Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“The capitalism which gave the European empires their apparent solidarity and permanence also hastened their downfall.” Comment.

  • UPSC 2009
  • Disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World

The same capitalist logic that stitched European empires into apparently durable economic systems also generated the contradictions — inter-imperial war, metropolitan exhaustion, rival hegemons, and nationalist counter-movements — that dismantled those empires within a few decades of their apparent zenith.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Capitalism as the Cement of Empire
  • The Machinery of Economic Solidarity: Trade, Capital, Infrastructure
  • Inter-Imperial Rivalry and the Wars That Bankrupted Empire
  • War-Driven Economic Exhaustion of Britain and France
  • The Rise of American Economic Hegemony and Bretton Woods
  • Nationalist Economic Critique from Within the Colonies

Unlock this answer and 1,350+ more

  • 1,350+ solved UPSC History Optional PYQs from 1985 to 2025, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Post-Independence and World History
  • Model answers with a clear structure and historian citations
  • Map section solutions included, at no extra cost
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get History Optional PYQ Master Pack @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · No subscription · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World question (25 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in