Lesson Y8-U02-L05

Y8-U02-L05 Empire A Force for Good or Ill Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 8

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U02-L05, Empire A Force for Good or Ill: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 8: Year 8: Empire, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year did Britain abolish the slave trade?

    • 1849
    • 1833
    • 1807
    • 1919

  2. In what year was slavery itself abolished across the British Empire?

    • 1849
    • 1943
    • 1833
    • 1807

  3. Where and when did the Amritsar Massacre take place?

    • Cairo, Egypt, 1882
    • Nairobi, Kenya, 1952
    • Kingston, Jamaica, 1865
    • Amritsar, India, 1919

  4. Which famine killed an estimated 2 to 3 million people in Bengal in 1943?

    • The Black Death of 1348
    • The Bengal famine of 1943
    • The Irish famine of 1845
    • The Great Fire of 1666

  5. Which famous diamond was taken from India in 1849 and now sits in the Crown Jewels?

    • The Cullinan
    • The Hope Diamond
    • The Star of Africa
    • The Koh-i-Noor

  6. Roughly how many enslaved Africans did Britain transport across the Atlantic before 1807?

    • Around 300 people, mostly servants who were taken to the colonies as household staff
    • Around 3 million or more
    • Around 30,000 people, carried in a few small ships over the course of the century
    • None at all, because Britain never took part in the Atlantic slave trade of its own

  7. For how long had Britain been the biggest slave-trading nation before 1807?

    • It was never a slave-trading nation
    • Only 10 years
    • Less than a year
    • Over a century

  8. Roughly how long was the railway network built in India by 1947?

    • About 400,000 miles
    • About 400 miles
    • About 4 million miles
    • About 40,000 miles

  9. Who commanded the troops at the Amritsar Massacre in 1919?

    • General Rupert
    • General Monck
    • General Kitchener
    • General Dyer

  10. Which naval force was set up to stop slave ships at sea?

    • The Boston Navy
    • The Spanish Armada
    • The East India Company's fleet
    • The West Africa Squadron

  11. Which Indian leader is associated with the independence movement that grew after Amritsar?

    • Robert Clive
    • Cecil Rhodes
    • Thomas Macaulay
    • Gandhi

  12. Why was Britain's abolition of slavery in 1807 a qualified 'good' point?

    • It was done by Germany, which had led the Atlantic trade for more than a century
    • It made British ships sink in the rough waters of the Atlantic as they carried their goods
    • It ended the Atlantic trade for the Dutch, who had only recently joined it in the 1700s
    • It came only after Britain had trafficked millions of Africans for profit

  13. Source A says the Empire spread railways, the telegraph, medicine and the rule of law. Why should a historian be careful with this claim?

    • It was written by an Indian farmer in 1919 who had lost his land to the British government
    • It is a photograph of Amritsar taken by a British soldier who was stationed in the Punjab
    • It celebrates benefits and does not weigh the catches, such as the purpose of railways
    • It contains no claims at all, and so it cannot be used to judge the empire in any way

  14. Source B says railways were 'built to serve Britain, not Indians'. Which evidence from the lesson supports this?

    • Indians paid for railways through taxes, and they moved British goods and troops
    • Railways were built by the Pope, who sent the engineers and paid the workers in Rome
    • Railways carried only Indian farmers to their fields, and never carried a single soldier
    • Railways were built for free by the Indian government, which then gave them to the British

  15. Why does the question 'good or ill FOR WHOM?' matter?

    • It means the question has no answer, because nobody can ever judge an empire fairly at all
    • Something good for Britain could be harmful for the people Britain ruled
    • It only matters for the British government, which alone decided what counted as success
    • It matters only for trade records kept in the merchants' ledgers and the company's books

  16. Why might two historians disagree about the same empire?

    • They study different planets, so their evidence cannot be compared in any sensible way
    • They weigh different evidence and ask different questions, such as 'good for whom?'
    • They have never read any sources at all, and so they simply guess at what happened
    • They are paid to agree with each other by the government that funds their research

  17. What does 'balanced' mean in a historical judgement?

    • Refusing to decide and leaving the question open, so that no clear answer is ever reached
    • Agreeing with the most popular view in the newspapers and in the public debate of the day
    • Using only one source, which is the quickest way to reach a conclusion about the past
    • Weighing both sides fairly with evidence before reaching a clear decision

  18. Why was the Amritsar Massacre important for later Indian resistance?

    • It made Indians welcome British rule more warmly and accept the government's authority
    • It turned many Indians against British rule and fuelled the independence movement
    • It led to the abolition of slavery in India, which had already been banned by the Company
    • It ended all protests in India, so the British could govern without any further resistance

  19. Why do a benefit and its 'catch' usually sit side by side in the empire?

    • Each benefit often served Britain first or undid a harm Britain had caused
    • Benefits were always free for everyone, and no one ever had to pay for them at all
    • Catches only appear in the 1900s, long after the empire had ended and its legacy faded
    • Benefits and catches never occur in the same place, so they can always be judged apart

  20. Which harm would a defender of the Empire find HARDEST to explain away?

    • The railway network built in India, which carried millions of passengers and goods each year
    • The English language taught in schools across the colonies, which spread to millions of people
    • Slavery, since Britain trafficked millions of enslaved Africans before 1807
    • The telegraph line across India, which linked the government's offices to the coast by wire

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