1. Prologue
  2. Q1. Fall of Bastille
  3. Q2. American Revolution & Crony Capitalism
  4. Q3. Industrial revolution
  5. About the author

Prologue

  • Hey friends, this is Dr.Roman Saini (AIR-18, CSE-2013). I’m undergoing Foundation Course at LBSNAA, Mussoorie and having an awesome time -will share all the fun details soon.
  • Since, mains is merely 50 days away, I thought of providing some model answers which can act as a benchmark for your preparation and help you write better answer.
  • Since these are ‘model’ answers, you (in fact myself included) will not be able to replicate them in the examination hall due to paucity of time, extreme pressure and inability to recall each and every tiny bit of information.
  • Therefore, the aim is to achieve 70-80% of the level of these answers and even if you Miss 2-3 points here and there, it doesn’t make a difference.
  • After all UPSC is a competitive examination- the only thing that matters is you should be able to write and perform better than the most other candidates.
  • Anyway without further ado, here are the standard answers to 3 questions in world history. I will be sharing more answers soon, as I find time from the hectic schedule at LBSNAA.

Model Answer World History Set1

Q1. Fall of Bastille

Q. The fall of Bastille was not just the fall of a fort but the beginning of French revolution. Substantiate.  (200 words)

Brainstorm points: Fort cum prison, loot arms, free prisoners; motivate masses; form militia against King’s army; Municipality.

The Event:

  • Fall of bastille was not merely destruction of a building, rather it was an outlet to the underlying deep resentment and hatred of people of France towards the existing order.
  • Bastille was fort-cum-prison. In 1789, the representatives of national assembly attacked Bastille, gathered arms and ammunition and released political prisoners, who, later took active part to propel the French revolution.

Major Outcomes:

  1. Provided final thrust to the already excited masses. As the news spread, people gained courage to stand up against the existing feudal order, attacked their Manors in different parts of France.
  2. To suppress the rebellion, King planned to gather troops in Paris. In retaliation, people formed Militia which later turned into national guards.
  3. Formation of national army under the command of national assembly (under Lafayatte).This shifted the power from Louis XVI to the common men.
  4. The upbeat national assembly gave many revolutionary proposals, including new constitution that further diminished King’s authority.
  5. As Paris became the epicentre of the movement and refuge of the masses, Municipal Corporation of Paris was setup to provide new administrative structure.

Thus, Fall of Bastille proved to be the victory of the common people against the autocracy and aristocracy. For the first time in the history of France, monarchy was under direct threat. All these factors culminated into the birth of French revolution, leading to abomination of aristocratic privileges and establishment of new social order based on Democratic principles.

Q2. American Revolution & Crony Capitalism

Q. Crony capitalism, mercantilism and welfare of mother nation on the expense of colony was the main driving force behind the American Revolution. Elaborate with relevant incidents. (200 words)

Brainstorm points: Navigation law, war with France and huge debt, trade/exim-restrictions, can’t sell to France-Germany, Tea party, taxes without representation.

Ans. American Revolution was inspired by several socio-economic-political factors & intellectual awareness of the masses, but the main factor was the economic exploitation of American colonies by the British.

  1. It all started with Navigation law (1651) that required American ships to compulsorily sail towards Britain ports. Further developments worsened the already bad situation.
  2. Though Britain won against France, but lost a hefty amount of money. To overcome the huge debt, Grenville Policy came into picture. It imposed old restrictions such as navigational law, and new taxes like Sugar, Stamp, and Quartering Act. Consequentially, gave birth to revolutionaries like Sons and daughters of Liberty.
  3. Trade Regulations– colonies could trade only with British. They could not sell their products to German & French, who were ready to pay higher prices than the British.
  4. Industrial Regulations– heavy industries could not be established in America.
  5. Townshend Acts and EXIM Act gave Britain the complete monopoly over export-import of certain products such as potato, tobacco, sugarcane.
  6. Lord North’s Tea Policy: increased duty on tea trade, provided direct favoritism to mercantilism, and led to the Boston Tea Party.
  7. Rockingham Declaratory Act– gave British parliament all the rights to impose taxes on American colonies. Americans wanted no taxation without representation.

These suppressive policies of British mercantilism backfired and united all the 13 American colonies who shared the common thread of discrimination, suffering and resentment at the hand of British Empire, thus culminating to the American Revolution.

Q3. Industrial revolution

Q. Do you agree that the biggest revolution in human history is Industrial Revolution? Why was England the epicentre of Industrial Revolution? (300 words)

Brainstorm points: mass production, inventions, capital, transport-communication, cast-iron, agro-commercialization; England epicentre because- Government, navy, raw material, colonies.

Ans. Industrial revolution was an epoch marking era of human history, a paradigm shift that began in 1700s and continued in 1800s. It forever changed the way mankind operated. It was marked by gigantic and path breaking technological innovations that completely transformed the economic, social, cultural, political and industrial fields in following ways:

  1. Mass production at an unprecedented scale: Huge private investments, large mass of laborers coupled with spinning jenny, power loom & other ground-breaking inventions. They gave tremendous boost to industrial production, particularly in textile sectors.
  2. Communication and transport: Development of railway, macadamised roads, penny posts, steam engine, steam boat (by Fulton), flying shuttle (boost to energy sector) led to faster transportation of labour and goods making them cheaper and affordable.
  3. Iron & steel industry was the essential driving force behind tools, ships and buildings industry. The discovery of cheaper & easier method to produce cast iron, gave a new Philip to all these sectors.
  4. Commercialization of agriculture: Innovative agricultural methods like crop rotation; manure pattern; disappearance of Serfdom, enclosure act reforms. They gave boost to cotton, opium, indigo and other cash crops.

Gauging by the sheer number of changes it transpired, industrial revolution can be considered the largest revolution in human history. It ushered new critical thinking, scientific temperament and application of logic and reason in the society; lead to innovation in every field, transformed the basic socio-politico-economic structure of society and thus changed the course human history.

England was epicentre of Industrial Revolution because:

  1. Stable political government backed by a mighty navy.
  2. Abundance of Coal and iron- the crucial raw materials for industrialization.
  3. Availability of investment from both private citizens and colonial exploits.
  4. Colonies served as a source for raw materials and marketplace for manufactured goods.
  5. Commercialization of agriculture through innovations, enclosure act, disappearance of serfdom, access to huge market in colonies.

About the author

  • Roman has got 730/1750 in Mains, which is 4th highest written score in CSE 2013. You can read his strategy in the earlier interview with Mrunal (click me).
  • For doubts on CSE-preparation, Visit Roman’s Facebook page: http://facebook.com/romansaini.official
  • How to go about preparation in general, how to write essay, how to read Hindu, Yojana, how to retain information, how to write good answers or any specific topic in general? Roman has uploaded video-tutorials at youtube.com/unacademy

For more articles on History, visit Mrunal.org/history.