Sample Questions Russian Revolution
1. The March Revolution in 1917 in Russia was the result of
a. Lenin's takeover of the Petrograd Soviet.
b. economic and social dislocations caused by the First World War.
c. the relationship between Rasputin and the Tzarina Alexandra.
d. peasant rebellion against landlords and high taxes.
e. a declaration by the Duma to establish a constitutional monarchy.
2. Which of the following describes the government set up immediately following the abdication of Nicholas II?
a. a dictatorship.
b. a constitutional monarchy.
c. a liberal-democratic regime.
d. a federal republic.
e. a peasant-dominated multiparty system.
3. The one group in Russia that called for peace and a social revolution rather than a stronger war effort was the
a. Social Revolutionaries.
b. Constitutional Democrats.
c. Populists.
d. Bolsheviks.
e. Petrograd Soviets.
4. Which of the following helps to explain Lenin's agreement to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918?
a. He expected that the Russian Revolution was only the first stage in a world revolution, to occur next in Germany and the Baltic regions.
b. He wanted Germany to win the war and defeat France.
c. He was uninterested in those territories where non-Slavs resided.
d. He believed that the Germans were likely to lose the war and the treaty would thus be ineffective.
e. He received personal funds from the German government to sign the treaty.
5. Lenin's New Economic Policy [NEP]in 1921 can best be described as
a. an attempt to make the Soviet Union a military superpower.
b. an expedient retreat from war communism.
c. a tactical maneuver to win the civil war.
d. an apostasy from Marxist beliefs.
e. a strategy to establish capitalism in the Soviet Union.
6. "We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries . . . We must make good this lag in ten years. Either we do it or they crush us." This statement is best attributed to
a. Lenin b. Trotsky.
c. Tsar Nicholas II d. Alexander Kerensky.
e. Stalin.
7. Which group probably benefited financially the most from Lenin's NEP?
a. factory workers. b. steel industrialists.
c. local party officials. d. kulaks.
e. former aristocrats.
8. The major purpose of Stalin's purges in the 1930s was to
a. destroy the independent farmers.
b. consolidate control over the party apparatus.
c. censor radical intellectuals.
d. earn the approval of Western industrialists.
e. reinstate Lenin as a cult hero.
9. After the assassination of Russia's Tsar Alexander II in 1881, his successor, Alexander III, adopted a policy of
a. constitutional reform.
b. industrialization.
c. "Orthodoxy, Russification, and Autocracy"
d. Westernization.
e. modern scientific rationalism.
10. Which was NOT a result of Russia's dramatic industrialization in the 1890s?
a. the doubling of its railroad mileage.
b. vastly increased exports.
c. the growth of the proletariat.
d. the growth of the commercial middle class.
e. private ownership of all industry.
11. Which is the best characterization of Lenin's program at the Russian Marxist Party Conference in Brussels and London, 1903?
a. Democratic socialism open to all new members.
b. Professional revolutionaries with a small, elite leadership.
c. Rank and file participation in policy formulation.
d. Party division along the lines of autonomous national groups.
e. Party cooperation with liberal and socialist parties.
12. All are results of the Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905] EXCEPT
a. Russian forces were decisively defeated.
b. Japanese was given some of the Sakhalin Islands.
c. Russia was forced to pay Japan an indemnity.
d. Japan got Russia' railway concessions in Manchuria.
e. Japan's Korean protectorate was recognized.
13. Which is the most valid statement regarding the October Manifesto issued by Czar Nicholas II in 1905?
a. It precipitated a general strike that paralyzed the economy.
b. It brought about significant constitutional reform of the government.
c. It created a Duma [national legislature], to which the tsar's ministers were directly responsible.
d. It was an expedient and temporary promise of reform in response to civil unrest.
e. It imposed martial law and suppressed antigovernment political activities.
14. The Russian people's support for Russian participation in World War I changed drastically
a. when Rasputin took virtual control of the government.
b. after the Battles of Masurian Lakes and Tannenberg.
c. because the Duma was reconvened in 1916.
d. when the Germans and Austrians went on the offensive in 1915.
e. after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
15. The slogan "Peace, Land and Bread" is most closely associated with
a. the Duma liberals.
b. Alexander Kerensky's moderates.
c. Prince Lvov's coalition government.
d. Lenin's Bolsheviks.
e. Tsar Nicholas's cabinet.
16. Choose the correct chronology:
I. the Bolshevik seizure of power
II. Alexander Kerensky's government
III. Prince Lvov's provisional government
IV. dissolving of the Duma during the Petrograd food riots.
a. IV, III, II, I
b. III, IV, II, I
c. III, II, IV, I
d. IV, II, III, I
e. II, III, IV, I
17. Within a year after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks had accomplished all of these EXCEPT:
a. the abolition of the provisional government.
b. the establishment of the Council of Commissars to rule Russia.
c. the election of the National Constituent Assembly to frame a new government.
d. the nationalization of large industries.
e. the confiscation of Russian Orthodox Church lands.
18. The organizer of the Red Army who lost the struggle for leadership of the Soviet Union to Stalin after Lenin's death was
a. Alexander Kerensky. b. General Kornilov.
d. Alexander Nevsky. d. Nikita Krushchev.
e. Leon Trotsky.
19. During the Russian Civil War, 1918-1921, which of the following did NOT oppose Bolshevik rule?
a. Tzarists. b. The middle class.
c. Most of the peasantry. d. Urban workers.
e. The Allied Powers of World War I.
20. In 1922, after the Civil War had ended, Lenin undertook his "nationalities reform." It accomplished all of the following EXCEPT:
a. uniting the major ethnic groups into a federation.
b. giving smaller ethnic groups autonomous regions within the major republics.
c. allowing schools to teach native languages.
d. encouraging cultural uniqueness.
e. requiring that instruction in schools be exclusively in Russian.
21. Trotsky and Stalin's interpretations of Marxism differed most significantly in which way?
a. Trotsky wanted to foster world revolution while Stalin wanted "to build Socialism in one country."
b. Stalin wanted to foster revolution in Western Europe while Trotsky wanted to develop the Soviet Union first.
c. Stalin was a Bolshevik; Trotsky was a Menshevik.
d. Trotsky was deviationist; Stalin followed the party line.
e. Stalin believed that Russia was too backward to support Communism; Trotsky believed the opposite.
22. Stalin supported the industrialization of Russia in the 1920s and early 1930s by
a. purging the Soviet Communist party of "deviationists."
b. obtaining loans from the West.
c. slaughtering the kulaks.
d. collectivizing agriculture to support the First Five-Year Plan.
e. seeking international recognition of the Soviet Union.
23. The original purpose of the COMINTERN [Communist Internation], a congress of socialist parties in 1919, was to
a. combat Fascism and Nazism.
b. foster democratic socialism worldwide.
c. establish Moscow's leadership in fomenting Marxist revolution around the world.
d. improve relations with capitalist West.
e. encourage socialists to join in coalition governments with other parties in the West.
Which statement about both the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy is accurate?
(1) Economic conditions led to political change.
(2) Industrialization hindered national development.
(3) Goals were achieved by peaceful means.
(4) Communist ideals fueled both movements.
One reason the Bolsheviks gained peasant support during the Russian Revolution was because the Bolsheviks promised to
(1) redistribute land
(2) abolish communes
(3) bring modern technology to Russian farms
(4) maintain an agricultural price-support program
Lenin’s promise of “Peace, Land, Bread” during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was made in an effort to
(1) end France’s occupation of Russia
(2) gain popular support to overthrow the government
(3) restore Czar Nicholas II to power
(4) resolve conflicts between farmers of diverse ethnic backgrounds
In the view of this cartoonist, Russia under Lenin’s rule was characterized by
(1)a continuation of traditional life
(2) the introduction of capitalism
(3) support for a constitutional monarchy
(4) rejection of the czarist system
Under Joseph Stalin, peasants in the Soviet Union were forced to
(1)become members of the ruling party
(2) support the Russian Orthodox Church
(3) join collective farms
(4) move to large cities
A major goal of Joseph Stalin’s five-year plans was to
(1) encourage communist revolutions in the colonies of the European powers
(2) transform the Soviet Union into an industrial power
(3) expand the Soviet Union’s borders to include warm-water ports
(4) reduce the amount of foreign aid coming from the Western Hemisphere
Joseph Stalin’s policies in Ukraine during the 1930s directly resulted in
(1) widespread starvation
(2) agricultural self-sufficiency
(3) the development of cottage industries
(4) the use of subsistence farming techniques