DPPH- 10 February
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Objective Problems:
1. Mughal Emperor during the Battle of Plassey was:
(a) Shah Alam II
(b) Farrukhsiyar
(c) Alamgir II
(d) None of these
2. Consider the following statements:
i. First English factory in Bengal was established at Hugali under the permission of Sultan Shuja.
ii. Aurangzeb had granted farman to English which gave them right to duty-free trade in Bengal in return for an annual fixed payment.
Choose the correct option:
(a) Only i is correct
(b) Only ii is correct.
(c) Both i and ii are correct.
(d) None is correct
3. Which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Murshid Quli Khan finished the Izardari system in Bengal.
(b) He granted agricultural loan (taccavi) to poor cultivators.
(c) He nullified the duty free farman granted to Briish by Mughal Emperor and forced th British to pay custom duties.
(d) He shifted the capital city of Bengal from Dacca to Murshidabad.
4. Match the following:
List I List II
A. Robert Clive i. Battle of Buxar
B. Vasistart ii. Battle of Plassey
C. Warren Hastings iii. Abolished Dual Government.
D. Dupleix iv. Governor of Chandernagore
A B C D
(a) ii i iii iv
(b) ii iii iv ii
(c) i ii iii iv
(d) iv ii iii i
5. Who was the first to break the trade monopoly of Portuguese in India?
(a) British
(b) French
(c) Dutch
(d) Danish
6. Consider the following statements regarding the battle of Buxar:
i. The battle brought out the political weaknesses and military shortcomings of the Indians and the hollowness of the Mughal Empire.
ii. It can be said as more important than Battle of Plassey as Battle of Plassey was not won by military might but deceit.
iii. It can be said as more important than Battle of Plassey as the Battle of Plassey saw defeat of the Nawab of bengal, while the Battle of Buxar also saw defeat of Mughal Emperor and powerful Oudh.
iv. The verdict of Plassey was confirmed by the English victory at Buxar.
Correct statements are:
(a) i, ii and iii
(b) ii, iii and iv
(c) i and iii
(d) i, ii, iii and iv
7. Choose the incorrect statement:
(a) The English occupation of Bengal in 1757 enabled them to use the inexhaustible source of wealth and material resources of Bengal for fighting and defeating the French.
(b) English held naval supremacy and the control of the Sea route from helped in defeating French
(c) French faced great financial difficulties as their resources from the Deccan and Carnatic were quite inadequate.
(d) French were confined only to Pondicherry after the Carnatic Wars.
8. Consider the following statements:
i. The Portuguese started an era of unarmed open sea- trade in the Indian waters.
ii. The Portuguese effort to push out the Muslims from the trade in oriental goods, and to establish a Portuguese monopoly over the trade in West Asia completely succeeded.
iii. The Portuguese fully controlled trade in the Indian Ocean waters.
iv. Portuguese impact on the political system in India was small as they were too few in numbers to try to capture and keep hold of any large territories on the mainland in India.
The correct statement/s is/are:
(a) i and iv
(b) ii and iv
(c) Only iii
(d) Only iv
9. The British East India Company used the term ‘investments in India’ for—
(a) Their imports of bullion to purchase Indian goods
(b) The investment by British Capitalists in India.
(c) The profits made from duty free inland trade and the surplus from Diwani revenue
(d) The borrowed money from Indian money lenders for purchases in India
10. Choose the correct statement:
(a) The Danes founded a settlement in Tranquebar.
(b) The Danes could not get a foot hold in India and sold their settlements to French.
(c) The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach India via Red Sea route.
(d) As a result of the Dutch contact, many products of the Latin American world—Maize, potato, Tobacco,chilli entered the Indian rural economy.
Mains Questions (for General Studies Mains and History Optional):
1. What do you mean by Enlightened despots in Europe? Critically examine their liberal policies. (250 words)
2. What were the fundamental differences between French East India Company and British East India Company? How does it partly explain the failure of the French in India? (200 words)
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question no 1:
Ans: The enlightened despots were the one who were influenced by the enlightenment ideas during their time. They tried to used some of the ideas of enlightenment to show some benevolency.
In Russia, the ruler tried to improve education, health and other facilties to uplift the living vcondition of the people there.Further, the rulers in Austria tried to uplift the condition of the peasant and promote the thier rights . Also, the ruler in Prussia tried to improve the justice system and formed various laws, improved agriculture and education.
However, the above benevolency does not overshadow the negative character of the rulers. Most of the rule were still absolutist in nature. The enlightened rulers did not resulted in a liberal regime. Also, most of them used such ideals of enlightenment only to enhance their autocracy further.
So, the liberal policies of enlightened despots were not directly aimed to benefit the regime but was used to maintain the rule in regime consistent.
Both the British EIC and French EIC was the product of the mercantile capitalism in Europe. They had the same aim as to accumulate capital and the same way that is to trade in an item which has considerable demand in Europe except this they were completely different in every other aspect.
The British EIC had the larger infrastructure and their affairs in the hands of private individuals and state in were indebted to them while in the case of French they were under the state rule which was backward looking, despot and degenerated.
The British EIC was the wealthier body and conducted more frequent voyage hence they had the more continuous history of trading than the French EIC.
Individuals involved in British EIC were more proactive and more decisive as in the case of the siege of Arcot by Lord Clive. There was no coordination between the different Generals in the French army or between General and his army and recall of Dupleix sure played its part. But these all are second reason as main reason was conquest of Bengal which gave British EIC the treasure to fund their voyage
The enlightened despots were the 18th-century European rulers who tried to enlist ideas of enlightenment in their monarchy. Mostly three rulers are considered as the enlightened despot i.e. Catherine II of Russian, Fredrick II of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria. It was championed by the philosophers such as Voltaire because he thought that enlightenment can only be brought from the top down approach that is by state intervention.
The main four characteristics of the enlightened state were –
a) Tolerance towards religious minorities
b) Reform of machinery
c) Absolutism
d) Patronage of Philosophers
The most effective among them was Fredrick II by taking steps such as reforming the bureaucracy and called himself as the first servant of state but the existence of the Prussia on the highly militarized ground basically ditches the idea of enlightenment. The religious policy of the Fredrick was at that time was commendable but still the Protestants were favoured for key government posts. Catherine II was the least ambitious in terms of reforms due to the dependence on the nobility and the way Pugachev’s rebellion was put down also summarizes her attitude towards reform.Joseph II was the most radical as he abolished the serfdom and granted more rights to the peasant and he also allowed Jews to privately worship.
Some of the liberal policies were definitely ahead of the times but it doesn’t mean the old hierarchy of the aristocracy was gone and many reforms that were taken were undone by the subsequent rulers.