Y219: Russia 1894-1941 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y219: Russia 1894-1941

80 questions
8 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

Russia 1894–1941 is unit Y219 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are the rule of Tsar Nicholas II, the 1917 Revolutions, the Civil War and Lenin, the rule of Stalin. 80 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y219: Russia 1894-1941

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The rule of Tsar Nicholas II: Nicholas II, Russia in 1894 and the opposition

What were Russia's main economic problems in 1894?

Show the answer
Industry was young and concentrated in a few centres, agriculture was backward and low-yielding, the country depended on foreign loans and investment, and government revenue rested heavily on taxing a poor peasantry.
The rule of Tsar Nicholas II: Witte, the 1905 Revolution, the Dumas and Stolypin

Describe the extent and nature of the disturbances of 1905.

Show the answer
There were mass strikes culminating in a general strike in October, peasant seizures of land, mutinies in the armed forces including on a Black Sea battleship, nationalist risings in the borderlands and the formation of workers' councils in the cities.
The 1917 Revolutions: impact of the First World War 1914–1917 and events of March 1917

What damage did Rasputin do to the monarchy, and did his murder repair it?

Show the answer
Rumours about his conduct and his hold over the German-born empress made the dynasty look corrupt and even treasonous; his murder by aristocrats in December 1916 removed him but showed the regime had lost even its own supporters.
The 1917 Revolutions: return of exiles and the April Theses, roles of Lenin and Trotsky

How did the Kornilov Revolt transform Bolshevik fortunes?

Show the answer
When the commander-in-chief marched on Petrograd, Kerensky had to arm the Bolshevik Red Guards to defend the city; the revolt collapsed, the Bolsheviks kept their weapons and their prestige, and Kerensky was left discredited with both left and right.
The Civil War and Lenin: Constituent Assembly, Lenin decrees and Civil War

What did Russia lose by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Show the answer
It surrendered Poland, the Baltic provinces, Finland and Ukraine, losing roughly a third of its population and arable land and most of its coal and iron; Lenin accepted these terms because the old army could no longer fight and he expected revolution in Germany to cancel them, as it did.
The Civil War and Lenin: the Red Terror, Kronstadt, the NEP and Lenin as leader

What set off the Red Terror and what form did it take?

Show the answer
The assassination of the Petrograd Cheka chief and the shooting and wounding of Lenin in August 1918 were the pretext; the Cheka then executed suspects and hostages in tens of thousands and filled the first labour camps.
The rule of Stalin: Stalin’s character and rise to power

Contrast socialism in one country with permanent revolution.

Show the answer
Stalin argued that the Soviet Union could and must build socialism by its own efforts whatever happened abroad, which flattered national pride and promised practical progress; Trotsky argued that the revolution could only be secured if it spread to the advanced industrial countries, which depended on risings that kept failing.
The rule of Stalin: the purges, collectivisation and the Five Year Plans

What was the scale and purpose of the gulag system?

Show the answer
Millions of prisoners were held in labour camps across the far north and Siberia, where they mined, felled timber and dug canals, so the terror also supplied forced labour for remote projects.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The rule of Tsar Nicholas II: Nicholas II, Russia in 1894 and the opposition	Recall questions on Nicholas II’s character, Russia’s political, economic and rural problems in 1894, liberals, the populist tradition, the Marxist split of 1903 and the national minorities.	8
The rule of Tsar Nicholas II: Witte, the 1905 Revolution, the Dumas and Stolypin	Recall questions on Pobedonostsev and Witte, the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday and 1905, the October Manifesto, the regime’s survival, the Fundamental Laws, the Dumas, Stolypin’s repression and land reform and Russia in 1914.	12
The 1917 Revolutions: impact of the First World War 1914–1917 and events of March 1917	Recall questions on the impact of the First World War 1914–1917, Nicholas’ leadership, Rasputin, criticism in the Duma and the events of March 1917.	12
The 1917 Revolutions: return of exiles and the April Theses, roles of Lenin and Trotsky	Recall questions on return of exiles and the April Theses, July Days, Kornilov Revolt, events of November 1917, the roles of Lenin and Trotsky.	8
The Civil War and Lenin: Constituent Assembly, Lenin decrees and Civil War	Recall questions on the Constituent Assembly, Lenin decrees and civil War, White forces, foreign intervention, Red Army, war communism, reasons for Bolshevik victory/White defeat.	12
The Civil War and Lenin: the Red Terror, Kronstadt, the NEP and Lenin as leader	Recall questions on White loss of peasant support, the murder of the Tsar, the Red Terror, Kronstadt, the New Economic Policy and its success, the organisation of the Soviet state and Lenin’s strengths and weaknesses.	8
The rule of Stalin: Stalin’s character and rise to power	Recall questions on Stalin as a political operator, the General Secretary post, his rivals, socialism in one country, Lenin’s Testament, the defeat of the left and right, the personality cult and the political police.	9
The rule of Stalin: the purges, collectivisation and the Five Year Plans	Recall questions on Kirov’s murder, the show trials, the military purge and the gulag, collectivisation and dekulakisation, the famine of 1932 to 1933, the first two Five Year Plans and their social effects.	11

Y219: Russia 1894-1941 is 80 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.