ISC History Question Paper 2019 Solved

for Class 12
Part-I (20 Marks)
Answer all questions
Question 1. [20 x 1]

(i) What is the significance of 8th August, 1942, in the history of

India’s struggle for freedom?
On 8th August, 1942, All India Congress Committee passed the Quit India
Resolution. Mahatma Gandhi then launched the Quit India Movement in
Bombay for freedom from British rule and persisted despite arrests and
intense repression. Leaders, women and students from all sections of
society participated in the movement. This compelled the British officials to
start a dialogue with the Indian parties for a possible transfer of power.

(ii) Why did Subhash Chandra Bose resign from the post of Congress
President at the Tripuri Session in 1939?
Subhash Chandra Bose won the elections for the President of Indian
National Congress (INC) at the Tripuri Session in 1939 by defeating
Gandhiji’s candidate Pattabhai Sitara-maiyya. Following this, Gandhiji and
other members in his support made it impossible for Subhash Chandra
Bose to work efficiently in the committee. Problems began in the formation
of the Working Committee. Subhash Chandra Bose had to ultimately
resign from the post of Congress President. He thus formed Forward Bloc
in May, 1939.

(iii) Name the activist who undertook an epic fast unto death for a
separate Andhra State.
Potti Sreeramulu undertook an epic fast unto death for a separate Andhra
State out of Northern Portion of Madras State.

(iv) Who succeeded Lai Bahadur Shastri as the Prime Minister of

India, in 1966?
Gulzarilal Nanda succeeded Lai Bahadur Shastri as the Acting Prime
Minister of India in 1966. His term was however very short and he was
succeeded by Indira Gandhi who became the Prime Minister later in the
same year.

(v) Name two important leaders of the Naxalite Movement in Bengal.

Two important leaders of the Naxalite Movement in Bengal were Charu
Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.

(vi) What was the fundamental difference between the demands of the
Khalistan Movement and that of the Assam Movement?
The Khalistan Movement wanted to create a separate Sikh country while
the Assam Movement was a popular movement against undocumented
immigrants in Assam.

(vii) In the context of the Non-Aligned Movement, what was India’s

stance during the Korean War?
During the Korean War (1950), India backed the US by endorsing the
United Nations resolution that condemned North Korea’s attack on South
Korea. Jawaharlal Nehru, who coined the term Non-Alignment, believed
that Indian freedom struggle was a part of the world wide struggle for
freedom and progress.

(viii) What was the primary objective of the ‘Sampoorna Kranti

Movement’ (Total Revolution) led by Jayprakash Narayan?
Total Revolution movement (Sampoorna Kranti movement) initiated by
students in Bihar in 1974 and led by veteran Gandhian socialist,
Jayprakash Narayan, was against the misrule and corruption being
practised in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

(ix) Why did Dalai Lama seek asylum in India?

China, under the leadership of Mao-Tse Tung was determined to assert
her right of suzerainty over Tibet. China overran and occupied Tibet in
1959. The religious leader Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetan refugees
sought asylum in India which was granted to them by Nehruvian
government.

(x) Name any one organisation that campaigned against the evils of
the dowry system in the 1970s.
An organisation that campaigned against the evils of the dowry system in
the 1970s was the Progressive Organization of Women of Hyderabad.

(xi) Define the term appeasement in the context of the causes of the
Second World War.
Appeasement is a “diplomatic policy of making political or material
concessions to an enemy power to avoid war”. The Anglo- French
appeasement policy was largely repsonsible for the outbreak of the
Second World War. Anglo-French failed to intervene during Japan’s attack
on China, Italy’s aggression on Abyssinia and Germany’s occupation of
Prague. The appeasement policy encouraged Hitler again and again, and
jeopardized the balance of power in Europe, which led to the Second
World War.

(xii) What was the objective of Operation Overlord launched by the

Allied Powers on 6th June, 1944?
Operation Overlord or D-Day was launched on 6th June, 1944, when 3
million allied troops from US, Britain and Canada landed on five beacheads
of Normandy Beach. The German forces offered strong resistance. The
main objective was to liberate northern France from Germany and Brussels
and Antwerp in Belgium from the Axis forces.

(xiii) In the context of Mao Tse Tung’s agricultural policy, what is

meant by the term Communes?
Mao Tse Tung introduced the ‘Communes’ where people ran their own
collective farms and performed the function of the local government under
an elected Council. In the Commune, each family received a share of
profits from the sale of produced.

(xiv) What is the most important reason for the downfall of Kwame
Nkrumah?
The most important reason for the downfall of Kwame Nkrumah was
probably because he began to abandon parliamentary government in
favour of a one-party state and personal dictatorship.

(xv) Mention one example to show that the thaw in the Cold War was
partial.
The thaw in the Cold War was partial. This could easily be observed from
the policy of Khrushchev. Sometimes, he followed concilatory policy and
sometimes a policy that seemed to threaten the Western Bloc. He did not
show any interest in reducing Russian control over the satellite states.
When the Hungarians revolted in Budapest against the Communist
government, the movement was crushed by Russian tanks.

(xvi) Name the first Chancellor of United Germany (1990) since the
Second World War.
Helmut Kohl became the first Chancellor of United Germany since the
Second World War.

(xvii) Mention any one important international organisation that

condemned Apartheid.
The United Nations organisation (UNO) condemned Apartheid.
(xviii) What is the full form of: (a) NOW (b) ERA
(a) NOW: National Organisation for Women
(b) ERA: Equal Rights Amendment

(xix) Name the signatories of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Sykes-Picot Agreement, also known as the Asia Minor Agreement was a
secret convention made during the First World War between Great Britain
and France, with assent of Russian Empire, for the division of the Ottoman
Empire among the Allied Powers.

(xx) By which treaty (1993) did Israel and the PLO formally and
mutually recognize each other?
The Oslo Accords are a set of agreements between the Government of
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) through which they
formally and mutually recognized each other.
ISC History Question Paper 2018 Solved for
Class 12
Part-I (20 Marks)
Answer all questions
Question 1. [20 x 1]

(i) What was the significance of Attlee’s Declaration of 20th February,

1947?
The significance of Atlee’s Declaration was that the Indians should settle
their issues by 1947 and the British would leave India by July 1948. He
also announced the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as Viceroy in place
of Lord Wavell.

(ii) Name the Indian nationalist leader who played a vital role in the
integration of princely states with the Indian Union.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel played a crucial role in integrating the princely
states with the Indian Union.

(iii) Mention the principle on which the first general election in India
(1952) was based.
On the basis of the principle of ‘Universal Adult Suffrage’ the first general
election in India was held.

(iv) With reference to the Congress party in the 1960s, what is meant
by the term Syndicate?
The term ‘Syndicate’ was the informal name given to a group of powerful
and influential leaders who controlled the Congress party. The party was
led by Congress President K. Kamraj and included many powerful leaders
like Atulya Ghosh, S. K. Patil, N. Sanjeeva Reddy.

(v) What is the significance of the Historic Eight Documents?

The significance of the Historic Eight Documents lies in the fact that these
documents outline the ideological principles on which the Naxalite
Communist movement in India was based.

(vi) Who was the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India?

Morarji Desai was the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.
(vii) Why was Operation Blue Star launched?
Operation Blue Star was an Indian military operation, which occurred in
June, 1984. It was ordered by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to
flush out the militant members of the Khalistan who were hidden inside the
holy Golden Temple in Amritsar.

(viii) What are the five principles of peaceful co-existence mutually

agreed upon by India and China known as?
Panchsheel Pact (1954) indicates the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-
existence. These were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade
and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India.

(ix) Mention the controversial issue that led to the outbreak of the
First Indo-Pak War (1948-1949).
The Kashmir conflict was the disputed issue that led to the outbreak of the
first Indo-Pak War (1948-49).

(x) Name the Report (published in 1974) that deals with issues related
to the status of women in India.
Towards Equality (1974) was the first Report that deals with the issues
related to the status of women in India.

(xi) Name two alliances signed between Italy, Germany and Japan.
Anti-Comintern Pact (1936) and Tripartite Pact or Berlin Pact (1940) were
the two alliances signed between Italy, Germany and Japan.

(xii) Explain the term island hopping with reference to the war in the
Pacific.
“Island Hopping” is the phrase given to the strategy employed by the
United States to gain military bases and secure many small islands in the
Pacific.

(xiii) Why was there a temporary truce between the KMT and CCP in
1936?
The Second United Front was the brief alliance between the Chinese
Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) and Communist Party of China
(CPC) to resist the Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese
War, which suspended the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1941.

(xiv) What part did the Mau Mau secret society play in the Kenyan
struggle for freedom from British rule?
Dominated by the Kikuyu tribe, Meru tribe and Embu tribe, the Mau Mau
fought against the White European Colonist- settlers in Kenya, the British
Army, and the local Kenya Regiment.

(xv) Why did Stalin establish the Cominform?

Stalin wanted to tighten his grip on the communist satellite states so he
formed Come in form.

(xvi) Who introduced the policies of the Glasnost and Perestroika in

the USSR?
Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika in
USSR.

(xvii) Which organisation led the movement against communism in

Poland?
Solidarity led the movement against communism in Poland.

(xviii) Name the two democrat Presidents who were sympathetic to

the demands of black Americans?
J. F. Kennedy and L. B. Johnson and Roosevelt were the two democrat
Presidents who were sympathetic to the demands of black Americans.

(xix) Who wrote the book The Feminine Mystique that sparked off the
Second Wave of American Feminism in the 20th century?
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist who wrote the
book The Feminine Mystique.

(xx) What was the immediate reaction of the Arab states to the
creation of the new.
Violence erupted almost immediately, feeding into a spiral of reprisals and
counter-reprisals. Israel was immediately attacked by neighboring Arab
states.