10. Who replaced Siraj ud-Daulah as nawab of Bengal following the Battle of Plassey?
[SSC CGL, 22 August 2017]
(A) Mir Jafar
(B) Mir Qasim
(C) Shah Alam II
(D) Shuja ud-Daulah
Answer: (A) Mir Jafar
Explanation: Mir Jafar was installed as nawab after the Company’s victory in June 1757. His elevation illustrates how commercial interests came to intervene directly in Bengal’s court politics. This episode helped shape the transfer of influence from Bengal’s court to Company officials and allied merchants.
9. In which years did the First Anglo-Burmese War take place?
[RRB NTPC, 28 April 2016, Shift 3]
(A) 1892–1893
(B) 1885–1886
(C) 1824–1826
(D) 1852–1853
Answer: (C) 1824–1826
Explanation: The First Anglo-Burmese War lasted from 1824 to 1826. Frontier disputes and Burmese expansion near Assam and Manipur led to conflict, which concluded through the Treaty of Yandabo. The result needs to be distinguished from other campaigns fought in nearby regions and decades.
8. Maharaja Ranjit Singh belonged to which Sikh misl?
[WBCS Preliminary, 2016]
(A) Sukerchakia
(B) Bhangi
(C) Kanhaiya
(D) Gobind
Answer: (A) Sukerchakia
Explanation: Ranjit Singh inherited leadership connected with the Sukerchakia misl. He consolidated competing Sikh confederacies and built an independent kingdom with Lahore as its political centre. This history belongs to the Company’s final phase of major territorial conquest in northwestern India.
7. The Battle of Plassey was fought near which river in Bengal?
[RRB NTPC, 4 April 2016]
(A) Bhagirathi
(B) Godavari
(C) Narmada
(D) Yamuna
Answer: (A) Bhagirathi
Explanation: Plassey lies near the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganga in Bengal. The 1757 battle marked a major shift in the relationship between the East India Company and the Bengal nawabship. This episode helped shape the transfer of influence from Bengal’s court to Company officials and allied merchants.
6. Which treaty concluded the Third Anglo-Mysore War?
[RRB NTPC, 29 April 2016]
(A) Treaty of Madras
(B) Treaty of Mangalore
(C) Treaty of Seringapatam
(D) Treaty of Salbai
Answer: (C) Treaty of Seringapatam
Explanation: The Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792 forced Tipu Sultan to surrender substantial territory and pay indemnity following defeat by British, Maratha and Hyderabad forces. The military conflict was part of a prolonged contest over sovereignty and Company influence in southern India.
5. Who defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat?
[RRB NTPC, 18 April 2016]
(A) Ahmad Shah Abdali
(B) Tipu Sultan
(C) Shuja ud-Daulah alone
(D) Siraj ud-Daulah
Answer: (A) Ahmad Shah Abdali
Explanation: The Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani, widely known as Abdali, defeated the Maratha army at Panipat in 1761 with allies drawn from northern Indian powers. The episode illustrates shifting political alliances as the Company advanced against powerful regional Indian states.
4. Which English monarch granted the charter establishing the East India Company in 1600?
[RRB NTPC, 19 April 2016]
(A) Elizabeth I
(B) James II
(C) Charles I
(D) Victoria
Answer: (A) Elizabeth I
Explanation: Queen Elizabeth I granted the Company its royal charter on 31 December 1600. The corporation initially pursued Asian commerce, long before acquiring its major Indian territorial powers. The Company moved over time from a trading corporation into a territorial and revenue-collecting power.
3. The colonial-era theory of downward filtration was associated with which sector?
[RPSC RAS Prelims, 2013]
(A) Railways
(B) Education
(C) Irrigation
(D) Poverty alleviation
Answer: (B) Education
Explanation: Downward filtration described the British expectation that Western education imparted to a small elite would eventually reach wider society. Critics argued that the policy neglected mass education and reinforced administrative inequalities. The result needs to be distinguished from other campaigns fought in nearby regions and decades.
2. Arrange these uprisings in chronological order: (i) Bengal sepoy mutiny, (ii) Kutch rebellion, (iii) Vellore mutiny, (iv) Santhal uprising, (v) Kol uprising.
[RPSC RAS Prelims, 2013]
(A) (i), (iii), (ii), (v), (iv)
(B) (ii), (iii), (i), (v), (iv)
(C) (iv), (i), (iii), (ii), (v)
(D) (iii), (ii), (i), (v), (iv)
Answer: (A) (i), (iii), (ii), (v), (iv)
Explanation: The listed dates are Bengal sepoy unrest in 1764, Vellore in 1806, Kutch in 1819, the Kol rising beginning around 1829–31 and the Santhal uprising in 1855. The Company moved over time from a trading corporation into a territorial and revenue-collecting power.
1. Which statements correctly match war and date: (1) First Anglo-Maratha War—1767–69; (2) Third Anglo-Mysore War—1790–92; (3) First Anglo-Burmese War—1824–26; (4) Second Anglo-Sikh War—1845–46?
[UPSC Civil Services Preliminary, 2004]
(A) 2 and 4
(B) 3 and 4
(C) 1 and 2
(D) 2 and 3
Answer: (D) 2 and 3
Explanation: The Third Anglo-Mysore War was fought in 1790–1792, and the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824–1826. The First Anglo-Maratha War was 1775–1782; 1845–1846 describes the First, not Second, Anglo-Sikh War. The military conflict was part of a prolonged contest over sovereignty and Company influence in southern India.
