GCE O/L History cheat sheet

The Mahavamsa and Dipavamsa, composed by Buddhist monks, are the main literary sources for early Sri Lankan history; they must be read alongside inscriptions and archaeology because they were written centuries after the events and serve religious purposes.

The traditional date of Prince Vijaya's arrival is 543 BCE, but the earliest securely dated evidence of human occupation (Balangoda Man, sites such as Fa Hien Cave) goes back tens of thousands of years; Vijaya marks a legendary dynastic starting point, not the first human settlement.

Anuradhapura was the capital from about the 4th century BCE to the 11th century CE; its irrigation works (Tissa Wewa, Nuwarawewa, Basawakkulama) and the great stupas (Ruwanwelisaya, Abhayagiri, Jetavanaramaya) show a state capable of large-scale water management and monumental construction.

Polonnaruwa replaced Anuradhapura after the Chola conquest of the early 11th century; Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) is associated with large irrigation schemes such as the Parakrama Samudra and with the unification of the Sangha.

The Sigiriya rock fortress and its frescoes are dated to the reign of Kashyapa I (c. 477-495 CE), based on the chronicle account of his usurpation and the stylistic dating of the paintings.

The arrival of Prince Vijaya, the introduction of Buddhism by Mahinda in the 3rd century BCE under Devanampiya Tissa, and the Tooth Relic's arrival in the 4th century CE are the three traditional landmarks of early cultural history; the Tooth Relic became a symbol of royal legitimacy.

Colonial sequence: the Portuguese arrived in 1505 and controlled coastal trade; the Dutch took Colombo in 1656 and held the maritime provinces; the British took the coastal areas in 1796 and, after the Kandyan Convention of 1815, controlled the whole island.

The Kandyan Convention of 2 March 1815 was signed by Kandyan chiefs with the British; it promised to protect Buddhism and Kandyan law, but British sovereignty over the kingdom ended the independent Kandyan state, and the 1818 and 1848 rebellions were suppressed.

The Donoughmore Commission (1927-28) introduced universal adult suffrage in 1931 and created the State Council, replacing communal representation with territorial constituencies; this was a major step toward self-government.

The Soulbury Commission (1944-45) led to the Soulbury Constitution, which established a Westminster-style parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature and a cabinet headed by a Chief Minister, effective from 1947.

Ceylon became independent on 4 February 1948 as a Dominion within the Commonwealth; D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister, and full republican status came only in 1972.

Key nationalist and reform organisations include the Ceylon National Congress (1919), the Young Lanka League, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (1935, the first Marxist party), and the Ceylon Workers' organisations; each pressed different demands, from constitutional reform to full independence.

The 1915 anti-Muslim riots and the harsh suppression that followed pushed moderate leaders toward organised constitutional agitation; the Ceylon National Congress was formed in 1919 in that climate.

Temperance movement and Buddhist revival (Anagarika Dharmapala, the Theosophical Society) provided cultural nationalism that fed political demands; the 1912 Ceylon National Association and 1919 Congress are organisational markers.

The 1947 general election under the Soulbury Constitution produced the first parliamentary government; the UNP formed the government and independence followed in 1948 without a mass independence struggle comparable to India's.

The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and the 1949 Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act disenfranchised many Indian Tamil plantation workers, a decision with long-term political consequences.

The Sinhala Only Official Language Act of 1956 made Sinhala the sole official language; it triggered protests in the Tamil-speaking areas and is a key turning point in ethnic politics.

The 1972 republican constitution made Sri Lanka a republic, replaced the Soulbury Constitution, and gave Buddhism a foremost place; the 1978 constitution introduced an executive presidency and a proportional representation system.

The 1983 anti-Tamil riots (Black July) followed the killing of 13 soldiers in Jaffna and escalated the conflict; the LTTE emerged as the dominant Tamil militant group in the 1980s.

The Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 brought the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF); the 13th Amendment and Provincial Councils were created as a devolution measure, while the JVP launched a violent insurrection in the south (1987-89).

The 2002 ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE was monitored by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission; it collapsed, and the final military phase ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE.

Economic policy shifted from import substitution and state control after 1956 to liberalisation from 1977, when the UNP government introduced open economic policies and export processing zones.

The 1987-89 JVP insurrection and the 1971 JVP uprising were two distinct southern insurgencies; both were suppressed, and both reflected youth unemployment and leftist opposition to the state.

Post-2009 issues include reconciliation, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (2011), and constitutional debates over the 13th Amendment and power-sharing; these remain live political questions.

Mesopotamia: Sumer developed cuneiform writing, city-states such as Uruk and Ur, and the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE); the Tigris-Euphrates setting shaped irrigation-based agriculture.

Egypt: the Nile's annual flood supported a centralised state; the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms are the standard periodisation, and the Rosetta Stone allowed the decipherment of hieroglyphs.

Indus Valley Civilisation: Harappa and Mohenjo-daro show grid streets, drainage, standardised weights and undeciphered script; the civilisation declined around 1900 BCE.

China: the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Mandate of Heaven, and the Qin unification (221 BCE) with standardised script, weights, and the beginnings of the Great Wall are key markers.

Greece: the polis, Athenian democracy (Cleisthenes, Pericles), the Persian Wars (Marathon 490 BCE, Salamis 480 BCE) and the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) frame classical Greek history.

Rome: the Republic (509-27 BCE), the Empire from Augustus (27 BCE), the Pax Romana, and the division into Western and Eastern empires (395 CE) with the Western collapse in 476 CE.

Medieval world: feudalism (lords, vassals, serfs), manorialism, the rise of Islam from the 7th century, the Abbasid Caliphate and Baghdad, and the Silk Road trade networks linked Europe, Asia and Africa.

Chronology anchors: writing c. 3200 BCE, Hammurabi c. 1750 BCE, Buddha c. 5th century BCE, Alexander's conquests 334-323 BCE, fall of Western Rome 476 CE, Magna Carta 1215.

Renaissance humanism revived classical Greek and Roman texts; key figures include Petrarch, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Machiavelli, and printing (Gutenberg, c. 1450) spread new ideas rapidly.

The Reformation began with Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses (1517); justification by faith alone, the authority of scripture, and criticism of indulgences were central, and the printing press spread the dispute.

Counter-Reformation responses include the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Jesuits (founded 1540 by Ignatius Loyola), and the Index of Prohibited Books.

The Peace of Augsburg (1555) allowed rulers to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism (cuius regio, eius religio); the Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended the Thirty Years' War and recognised Calvinism.

Henry VIII's break with Rome (Act of Supremacy 1534) created the Church of England; Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I produced a period of religious oscillation in England.

Age of Exploration: Portuguese voyages down Africa (Dias 1488), Columbus 1492, Vasco da Gama to India 1498, Magellan's circumnavigation begun 1519; Spanish and Portuguese empires divided by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

The Columbian Exchange transferred crops, animals and diseases between the Americas and Eurasia; smallpox devastated indigenous populations, while maize, potatoes and tobacco moved east.

Causes of exploration: Ottoman control of overland trade, desire for spices and gold, missionary zeal, and navigational advances such as the astrolabe, compass and caravel.

The American Revolution (1775-1783): grievances over taxation without representation (Stamp Act 1765, Tea Act), the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776), and the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

The French Revolution (1789): causes include fiscal crisis, estate inequality and Enlightenment ideas; key events are the Tennis Court Oath, the storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789), the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and the Terror (1793-94).

Napoleon's rise (First Consul 1799, Emperor 1804) spread legal and administrative reforms (the Napoleonic Code) but ended in defeat at Waterloo (1815); the Congress of Vienna (1815) redrew Europe.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain around 1750-1800: coal, iron, the steam engine (Watt), textile machinery, railways, and the factory system; it transformed work, cities and class structures.

Social consequences of industrialisation include urbanisation, child labour, the growth of the working class, trade unions, and reform legislation such as the Factory Acts and the 1834 Poor Law Amendment.

The Russian Revolution of 1917: the February Revolution ended the Tsarist autocracy, and the October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks under Lenin to power; the USSR was formed in 1922.

The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) led to the first independent black republic; it shows that revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality also challenged slavery and colonial rule.

Unification movements: Italy (Cavour, Garibaldi, 1861) and Germany (Bismarck's wars, 1871) show nationalism reshaping the European map in the 19th century.

Causes of World War I: alliance systems, militarism, imperialism and nationalism; the trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (28 June 1914).

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed reparations, territorial losses and the war-guilt clause on Germany; the League of Nations was created but the USA did not join.

Causes of World War II: the failure of appeasement, the rise of fascism (Mussolini, Hitler), the Great Depression, and German expansionism; the invasion of Poland (1 September 1939) began the war in Europe.

Key WWII turning points: the Battle of Britain (1940), Operation Barbarossa (1941), Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941), Stalingrad (1942-43), D-Day (6 June 1944), and the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945).

The United Nations was founded in 1945; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights followed in 1948, and the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials established precedents for international criminal law.

Decolonisation: Indian independence (1947) and partition, Ghana (1957), and the 1960 'Year of Africa' are milestones; nationalist movements used both constitutional and armed strategies.

The Cold War (1947-1991): containment (Truman Doctrine 1947, Marshall Plan), NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955), the Berlin Blockade (1948-49), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989).

The Non-Aligned Movement (Bandung 1955, Belgrade 1961) gave newly independent states a third path; the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

Primary source: produced at the time by a participant or eyewitness; secondary source: later interpretation using primary evidence; the classification depends on the question asked, not on the document's age alone.

Source evaluation uses origin (who made it, when, where), purpose (why), audience (for whom), and bias (what interest the author has); provenance and context matter as much as content.

Corroboration means comparing two or more independent sources for agreement and conflict; a single source is never sufficient for a firm factual claim.

Chronology tools: BCE counts backwards (so 300 BCE is later than 500 BCE), CE counts forwards, and there is no year zero; a century spans e.g. 1801-1900 for the 19th century.

Anachronism is placing an idea, object or term outside its proper time; spotting it is a standard test of a source's reliability.

Interpretation: historians select and order evidence, so different interpretations of the same event can both be defensible; assess whether the evidence supports the claim, not whether the conclusion feels right.

Useful terms: fact (verifiable claim), opinion (judgement), inference (conclusion drawn from evidence), and propaganda (content designed to persuade rather than inform).

Cause and consequence: distinguish long-term causes, short-term triggers and consequences; a timeline or cause-consequence chart helps separate them in exam answers.