AQA A-level History · 1H

Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964

50 exam-style questions with answers for 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964 in AQA A-level History (spec 7042). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below. Not official AQA material.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 1H, Part one
How did the Crimean War (1853–1856) expose Russia’s weaknesses? [2 marks]
Answer:
Russia was defeated on its own territory (1); it showed poor transport, outdated weapons and a serf army (1).
Question 2 · Spec 1H, Part one
When were the serfs emancipated? [1 mark]
Answer:
1861, by Alexander II’s Emancipation Edict.
Question 3 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two limitations of emancipation. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: peasants paid redemption payments for 49 years (1); they often got less and poorer land (1); they were tied to the mir (1); nobles kept the best land (1).
Question 4 · Spec 1H, Part one
What were the zemstva? [1 mark]
Answer:
Elected local councils set up in 1864 to run local services such as schools and roads.
Question 5 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two military reforms of Milyutin. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: service cut from 25 to 6 years (1874) (1); conscription for all classes (1); military schools (1); modern weapons (1).
Question 6 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was the ‘reaction’ after 1866? [1 mark]
Answer:
After an assassination attempt, Alexander II appointed conservative ministers and tightened control.
Question 7 · Spec 1H, Part one
Who were the Narodniks? [1 mark]
Answer:
Populists who went to the countryside in 1874 to stir revolution among peasants.
Question 8 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was the People’s Will? [1 mark]
Answer:
A revolutionary terrorist group that assassinated Alexander II in 1881.
Question 9 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two features of Alexander III’s rule. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the Statute of State Security (1881) (1); land captains (1889) (1); Russification (1); pogroms and anti-Jewish laws (1); influence of Pobedonostsev (1).
Question 10 · Spec 1H, Part one
Define the term ‘Russification’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Forcing non-Russian peoples to adopt Russian language, religion and culture.
Question 11 · Spec 1H, Part one
Who was Sergei Witte? [1 mark]
Answer:
Finance Minister 1892–1903 who drove rapid industrialisation using foreign loans, tariffs and the gold standard.
Question 12 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was the Trans-Siberian Railway? [1 mark]
Answer:
A railway begun in 1891 linking Moscow to Vladivostok.
Question 13 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two causes of the 1905 Revolution. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1); Bloody Sunday (1); economic depression (1); poor working conditions (1).
Question 14 · Spec 1H, Part one
What did the October Manifesto (1905) promise? [1 mark]
Answer:
An elected Duma and civil liberties.
Question 15 · Spec 1H, Part one
What were the Fundamental Laws (1906)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Laws restating the Tsar’s autocratic power, including the right to rule by decree when the Duma was not sitting.
Question 16 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two features of Stolypin’s policies. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: land reform allowing peasants to leave the mir (1); resettlement in Siberia (1); repression with field courts (1); changing the electoral law (1907) (1).
Question 17 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was the Lena Goldfields massacre (1912)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Troops shot about 270 striking miners, which led to a wave of strikes.
Question 18 · Spec 1H, Part one
Distinguish between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. [2 marks]
Answer:
Bolsheviks (Lenin) wanted a small party of professional revolutionaries (1); Mensheviks wanted a mass party and expected a longer bourgeois stage (1).
Question 19 · Spec 1H, Part one
State two problems caused by the First World War in Russia. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: military defeats and huge losses (1); food and fuel shortages in cities (1); inflation (1); transport breakdown (1).
Question 20 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was Dual Power (1917)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The sharing of authority between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.
Question 21 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was Order Number 1? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Petrograd Soviet’s order that soldiers obey the Soviet first, undermining the Provisional Government.
Question 22 · Spec 1H, Part one
What happened in the July Days (1917)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Armed demonstrations in Petrograd failed, and Bolshevik leaders were arrested or fled.
Question 23 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was the Decree on Land (October 1917)? [1 mark]
Answer:
It gave land seized from nobles, the Church and the state to the peasants.
Question 24 · Spec 1H, Part one
Why did the Bolsheviks close the Constituent Assembly in January 1918? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Socialist Revolutionaries had won the most seats.
Question 25 · Spec 1H, Part one
What was Bloody Sunday (1905)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Troops fired on a peaceful march led by Father Gapon at the Winter Palace.
Question 26 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Red Terror? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Cheka’s campaign of mass arrests and executions against class enemies from 1918.
Question 27 · Spec 1H, Part two
State two features of War Communism. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: grain requisitioning (1); nationalisation of industry (1); ban on private trade (1); labour discipline (1).
Question 28 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the ban on factions (1921)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A rule at the 10th Party Congress forbidding organised groups within the party.
Question 29 · Spec 1H, Part two
State two reasons why Stalin won the power struggle. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: control of party appointments as General Secretary (1); alliances with Zinoviev, Kamenev and then Bukharin (1); his opponents underestimated him (1); ‘Socialism in One Country’ was popular (1).
Question 30 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was ‘Socialism in One Country’? [1 mark]
Answer:
Stalin’s idea that the USSR should build socialism at home rather than spread revolution abroad.
Question 31 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the aim of the first Five Year Plan (1928–1932)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Rapid growth in heavy industry, such as coal, steel, oil and electricity.
Question 32 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was dekulakisation? [1 mark]
Answer:
The campaign to ‘liquidate the kulaks as a class’ through deportation, imprisonment and execution.
Question 33 · Spec 1H, Part two
State two effects of Stalinism on women. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: more women in industry (1); childcare provided (1); abortion banned (1936) (1); traditional family values promoted (1).
Question 34 · Spec 1H, Part two
How did the Bolsheviks treat religion? [1 mark]
Answer:
Churches were closed, clergy persecuted, and the League of the Militant Godless spread atheism.
Question 35 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was socialist realism? [1 mark]
Answer:
The official style of art from 1934 that showed Soviet life positively and glorified workers and Stalin.
Question 36 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Great Terror (1936–1938)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The height of the Purges, with show trials and mass arrests, executions and labour camps.
Question 37 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was Operation Barbarossa? [1 mark]
Answer:
The German invasion of the USSR in June 1941.
Question 38 · Spec 1H, Part two
State two ways the war affected Soviet government. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the State Defence Committee (GKO) took control (1); the Church was tolerated (1); industry moved east (1); nationalities were deported (1).
Question 39 · Spec 1H, Part two
Define the term ‘High Stalinism’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Stalin’s rule from 1945 to 1953, with renewed terror, a peak in the personality cult and cultural control.
Question 40 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Leningrad Affair (1949)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A purge of Leningrad party leaders on false charges.
Question 41 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Doctors’ Plot (1953)? [1 mark]
Answer:
False accusations, mostly against Jewish doctors, of plotting to kill Soviet leaders.
Question 42 · Spec 1H, Part two
Who was arrested and executed after Stalin’s death in 1953? [1 mark]
Answer:
Lavrenti Beria, the head of the secret police.
Question 43 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the ‘Secret Speech’ (1956)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Khrushchev’s speech to the 20th Party Congress denouncing Stalin’s crimes and personality cult.
Question 44 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Virgin Lands scheme? [1 mark]
Answer:
Khrushchev’s plan from 1954 to farm new lands in Kazakhstan and Siberia; it succeeded at first but later failed.
Question 45 · Spec 1H, Part two
What were sovnarkhozy? [1 mark]
Answer:
Regional economic councils set up by Khrushchev in 1957 to decentralise industrial management.
Question 46 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the ‘Thaw’ in culture? [1 mark]
Answer:
Some relaxation of censorship under Khrushchev, eg publishing Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962).
Question 47 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Anti-Party Group (1957)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich, who tried and failed to remove Khrushchev.
Question 48 · Spec 1H, Part two
State two reasons for Khrushchev’s fall in 1964. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: agricultural failures (1); the Cuban Missile Crisis (1); the split with China (1); party reforms that angered officials (1).
Question 49 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the NEP? [1 mark]
Answer:
The New Economic Policy (1921), allowing small private trade and grain sales after tax.
Question 50 · Spec 1H, Part two
What was the Stakhanovite movement? [1 mark]
Answer:
A campaign from 1935 encouraging workers to exceed targets, named after the miner Stakhanov.

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Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964

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