OCR A-Level History A H505
Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016Unit group 1
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107Unit group 1
Y103: England 1199–1272Unit group 1
Y104: England 1377–1455Unit group 1
Y105: England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VIIUnit group 1
Y106: England 1485–1558: The Early TudorsUnit group 1
Y107: England 1547–1603: The Later TudorsUnit group 1
Y108: The Early Stuarts and the Origins of the Civil War 1603–1660Unit group 1
Y109: The Making of Georgian Britain 1678–c.1760Unit group 1
Y110: From Pitt to Peel 1783–1853Unit group 1
Y111: Liberals, Conservatives and the Rise of Labour 1846–1918Unit group 1
Y112: Britain 1900–1951Unit group 1
Y113: Britain 1930–1997Unit group 1
Y201: The Rise of Islam c.550–750Unit group 2
Y202: Charlemagne 768–814Unit group 2
Y203: The Crusades and the Crusader States 1095–1192Unit group 2
Y204: Genghis Khan and the Explosion From the Steppes c.1167–1405Unit group 2
Y205: Exploration, Encounters and Empire 1445–1570Unit group 2
Y206: Spain 1469–1556Unit group 2
Y207: The German Reformation and the Rule of Charles v 1500–1559Unit group 2
Y208: Philip II 1556–1598Unit group 2
Y209: African Kingdoms c.1400–c.1800: Four Case StudiesUnit group 2
Y210: Russia 1645–1741Unit group 2
Y211: The Rise and Decline of the Mughal Empire in India 1526–1739Unit group 2
Y212: The American Revolution 1740–1796Unit group 2
Y213: The French Revolution and the Rule of Napoleon 1774–1815Unit group 2
Y214: France 1814–1870Unit group 2
Y215: Italy and Unification 1789–1896Unit group 2
Y216: The USA in the 19th Century: Westward Expansion and Civil War 1803–c.1890Unit group 2
Y217: Japan 1853–1937Unit group 2
Y218: International Relations 1890–1941Unit group 2
Y219: Russia 1894–1941Unit group 2
Y220: Italy 1896–1943Unit group 2
Y221: Democracy and Dictatorships in Germany 1919–1963Unit group 2
Y222: The Cold War in Asia 1945–1993Unit group 2
Y223: The Cold War in Europe 1941–1995Unit group 2
Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999Unit group 2
Y301: The Early Anglo-Saxons c.400–800Unit group 3
Y302: The Viking Age c.790–1066Unit group 3
Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216Unit group 3
Y304: The Church and Medieval Heresy c.1100–1437Unit group 3
Y305: The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600Unit group 3
Y306: Rebellion and Disorder Under the Tudors 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y307: Tudor Foreign Policy 1485–1603Unit group 3
Y308: The Catholic Reformation 1492–1610Unit group 3
Y309: The Ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire 1453–1606Unit group 3
Y310: The Development of the Nation State: France 1498–1610Unit group 3
Y311: The Origins and Growth of the British Empire 1558–1783Unit group 3
Y312: Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th CenturiesUnit group 3
Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715Unit group 3
Y314: The Challenge of German Nationalism 1789–1919Unit group 3
Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945Unit group 3
Y316: Britain and Ireland 1791–1921Unit group 3
Y317: China and Its Rulers 1839–1989Unit group 3
Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855–1964Unit group 3
Y319: Civil Rights in the USA 1865–1992Unit group 3
Y320: From Colonialism to Independence: The British Empire 1857–1965Unit group 3
Y321: The Middle East 1908–2011: Ottomans to Arab SpringUnit group 3
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.
- The governance and administration of the Empire: Empire in 1857 and economic explanationsRecall questions on the Empire in 1857, explanations for the growth of the British Empire, Berlin Conference and economic explanations, imperial rivalry, metropolitan influence.Open →
- The governance and administration of the Empire: forms of governance and negotiationRecall questions on forms of governance, security and coercion, trusteeship, men on the spot, collaboration and indigenous elites, the use of technology, negotiation.Open →
- Opposition to British Rule: Opposition movements, peaceful and violent, reasons for their developmentRecall questions on opposition movements, peaceful and violent, reasons for their development, nature and impact including South Africa, India, Sudan, Malaya, Kenya.Open →
- Opposition to British Rule: African nationalism, methods and the role of oppositionRecall questions on Kenya before 1952 and Kenyatta, Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, peaceful and violent methods, the World Wars, Western-educated elites, and how far opposition caused decolonisation and with what consequences.Open →
- The impact of imperial power on the periphery and Britain: Orientalism and the effects of rule on the coloniesRecall questions on Said’s Orientalism, colonial labour, Indian famines, technology and modernisation, medicine, national identities, missions, gender, education, indigenous culture, sport and colonial law and order.Open →
- The impact of imperial power on the periphery and Britain: jingoism and the impact of Empire on BritainRecall questions on jingoism, the debate over the British public and Empire, exhibitions, schools and youth movements, the arts, Empire in domestic politics, and the Empire’s contribution to and profitability for the British economy.Open →
- The British Empire and its impact on international relations: European rivalry, isolation and the First World WarRecall questions on imperial rivalry with European powers, colonial confrontations, Splendid Isolation and its end, the Second Anglo-Boer War, earlier colonial wars and the Empire’s part in and position after the First World War.Open →
- The British Empire and its impact on international relations: mandates, dominions, world war and declineRecall questions on the mandates, the dominions between the wars, the Empire in the Second World War, the United Nations, the United States, Suez, the Cold War, the Commonwealth, the Wind of Change and Europe.Open →
- Depth study: British India: The War of 1857 and its consequences to 1876 — causes, course and consequences of the rebellionRecall questions on British India in 1857, the Doctrine of Lapse and Awadh, religious and military grievances, the outbreak, Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow, the defeat of the rising, the Act of 1858, the Proclamation, reorganisation and interpretations.Open →
- Depth study: Palestine 1914–1948 — Status and causes of Zionist-Palestinian problemRecall questions on status and causes of Zionist-Palestinian problem by 1914, the First World War and the Balfour Declaration.Open →
- Depth study: Palestine 1914–1948 — the Mandate in crisis and the British withdrawalRecall questions on violence before 1936, Jewish immigration and land purchase, Palestinian leadership, the Arab Revolt, the Peel Commission, the White Paper of 1939, Britain’s decision to leave, the UN plan and the consequences of 1948.Open →
- Depth study: Nationalism in Kenya 1945–1965 — nationalism, Mau Mau and independenceRecall questions on Kenya in 1945, nationalist organisation, settlers and Indians, the causes of Mau Mau and oathing, the Emergency and counter-insurgency, Kenyatta’s trial, changing British policy, Lancaster House, independence and interpretations of Mau Mau.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Which colonial confrontations most strained Britain's relations with other European powers?
Describe the empire Britain possessed in 1857.
Distinguish between formal and informal empire.
State the main decisions of the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885.
How thinly was the Empire actually administered?
What were the earliest organised forms of Indian nationalism?
Trace Nkrumah's route to power in the Gold Coast.
What violent methods were used, and how did Britain respond?
Assess the record of imperial medicine.
Why was Suez in 1956 a turning point?
How did the Cold War affect the Empire?
Describe how British India was governed in 1857.
Explain the Doctrine of Lapse and why it caused resentment.
How was the rebellion finally defeated?
What changed in Palestine as a result of the first waves of Jewish immigration?
What were the effects of Zionist land purchase and labour policy?
Who led the Palestinian Arabs, and how effective was that leadership?
What were the immediate consequences of 1948, and how do historians disagree about them?
What was the problem posed by the settlers?
Explain the causes of the Mau Mau rebellion.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
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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