Lesson 1J.2.1

1J.2.1 Imperial retreat, 1914–1967 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 9

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 1J.2.1, Imperial retreat, 1914–1967: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 9: 1J The British Empire, c1857–1967, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which system, set up by the League of Nations after the First World War, gave Britain responsibility for former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Palestine?

    • The Commonwealth preference system
    • The indirect rule system
    • The Protectorate system
    • The mandate system

  2. Which massacre of 1919 in the Punjab saw British troops open fire on an unarmed crowd, provoking outrage and strengthening Indian nationalism?

    • The Peterloo massacre
    • The Sharpeville massacre
    • The Amritsar massacre
    • The Morant Bay massacre

  3. Which Act of 1931 gave the Dominions legal equality with Britain and ended Westminster's power to legislate for them without consent?

    • The Government of India Act
    • The Statute of Westminster
    • The Royal Titles Act
    • The Colonial Stock Act

  4. Which 1935 Act of Parliament, passed by the British government, gave Indian provinces a degree of self-government under a federal framework?

    • The Rowlatt Act of 1919
    • The Government of India Act 1858
    • The Government of India Act 1935
    • The Indian Independence Act 1947

  5. Which Indian leader led a campaign of civil disobedience in the 1930s, including the Salt March of 1930?

    • Subhas Chandra Bose
    • Jawaharlal Nehru
    • Mohandas Gandhi
    • Muhammad Ali Jinnah

  6. Which 1942 campaign launched by Gandhi and the Congress demanded an immediate end to British rule in India?

    • Non-Cooperation
    • Swaraj Pact
    • Quit India
    • Swadeshi

  7. Which 1947 Act of Parliament ended British rule in India and created the independent states of India and Pakistan?

    • The Indian Independence Act
    • The Rowlatt Act
    • The Government of India Act 1935
    • The Statute of Westminster

  8. Which man, the last Viceroy of India, oversaw the transfer of power and partition arrangements in 1947?

    • Lord Mountbatten
    • Lord Irwin, who was Viceroy during the Salt March and the Round Table Conferences of the early 1930s
    • Lord Curzon, who was Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and carried out a major partition of Bengal
    • Lord Wavell, who was Viceroy in 1943 to 1947 and planned the transfer of power in the final years

  9. Which declaration of 1941, drawn up by Churchill and Roosevelt, set out principles on self-determination that later affected colonial independence?

    • The Balfour Declaration
    • The Treaty of Versailles
    • The Hoare-Laval Pact
    • The Atlantic Charter

  10. Which 1956 crisis, triggered by Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal, ended with British and French withdrawal under US and Soviet pressure?

    • The Aden Emergency
    • The Suez Crisis
    • The Cyprus Emergency
    • The Malayan Emergency

  11. Which 1952 to 1960 conflict in Kenya was a rebellion by the Kikuyu-based Land and Freedom Army against British rule?

    • The Ashanti Uprising
    • The Maji Maji Rebellion
    • The Mau Mau Rising
    • The Bushiri Revolt

  12. Which leader led Ghana to independence in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan African colony to gain independence from Britain?

    • Julius Nyerere
    • Jomo Kenyatta
    • Kwame Nkrumah
    • Nnamdi Azikiwe

  13. Which 1965 act by the white-minority government of Rhodesia declared independence from Britain without majority rule?

    • The Independence Act, which granted independence to the Rhodesian territory in 1964 by a single parliamentary vote
    • The Unilateral Declaration of Independence
    • The Lancaster House Agreement, which settled the constitution of Rhodesia at a conference held in London in 1979
    • The Federation Act, which created the Central African Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953

  14. Which 1949 agreement allowed India to remain a member of the Commonwealth as a republic, changing the meaning of membership?

    • The London Declaration
    • The Balfour Declaration
    • The Ottawa Agreement
    • The Statute of Westminster

  15. How many years separated the Amritsar massacre in 1919 and the Indian Independence Act in 1947?

    • 22 years
    • 38 years
    • 32 years
    • 28 years

  16. How many years separated the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and the Suez Crisis in 1956?

    • 25 years
    • 30 years
    • 35 years
    • 20 years

  17. How many years separated the Atlantic Charter in 1941 and the Rhodesian UDI in 1965?

    • 20 years
    • 28 years
    • 24 years
    • 32 years

  18. Which statement best explains the British decision to grant independence to India in 1947, as shaped by the spec's themes?

    • Britain had decided to keep India permanently as a colony, which was a policy agreed by both main parties
    • The Indian princes voted to join the Soviet Union in 1946, which made British rule impossible to sustain
    • Britain was defeated in India by a Japanese invasion in 1945, which forced the British to leave the subcontinent
    • Sustained nationalist pressure, the economic costs of war and changing international attitudes made continued rule unsustainable

  19. Which statement best assesses the legacy of the Suez Crisis for British imperial policy?

    • It led to an immediate increase in British imperial territory, which was extended to cover the whole canal zone
    • It showed Britain's dependence on the United States and accelerated the move away from great-power policy east of Suez
    • It proved that Britain could act alone against Egypt without consequences, which strengthened its position in the region
    • It had no effect on British policy towards the Middle East or Africa, which continued unchanged after 1956

  20. Which statement best explains why Mau Mau was important in the spec's theme of indigenous responses to British rule?

    • It proved that colonial rule in Kenya was never challenged by any group, as confirmed by the settlers' votes in the Legislative Council
    • It demonstrated the strength of African opposition and the costs of repression, which helped to push Britain towards accepting independence
    • It showed that British settlers in Kenya were fully accepted by all Africans, which ended colonial order and the emergency in 1952
    • It had no impact on British policy in Africa, which stayed exactly the same after the emergency was declared in 1952 and lifted in 1960

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