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Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965

  • 12 subtopics
  • 22 things to know
  • Unit group 3
  • Thematic study and interpretations, one unit of twenty-one

What Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 covers

From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 is unit Y320 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-one options in unit group 3, the thematic study and historical interpretations; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics and three depth studies are the governance and administration of the Empire, opposition to British Rule, the impact of imperial power on the periphery and Britain, the British Empire and its impact on international relations, British India: The War of 1857 and its consequences to 1876, Palestine 1914–1948, nationalism in Kenya 1945–1965. 393 recall questions across 12 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

Unit group 3

Thematic study and historical interpretations, one unit of twenty-one.

Check the OCR specification ↗

The 12 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Define jingoism and say where the word came from.

Evaluation

Which colonial confrontations most strained Britain's relations with other European powers?

Key term

Describe the empire Britain possessed in 1857.

Key term

Distinguish between formal and informal empire.

Key term

State the main decisions of the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885.

Key term

How thinly was the Empire actually administered?

Numbers

What were the earliest organised forms of Indian nationalism?

Numbers

Trace Nkrumah's route to power in the Gold Coast.

Numbers

What violent methods were used, and how did Britain respond?

Numbers

Assess the record of imperial medicine.

Key term

Why was Suez in 1956 a turning point?

Numbers

How did the Cold War affect the Empire?

Key term

Describe how British India was governed in 1857.

Key term

Explain the Doctrine of Lapse and why it caused resentment.

Numbers

How was the rebellion finally defeated?

Numbers

What changed in Palestine as a result of the first waves of Jewish immigration?

Key term

What were the effects of Zionist land purchase and labour policy?

Evaluation

Who led the Palestinian Arabs, and how effective was that leadership?

Numbers

What were the immediate consequences of 1948, and how do historians disagree about them?

Numbers

What was the problem posed by the settlers?

Key term

Explain the causes of the Mau Mau rebellion.

Evaluation

How many people died in the Emergency, and why are the figures disputed?

Take Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • New Imperialism vs Jingoism

    New Imperialism: the accelerated European seizure of territory, especially in Africa, from about 1870. Jingoism: aggressive popular patriotism demanding a warlike foreign policy.

  • Satyagraha vs Salt March

    Satyagraha: the method of non-violent resistance based on truth-force and a willingness to suffer. Salt March: the walk to the sea in 1930 to make salt in defiance of the government monopoly.

  • Indian National Congress vs Muslim League

    Indian National Congress: the body founded in 1885 which became the main vehicle of nationalist demand. Muslim League: the body founded in 1906 to protect the political position of Indian Muslims.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe the empire Britain possessed in 1857.

    Model answer

    It was a mixed structure rather than a single system: settler colonies such as Canada and the Australian colonies had just been granted responsible government over their internal affairs, tropical territories were ruled as Crown colonies from London, India was still governed by the East India Company under the supervision of the Board of Control, and a chain of naval bases from Gibraltar to Singapore protected a commerce that Britain, after repealing the Corn Laws, conducted on free trade principles.

  2. 2

    Distinguish between formal and informal empire.

    Model answer

    Formal empire meant territory over which Britain claimed sovereignty and appointed its own administration; informal empire meant countries that remained nominally independent, such as Argentina, Persia or China after the treaty ports, but whose trade, finance, railways and sometimes tariffs were dominated by British capital and gunboats without the expense of governing them.

  3. 3

    What did Gallagher and Robinson argue in their essay on the imperialism of free trade?

    Model answer

    Writing in 1953, they denied that the mid-Victorian decades were anti-imperial and the late Victorian decades newly imperial, arguing instead that policy was consistently expansionist and simply chose the cheapest instrument available, taking trade with informal control where possible and formal rule only where necessary.

  4. 4

    Define the term New Imperialism.

    Model answer

    It describes the rapid, competitive and often territorial expansion of the European powers between about 1875 and 1914, in which the scramble for Africa, the partitioning of the Pacific and the carving of spheres of influence in China replaced the earlier preference for trade without annexation, and it was accompanied at home by explicitly imperialist politics and propaganda.

  5. 5

    State the main decisions of the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885.

    Model answer

    Convened by Bismarck, it recognised Leopold II's Congo Free State, guaranteed free navigation on the Congo and the Niger, and laid down that a power claiming coastal territory must notify the others and establish effective occupation, which turned paper claims into a race to plant flags and administrators; no African ruler was present or consulted.

  6. 6

    Summarise the economic explanation of imperialism advanced by Hobson and Lenin.

    Model answer

    Hobson argued in 1902 that underconsumption at home left a surplus of capital which financiers pushed abroad, capturing foreign policy so that the nation paid in taxes and blood for the profits of a small investing class; Lenin adapted this in 1916 into the claim that monopoly capitalism in its final stage must export capital and therefore must divide the world.

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Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 revision questions

What does Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 cover in OCR A-Level History A?
12 subtopics: the governance and administration of the empire: empire in 1857 and economic explanations, the governance and administration of the empire: forms of governance and negotiation, opposition to british rule: opposition movements, peaceful and violent, reasons for their development, opposition to british rule: african nationalism, methods and the role of opposition, the impact of imperial power on the periphery and britain: orientalism and the effects of rule on the colonies, the impact of imperial power on the periphery and britain: jingoism and the impact of empire on britain, the british empire and its impact on international relations: european rivalry, isolation and the first world war, the british empire and its impact on international relations: mandates, dominions, world war and decline, depth study: british india: the war of 1857 and its consequences to 1876 — causes, course and consequences of the rebellion, depth study: palestine 1914–1948 — status and causes of zionist-palestinian problem, depth study: palestine 1914–1948 — the mandate in crisis and the british withdrawal and depth study: nationalism in kenya 1945–1965 — nationalism, mau mau and independence. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965 organised?
By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

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