Indian History & the National Movement

In the CUET General Test, Indian History delivers 4-6 near-certain marks, and the National Movement (1857-1947) is the densest scoring zone. These are recall questions with fixed, dateable answers - pure revision marks if your timeline is tight.

What gets asked

Founding dates, "who started/founded", session-and-president pairs of the Congress, and the sequence of movements. The examiner rewards a clean chronology over deep analysis.

Freedom-struggle spine (memorise the order)

• 1857 - First War of Independence; began at Meerut.
• 1885 - Indian National Congress founded by A.O. Hume; first president W.C. Bonnerjee.
• 1905 - Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon; sparked the Swadeshi Movement.
• 1919 - Jallianwala Bagh massacre (Gen. Dyer) and the Rowlatt Act.
• 1920-22 - Non-Cooperation Movement; called off after Chauri Chaura.
• 1930 - Dandi Salt March (12 March) launched Civil Disobedience.
• 1942 - Quit India Movement; "Do or Die" slogan.
• 1947 - Independence on 15 August; partition under the Mountbatten Plan.

Names, slogans and pairings

"Swaraj is my birthright" - Tilak. "Simon Go Back" - against the 1928 Simon Commission. INA founded by Rash Behari Bose, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. Poorna Swaraj resolution - Lahore session, 1929 (Nehru presiding).

Exam Tricks & Tips

• 🎯 Lock the 1885-1905-1919-1930-1942 ladder first; most sequencing questions sit on these five pegs.
• 🎯 Pair every movement with the event that ended it (Non-Cooperation to Chauri Chaura) - examiners love the "why called off" angle.
• 🎯 Learn Congress session-city-president trios for 1885, 1929 and 1931 (Karachi) - high-frequency.
• 🎯 Attach each Viceroy to one signature act (Curzon-Bengal Partition, Ripon-Local Self-Government).
• 🎯 Keep a slogan-to-person table; one-liner questions are almost free marks.
• ❌ Common mistake: confusing the Non-Cooperation (1920) and Civil Disobedience (1930) movements - fix the Salt March date (1930) as your anchor.

Expected exam pattern

Single-statement recall, chronological ordering, and match-the-following (leader-movement, act-year). Difficulty is easy-to-moderate.

Quick recap

Own the 1857-1947 timeline, the Congress session table, and slogan-person pairs. Anchor everything to the Salt March (1930) and Quit India (1942) to avoid the classic movement mix-ups.

Cover the answer, recall, then check. 12 cards on the highest-yield Indian history and freedom-struggle facts for CUET.

Q1. Who founded the Indian National Congress and in which year?
A1. A.O. Hume, in 1885; the first president was W.C. Bonnerjee.

Q2. Which viceroy ordered the Partition of Bengal, and in what year?
A2. Lord Curzon, in 1905 - it triggered the Swadeshi Movement.

Q3. What event caused Gandhi to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement?
A3. The Chauri Chaura incident (1922), where a mob burned a police station.

Q4. When and from where did the Dandi Salt March begin?
A4. 12 March 1930, from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi - it launched Civil Disobedience.

Q5. Which movement used the slogan "Do or Die"?
A5. The Quit India Movement (1942).

Q6. "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it" - whose slogan?
A6. Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Q7. At which 1929 session was the Poorna Swaraj resolution passed, and who presided?
A7. The Lahore session; Jawaharlal Nehru presided.

Q8. Where did the 1857 revolt first break out?
A8. Meerut.

Q9. Against what was "Simon Go Back" directed?
A9. The Simon Commission (1928), which had no Indian member.

Q10. Who gave the slogan "Give me blood and I will give you freedom"?
A10. Subhas Chandra Bose (leader of the INA).

Q11. Which 1919 law allowed detention without trial and sparked mass protest?
A11. The Rowlatt Act, followed by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Q12. On what date did India become independent, and under whose plan was it partitioned?
A12. 15 August 1947; under the Mountbatten Plan.

Every CUET General Test paper carries a cluster of history questions, and they reward one thing: a clean mental timeline. If you can place an event on a decade and link it to a leader, you can answer most of them without hesitation.

What this tests / core idea: your ability to recall landmark events, dates, leaders and reforms of India's freedom struggle (1857–1947), plus a few ancient and medieval anchors. CUET rarely asks obscure trivia — it asks the "famous firsts" and cause-effect links every NCERT covers.

Deep explanation

Beginner — build the spine (1857 to 1919)

Start with three anchor events and hang everything else on them.

• 1857 — the Revolt (First War of Independence); Mangal Pandey, Rani Lakshmibai; led to Crown rule (1858).
• 1885 — Indian National Congress founded (A. O. Hume; first president W. C. Bonnerjee).
• 1905 — Partition of Bengal → Swadeshi movement.
  Remember the moderate phase (Naoroji, Gokhale, Tilak's "Swaraj is my birthright", 1897–1905) shifts to the extremist phase after 1905.

Intermediate — the Gandhian era (1917–1942)

Learn the four mass movements in order, each with its trigger:

Movement	Year	Trigger
Champaran/Kheda	1917–18	Indigo/tax distress
Non-Cooperation	1920–22	Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh (1919), Khilafat
Civil Disobedience	1930	Dandi Salt March; Simon Commission (1928)
Quit India	1942	Cripps Mission failure; "Do or Die"

Advanced — the endgame and constitutional milestones

Chain the Acts: Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford, dyarchy) → 1935 (provincial autonomy, blueprint of the Constitution) → Cabinet Mission 1946 → Mountbatten Plan → Indian Independence Act 1947. Tie in the INA (Subhas Chandra Bose, "Give me blood") and the Cabinet-Mission-based Constituent Assembly (first met December 1946).

Worked example

Q. The Dandi March of 1930 was associated with which movement?
Work it out: Dandi = salt = breaking the salt law → Civil Disobedience Movement. The date 1930 confirms it (Non-Cooperation was 1920, Quit India 1942). Answer: Civil Disobedience Movement.

CUET relevance

Appears in the General Test → General Knowledge section as direct one-line MCQs ("Who founded…?", "In which year…?", match-the-following of leader-to-movement). Usually 4–7 marks worth. Static, so once memorised it is guaranteed scoring.

Speed tricks & shortcuts

• Mnemonic for mass movements in order: "Champaran Never Comes Quietly" (Champaran → Non-cooperation → Civil disobedience → Quit India).
• Sessions mnemonic: 1885 Congress, add multiples to recall "1905 Partition, 1919 Rowlatt/Jallianwala, 1930 Dandi, 1942 Quit India" — the 11-year and 12-year gaps repeat.

Worked Example

Problem: Arrange these events of the national movement in correct chronological order, and name the one that immediately triggered the Non-Cooperation Movement:
(i) Jallianwala Bagh massacre, (ii) Partition of Bengal, (iii) Quit India Movement, (iv) Dandi Salt March.

Solution:
CUET history questions frequently test chronology and cause-effect. Fix each event to its year, then order them.

• Partition of Bengal (ii): 1905 — by Lord Curzon; sparked the Swadeshi Movement.
• Jallianwala Bagh massacre (i): 13 April 1919 — General Dyer ordered firing on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar; a turning point that galvanised nationwide anger.
• Dandi Salt March (iv): 1930 — Gandhi's 240-mile march to make salt, launching the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Quit India Movement (iii): 1942 — the "Do or Die" call demanding an immediate end to British rule.

Chronological order: (ii) 1905 → (i) 1919 → (iv) 1930 → (iii) 1942.

Trigger of Non-Cooperation: the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) was launched by Gandhi in response to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) AND the injustice of the Rowlatt Act, together with the Khilafat issue. Of the listed events, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (i) is the immediate provocation. It was later withdrawn in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, where a mob burned a police station.

The exam technique: anchor a few landmark years (1905, 1919, 1930, 1942, 1947) and reason cause→movement (massacre → Non-Cooperation; Salt March → Civil Disobedience; 1942 → Quit India).

Answer: Chronological order: Partition of Bengal (1905) → Jallianwala Bagh (1919) → Dandi Salt March (1930) → Quit India (1942). The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) was the event that, with the Rowlatt Act and Khilafat cause, immediately triggered the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920).