History

It was the cultural, economic and political process through which colonies broke free from the colonial empires and integrated themselves to the new ‘world order’. Cultural Colonial empires were generally founded on principles of Racism and ‘right to rule’ over ‘inferior races’. These narratives had to be challenged. An image of benevolent and modernising influence … Read more

Nationalist movements Through the effects of westernisation and opening up, colonies acquired enlightened leadership and many developed strong nationalist movements. Most colonies were extensive police states. Massive unrest made them simply unviable. Second World War It weakened most European powers and they couldn’t keep up with the maintenance of their empires. The most powerful among … Read more

Africa faced many unique challenges which made Decolonisation a very difficult process. These were common to most of the new states in Africa. Tribal differences Many countries were brought together by the sheer military forces of the colonizers. Lack of a common cultural past and tribal belligerence meant that they slaughtered each other inside these … Read more

The difference in the attitude towards slavery can be seen as the root cause of the American Civil War. This had repercussions in the economic and political sphere too. The factors which led to the outbreak of the Civil War in America can be consolidated as below: Economic Disparity between Northern and Southern States Northern … Read more

. The early Indian society was plagued by various social evils against women such as Sati, polygamy, poor conditions of widows, child marriage, female infanticide, etc. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is well known for his efforts for widow remarriage. He and Rani Roshmoni’s efforts helped in the passing of the Widows’ remarriage act in 1856, which … Read more

Savitri bai Phule is widely regarded as one of India’s first generation modern feminists for her significant contributions in ensuring equal education opportunities under the British raj. She became the first female teacher in India in 1848 and opened a school for girls along with her husband, social reformer Jyotirao Phule. The two also worked … Read more

Napoleon completed his schooling in the mainland of France later joined the military academy.  He was bullied as a child by his peers and hence spent a lot of time alone with books. This made him well acquainted with history and geography. Napoleon fought in the French revolutionary wars and against other European monarchies since … Read more

After His appointment as First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, tried to keep all power in his own hands.  As for example, he had the power of making peace and war, appoint all the States Officials, had the power to control the Army, had the right to propose any laws through Council of State. Under such circumstances, … Read more

Centuries of unchallenged Russian expansion in Asia ended with an embarrassing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). This military defeat broke Russia’s dream of establishing dominance over the whole of Asia, and also contributed to a wave of domestic unrest leading to the Russian revolution of 1905. During this time the industrial revolution also reached … Read more

The demand for states on a linguistic basis had started even before independence. This attained more strength after the initial political integration of provinces and princely states. However, the government got concerned that the state solely formed on a linguistic basis might be unsuitable and might pose some potential risk to the unity of the … Read more