British History KP PMS Paper II 2025

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
WRITTEN EXAMINATION FOR THE POSTS OF PMS OFFICER / AETO BPS-17
(2025)
BRITISH HISTORY (PAPER-II)
Time Allowed: 03 Hours Total Marks: 100
Note:- Attempt any five questions.
Q.No.1 Analyze the fundamental nature of the British Empire. Was it primarily a commercial enterprise driven by economic interests (“a nation of shopkeepers”) or was it a project of political and cultural domination guided by a sense of racial and civilizational superiority? (20)
Q.No.2 To what extent did the raft of social legislation passed between 1850 and 1900, including the Factory Acts and Coal Mines Regulation Acts, fundamentally alter the condition of the British working class? (20)
Q.No.3 Why did successive British governments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries fail to resolve the “Irish Question”? Assess the relative importance of British party politics, Ulster Unionist resistance, and the radicalization of Irish nationalism in preventing a peaceful solution. (20)
Q.No.4 “The Treaty of Versailles was not a peace treaty, but a twenty-year armistice.” Critically analyze this statement. (20)
Q.No.5 Compare and contrast the impact of the First and Second World Wars on Britain’s global standing. Which conflict delivered the more decisive blow to Britain’s economic and imperial power, ultimately sealing its decline as a world superpower? (20)
Q.No.6 To what extent was the Suez Crisis of 1956 the definitive moment that marked the end of Britain’s status as a global superpower? (20)
Q.No.7 “Was Margaret Thatcher’s primary contribution to ending the Cold War her powerful anti-communist rhetoric, or did her government’s concrete actions have a more significant and practical effect on the collapse of the Soviet Union? (20)
Q.No.8 Analyze the social and cultural transformations in Britain since the 1960s. How have large-scale immigration and the rise of multiculturalism challenged traditional notions of British identity? (20)