Tamil Nadu HSE Second Year History cheat sheet

Indian National Congress founded December 1885 at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay; first session presided over by W.C. Bonnerjee with 72 delegates; A.O. Hume was the convenor.

Moderates (1885–1905) relied on petitions and the 'drain theory' (Dadabhai Naoroji's Poverty and Un-British Rule in India); key demands: Indianisation of services, simultaneous ICS exams in India, reduction of military expenditure.

Partition of Bengal announced by Lord Curzon in 1905 (effective 16 October 1905) triggered the Swadeshi and Boycott movement; annulled in 1911 at the Delhi Durbar.

Extremist phase leaders: Bal Gangadhar Tilak ('Swaraj is my birthright'), Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal; split at Surat session 1907; reunited at Lucknow 1916 with the Congress–League Lucknow Pact.

Gandhian mass movements: Non-Cooperation (1920–22, withdrawn after Chauri Chaura, February 1922), Civil Disobedience (1930–34, Dandi March 12 March–6 April 1930), Quit India (8 August 1942, 'Do or Die').

Key Congress sessions: Calcutta 1906 (Swaraj declared), Lahore 1929 (Purna Swaraj, tricolour hoisted), Karachi 1931 (Fundamental Rights resolution), Tripuri 1939 (Subhas Chandra Bose vs. Pattabhi Sitaramayya).

Government of India Acts: 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford, dyarchy in provinces, bicameral central legislature), 1935 (provincial autonomy, separate electorates extended, federal structure proposed).

Revolutionary movements: Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar (Bengal), Gadar Party (1913, San Francisco), Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928, Bhagat Singh, Azad, Rajguru, Sukhdev), Indian National Army (1943, Subhas Chandra Bose, 'Give me blood and I will give you freedom').

Immediate trigger of World War I: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 28 June 1914; Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia 28 July 1914; Britain entered after German invasion of Belgium (Treaty of London, 1839).

Alliance blocs: Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy); Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia). Italy switched sides in 1915; USA entered April 1917 after unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram.

Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919): Germany accepted Article 231 war-guilt clause, lost Alsace-Lorraine, all colonies, armed forces capped (100,000 men, no air force), Rhineland demilitarised, reparations fixed in 1921.

Russian Revolution 1917: February Revolution ended the Romanov autocracy (Nicholas II abdicated 15 March 1917); October Revolution brought Bolsheviks under Lenin to power; slogans 'Peace, Land, Bread' and 'All power to the Soviets'.

Russian Civil War (1918–21) between Reds and Whites; New Economic Policy 1921; USSR formed December 1922; Lenin died 1924; Stalin's Five-Year Plans from 1928 and collectivisation of agriculture.

Fascism in Italy: Mussolini's March on Rome, October 1922; Lateran Treaty 1929; invasion of Abyssinia 1935. Nazism in Germany: Hitler became Chancellor 30 January 1933 after the Nazi Party won the largest vote share in 1932.

Road to war: Japan invaded Manchuria 1931 and China 1937; Italy invaded Ethiopia 1935; Spanish Civil War 1936–39; Anschluss and Munich Agreement 1938; Nazi–Soviet Pact August 1939; Germany invaded Poland 1 September 1939.

World War II turning points: Dunkirk evacuation 1940; Operation Barbarossa June 1941; Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941; Stalingrad 1942–43; D-Day 6 June 1944; Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945; Japan surrendered 2 September 1945. League of Nations replaced by the UN in 1945.

Constituent Assembly formed under the Cabinet Mission Plan 1946; first sitting 9 December 1946; Objectives Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 December 1946; Assembly became a provisional parliament from 26 November 1949.

Drafting Committee chaired by B.R. Ambedkar; other members: N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Alladi Krishnaswamy Aiyar, K.M. Munshi, Syed Mohammad Saadulla, N. Madhava Rau, T.T. Krishnamachari. Constitutional Adviser: B.N. Rau.

Constitution adopted 26 November 1949 (Constitution Day); came into force 26 January 1950, the date chosen to honour the Purna Swaraj declaration of Lahore 1929. Original text: 395 Articles, 22 Parts, 8 Schedules.

Sources: Fundamental Rights and judicial review from the USA; parliamentary system and rule of law from Britain; Directive Principles from Ireland; emergency provisions from the Weimar Constitution; federation with strong centre from Canada; concurrent list from Australia.

Preamble declares India a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic; the words 'Socialist' and 'Secular' were added by the 42nd Amendment 1976, along with 'integrity' in 'unity and integrity of the Nation'.

Fundamental Rights (Part III, Articles 12–35) are enforceable by writs under Article 32 (called the 'heart and soul' by Ambedkar); Right to Education added as Article 21A by the 86th Amendment 2002.

Directive Principles (Part IV, Articles 36–51) are non-justiciable; Article 44 uniform civil code, Article 45 early childhood care, Article 48A environment (42nd Amendment).

Landmark cases: Shankari Prasad 1951 and Sajjan Singh 1965 upheld wide amendment power; Golaknath 1967 denied it; Kesavananda Bharati 1973 created the basic structure doctrine; Minerva Mills 1980 reinforced it.

Amendments: Article 368 provides procedure; 42nd (1976) added Fundamental Duties and mini-constitution changes; 44th (1978) reversed many; 73rd and 74th (1992) gave constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities.

Integration of princely states: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as Deputy PM and Home Minister with V.P. Menon; Instrument of Accession; Junagadh, Hyderabad (Operation Polo, 1948) and Kashmir (Instrument of Accession, 26 October 1947) were the difficult cases.

Linguistic reorganisation: Potti Sriramulu died after a hunger strike in 1952; Andhra formed 1953; States Reorganisation Act 1956 created 14 states and 6 union territories on the recommendation of the Fazl Ali Commission.

First general election 1951–52 on the basis of universal adult franchise; Congress won a large majority; Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister; the Election Commission was headed by Sukumar Sen.

Planning: Planning Commission set up 1950 (chair: Prime Minister); First Five-Year Plan 1951–56 focused on agriculture; Second Plan 1956–61 adopted Mahalanobis model and heavy industry; NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission in 2015.

Green Revolution: M.S. Swaminathan and Norman Borlaug; high-yielding wheat varieties, assured irrigation and MSP; White Revolution (Operation Flood) associated with Verghese Kurien and the Anand pattern cooperatives.

Bank nationalisation 1969 (14 banks); abolition of privy purses 1971; India's first nuclear test Pokhran-I 1974 ('Smiling Buddha'); economic liberalisation of 1991 under P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.

Emergency 1975–77 declared under Article 352 on grounds of internal disturbance; 42nd Amendment followed; Janata government 1977; the 44th Amendment 1978 tightened emergency provisions.

Panchayati Raj: Balwant Rai Mehta Committee 1957 recommended three-tier structure; Ashok Mehta Committee 1977; 73rd Amendment 1992 made panchayats constitutional with mandatory elections every five years and reservation for women.

Brahmo Samaj founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Calcutta 1828; campaigned against sati (abolished 1829 by William Bentinck), supported widow remarriage and women's education; later split under Debendranath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen.

Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in Bombay 1875; slogan 'Back to the Vedas'; Shuddhi movement; D.A.V. schools; ten principles rejecting idol worship and caste by birth.

Ramakrishna Mission founded 1897 by Swami Vivekananda; Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's teachings; Vivekananda's Chicago address 1893; emphasised service, education and man-making education.

Prarthana Samaj (Bombay 1867) led by Atmaram Pandurang and M.G. Ranade; Satyashodhak Samaj founded by Jyotirao Phule in 1873 to fight caste and Brahmin dominance; Phule wrote Gulamgiri.

Muslim reform: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan founded the Aligarh Scientific Society (1864) and Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (1875, became Aligarh Muslim University 1920); advocated modern education.

Sikh reform: Singh Sabha movement (1873, Amritsar) and the Akali movement; Khalsa College established 1892; Anand Marriage Act 1909 recognised Sikh marriage rites.

Tamil Nadu: Ramalinga Adigal (Vallalar) founded the Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sangam and Jeeva Karunya movement; Arul Prakasa Vallalar; Vaikunda Swami of the Ayyavazhi tradition; Ayya Vaikundar preached equality.

Tamil reform and self-respect: E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar) founded the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 and the journal Kudi Arasu; campaigned against caste and Brahminical ritual; Maraimalai Adigal led the Pure Tamil movement and Saiva Siddhanta revival.

Women's reform: Pandita Ramabai founded Sharada Sadan (1889) and Mukti Mission; Bharat Mahila Parishad and All India Women's Conference (1927); in Tamil Nadu, Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar wrote Damayanthi Charithiram against devadasi system; Muthulakshmi Reddy pushed the Devadasi Abolition Act 1947.

Early Congress in Madras: Madras Mahajana Sabha (1884); first Congress session in Madras 1887; V.O. Chidambaram Pillai ('Kappalottiya Thamizhan') launched the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 and was sentenced in 1908.

Extremism in Tamil Nadu: Subramania Bharati's writings in India and Vijaya; Bharati's exile in Pondicherry 1908–1918; V.O.C., Subramania Siva and Bharati were associated with the 1908 Tirunelveli disturbances.

Revolutionary activity: Vanchinathan shot Robert Ashe at Maniyachi in 1911; the Bharatha Matha Association; M. Singaravelar (a founder of the Communist Party of India in 1925) organised labour in Madras.

Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience: Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari) led the Vedaranyam salt march in April 1930, mirroring Dandi; Kamaraj, Bhaktavatsalam, Satyamurti and Prakasam were prominent Congress leaders.

Quit India 1942: Tamil Nadu saw student strikes and arrests; Kamaraj was imprisoned; the Congress ran a parallel 'Tamizharasu' idea during the movement; the 1942 movement weakened British authority in the presidency.

Justice Party founded 1916 in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar, T.M. Nair, P. Thyagaraya Chetty and others; demanded communal representation; non-Brahmin manifesto of 1916; won elections under dyarchy in 1920.

Self-Respect Movement founded 1925 by Periyar E.V. Ramasamy after leaving the Congress; journal Kudi Arasu; 'Vaikom Satyagraha' participation in 1924; anti-caste, anti-superstition and women's equality agenda.

Periyar and Dravidian politics: Periyar founded the Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944 after the Justice Party became the Dravida Kazhagam; the 1939 anti-Hindi agitation; C.N. Annadurai split in 1949 to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Constitutional gains: First Amendment 1951 inserted Article 15(4) enabling reservation for backward classes after the Champakam Dorairajan case (1951); the 69% reservation in Tamil Nadu was protected by the 76th Amendment 1994.

Cold War origins: Yalta and Potsdam conferences 1945; Truman Doctrine 1947; Marshall Plan 1947; Cominform 1947; Berlin Blockade 1948–49; NATO 1949; Warsaw Pact 1955.

Key crises: Korean War 1950–53; Hungarian uprising 1956; Suez Crisis 1956; construction of the Berlin Wall 1961; Cuban Missile Crisis 1962; Vietnam War 1955–75; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 1979.

Détente and end: SALT I 1972, Helsinki Accords 1975, SALT II 1979; Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika from 1985; fall of the Berlin Wall 9 November 1989; dissolution of the USSR December 1991.

Non-Aligned Movement: Bandung Conference 1955; NAM founded at Belgrade 1961 with Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah; principles of non-alignment and anti-colonialism.

Decolonisation in Asia: Philippines independence 1946; India and Pakistan 1947; Ceylon 1948; Indonesia 1949; Vietnam divided 1954 after Dien Bien Phu; Malaya 1957; Singapore 1965.

Decolonisation in Africa: Ghana 1957 (Nkrumah); Nigeria 1960; Congo 1960; Kenya 1963 (Kenyatta); Algeria 1962 after the Evian Accords; Organisation of African Unity 1963; Zimbabwe 1980; Namibia 1990; apartheid ended in South Africa 1994.

Middle East: creation of Israel 1948; Suez War 1956; Six-Day War 1967; Yom Kippur War 1973; Camp David Accords 1978; Iranian Revolution 1979; Gulf War 1990–91.

Contemporary global bodies and issues: UN founded 1945 (San Francisco), Security Council with five permanent members; GATT 1947 replaced by WTO 1995; SAARC 1985; European Union under the Maastricht Treaty 1993; climate regime from Rio 1992 to the Paris Agreement 2015.

Deindustrialisation: decline of Indian handicrafts under British free trade and machine-made imports; one-way free trade after 1813 Charter Act; drain of wealth documented by Dadabhai Naoroji, R.C. Dutt (Economic History of India) and M.G. Ranade.

Land revenue systems: Permanent Settlement 1793 (Bengal, Cornwallis, zamindars), Ryotwari (Madras and Bombay, Thomas Munro), Mahalwari (North-Western Provinces, Holt Mackenzie). These shaped agrarian classes and rural indebtedness.

Commercialisation of agriculture: indigo (Blue Rebellion 1859–60), tea, cotton, jute; famines of 1876–78 and 1896–1900; Famine Commissions of 1880 and 1901; recurring peasant revolts such as the Deccan Riots 1875.

Railways: first train 1853 Bombay–Thane; expansion served colonial extraction; telegraph 1851; Suez Canal 1869 shortened the route to Europe and boosted Indian cotton exports during the American Civil War.

Factory Acts: First Factory Act 1881 (child labour), 1891, 1911, 1922, 1934; trade unions legalised by the Trade Unions Act 1926; Bombay Textile strike 1928; AITUC founded 1920.

Education: Macaulay's Minute 1835; Wood's Despatch 1854 (Magna Carta of English education); Hunter Commission 1882; universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras 1857; Hartog Committee 1929; Wardha scheme 1937.

Press and culture: Vernacular Press Act 1878; Indian Press Act 1910; Raja Rammohan Roy's Sambad Kaumudi; Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Kesari and Maratha; Amrita Bazar Patrika; Swadeshi printing and the Tamil press (Swadesamitran, edited by G. Subramania Iyer, 1882).

Art and architecture: Indo-Saracenic style (Madras High Court, Chepauk Palace); Raja Ravi Varma's oil paintings; Bengal School with Abanindranath Tagore; Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize 1913; Indian cinema began with Raja Harishchandra (1913, Dadasaheb Phalke).

Map of Indian nationalism: locate Lahore (1929 Purna Swaraj), Dandi (1930 salt march), Chauri Chaura (1922), Bardoli (1928 satyagraha), Champaran (1917), Kheda (1918), Amritsar (1919 Jallianwala Bagh), Bombay (1885 INC).

Map of Tamil Nadu in the freedom struggle: Vedaranyam (1930 salt march), Tirunelveli (1908 disturbances), Maniyachi (1911 Ashe shooting), Madras (Justice Party 1916), Erode (Periyar's birth 1879), Kanchipuram, Pondicherry (Bharati's exile).

World map for modern history: Sarajevo (1914), Versailles (1919), Petrograd (1917), Rome (1922 March on Rome), Berlin (1933, 1945, 1961), Pearl Harbor (1941), Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945), Bandung (1955), Belgrade (1961).

Source types in HSE history papers: primary sources include inscriptions, coins, official gazettes, newspapers, diaries, letters and photographs; secondary sources include later histories and textbooks written after the events.

Evaluating a source: identify author, date, place, audience and purpose; distinguish fact from opinion; check corroboration with an independent source; note bias, silence and the difference between official and vernacular accounts.

Newspaper as source: a newspaper reports events close to their date but reflects editorial policy; compare two papers of opposing views (e.g., The Hindu founded 1878 and a pro-British paper) before drawing conclusions.

Interpreting cartoons and photographs: read the caption, date, symbols and the intended audience; ask who commissioned it and what it omits; treat satire as evidence of attitudes, not of events.

Quantitative sources: census, trade and revenue statistics reveal trends but are shaped by colonial categories; note definitional changes (e.g., 'caste' and 'occupation' categories in censuses from 1871) before comparing years.