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The freedom struggle had a second strand that never met at Congress sessions. It worked in secret societies, it chose targets rather than crowds, and its members were tried in named conspiracy cases and hanged young.
This strand is worth a whole short of its own because exams ask it differently from the rest of modern history. Nobody is asked to assess the Non-Cooperation Movement here. They are asked who, where, in which case and in which year — case name to person, person to date, organisation to city.
So store it as three waves rather than as a story. The first, from 1897 to about 1915, is the age of the bomb and the pistol in Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab. The second, from 1924 to 1934, is the HRA and HSRA generation, which added a socialist programme to the pistol. The third, from 1942 to 1946, moves the fight out of India altogether, into the Azad Hind Fauj.
SSC CGL, RRB NTPC, BPSC TRE-4 general studies and UPSC Prelims all draw from this list.
1. The Kakori train action of 9 August 1925 was carried out by members of which organisation?
2. Where was the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) formed in September 1928?
3. On which date were Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru hanged in the Lahore Conspiracy Case?
4. The Chittagong Armoury Raid of April 1930 was led by whom?
5. In which city did Subhas Chandra Bose proclaim the Provisional Government of Free India in October 1943?
6. Who commanded the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, the women's unit of the Azad Hind Fauj?
7. Khudiram Bose was hanged in 1908 in connection with which case?
8. Where were the INA trials of 1945 held?