Past paper questions- Russia in Revolution 1881-1924 From Autocracy to Dictatorship and Stalin’s Russia 1924-53 January 2009 How far were divisions among its opponents responsible for the survival of the Tsarist rule in the years 1881-1905? (30 marks) OR How far was the Provisional Government responsible for its own downfall? (30 marks) How far were economic problems responsible for Stalin’s decision to replace the New Economic Policy in 1928 with the first Five-Year Plan? (30 marks) OR How far was the dramatic development of a war economy responsible for the USSR’s victory in the Second World War? (30 marks) June 2009 How far do you agree that the economy of Tsarist Russia was transformed in the years to 1914?
• Who was more to blame for the start of the Cold War, the USA or the USSR? The origins of the Cold War; the 1945 summit conferences including the parts played by Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and Truman, and the breakdown of the USA-USSR alliance in 1945–6; Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe; the Iron Curtain; the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Berlin Blockade and its immediate consequences. June 2012 | Q.2 (a) What was the Iron Curtain? [4] (b) Explain why Berlin was a cause of tension between East and West between 1945 and 1949. [6] (c) How successful was the West in containing Communism in Europe up to 1949?
Khrushchev shocked the world by delivering his famous speech in 1956 in which he brought down the “cult of the personality” of Stalin. The First Secretary revealed a hidden letter written by Lenin containing criticism against Stalin. Khrushchev denounced the Father of Communism by talking of his violent rules and practices and especially the purges that Stalin used to get rid of his political enemies("Khrushchev's "Secret Speech,"). According to the speech Stalin had established “dictatorship and terror,” and Khrushchev accused him of “violations of the Socialist legality.” The effects of the de-Stalinization showed that the people from the Soviet Camp were not ready
By comparing the key events in terms of opposition like the Assassination of Alexander II in 1881, Blood Sunday and the October manifesto in 1905, the February and October revolution in 1917, and how effectively they were dealt with, then we can come to a judgment on the argument. Stalin’s most intense opposition came at the beginning of his quest to becoming ruler to Russia from 1924 to 1929. Before Lenin passed away from his stroke he had left a testament stating that Stalin was dangerous and should be dismissed also he had chosen Trotsky the leader of Red army as his successor. Stalin was given the position of General sectary of the communist party in 1922 which everyone associated as a dull and unimportant Job. However he managed to manipulate the leftists Zinoviev and Kamenev in the politburo into covering up Lenin’s
1698, Peter returned to Moscow to crush a revolt by the streltsy or elite guards which he did without mercy (over 1200 executed). 1698, Peter I mandated a “beard tax” to encourage the nobility to be clean shaven. Women were encouraged to participate in social life and benefited from his reform! Peter I will attempt to force the Russian nobility to westernize by adopting non-traditional clothing and customs. 1721, Peter took title of emperor.
The main point of George Kennan’s (1947) essay was that the Soviet Union “could not enjoy a peaceful coexistence with the capitalist world.” He said, the Soviets were seeking to spread Socialism and considered capitalism its greatest enemy which would not be allowed to influence the people of Russia. In March of 1947, Kennan views influenced President Truman, and were the basis for the presidential proclamation known as the Truman Doctrine. His essay “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” was the first article written referencing the policy of containment. The essay outlined the answers to five basic questions about the United States international environment and it analyzed the “Soviet Union’s postwar outlook; the background of this outlook; a projection on practical Soviet policy, both officially and unofficially; and deductions from the standpoint of United States foreign policy.” Kennan characterized the Soviet state as believing that it has been harness and girdled by the United States and its allies which is naturally combative and prone to become hostile towards the Russia. Kennan says that the Russian people are ruled by a tyrant and these ideas are not their views but the viewpoint the Communist Party.
How far was the Communist dictatorship under Lenin different from the Tsarist autocracy in the reign of Alexander the III ? By 1922, Vladimir Lenin's plan to create a Communist revolution based on his own interpretation of Marxism had succeeded through the bloody civil war of 1918-1921, and Russia was firmly in his grasp. However, historians have looked back at this new totalitarian state of the USSR, and drawn a number of similarities between Lenin's dictatorship and the autocratic rule of Tsar Alexander III. In this essay, I will look at how far the rule of the two differs and are similar, and come to a conclusion based on this if Lenin's rule really was the revolution against oppression he claimed it to be, or whether he was simply a “Red Tsar” in disguise. One way in which the Communist dictatorship of Lenin and the Tsarist autocracy in the reign of Alexander the III were similar was in the respect of governmental power.
From this prospective Russian expansionism was a key factor in the developments of the cold war. To the West Stalin was perceived as the “Red Tsar” seeking to extend the Soviet Union’s border and influence, the reason for this perception was because of the Soviet union’s: rigging of elections forming a communist government
1953 saw the death of Soviet Russia’s greatest leader, in a never-ending atmosphere of anxiety, betrayal and paranoia. Stalin had become the state, not through the path of diplomacy, but through tumultuous bloodshed and trickery. He held absolute power and anyone foolish enough to protest against him and his path to the ultimate communist Utopia would find them selves dead or in a forced labor camp. The roots of this ultimate power lie in the years 1929-39, where Stalin employed the ‘Great Terror’, with the purges to secure political and economic control over the Soviet state. This essay will deduce how effective the ‘terror’ was employed to secure these corner stones.
How far did the priorities of the three Five-Year Plans change in the year 1929-41? By Seb Monson The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia took form in the way of 3 Five Year Plans (FYP) which aimed for heavy industry throughout Russia to help aid the country in catching up with the ‘advanced countries’ and preparing Russia for war otherwise they would ‘perish’ as said by Lenin on the eve of the October revolution. Great Britian was in fact influential on Stalin as it was seen as a powerful Capitalist state after its Industrial Revolution a century earlier. This helped Stalin gauge what needed to occur, to enable Russia and its Socialist state to become a superpower. Stalin recognised that the industrial revolutions which, had made Western Europe and Northern America so strong, had been based on iron and steel production.