AQA A-level History · 2T

The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 (A-level only)

50 exam-style questions with answers for 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 (A-level only) in AQA A-level History (spec 7042). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Spec 2T, Part one
State two features of the Stalinist legacy in 1953. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: terror and the gulags (1); centralised economy (1); weak agriculture (1); the personality cult (1).
Question 2 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Secret Speech (1956)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin.
Question 3 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Virgin Lands scheme? [1 mark]
Answer:
Farming new lands in Kazakhstan and Siberia.
Question 4 · Spec 2T, Part one
What were sovnarkhozy? [1 mark]
Answer:
Regional economic councils set up by Khrushchev.
Question 5 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was peaceful coexistence? [1 mark]
Answer:
Khrushchev’s policy that capitalism and communism could exist without war.
Question 6 · Spec 2T, Part one
Why was Khrushchev removed in 1964? [1 mark]
Answer:
Agricultural failures, Cuba, the China split and unpopular party reforms.
Question 7 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Kosygin reform (1965)? [1 mark]
Answer:
An attempt to give enterprises more independence and use profit.
Question 8 · Spec 2T, Part one
Define the term ‘stagnation’. [1 mark]
Answer:
Slow economic growth and lack of change under Brezhnev.
Question 9 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the ‘stability of cadres’? [1 mark]
Answer:
Brezhnev’s policy of job security for officials, leading to an ageing leadership.
Question 10 · Spec 2T, Part one
When did the USSR invade Afghanistan? [1 mark]
Answer:
December 1979.
Question 11 · Spec 2T, Part one
Who was Andrei Sakharov? [1 mark]
Answer:
A nuclear physicist and dissident exiled to Gorky.
Question 12 · Spec 2T, Part one
Who was Solzhenitsyn? [1 mark]
Answer:
A dissident writer expelled from the USSR in 1974.
Question 13 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was Chernobyl (1986)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A nuclear disaster that undermined trust in the system.
Question 14 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the August coup (1991)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Hardliners’ failed attempt to overthrow Gorbachev.
Question 15 · Spec 2T, Part one
Who was Boris Yeltsin? [1 mark]
Answer:
The first President of Russia, 1991–1999.
Question 16 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was shock therapy? [1 mark]
Answer:
Rapid market reform under Yeltsin from 1992.
Question 17 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the 1998 financial crisis? [1 mark]
Answer:
Russia defaulted on debts and the rouble collapsed.
Question 18 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the First Chechen War (1994–1996)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Russia’s failed attempt to crush Chechen independence.
Question 19 · Spec 2T, Part one
Who was Malenkov? [1 mark]
Answer:
Stalin’s immediate successor as Prime Minister, outmanoeuvred by Khrushchev.
Question 20 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Anti-Party Group (1957)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Hardliners who tried to remove Khrushchev.
Question 21 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Novocherkassk massacre (1962)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Troops shot striking workers protesting at price rises.
Question 22 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Brezhnev cult? [1 mark]
Answer:
Exaggerated praise of Brezhnev in his later years.
Question 23 · Spec 2T, Part one
Who was Andropov? [1 mark]
Answer:
Soviet leader 1982–1984 who attacked corruption.
Question 24 · Spec 2T, Part one
How did the war in Afghanistan affect the USSR? [1 mark]
Answer:
Heavy losses and costs that damaged the USSR’s economy and morale.
Question 25 · Spec 2T, Part one
What was the Law on State Enterprises (1987)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Gorbachev’s reform giving enterprises more independence.
Question 26 · Spec 2T, Part one
What were the 1989 elections? [1 mark]
Answer:
Partly free elections to the Congress of People’s Deputies.
Question 27 · Spec 2T, Part two
What happened in East Germany in June 1953? [1 mark]
Answer:
A workers’ uprising crushed by Soviet tanks.
Question 28 · Spec 2T, Part two
Who was Gomułka? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Polish leader who came to power in 1956 with limited reforms.
Question 29 · Spec 2T, Part two
What happened in Hungary in 1956? [1 mark]
Answer:
An uprising crushed by Soviet forces.
Question 30 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was the Stasi? [1 mark]
Answer:
The East German secret police.
Question 31 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was the Prague Spring (1968)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Dubček’s reforms in Czechoslovakia, crushed by invasion.
Question 32 · Spec 2T, Part two
Who was Ulbricht? [1 mark]
Answer:
The East German leader until 1971.
Question 33 · Spec 2T, Part two
Who was Honecker? [1 mark]
Answer:
The East German leader from 1971 to 1989.
Question 34 · Spec 2T, Part two
When was Solidarity formed? [1 mark]
Answer:
1980, in Poland.
Question 35 · Spec 2T, Part two
Who was Lech Wałęsa? [1 mark]
Answer:
The leader of Solidarity.
Question 36 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was martial law in Poland (1981)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Jaruzelski’s crackdown on Solidarity.
Question 37 · Spec 2T, Part two
Who was Ceaușescu? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Romanian dictator executed in December 1989.
Question 38 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was the Velvet Revolution (1989)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The peaceful end of communism in Czechoslovakia.
Question 39 · Spec 2T, Part two
When did the Berlin Wall fall? [1 mark]
Answer:
November 1989.
Question 40 · Spec 2T, Part two
When were Poland’s semi-free elections? [1 mark]
Answer:
June 1989, won by Solidarity.
Question 41 · Spec 2T, Part two
State one problem facing new Eastern European states in the 1990s. [1 mark]
Answer:
Any one from: unemployment (1); inflation (1); ethnic tensions (1); corruption (1).
Question 42 · Spec 2T, Part two
What happened to Czechoslovakia in 1993? [1 mark]
Answer:
It split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Question 43 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was Comecon? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Soviet bloc’s economic organisation.
Question 44 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was ‘goulash communism’? [1 mark]
Answer:
Kádár’s limited market reforms in Hungary.
Question 45 · Spec 2T, Part two
Why was the Berlin Wall built? [1 mark]
Answer:
To stop East Germans fleeing to the West.
Question 46 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was the Polish Round Table (1989)? [1 mark]
Answer:
Talks between the government and Solidarity.
Question 47 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was the Baltic Way (1989)? [1 mark]
Answer:
A human chain across the Baltic states calling for independence.
Question 48 · Spec 2T, Part two
What was German reunification (1990)? [1 mark]
Answer:
The joining of East and West Germany in October 1990.
Question 49 · Spec 2T, Part two
What happened in Bulgaria in 1989? [1 mark]
Answer:
Zhivkov was removed and communism ended.
Question 50 · Spec 2T, Part two
When was the Warsaw Pact dissolved? [1 mark]
Answer:
1991.

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The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 (A-level only)

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