Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855-1964 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855-1964

136 questions
11 subtopics
Thematic study and historical interpretations, one of twenty-one
Y301 to Y321

Russia and Its Rulers 1855–1964 is unit Y318 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-one options in unit group 3, the thematic study and historical interpretations; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics and three depth studies are the nature of government, the impact of dictatorial regimes on the economy and society of Russia and the USSR, impact of war and revolution on the development of Russia and the USSR, the impact of Russia and the USSR on nationalities and satellite states, Alexander II’s domestic reforms, the Provisional Government, Khrushchev in power 1956–1964. 136 recall questions across 11 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855-1964

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

The nature of government: Autocracy, methods of repression and enforcement

Describe central administration under the tsars.

Show the answer
Government was carried on by appointed ministers, the Committee of Ministers and the advisory State Council, with no prime minister co-ordinating policy until 1905 and no body the tsar could not bypass.
The nature of government: extent and impact of reform, attitude of the Tsars, extent of political change

How was local government organised after 1917?

Show the answer
Soviets became the formal local structures, but the Party's local committees and appointed secretaries took the real decisions and elections offered no choice between parties.
The impact of dictatorial regimes on the economy and society of Russia and the USSR

How did Witte drive industrial growth?

Show the answer
As finance minister from 1892 he attracted foreign loans and investment, imposed high tariffs, put the rouble on the gold standard and built state railways, above all the Trans-Siberian, paying for it by taxing the peasantry.
Impact of war and revolution on the development of Russia and the USSR

What did the October Manifesto promise?

Show the answer
A legislative Duma, civil liberties and legal political parties — enough to detach moderate liberals from the revolution and allow the regime to repress the rest.
The impact of Russia and the USSR on nationalities and satellite states: Poland, Asia, Russification and the Jews

What were the consequences of the Polish Revolt?

Show the answer
It was crushed, Poland's separate institutions were abolished and it was administered as the 'Vistula Land', Russian was imposed in government and schools and the Catholic Church was persecuted, while Polish peasants were given generous land terms to detach them from the nobility.
The impact of Russia and the USSR on nationalities and satellite states: Finland, the Baltic, Soviet nationalities and satellites

What did the Bolsheviks promise the nationalities in 1917?

Show the answer
The Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia offered equality and self-determination up to secession, which won support in the borderlands even though the Bolsheviks intended to recover them for Soviet rule.
Depth study: Alexander II’s domestic reforms — the Crimean War, the great reforms and their limits

What did the nobility gain and lose from emancipation?

Show the answer
They received compensation, much of it swallowed by existing mortgage debt, and kept the best land, but lost free labour and, once the zemstva were created, much of their unchallenged local authority.
Depth study: The Provisional Government — formation, reforms and living conditions in 1917

What was Order Number One?

Show the answer
The Petrograd Soviet's order of March 1917 telling soldiers to obey the Provisional Government only where the Soviet agreed and to elect committees in their units, which destroyed officers' authority.

The 11 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The nature of government: Autocracy, methods of repression and enforcement	Recall questions on Autocracy, dictatorship and totalitarianism, developments in central administration, methods of repression and enforcement.	10
The nature of government: extent and impact of reform, attitude of the Tsars, extent of political change	Recall questions on the extent and impact of reform, the nature, extent and effectiveness of opposition both before and after 1917, changes in local government, attitude of the Tsars, Provisional Government and Communists to political change, the extent of political change.	9
The impact of dictatorial regimes on the economy and society of Russia and the USSR	Recall questions on changes to living and working conditions of urban and rural people including the impact on the peasants of Emancipation, limitations on personal, political and religious freedom, reasons for and extent of economic and social changes.	20
Impact of war and revolution on the development of Russia and the USSR	Recall questions on the effects of the following wars on government, society, nationalities and the economy.	20
The impact of Russia and the USSR on nationalities and satellite states: Poland, Asia, Russification and the Jews	Recall questions on the empire’s mixed population, the causes and consequences of the Polish Revolt of 1863, Russian expansion in Asia and its problems, Russification and its effects, and the position of Jews.	8
The impact of Russia and the USSR on nationalities and satellite states: Finland, the Baltic, Soviet nationalities and satellites	Recall questions on Finland and the Baltic provinces, the borderlands in the First World War, Bolshevik promises, Brest-Litovsk, the Russo-Polish War, Stalin’s treatment of nationalities, communism in Europe after 1945, Yugoslavia and control of the satellites.	10
Depth study: Alexander II’s domestic reforms — the Crimean War, the great reforms and their limits	Recall questions on the Crimean War and Alexander II’s aims, emancipation and its limits, the zemstva, judicial, military, education, press and urban reform, surviving restrictions, opposition, Loris-Melikov and interpretations of the reign.	20
Depth study: The Provisional Government — formation, reforms and living conditions in 1917	Recall questions on the formation and insecure authority of the Provisional Government, Order Number One, its liberal reforms, policy on nationalities and land, and conditions in the cities in 1917.	8
Depth study: The Provisional Government — the crises of 1917 and the government’s fall	Recall questions on food supply, the delayed Constituent Assembly, the war, the April Crisis and July Days, repression, the Kornilov affair, opposition, the overthrow of the government and interpretations of it.	11
Depth study: Khrushchev in power 1956–1964 — aims, de-Stalinisation and reform	Recall questions on the Secret Speech, Khrushchev’s aims and government, de-Stalinisation and the Thaw, the Anti-Party Group, repression, the satellites, religious policy, agriculture and the Virgin Lands, and industrial reorganisation.	12
Depth study: Khrushchev in power 1956–1964 — opposition and Khrushchev’s fall	Recall questions on opposition, methods and enforcement of repression in Russia and its satellites, changes in urban and rural living and working conditions, limitations on personal, political and religious freedom, the impact of the Cold War, Khrushchev’s fall.	8

Y318: Russia and Its Rulers 1855-1964 is 136 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.