calcutta 1906; Surat split 1907; Muslim League at Dhaka 1906; Ghadar Party 1913; Home Rule Leagues of Tilak and Besant 1916; Lucknow Pact 1916. Gandhi arrived in 1915 and led Champaran (1917), Ahmedabad and Kheda (1918). Then came the Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh (13 April 1919), Khilafat and Non-Cooperation (1920-22, withdrawn after Chauri Chaura, 5 February 1922), Swaraj Party 1923, Simon Commission 1928, Nehru Report 1928, Jinnah's 14 points 1929, Purna Swaraj at Lahore 1929, Dandi March (12 March to 6 April 1930), Gandhi-Irwin Pact 1931, Round Table Conferences, Communal Award and Poona Pact 1932, the Act of 1935 and 1937 elections, Lahore Resolution 1940, August Offer 1940, Cripps Mission 1942, Quit India (8 August 1942), INA and the Red Fort trials, RIN mutiny 1946, Cabinet Mission 1946, Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) and the Indian Independence Act (18 July 1947). The revolutionary stream ran parallel: Anushilan Samiti 1902, Kakori 1925, HSRA 1928, Chittagong raid 1930, Bhagat Singh hanged 23 March 1931.
Traps to avoid: Plassey and Buxar are different in opponents and results; Awadh was annexed for misgovernment, not under Lapse; 1909 means separate electorates, 1919 dyarchy, 1935 provincial autonomy; Besant (1917) was the first woman president but Sarojini Naidu (1925) the first Indian woman; Mangal Pandey (29 March) came before Meerut (10 May); Gandhi attended only the Second Round Table Conference; Bhagat Singh was hanged in 1931, not 1930.

One-glance revision list

Order of European arrival: Portuguese (1498), Dutch (company 1602, first Indian factory Masulipatnam 1605), English (charter 1600, Surat factory 1613), French (1664). Remember 'Po-Du-En-Fr'.
Plassey 1757 = Clive versus Siraj-ud-Daulah (won by Mir Jafar's treachery); Buxar 1764 = Munro versus Mir Qasim, Shuja-ud-Daulah and Shah Alam II together. Buxar was the bigger result: it gave the Diwani (Treaty of Allahabad, 1765).
Acts ladder: 1773 Regulating (Governor-General of Bengal), 1784 Pitt's (Board of Control), 1833 Charter (Governor-General of India), 1858 (Viceroy and Secretary of State), 1909 (separate electorates), 1919 (dyarchy), 1935 (provincial autonomy).
Doctrine of Lapse annexations in order: Satara 1848, Jaitpur and Sambalpur 1849, Udaipur 1852, Jhansi 1853, Nagpur 1854. Awadh (1856) was taken on grounds of misgovernment, not Lapse.
Treaty pairs: Madras 1769 (1st Mysore), Mangalore 1784 (2nd Mysore), Seringapatam 1792 (3rd Mysore), Salbai 1782 (1st Maratha), Bassein 1802 (before 2nd Maratha), Lahore 1846 (1st Sikh), Sugauli 1816 (Nepal), Yandabo 1826 (Burma).
1857 centres and leaders: Delhi - Bakht Khan; Kanpur - Nana Sahib and Tantia Tope; Lucknow - Begum Hazrat Mahal; Jhansi - Rani Lakshmibai; Bareilly - Khan Bahadur Khan; Arrah - Kunwar Singh; Faizabad - Maulvi Ahmadullah.
Reform founders: Brahmo Samaj 1828 (Rammohan Roy), Deoband 1866, Prarthana Samaj 1867 (Atmaram Pandurang), Satyashodhak Samaj 1873 (Phule), Arya Samaj 1875 (Dayananda), Theosophical Society 1875 (Blavatsky and Olcott), Ramakrishna Mission 1897 (Vivekananda).
Congress 'firsts': W.C. Bonnerjee (first president, 1885), Badruddin Tyabji (first Muslim, 1887), George Yule (first Englishman, 1888), Annie Besant (first woman, 1917), Sarojini Naidu (first Indian woman, 1925); Gandhi presided only once, at Belgaum 1924.
Gandhi's three early satyagrahas, 'C-A-K': Champaran 1917 (indigo, tinkathia), Ahmedabad 1918 (mill strike, first fast), Kheda 1918 (revenue remission, Vallabhbhai Patel).
Dates to fix: Jallianwala Bagh 13 April 1919; Chauri Chaura 5 February 1922; Dandi March 12 March to 6 April 1930; Gandhi-Irwin Pact 5 March 1931; Bhagat Singh hanged 23 March 1931; Poona Pact 24 September 1932; Quit India 8 August 1942; Mountbatten Plan 3 June 1947.
Newspapers: Hicky's Bengal Gazette 1780 (first in India), Udant Martand 1826 (first Hindi), Kesari and Mahratta (Tilak), Al-Hilal (Azad), Comrade (Mohammad Ali), Young India and Harijan (Gandhi), Amrita Bazar Patrika (Sisir Kumar Ghosh), Mooknayak (Ambedkar).
Slogans: 'Swaraj is my birthright' (Tilak); 'Inquilab Zindabad' (coined by Hasrat Mohani, popularised by Bhagat Singh); 'Do or Die' (Gandhi, 1942); 'Jai Hind' (the INA greeting popularised by Bose; its coinage is credited to Abid Hasan Safrani, or to Champakaraman Pillai), 'Dilli Chalo' and 'Give me blood' (Bose); 'Simon Go Back' and 'Quit India' (Yusuf Meherally); 'Vande Mataram' (Bankim Chandra).

Lessons in depth

10 longer lessons on Modern Indian History and the Freedom Struggle, one per sub-topic, each with its key facts and a quick revision.

Practice questions

Try each question before opening the answer.

1. In which year did Vasco da Gama land at Calicut, opening the direct sea route from Europe to India? (A) 1498 (B) 1492 (C) 1510 (D) 1453

Answer: (A) 1498. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut on the Malabar coast in May 1498 and was received by the Zamorin. 1492 is the year of Columbus's voyage and 1510 the year Albuquerque captured Goa.

2. The Treaty of Salbai (1782) ended the (A) First Anglo-Sikh War (B) First Anglo-Maratha War (C) Second Anglo-Maratha War (D) Third Anglo-Maratha War

Answer: (B) First Anglo-Maratha War. The Treaty of Salbai, signed during Warren Hastings's tenure, closed the First Anglo-Maratha War (1775-82) and gave the Company about twenty years of peace with the Marathas.

3. The All India Muslim League was founded in December 1906 at (A) Dhaka (B) Aligarh (C) Lucknow (D) Lahore

Answer: (A) Dhaka. The League was formed at Dhaka under the lead of Nawab Salimullah, with the Aga Khan as its first president, shortly after the Simla deputation to Lord Minto in October 1906.

4. The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was formed in September 1928 at a meeting held at (A) Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi (B) Kanpur (C) Lahore (D) Allahabad

Answer: (A) Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. At Feroz Shah Kotla the HRA was reorganised as the HSRA with Chandra Shekhar Azad as commander-in-chief and Bhagat Singh among its leaders. The original HRA had been founded at Kanpur in 1924.

5. Arrange the following in chronological order: (A) Jallianwala Bagh massacre, (B) Lucknow Pact, (C) Chauri Chaura incident, (D) Champaran Satyagraha (A) B, A, D, C (B) D, B, A, C (C) A, B, D, C (D) B, D, A, C

Answer: (D) B, D, A, C. Lucknow Pact (1916), Champaran (1917), Jallianwala Bagh (April 1919), Chauri Chaura (February 1922). The Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League, moved by A.K. Fazlul Haq, came much later in 1940.

6. Consider the following statements about the Permanent Settlement (1793): 1. Revenue was fixed directly with the individual cultivator (ryot). 2. Under the 'Sunset Law', a zamindar's estate could be auctioned if the revenue was not paid by sunset on the due date. Which of these is/are correct? (A) Only 1 (B) Only 2 (C) Both 1 and 2 (D) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (B) Only 2. Statement 2 is correct: a zamindari whose revenue was not paid by sunset of the due date was liable to be auctioned. Statement 1 describes the Ryotwari system; the Permanent Settlement fixed the revenue with the zamindars.

7. Rani Chennamma, who took up arms against the East India Company in 1824, was the queen of (A) Jhansi (B) Sivaganga (C) Ramgarh (D) Kittur

Answer: (D) Kittur. Rani Chennamma of Kittur (in present-day Belagavi district, Karnataka) resisted the Company's refusal to recognise her adopted son. Her associate Sangolli Rayanna continued the struggle until he was hanged in 1831.

8. The call 'Go back to the Vedas' is associated with (A) Swami Vivekananda (B) Raja Rammohan Roy (C) Swami Dayananda Saraswati (D) Keshab Chandra Sen

Answer: (C) Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Dayananda Saraswati regarded the Vedas as infallible and rejected idol worship, caste by birth and child marriage; his ideas are set out in Satyarth Prakash. Vivekananda's message was spread through the Ramakrishna Mission.

9. Which of the following was among the demands of the early Congress under the Moderates? (A) Complete independence (Purna Swaraj) (B) Holding the ICS examination simultaneously in India and England (C) Boycott of British goods and courts (D) Separate electorates for religious communities

Answer: (B) Holding the ICS examination simultaneously in India and England. The Moderates asked for simultaneous ICS examinations in India and England, expansion of the legislative councils, lower military expenditure and separation of the executive from the judiciary. Boycott belongs to the Swadeshi movement of 1905 onwards.

10. In the Alipore Bomb Case (1908-09), Aurobindo Ghosh was successfully defended by (A) Motilal Nehru (B) Bhulabhai Desai (C) Tej Bahadur Sapru (D) Chittaranjan Das

Answer: (D) Chittaranjan Das. C.R. Das's defence won Aurobindo's acquittal in 1909, after which Aurobindo withdrew from politics and settled in Pondicherry (1910). His brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh was among those convicted.

All 235 practice questions on Modern Indian History and Freedom Struggle, with answers →

Where this is tested

Modern Indian History and the Freedom Struggle is tested in SSC, Railway, police and state PSC exams. Check the current official notification and syllabus of the exam you are preparing for to see how it is covered.

Keep practising

Try to recall the answer before opening it, then revisit the ones you missed.

Start this topic’s quiz →

Explore the lesson library