AQA GCSE History · AC

Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism

Exam-style questions with answers for AC Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism in AQA GCSE History (spec 8145). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

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Question 1 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Describe two features of industrialisation in Russia under Witte. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: foreign loans and investment (1); expansion of railways, eg the Trans-Siberian Railway (1); growth of coal, iron and oil output (1); protective tariffs (1).
Question 2 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Describe working conditions in Russian cities around 1900. [2 marks]
Answer:
Long hours (often 11 or more) and low wages (1); overcrowded, unsanitary barracks with disease and no trade unions allowed (1).
Question 3 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Describe living conditions for peasants around 1900. [2 marks]
Answer:
Most lived in poverty in small villages (mirs) using old farming methods (1); they paid redemption payments and suffered famines, eg 1891 (1).
Question 4 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Define the term ‘autocracy’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Rule by one person with unlimited power; the Tsar claimed to rule by divine right.
Question 5 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain why Nicholas II was a weak ruler. [2 marks]
Answer:
He was indecisive and avoided responsibility (1); he refused to share power and relied on advisers and his wife (1).
Question 6 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Name two revolutionary groups opposing the Tsar. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: Social Revolutionaries (1); Social Democrats, split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in 1903 (1); Liberals/Kadets (1).
Question 7 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
What happened on Bloody Sunday (January 1905)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Peaceful protesters led by Father Gapon marched to petition the Tsar at the Winter Palace (1); troops fired, killing about 200 people (1).
Question 8 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, 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); poor working and living conditions (1); economic depression (1).
Question 9 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
What did the October Manifesto promise? [2 marks]
Answer:
An elected parliament (the Duma) (1); civil rights such as freedom of speech and of association (1).
Question 10 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain why the Tsar survived the 1905 Revolution. [2 marks]
Answer:
The October Manifesto split the opposition, satisfying liberals (1); the army stayed loyal and crushed the remaining revolts (1).
Question 11 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain why the Dumas led to political stalemate. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Tsar’s Fundamental Laws (1906) kept his power (1); he dissolved the first two Dumas, and changed the voting rules so later Dumas favoured landowners (1).
Question 12 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Describe Stolypin’s land reforms. [2 marks]
Answer:
Peasants could leave the mir and own their land (1); the aim was to create a class of loyal, successful farmers (kulaks) (1).
Question 13 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain how military defeats in the First World War weakened the Tsar. [2 marks]
Answer:
Huge losses, eg at Tannenberg in 1914, damaged morale (1); from 1915 the Tsar took personal command, so he was blamed for defeats (1).
Question 14 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
State two economic effects of the First World War on Russian cities. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: food shortages (1); rising prices and inflation (1); fuel shortages (1); railways disrupted, so supplies could not reach cities (1).
Question 15 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain why Rasputin made the Romanovs unpopular. [2 marks]
Answer:
He seemed to control Tsarina Alexandra while the Tsar was at the front (1); rumours of scandal and influence over ministers damaged the royal family’s reputation (1).
Question 16 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part one
Explain why Nicholas II abdicated in March 1917. [2 marks]
Answer:
Strikes and bread riots in Petrograd turned into revolution (1); soldiers joined the protesters and army generals advised him to abdicate (1).
Question 17 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
What two bodies shared power after the February Revolution? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Provisional Government (1); the Petrograd Soviet (1).
Question 18 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
State three failures of the Provisional Government. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: continued the war (1); failed to give land to peasants (1); delayed elections (1); food shortages continued (1); the Kornilov Affair weakened it (1).
Question 19 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
What were the April Theses? [2 marks]
Answer:
Lenin’s programme on his return in April 1917 (1); it demanded ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and ‘All power to the Soviets’ (1).
Question 20 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Explain how the Kornilov Affair helped the Bolsheviks. [2 marks]
Answer:
Kerensky armed the Bolsheviks to defend Petrograd (1); the Bolsheviks were seen as defenders of the revolution and kept the weapons (1).
Question 21 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Describe Trotsky’s role in the October Revolution. [2 marks]
Answer:
He chaired the Military Revolutionary Committee (1); he planned the seizure of key points in Petrograd by the Red Guards (1).
Question 22 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
What happened in the October Revolution (1917)? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Red Guards seized key buildings in Petrograd and stormed the Winter Palace (1); the Provisional Government was overthrown with little resistance (1).
Question 23 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
What was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Russia’s peace treaty with Germany ending its part in the war (1); Russia lost a large area including Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states (1).
Question 24 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
What was the Cheka? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Bolshevik secret police, set up in 1917 to crush opposition.
Question 25 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Explain why Lenin closed the Constituent Assembly in January 1918. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Social Revolutionaries won more seats than the Bolsheviks (1); Lenin did not want to share power, so he used the Red Guards to close it (1).
Question 26 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Who fought against the Bolsheviks in the Civil War? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Whites, including former Tsarist officers and other opponents (1); foreign forces, eg Britain, France, the USA and Japan (1).
Question 27 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
State three reasons why the Bolsheviks won the Civil War. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: Trotsky’s leadership of the Red Army (1); control of central Russia and its railways (1); the Whites were divided (1); War Communism supplied the army (1); propaganda (1).
Question 28 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Describe two features of War Communism. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: grain requisitioning from peasants (1); state control of industry (1); rationing (1); private trade banned (1).
Question 29 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Explain why the Kronstadt Rising (1921) was significant. [2 marks]
Answer:
Sailors who had supported the Bolsheviks in 1917 rebelled against War Communism (1); it persuaded Lenin to replace it with the New Economic Policy (1).
Question 30 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Describe the New Economic Policy (NEP). [2 marks]
Answer:
Peasants could sell surplus grain for profit after paying tax (1); small businesses could trade privately, while the state kept heavy industry (1).
Question 31 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Explain why some Bolsheviks opposed the NEP. [1 mark]
Answer:
It allowed private profit, which seemed a return to capitalism.
Question 32 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part two
Explain why Bolshevik propaganda was important in the Civil War. [2 marks]
Answer:
Posters, films and agit-trains spread the message across Russia (1); it portrayed the Whites as wanting to restore landlords (1).
Question 33 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Name three contenders for power after Lenin’s death in 1924. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: Stalin (1); Trotsky (1); Zinoviev (1); Kamenev (1); Bukharin (1).
Question 34 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Explain how being General Secretary helped Stalin win power. [2 marks]
Answer:
He controlled appointments to party jobs (1); so he could place supporters in key positions and build loyalty (1).
Question 35 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Explain how Stalin defeated Trotsky. [2 marks]
Answer:
He allied with Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky (1); Trotsky was expelled from the party (1927) and exiled (1929) (1).
Question 36 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
What were the Purges? [2 marks]
Answer:
Stalin’s removal of anyone he saw as a threat, especially from 1934 to 1938 (1); millions were arrested, executed or sent to labour camps (1).
Question 37 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
What were the show trials? [2 marks]
Answer:
Public trials of leading Bolsheviks, eg Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1936 (1); defendants confessed to false charges, often after torture, and were executed (1).
Question 38 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Describe the purge of the Red Army. [2 marks]
Answer:
About three-quarters of senior officers were removed (1); including Marshal Tukhachevsky, weakening the army before 1941 (1).
Question 39 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
What was the NKVD? [1 mark]
Answer:
Stalin’s secret police (from 1934), which carried out arrests in the Purges.
Question 40 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
What were the gulags? [1 mark]
Answer:
Forced labour camps, often in Siberia, where prisoners worked in harsh conditions.
Question 41 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Define the term ‘cult of personality’. [1 mark]
Answer:
The use of propaganda to present a leader as a heroic, all-wise figure who must be worshipped.
Question 42 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Define the term ‘collectivisation’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Combining small peasant farms into large state-controlled collective farms (kolkhozes).
Question 43 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
State two reasons for collectivisation. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: to produce more grain to feed workers (1); to export grain to pay for industry (1); to destroy the kulaks (1); to spread communist ideas in the countryside (1).
Question 44 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
State two consequences of collectivisation. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: kulaks were deported or killed (1); peasants destroyed animals and crops (1); famine in 1932–1933, especially in Ukraine (1); grain production fell at first (1).
Question 45 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
What were the aims of the Five Year Plans? [2 marks]
Answer:
To rapidly build up heavy industry, eg coal, steel and electricity (1); to make the USSR strong enough to defend itself (1).
Question 46 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
State two achievements of the Five Year Plans. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: large increases in coal, steel and oil output (1); new industrial cities, eg Magnitogorsk (1); the Dnieper dam (1); the USSR became a major industrial power (1).
Question 47 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Who was Alexei Stakhanov? [1 mark]
Answer:
A miner said to have cut 102 tonnes of coal in one shift in 1935, used in propaganda to push workers harder.
Question 48 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Describe the impact of Stalin’s policies on women. [2 marks]
Answer:
Many women entered industry and the professions (1); they still did most housework, and abortion was banned in 1936 (1).
Question 49 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
Explain how Stalin’s leadership contributed to Soviet victory in the Second World War. [2 marks]
Answer:
He stayed in Moscow and used patriotic propaganda to raise morale (1); he moved industry east of the Urals and accepted the advice of generals such as Zhukov (1).
Question 50 · Spec 3.2.1 AC, Part three
State three problems caused by the Great Patriotic War. [3 marks]
Answer:
Any three from: about 27 million Soviet deaths (1); destruction of towns and farmland (1); the siege of Leningrad (1); food shortages (1); deportations of ethnic groups (1).

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Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and communism

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