Aspirant Academy

History

Key Points at a Glance

American War of Independence, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Russian Revolution

Paper I · Unit 1 Section 1 of 9 0 PYQs 30 min
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Key Points at a Glance

  1. American War of Independence (1775–83)

    • First successful anti-colonial revolution
    • Established that government derives legitimacy from the consent of the governed
    • Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776) proclaimed "all men are created equal"
    • Listed 27 grievances against King George III

  2. Enlightenment Roots of the American Revolution

    • John Locke — natural rights of life, liberty, property; right to revolt against tyranny
    • Montesquieu — separation of powers (legislative, executive, judicial)
    • Rousseau — social contract and popular sovereignty

  3. French Revolution (1789–99) — Core

    • Dismantled the Ancien Régime (old order of monarchy, clergy, nobility)
    • Established Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité as governing principles
    • Triggered by financial crisis (France bankrupt after American war support), crop failures, and Enlightenment ideas

  4. Storming of the Bastille (14 July 1789)

    • Paris prison-fortress stormed; its seven prisoners released
    • Symbolic start of the French Revolution
    • Bastille Day is still France's national day
    • Marked the people's defiance of royal authority

  5. Industrial Revolution — Origin and Key Inventions

    • Began in Britain around 1760
    • Driven by James Watt's steam engine (1769), Hargreaves's spinning jenny (1764), Arkwright's water frame, Cartwright's power loom
    • Britain had coal, iron, capital, colonies, and institutions that enabled the transformation

  6. Industrial Revolution → Marx → Russian Revolution

    • Created the modern proletariat (industrial working class)
    • Marx described the conditions in Das Kapital (1867): surplus value extraction, alienated labour, class struggle
    • This theoretical foundation for socialism and communism led directly to the Russian Revolution

  7. Russian Revolution of 1917 — Two Phases

    • February Revolution (March 1917 NS) — mass protests ousted Tsar Nicholas II (last Romanov)
    • October Revolution (November 1917 NS) — Bolsheviks under Lenin seized power from the Provisional Government
    • Slogan: "Peace, Land, Bread"

  8. Bolshevik Revolution and USSR

    • Established the world's first communist state
    • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) ended Russia's WWI involvement
    • Civil War (1918–21): Red Army (Bolsheviks) defeated White Army (anti-Bolshevik forces)
    • USSR formally constituted on 30 December 1922

  9. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789)

    • Men are born free and equal in rights
    • Sovereignty resides in the nation
    • Freedom of speech, press, and thought guaranteed
    • Property is inviolable; no one disturbed for opinion
    • Influenced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

  10. The Communist Manifesto (1848)

    • By Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
    • Declared: "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains."
    • Identified capitalism's internal contradictions; predicted class revolution
    • Called for abolition of private property — ideological foundation of the Russian Revolution

  11. Industrial Revolution — Social Consequences

    • Rapid urbanisation: Manchester grew from 25,000 (1772) to 303,000 (1850)
    • Rise of trade unions (TUC founded 1868)
    • Child labour in factories; cholera epidemics in industrial cities
    • Early socialist thought emerged (Owen's New Lanark model factory)

  12. Treaty of Paris (1783) and American Constitutional Legacy

    • Treaty of Paris (3 September 1783) ended the American War; Britain recognised 13 colonies' independence
    • US Constitution (1787) became the world's first written national constitution
    • Bill of Rights (1791) — first 10 amendments — guaranteed freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition