KSEAB II PUC History cheat sheet

Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2600–1900 BCE mature phase): Harappa and Mohenjo-daro excavated by Dayaram Sahni (1921) and R.D. Banerji (1922); key features are grid town planning, burnt-brick houses, covered drains, Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, and the granary at Harappa.

IVC script is undeciphered and boustrophedon; seals are mostly steatite with unicorn/Pashupati motifs. Lothal (Gujarat) had a dockyard; Dholavira (Kutch) is known for its water reservoirs and signboard; Kalibangan (Rajasthan) for ploughed field and fire altars.

Vedic corpus: Rigveda oldest (hymns to Indra, Agni, Varuna); Sama, Yajna, Atharva follow. Rigvedic society had sabha and samiti; Later Vedic period shows varna consolidation and the emergence of janapadas.

Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama (563–483 BCE), enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, first sermon at Sarnath, mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar. Tripitaka (Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma) compiled at the First Council at Rajgriha; Jainism's Tirthankaras include Rishabhanatha and Mahavira (24th).

Mauryan Empire (321–185 BCE): Chandragupta Maurya founded it with Chanakya/Kautilya (Arthashastra); Ashoka (268–232 BCE) after Kalinga war (261 BCE) adopted Dhamma. Ashokan edicts in Prakrit, Greek, and Aramaic; Lion Capital at Sarnath is the national emblem.

Mauryan administration: Arthashastra describes saptanga theory (king, ministers, territory, fort, treasury, army, ally); Megasthenes' Indica describes Chandragupta's court. Ashoka's dhamma-mahamattas were special officers.

Post-Mauryan: Sungas, Kanvas, Satavahanas (Gautamiputra Satakarni), Indo-Greeks, Shakas, Kushanas (Kanishka, Fourth Buddhist Council), and the Gandhara, Mathura, and Amaravati schools of art. Sangam literature (Tolkappiyam, Silappadikaram) belongs to this south Indian context.

Delhi Sultanate dynasties in order: Slave (1206–1290), Khalji (1290–1320), Tughlaq (1320–1414), Sayyid (1414–1451), Lodi (1451–1526). Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded the Slave dynasty; Iltutmish introduced the silver tanka and copper jital.

Alauddin Khalji's reforms: market control (diwan-i-riyasat), 50% kharaj, dagh and huliya for the army, and fortified frontier. Muhammad bin Tughlaq's experiments: token currency, Daulatabad transfer, and increased taxation in the Doab.

Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646): founded by Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama dynasty; Krishnadevaraya (1509–1529) of the Tuluva dynasty wrote Amuktamalyada and patronized the Ashtadiggajas. Battle of Talikota (1565) ended Vijayanagara's dominance.

Bahmani Kingdom (1347–1527): founded by Hasan Gangu (Alauddin Bahman Shah) at Gulbarga; Mahmud Gawan was a famous prime minister; the kingdom fragmented into the five Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, Berar).

Mughal Empire: Babur won the First Battle of Panipat (1526) using gunpowder and tulughma tactics; Akbar's Din-i-Ilahi (1582), mansabdari and jagirdari systems; Aurangzeb's Deccan campaigns drained the treasury.

Mughal administration: mansab ranks (zat and sawar), jagir assignments, the zabti/bandobast revenue system developed by Raja Todar Mal, and the dastur-ul-amal regulations under Akbar.

Bhakti-Sufi movements: Kabir, Guru Nanak, Mirabai, Chaitanya; Sufi silsilas (Chishti, Suhrawardi, Naqshbandi); Khanqahs and dargahs shaped syncretic culture.

Portuguese: Vasco da Gama reached Calicut (1498); Goa captured 1510 by Albuquerque. Dutch (1602 VOC), English (EIC 1600), French (1664 Colbert), and Danes followed.

Key battles: Plassey (1757) gave the English Bengal after Siraj-ud-Daulah's defeat by Robert Clive; Buxar (1764) confirmed British supremacy; the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) granted Diwani rights to the EIC.

Expansion tools: subsidiary alliance (Lord Wellesley), doctrine of lapse (Lord Dalhousie), and the policy of 'paramountcy'. Anglo-Maratha, Anglo-Mysore, and Anglo-Sikh wars progressively extended British control.

Socio-religious reform: Raja Ram Mohan Roy (Brahmo Sabha 1828, Sati abolition 1829 under Bentinck), Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (widow remarriage, 1856 Act), Dayanand Saraswati (Arya Samaj 1875), Jyotiba Phule (Satyashodhak Samaj 1873).

Revolt of 1857: immediate trigger was the greased cartridge at Meerut; leaders include Mangal Pandey, Rani Lakshmibai, Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, and Bahadur Shah II. The revolt led to the Government of India Act 1858 (Crown rule) and the end of the EIC.

Educational and social legislation: Macaulay's Minute (1835), Wood's Despatch (1854), the Age of Consent Act (1891), and the Sarda Act (1929) responded to reform pressure.

Economic impact: Permanent Settlement (1793, Cornwallis), Ryotwari (Munro), Mahalwari (1833); drain of wealth theory articulated by Dadabhai Naoroji.

INC founded 1885 in Bombay; first president W.C. Bonnerjee; the moderate phase (1885–1905) used petitions and the 'three P's' (petition, prayer, protest); the extremist phase began with the Partition of Bengal (1905) and the Swadeshi movement.

Key sessions: Surat Split (1907) separated moderates and extremists; Lucknow Pact (1916) united Congress and Muslim League; Nagpur (1920) adopted non-cooperation; Lahore (1929) declared Purna Swaraj under Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gandhian movements: Champaran (1917), Kheda and Ahmedabad (1918), Non-Cooperation (1920–22, withdrawn after Chauri Chaura), Civil Disobedience (1930, Dandi March), Quit India (1942, 'Do or Die').

Revolutionary strand: Anushilan Samiti, Ghadar Party (1913), Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (Bhagat Singh, 1928), and the INA under Subhas Chandra Bose (1943).

Constitutional milestones: Morley-Minto Reforms (1909, separate electorates), Montagu-Chelmsford (1919, dyarchy in provinces), Simon Commission (1927), Government of India Act 1935 (provincial autonomy), Cripps Mission (1942), Cabinet Mission (1946), Mountbatten Plan (1947).

Partition and independence: Indian Independence Act 1947 created India and Pakistan; Radcliffe Line drew the boundary; integration of princely states led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Post-independence constitution: Constituent Assembly (1946–1950), Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as drafting committee chairman; Constitution adopted 26 November 1949 and came into force 26 January 1950.

Early dynasties: Kadambas of Banavasi (founded by Mayurasharma, c. 345 CE), Gangas of Talakad, and the Badami Chalukyas under Pulakeshin II (who defeated Harsha). Aihole and Pattadakal are Chalukyan temple sites.

Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta: Govinda III and Amoghavarsha; the Kailasa temple at Ellora attributed to Krishna I. Their decline enabled the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (Tailapa II).

Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra: Vishnuvardhana, Ballala II; temple architecture at Belur, Halebidu, and Somnathapura; the poet Raghavanka and the Kannada literary tradition flourished.

Vijayanagara: founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka; capital Hampi on the Tungabhadra; Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada and the Ashtadiggajas; the empire's fall after Talikota (1565).

Bahmani and Bijapur Sultanates ruled parts of Karnataka; the Adil Shahi ruler Ibrahim Adil Shah II was a patron of music and wrote Kitab-e-Nauras.

Wodeyars of Mysore: Raja Wodeyar (1578–1617) and later Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar; Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan (who died at Srirangapatna in 1799) dominated the 18th century; the British restored the Wodeyar dynasty.

Modern Karnataka: unification movement led by Aluru Venkata Rao; Mysore State reorganized in 1956 on linguistic lines with Bengaluru as capital; renamed Karnataka in 1973. Freedom fighters include Karnad Sadashiva Rao and Sangolli Rayanna.

American Revolution (1775–1783): causes included taxation without representation (Stamp Act 1765, Townshend Acts); Declaration of Independence 4 July 1776; Treaty of Paris 1783 recognized US independence.

French Revolution (1789–1799): causes included fiscal crisis, Estates-General (1789), and Enlightenment ideas; Bastille fell 14 July 1789; Declaration of the Rights of Man; Reign of Terror under Robespierre; Napoleon's rise after 1799.

Industrial Revolution: began in Britain c. 1760 with the spinning jenny, steam engine (Watt), and factory system; led to urbanization, the rise of the working class, and later trade unionism.

Russian Revolution (1917): February Revolution ended Tsardom; October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks under Lenin to power; the USSR formed in 1922; New Economic Policy (1921) followed by Stalin's Five-Year Plans.

World War I (1914–1918): trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo; Allied vs Central Powers; Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed reparations and the League of Nations was created.

World War II (1939–1945): began with Germany's invasion of Poland; Axis vs Allies; Holocaust; atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945); the United Nations founded in 1945 (San Francisco).

Post-war order: Cold War between the US and USSR, NATO (1949) and Warsaw Pact (1955), Marshall Plan (1948), decolonization in Asia and Africa, Non-Aligned Movement (Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961), and the collapse of the USSR in 1991.