Oxbridge History and Politics Interview Questions
The best way to prepare for an Oxbridge History and Politics interview is through mock interviews. As well as giving you general interview experience, they focus your mind on the types of questions asked at an Oxford or Cambridge History and Politics interview, teaching you to think in the way required for the real thing.
Below, we have compiled a list of questions of the type you will be asked in your Oxbridge History and Politics interview. Use them to give yourself an awareness of what's expected, plan out answers on your own, or give them to a teacher, friend, or family member, and ask them to conduct a mock interview with you. As you will have separate interviews for each of the two subjects, these interview questions are categorised by subject as well.
Note: If you are doing mock interviews with us, we recommend waiting until afterwards to look through these questions, so that you aren't asked questions you have already prepared for (as you won't have that opportunity for the real thing!). If you haven't booked any mock interviews yet, you can do so here.
History Interview Questions
How do you organise a successful revolution?
How would you compare Henry VIII and Stalin?
In the 1920s, did the invention of the Henry Ford car lead to a national sub-culture or was it just an aspect of one?
Should historians be allowed to read sci-fi novels?
Do you think that all of history is a history of thought?
Would history be worth studying if it didn’t repeat itself?
Is national character a useful concept in history?
How can one define a revolution?
How would a biography of a major political figure written while they are alive differ from one written after their death? Which would be the more accurate assessment of their contribution to history?
Imagine we had no records about the past at all, except everything to do with sport. How much of the past could we find out about?
Which person (or sort of person) in the past would you most like to interview, and why?
Is violence always political? Does 'political' mean something different in different contexts?
Can history stop the next war?
What trees did Disraeli plant at Hughenden Manor?
Why are you sitting in this chair?
When was the English monarchy at its strongest?
Do you think the Bavarian peasants of 1848 had an ideology?
Why is it OK for one country to intervene in another?
Who writes history?
Is history moving away from the study of great men to that of ordinary people?
Do you think the government should spend money preserving historical sites?
How would you research illiterate medieval craftsmen?
What is the position of the individual in history?
How do historians obtain evidence?
Do you feel historical artefacts belong in the country of their origin?
What is the most useful source for a historian?
Is humanity destined to repeat the mistakes of history?
Can the American political system be compared to the feudal system of the medieval age?
Has the French revolution ended?
Was Hitler really evil?
Was it more detrimental or beneficial to Elizabeth I's image to align herself with the virgin Mary?
Is Christianity solely about salvation?
Were the Russian peasants mystically connected to the countryside?
What are the parallels between totalitarian control in the Nazi state and forms of control in the western world today?
Do you think the dumbing down of history for television and in museums is a good thing?
How would one apply effective governmental systems to Mongolia?
Is Russia just too big for democracy?
What is your view on the role of women in the Second World War?
What can historians not find out about the past?
Who was your favourite person from history and why?
Should the monarch execute current ministers if it is politically expedient?
How many people do you think could read in the sixteenth century?
Which two history books would you take to a desert island and why?
What is the role of myth in history?
Should historians seek to achieve objectivity, and can they ever succeed?
Is visiting historical sites useful to a historian?
Should historians pass moral judgements?
Is history written by the victors?
Should historians write the history of cultures that they are not part of?
Is history an art or a science?
How useful are re-enactments to a historian?
Is the history of the world just the biography of great men?
Should we remove statues of controversial historical figures from public spaces?
Should historians be passionate or dispassionate about their subject?
Should we think of our culture and civilisation as having progressed?
Does history ever repeat itself, and do we ever learn from our mistakes?
Is history important beyond informing the present?
If you were a historian in 2100, how would you write the history of the 2020s and what sources would you use?
Has the history of all previous societies been the history of class struggles?
How do ideas affect history?
Can we still learn lessons from 18th century warfare?
What are the problems that come up when analysing colonial societies from a postcolonial context?
Are verbal sources more useful than written sources?
Can we take anything written in a classical source at face value?
How would you compare and contrast the French and Russian revolutions?
How would you compare and contrast the rules of Hitler and Stalin?
How would you compare and contrast WWI and WWII?
Did the 9/11 attacks change the way we write history?
Do we ever learn from the past?
Do you consider history a science?
Do you think history can have any practical purpose?
Do you think that Ancient History should be seen as a different subject from Modem History?
How can we justify public funding of the study of history?
How do we know what people in the past really thought?
How is the Arab Spring similar to the Russian Revolution?
How would you have stopped Hitler?
How would you research illiterate medieval craftsmen?
Is class a useful concept for historians?
Is Marxist history still worth studying?
Is Medieval history relevant to us today?
Is national character a useful concept in history?
Is race a useful concept for historians?
Is religion important for modem historians?
Is there such a thing as ideology?
Should we simply narrate the past?
Should we study contemporary history?
To what extent can a historian remain impartial?
What do you need to consider when evaluating the reliability of a source?
What are the main differences between modern and classical sources?
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘nostalgia’?
What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?
What is the role of student uprisings in historical progress?
When was the British Empire at its strongest?
When was the monarchy at its strongest?
Where does history end?
Who was a better leader, Alexander the Great or Napoleon?
Why is there a United States of America but not a United States of Europe?
Politics Interview Questions
Why has there has not been a war between major world powers since WW2, when such wars throughout history have occurred much more frequently?
Why don’t democracies go to war with each other?
What is democracy? Why do we value it?
Is democracy a continuum or dichotomy?
Why are US presidents not allowed to be elected for a third term? Should they be?
Who should be allowed to vote? Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Should children?
Is there a trade-off between liberty and security?
Is the obesity of a population the responsibility of the government to solve?
Is reducing wealth inequality always a good thing?
Should the majority be allowed to impose its will upon the minority in a democracy?
Does the welfare state trap people in poverty?
Should smokers have a right to smoke in public spaces?
What is freedom? How could you measure it?
If introducing the death penalty for littering meant that no littering occurred, and thus the death penalty was never used, would it be morally right?
Should religious requirements concerning headwear exempt someone from cycle helmet laws?
What does it mean to be a successful politician? Is Putin a successful politician?
Why do we need governments?
Is tactical voting to keep out extremist parties democratic?
If a far-left/far-right party receives 40% of the vote, can they still be called far-left/far-right?
Is voting a form of tacit consent to the eventual government, even if you didn’t vote for them?
Is it more important for a successful leader to be loved or feared?
Do we have a right to privacy? Does this conflict with our right to security?
What is a right? Where does it come from?
Should people be free to live in any country they wish to?
Is it democratic for one candidate to spend ten times as much money as another candidate in an election campaign?
Do people vote in line with their economic interests?
And that's all of them! Hopefully, you now have a sense of the types of questions you might be asked. To be even better prepared, try answering these and other questions with our tutors - you can book your mock interviews here.
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