UPSC World History – Chapter 2: The Industrial Revolution (20 MCQs)

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UPSC World History – Chapter 2: The Industrial Revolution (20 MCQs) – 20 questions, subject: History. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.

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1.  

The spinning jenny was invented by:

Correct Answer: A [James Hargreaves]

Explanation:

1764.

2.  

James Watt's main contribution to the steam engine was:

Correct Answer: D [the separate condenser]

Explanation:

Watt's separate condenser (patent 1769) cut fuel waste, making steam engines efficient enough to drive factories.

3.  

The first inter-city railway in the world, opened in 1830, linked:

Correct Answer: C [Liverpool and Manchester]

Explanation:

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830) was the first inter-city line, running steam-hauled passenger and goods trains.

4.  

The first passenger train in India ran in 1853 between:

Correct Answer: C [Bombay and Thane]

Explanation:

India's first passenger train ran from Bombay (Bori Bunder) to Thane on 16 April 1853.

5.  

Which of the following was a cause of Britain's early industrialisation?

Correct Answer: D [Coal and iron located close together]

Explanation:

Large coal and iron deposits lay close together and near water transport, cutting costs for Britain's industries.

6.  

The Bessemer process was used to produce:

Correct Answer: D [cheap steel]

Explanation:

1856.

7.  

In Japan, large family-controlled business houses that grew after the Meiji Restoration were called:

Correct Answer: C [zaibatsu]

Explanation:

Zaibatsu such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi were family-controlled business groups that bought many State enterprises in Meiji Japan.

8.  

The Luddites were:

Correct Answer: B [workers who broke machines]

Explanation:

1811–16.

9.  

The cotton gin, which made cleaning of raw cotton quick, was invented by:

Correct Answer: D [Eli Whitney]

Explanation:

1793.

10.  

Consider the following statements:

1. The Factory Act of 1833 in Britain limited child labour.
2. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846.
3. Chartism demanded votes only for property owners.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct Answer: B [1 and 2 only]

Explanation:

Statements 1 and 2 are true: the 1833 Factory Act limited child labour, and the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846.

11.  

Assertion (A): Many Indian artisans lost their livelihood in the nineteenth century.

Reason (R): Cheap machine-made cloth from Britain entered India under one-way free trade.

Correct Answer: A [Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A]

Explanation:

Both are true and linked: cheap Lancashire cloth admitted under one-way free trade ruined Indian handicraft producers.

12.  

The Second Industrial Revolution was based mainly on:

Correct Answer: C [steel, electricity and chemicals]

Explanation:

From about 1870 steel, electricity, chemicals and oil led industry, especially in Germany and the United States.

13.  

The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) was written by:

Correct Answer: B [Friedrich Engels]

Explanation:

Friedrich Engels wrote this study of Manchester workers in 1845, three years before co-writing the Communist Manifesto.

14.  

Abraham Darby is remembered for:

Correct Answer: A [smelting iron with coke]

Explanation:

1709.

15.  

Large-scale industrialisation in Russia began in the:

Correct Answer: A [1890s]

Explanation:

State-led, with foreign capital.

16.  

Arrange the following in chronological order:

1. Watt's patent for the separate condenser
2. Kay's flying shuttle
3. Stephenson's Rocket
4. Hargreaves' spinning jenny

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct Answer: C [2-4-1-3]

Explanation:

1733, 1764, 1769, 1829.

17.  

Which of the following was a feature of Japan's industrialisation after 1868?

Correct Answer: A [State-built factories later sold to private firms]

Explanation:

The Meiji State built model factories, railways and shipyards, then sold many to private business houses (zaibatsu).

18.  

The historian who made the term "Industrial Revolution" popular in the 1880s was:

Correct Answer: C [Arnold Toynbee]

Explanation:

Arnold Toynbee's Oxford lectures of the early 1880s, published in 1884, popularised the term Industrial Revolution.

19.  

TISCO was set up at Jamshedpur in:

Correct Answer: B [1907]

Explanation:

The Tata Iron and Steel Company was founded in 1907, with its plant at Sakchi, later named Jamshedpur.

20.  

The first cotton mill in Bombay was set up in:

Correct Answer: A [1854]

Explanation:

Cowasji Nanabhai Davar's Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company, Bombay's first cotton mill, was set up in 1854.

➤ Full notes, maps, tables, a reason for every option and Mains PYQs – U05 · World History (UPSC book, ₹249): www.shanmugamiasacademy.in/study-materials/upsc-world-history

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