'The Mountbatten Plan' related to the partition of India, was announced on

The correct answer is B, American independence was declared. On 4 July 1776 the Second Continental Congress, meeting at Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence, by which thirteen colonies broke away from British rule. The Declaration was drafted mainly by Thomas Jefferson and set out the idea that all men are created equal and that governments draw their authority from the consent of the governed. The day is kept every year as Independence Day in the United States, though the war went on until the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris of 1783. A is wrong because George Washington became the first President in 1789. C is wrong because the French alliance was signed in 1778, after the victory at Saratoga. D is wrong because slavery ended in 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment. Exam tip: fix the sequence, 1776 Declaration, 1781 Yorktown, 1783 Treaty of Paris.

The correct answer is C, Saint Petersburg. Bloody Sunday took place in Saint Petersburg, then the capital of Russia, on 22 January 1905, when troops fired on a peaceful procession of workers. The marchers, led by the priest Father Gapon, were carrying a petition to Tsar Nicholas II at the Winter Palace asking for an eight-hour day, better wages and an elected assembly. Hundreds were killed or wounded, the people's faith in the Tsar collapsed, and strikes and mutinies spread into what is called the Revolution of 1905. The Tsar had to issue the October Manifesto promising a Duma. A is wrong because Georgia was a province of the empire and not the site of the firing. B is wrong because Moscow became the capital only in 1918. D is wrong because Paris belongs to the French Revolution of 1789, not to this event. Exam tip: Bloody Sunday, 1905, Saint Petersburg, Father Gapon and Tsar Nicholas II.

The correct answer is B, Belgrade. The first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement met at Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, in September 1961, and twenty-five countries took part. The movement grew out of the wish of newly free nations to stay out of the two Cold War blocs, and its founders were Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Its guiding ideas were peaceful coexistence, an end to colonialism and disarmament. A is wrong because Bandung in Indonesia hosted the Afro-Asian Conference of 1955, which prepared the ground but was not a NAM summit. C is wrong because Cairo hosted the second summit in 1964. D is wrong because Jakarta hosted the tenth summit, in 1992. Exam tip: remember the order, Bandung 1955 then the first NAM summit at Belgrade in 1961.

The correct answer is D, Bhulabhai Desai. Bhulabhai Desai led the defence at the Red Fort trials of the Indian National Army officers, and his argument that the soldiers of a recognised army were fighting for their country's freedom turned the trials into a public cause. The first trial, held from November 1945, was of Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sahgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, charged with waging war against the King. The Congress set up an INA Defence Committee whose members included Jawaharlal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Asaf Ali and Kailash Nath Katju. The men were convicted but the sentences were remitted after countrywide protests. A is wrong because Sardar Patel organised relief and funds, and did not appear in court. B is wrong because Aruna Asaf Ali was a leader of the 1942 movement, not a lawyer in the case. C is wrong because K. M. Munshi, though a lawyer, is remembered for his work in the Constituent Assembly. Exam tip: Red Fort trials 1945-46, defence led by Bhulabhai Desai.

The correct answer is B, Tej Bahadur Sapru. The Liberal leader Tej Bahadur Sapru, working with M. R. Jayakar, brought Gandhi and Viceroy Lord Irwin to the table and is remembered as the mediator of the pact. The agreement was signed in Delhi on 5 March 1931 and is also called the Delhi Pact. Gandhi agreed to suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement and to attend the Second Round Table Conference in London, while the government agreed to release political prisoners not convicted of violence, to return confiscated property and to allow people on the coast to make salt for their own use. A is wrong because Motilal Nehru had died in February 1931, before the pact. C is wrong because Annie Besant led the Home Rule movement and had no part in it. D is wrong because C. Y. Chintamani was a Liberal editor and politician, not the mediator here. Exam tip: Gandhi-Irwin Pact, 5 March 1931, Delhi Pact, just before the Second Round Table Conference.