Russia, 1894-1945: Tsardom and Communism | AQA GCSE History (8145)
Russia, 1894-1945: Tsardom and Communism
- 115 questions
- 9 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and Communism is examined in Paper 1, Understanding the modern world.
It covers Russia’s economy and society, Nicholas II’s autocracy and the court, the First World War and the collapse of Tsarist government, the Provisional Government, the impact of Lenin's dictatorship, war Communism, the Kronstadt Rising and the New Economic Policy, Stalin the dictator, Stalin's modernisation of the USSR and impact of the Second World War.
Sample questions from Russia, 1894-1945: Tsardom and Communism
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Russia’s economy and society
Which industries grew fastest during the great spurt of the 1890s?
Show the answer
Coal, iron, steel and oil; output of coal and pig iron roughly doubled and the Baku oilfields made Russia one of the largest oil producers in the world. -
Nicholas II’s autocracy and the court
What happened on Bloody Sunday in January 1905?
Show the answer
Troops opened fire on Father Gapon's peaceful march to the Winter Palace, killing hundreds of unarmed petitioners and destroying the Tsar's image as the father of his people. -
The First World War and the collapse of Tsarist government
Why was Alexandra so distrusted while she governed in the capital?
Show the answer
She had been born a German princess while Russia was at war with Germany, and she sacked capable ministers so often that government almost stopped working. -
The Provisional Government
How did the ministers handle the land question, and what did peasants do about it?
Show the answer
They insisted that only an elected Constituent Assembly could redistribute the estates, so peasants stopped waiting and seized the land for themselves through the summer. -
The impact of Lenin's dictatorship
What set off the Red Terror in 1918?
Show the answer
The shooting and wounding of Lenin by Fanya Kaplan in August, after which the Cheka executed thousands of hostages and suspected enemies of the regime. -
War Communism, the Kronstadt Rising and the New Economic Policy
How was the Kronstadt rising put down?
Show the answer
Trotsky sent Red Army troops across the frozen sea to storm the base; the rebels who were not killed were shot afterwards or escaped over the ice to Finland. -
Stalin the dictator
How did the Communist party control the government of the USSR?
Show the answer
No other party was permitted, the Politburo took the real decisions, and every post of importance was filled from approved party lists, so state bodies simply carried out party instructions. -
Stalin's modernisation of the USSR
How were the Five Year Plans organised?
Show the answer
The state planning body set output targets for every industry, region and factory; the first plan from 1928 concentrated on coal, iron, steel, oil and electricity.
The 9 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Russia’s economy and society | Russia in 1894, Witte's industrial drive and the Trans-Siberian Railway, the fastest-growing industries, factory and housing conditions in the cities, the mir and backward peasant farming, redemption payments, the famine of 1891, and why industrial growth made tsarism more vulnerable. | 11 |
| Nicholas II’s autocracy and the court | Autocracy and the institutions that upheld it, the Social Revolutionaries and the Bolshevik–Menshevik split, Bloody Sunday and the 1905 revolution, the October Manifesto and the Fundamental Laws, the Dumas and the political stalemate, and Stolypin's land reform, repression and record by 1914. | 14 |
| The First World War and the collapse of Tsarist government | Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, the shortage of equipment, Nicholas taking command, distrust of Alexandra, Rasputin, Petrograd's winter of 1916 to 1917, the food crisis, the February strikes, the garrison's mutiny and the abdication. | 11 |
| The Provisional Government | Lvov and Kerensky, dual power and Order Number 1, fighting on, the land question, Lenin's April demands, Peace, Bread, Land, the July Days, the Kornilov affair, Bolshevik growth, and the seizure of power in October. | 12 |
| The impact of Lenin's dictatorship | The Constituent Assembly closed, Brest-Litovsk and the civil war it fed, the Cheka and the Red Terror, Trotsky's Red Army, the Whites and foreign intervention, the Romanovs' deaths, why the Reds won, and the cost. | 12 |
| War Communism, the Kronstadt Rising and the New Economic Policy | War Communism and the peasants' answer, the famine of 1921, the Kronstadt sailors and their crushing, the tax in kind and private trade, the Nepmen, whether the new policy worked, and Lenin's and Trotsky's records. | 12 |
| Stalin the dictator | Lenin's Testament, the General Secretary's power, socialism in one country against permanent revolution, the defeat of Stalin's rivals, Kirov's murder and the purges, the show trials, the NKVD, the Gulag, and the cult of personality. | 12 |
| Stalin's modernisation of the USSR | Why Stalin forced the pace, collectivisation, the kulaks, peasant resistance and the famine of 1932–33, the Five Year Plans and what they built, the lives of industrial workers and Stakhanov, what the changes meant for women, city dwellers and professional workers, and how far modernisation succeeded. | 20 |
| Impact of the Second World War | The pact of 1939, Operation Barbarossa, the State Defence Committee, the Great Patriotic War, the factories moved east, Stalingrad and Kursk, the siege of Leningrad, the 25 million dead, continued repression, and Stalin's standing. | 11 |
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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.
Nearby topics
AQA GCSE History Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,889 questions with their answers.