Edexcel GCSE History · Option 30

Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–41

50 exam-style questions with answers for Option 30 Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–41 in Edexcel GCSE History (spec 1HI0). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below. Not official Pearson material.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
Why were peasants discontented by early 1917? [2 marks]
Answer:
Many men and horses had been taken by the army, so harvests fell (1); they still wanted the land owned by the nobles, the Church and the Crown (1).
Question 2 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
Why were town workers discontented by early 1917? [2 marks]
Answer:
Food and fuel shortages and rising prices meant hunger in the cities (1); long hours in war factories while wages fell behind inflation (1).
Question 3 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
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 4 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
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 5 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
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 6 · Option 30, Key topic 1.1
Explain why Nicholas II becoming commander-in-chief in 1915 weakened him. [2 marks]
Answer:
He was blamed personally for every defeat (1); he left the government to the Tsarina and Rasputin, who were very unpopular (1).
Question 7 · Option 30, Key topic 1.2
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 8 · Option 30, Key topic 1.3
What two bodies shared power after the February Revolution? [2 marks]
Answer:
The Provisional Government (1); the Petrograd Soviet (1).
Question 9 · Option 30, Key topic 1.3
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 10 · Option 30, Key topic 1.3
Who was Kerensky? [1 mark]
Answer:
The leader of the Provisional Government from July 1917.
Question 11 · Option 30, Key topic 1.3
What was Soviet Order Number 1 (March 1917)? [2 marks]
Answer:
An order from the Petrograd Soviet saying soldiers should obey the Provisional Government only if the Soviet agreed (1); so the Soviet, not the government, controlled the army (1).
Question 12 · Option 30, Key topic 1.3
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 13 · Option 30, Key topic 1.4
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 14 · Option 30, Key topic 1.4
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 15 · Option 30, Key topic 1.4
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 16 · Option 30, Key topic 1.4
Explain why the October Revolution succeeded. [2 marks]
Answer:
The Provisional Government had lost support and had few loyal troops (1); the Bolsheviks were organised and offered popular slogans (1).
Question 17 · Option 30, Key topic 2.1
What was the Decree on Peace? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Bolsheviks’ call for an immediate end to the war without annexations.
Question 18 · Option 30, Key topic 2.1
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 19 · Option 30, Key topic 2.1
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 20 · Option 30, Key topic 2.2
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 21 · Option 30, Key topic 2.2
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 22 · Option 30, Key topic 2.3
What was the Red Terror? [2 marks]
Answer:
A campaign of mass arrests and executions by the Cheka from 1918 (1); against anyone seen as an enemy of the revolution, such as nobles, priests and rival socialists (1).
Question 23 · Option 30, Key topic 2.3
What was the Cheka? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Bolshevik secret police, set up in 1917 to crush opposition.
Question 24 · Option 30, Key topic 2.3
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 25 · Option 30, Key topic 2.3
When was the USSR set up? [1 mark]
Answer:
1922 (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in December 1922).
Question 26 · Option 30, Key topic 2.3
What was the Politburo? [1 mark]
Answer:
The small inner group of leading Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, which made the key decisions of the Communist Party.
Question 27 · Option 30, Key topic 2.4
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 28 · Option 30, Key topic 2.4
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 29 · Option 30, Key topic 2.4
Describe two ways the Bolsheviks changed the lives of women by 1924. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: divorce was made easy (1); abortion was legalised in 1920 (1); women were given equal rights and pay in law (1); women's sections (Zhenotdel) were set up in the Party (1).
Question 30 · Option 30, Key topic 3.1
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 31 · Option 30, Key topic 3.1
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 32 · Option 30, Key topic 3.1
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 33 · Option 30, Key topic 3.2
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 34 · Option 30, Key topic 3.2
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 35 · Option 30, Key topic 3.2
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 36 · Option 30, Key topic 3.3
What was socialist realism? [1 mark]
Answer:
The official art style showing Soviet life heroically.
Question 37 · Option 30, Key topic 3.3
What was the 1936 Constitution? [1 mark]
Answer:
Stalin’s constitution promising rights that were not respected in practice.
Question 38 · Option 30, Key topic 3.4
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 39 · Option 30, Key topic 3.4
Describe two ways the Cult of Stalin was created. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: posters, statues and paintings of Stalin everywhere (1); towns such as Stalingrad named after him (1); history books rewritten to show him as Lenin's closest helper (1); poems and songs praising him (1).
Question 40 · Option 30, Key topic 4.1
Define the term ‘collectivisation’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Combining small peasant farms into large state-controlled collective farms (kolkhozes).
Question 41 · Option 30, Key topic 4.1
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 42 · Option 30, Key topic 4.1
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 43 · Option 30, Key topic 4.1
What was the famine of 1932–1933? [1 mark]
Answer:
A famine caused by collectivisation and grain requisitioning, killing millions, especially in Ukraine.
Question 44 · Option 30, Key topic 4.2
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 45 · Option 30, Key topic 4.2
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 46 · Option 30, Key topic 4.2
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 47 · Option 30, Key topic 4.3
Describe living conditions in Soviet towns in the 1930s. [2 marks]
Answer:
Severe overcrowding, with families sharing rooms in communal flats (1); shortages of food and consumer goods, with long queues (1).
Question 48 · Option 30, Key topic 4.4
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 · Option 30, Key topic 4.4
What was the Family Code (1936)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Laws banning abortion and making divorce harder.
Question 50 · Option 30, Key topic 4.4
Describe the persecution of ethnic minorities under Stalin. [2 marks]
Answer:
Whole nationalities, such as Poles and Koreans living in the USSR, were deported to remote areas (1); local languages, cultures and leaders were attacked as 'nationalist' (1).

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