AQA 2024
A-level
HISTORY
7042/1J
Component 1J The British Empire,
c1857–1967
Question paper and Mark scheme
Merged
,A-level
HISTORY
Component 1J The British Empire, c1857–1967
Thursday 23 May 2024 Morning Time allowed: 2 hours 30 minutes
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/1J.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
IB/M/Jun24/G4006/E5 7042/1J
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
During the interwar period, the old arguments that Britain needed India no longer carried
much weight. It was pointless to regard the Indian army as vital for British power in Asia.
The economic ties between the two countries had been effectively severed between the
wars. It was between the wars that India’s tentative steps towards self-government had
been accompanied by an economic revolution. British investment in India fell and 5
imports from Britain also declined. The Lancashire cotton industry was squeezed out of
India which had previously been a captive and highly profitable market. British
manufacturers who exported to India were also under pressure and conceded the Indian
market to rivals. In the 1940s, the economic cost of India increased as Britain agreed to
pay the bulk of the costs of India’s war effort. At the same time, Britain had become 10
indebted to the United States and faced a spiralling balance of payment deficit. By 1947,
India had ceased to be a commercial asset to Britain of any kind.
Adapted from L James, Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India, 1997
Extract B
The First World War was clearly a turning-point in Indian politics and in the imperial
connection. The crucial contribution that India played in the war, and the public assertion
by Britain that the war was being fought to defend the rights of nations, raised Indian
aspirations for appropriate recognition within the Empire. At the same time, the British
became aware of the fragility of the Raj and recognised that some kind of political reform 5
would be necessary. The Second World War was even more crucial for India than the
First had been. It precipitated the ultimate crisis for British rule and for the identity of
India as an independent nation. Despite Britain’s determination to hold India for the war
effort, the British after 1945 calculated that an alliance with a free India within the
Commonwealth was preferable to continued occupation. From 1945 to 1947, Britain’s 10
aim was to quit India peacefully and honourably, leaving behind a strong and united
country.
Adapted from JM Brown, The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth
Century, 1999
IB/M/Jun24/7042/1J
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