PMS · PMS · 2026
Solved Black Hole Incident 1756 tricky GK practice set — 50 MCQs with verified answers and explanations (20 June 1756, Fort William, Siraj-ud-Daulah, Holwell, 146 confined, 23 survivors). A Sir Adnan practice set for PMS Screening preparation, not an official past paper.
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Questions
50
Time
50
Minutes
Subjects
1
Topics
1
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About this paper
A Sir Adnan one-liner set headed 'Black Hole Incident 1756-GK / ONE-LINER (PPSC/FPSC NEW TREND 2026-27)' from the monster-data 'PMS SCREENING 2026 GK UPDATED' pack. The booklet prints 50 statement + answer items in a question/answer table (4 pp, no options); all 50 are published here in the standard MCQ format with verified answers and explanations, 0 dropped and 0 corrections, with 2 NOTE flags (Q19 rivalry framing, Q25 title vs birth name).
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50 solved MCQs shown directly below
Correct Answer: 1756
The Black Hole incident took place on 20 June 1756, when Siraj-ud-Daulah's forces captured Fort William, Calcutta.
Correct Answer: Calcutta (Kolkata)
The incident took place at Fort William in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Correct Answer: Siraj-ud-Daulah
Siraj-ud-Daulah was Nawab of Bengal from 1756 to 1757.
Correct Answer: A small prison room
The 'Black Hole' was a small prison cell — the fort's guardroom — in Fort William.
Correct Answer: Fort William
Siraj-ud-Daulah captured Fort William, the East India Company's fort at Calcutta, in June 1756.
Correct Answer: 146
According to John Zephaniah Holwell's account, 146 people were confined in the room.
Correct Answer: 23
Holwell's account reports 23 survivors out of the 146 confined; 123 reportedly died.
Correct Answer: 18th century
The incident occurred in 1756, in the 18th century.
Correct Answer: Holwell's Narrative
The best-known account is that of John Zephaniah Holwell, a survivor and Company servant.
Correct Answer: Fort William
The room was part of Fort William at Calcutta.
Correct Answer: India
Calcutta lies in present-day India (West Bengal).
Correct Answer: British
The prisoners were servants and associates of the British East India Company.
Correct Answer: Bengal
Siraj-ud-Daulah was Nawab of Bengal (which then included Bihar and Orissa).
Correct Answer: Recapture of Calcutta
The incident became the Company's justification for the expedition under Clive and Watson that recaptured Calcutta in January 1757.
Correct Answer: John Zephaniah Holwell
John Zephaniah Holwell, a Company servant and survivor, wrote the famous narrative of the incident.
Correct Answer: Hooghly River
Fort William stood on the Hooghly River at Calcutta.
Correct Answer: King George II
George II reigned in Britain from 1727 to 1760, covering June 1756.
Correct Answer: Battle of Plassey
Siraj-ud-Daulah was defeated by Clive at Plassey on 23 June 1757, a year after the incident.
Correct Answer: Anglo-French rivalry
The incident took place as Anglo-French rivalry in India sharpened on the eve of the Seven Years' War (from 1756); Siraj-ud-Daulah acted amid fears of British fortification against the French.
Correct Answer: British soldiers and civilians
The confined were mainly British soldiers, Company servants and other Europeans at Fort William.
Correct Answer: Accuracy of numbers
Historians debate Holwell's figures (146 confined, 123 dead), which rest largely on his single account.
Correct Answer: 18 × 14 feet
Holwell described the room as about 18 feet by 14 feet (14 feet 10 inches in his precise figure).
Correct Answer: June
The confinement took place overnight on 20–21 June 1756.
Correct Answer: Bengal
The incident stiffened the Company's resolve to reassert and expand its power in Bengal.
Correct Answer: Siraj-ud-Daulah
Siraj-ud-Daulah — 'Lamp of the State' — was the Nawab's regnal title; his birth name was Mirza Muhammad.
Correct Answer: New Fort William
After recapturing Calcutta, the British built the new Fort William (begun 1758) on a new site.
Correct Answer: Battle of Plassey (1757)
The incident (June 1756) preceded the Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757).
Correct Answer: Robert Clive
Robert Clive led the expedition that recaptured Calcutta in January 1757.
Correct Answer: Extreme heat and suffocation
Holwell's account describes extreme heat, crowding and suffocation through the June night.
Correct Answer: History
The incident is a standard topic in the history of British India.
Correct Answer: Alamgir II
Alamgir II was Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759; Bengal's Nawab ruled under his nominal suzerainty.
Correct Answer: British East India Company
Fort William was the British East India Company's settlement at Calcutta.
Correct Answer: Expansion of British influence
The incident and its aftermath marked a turn toward the expansion of British influence in Bengal.
Correct Answer: Air and water
Holwell's account stresses the denial of air and water in the crowded, sealed room.
Correct Answer: 1756
Fort William fell to Siraj-ud-Daulah's forces on 20 June 1756.
Correct Answer: Exaggeration claims
Critics argue Holwell exaggerated the death toll and the horrors to justify British retaliation.
Correct Answer: Bengal Delta
The British retaliation campaign operated across Bengal and its delta region.
Correct Answer: Calcutta
The aftermath led to the British recapture of Calcutta and, after Plassey, effective control of Bengal.
Correct Answer: British
Holwell's narrative was widely circulated by the British as justification for their Bengal campaigns.
Correct Answer: Murshidabad
Murshidabad was the capital of the Nawabs of Bengal.
Correct Answer: Mughal Empire
By 1756 the Mughal Empire was in decline, with Bengal effectively autonomous under its Nawab.
Correct Answer: The Black Hole of Calcutta
'The Black Hole of Calcutta' is the conventional name for the incident.
Correct Answer: King William III
Fort William was named after King William III (reigned 1689–1702).
Correct Answer: Robert Clive
The incident spurred Clive's Bengal campaign, culminating at Plassey in 1757.
Correct Answer: Night
The confinement lasted through the night of 20–21 June 1756.
Correct Answer: 123
Holwell's account reports 123 deaths out of the 146 confined, leaving 23 survivors.
Correct Answer: Imperial propaganda
The episode is often cited as an example of imperial propaganda used to justify conquest.
Correct Answer: Bengal
The incident belongs to the history of Bengal under the Nawabs and the East India Company.
Correct Answer: Guardroom
The room was the fort's guardroom, used as a military prison cell.
Correct Answer: Treaty of Alinagar
The Treaty of Alinagar (9 February 1757) followed the recapture of Calcutta and restored the Company's position in Bengal.
Source & verification
Built by GK360 from verified bank questions — every answer rechecked before publishing. Where the source printed no options, the answer options were prepared by GK360; the questions and correct answers are the verified originals.
Questions
No. It is a Sir Adnan one-liner practice set on the Black Hole Incident of 1756, prepared for PMS Screening 2026. It is published as paperType 'practice', never as a past paper, and the year 2026 is the booklet's label, not a claimed exam session.
On the night of 20–21 June 1756, after Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, captured Fort William at Calcutta.
According to John Zephaniah Holwell's account, 146 people were confined in the small room and 23 survived; 123 reportedly died. The figures are debated by historians.
Because the death toll and details rest largely on Holwell's single account, and critics argue the episode was exaggerated and used as British propaganda to justify the recapture of Calcutta and the Bengal campaigns.
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