A LEVEL HISTORY A: PAST PAPER 1:
RUSSIA AND ITS RULERS 1855–1964. ALL
ASSESSMENT & MARK SCHEME
ACTUAL EXAM PAPER 2026 QUESTIONS
WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
◍ What was Russias economy like in the mid-nineteenth century and why.
Answer: Bad, due to an underdeveloped banking system which was unable
to supply investment capital required for the introduction of modern
technology
◍ By what percentage did grain exports increase under Vyshnegradksy.
Answer: 18%
◍ What happened at the election to the Constituent Assembly in November
1917?.
Answer: Social Revolutionaries won the vote, and Bolsheviks came second
therefore the Bolsheviks called off the vote
◍ Finance ministers under Alexander III.
Answer: Bunge Vyshnegradsky Witte
◍ Alexander II: Peasant.
Answer: Following the 1861 Emancipation Edict, peasants rebelled against
the harsh terms laid out in the edict. Exemplified by the Bezdna unrest
(1861), in which approximately 5000 peasants refused to pay payments and
suspended their labour, these revolts began to see peasants engage with
more effective forms of revolt. However, due to both the lack of scale of the
peasants and the relative stability of autocracy, this meant that these revolts
were doomed to failure as the Tsar could easily use the Russian Imperial
, Army to keep the peasants in check; rigid monarchy
◍ Alexander III: Political.
Answer: The Okhrana would go on to discover the plotters of Alexander II's
assassination, leading to the hanging of 5 conspirators in 1887 - change as it
began to show a new way of dealing with political opponents, rather than
simply exiling. However, based on third section and limited in scale. No real
traction in political opposition due to greater use of secret police.
◍ Provisional Government: Worker.
Answer: While, in 1917, the masses were often divided into areas of more or
less radicalism, workers began striking against their factory owners. Some
2.7 million workers struck (e.g. oil, mining, transport, industry, catering etc)
from March to October, demanding better welfare and political changes -
fuelled October Revolution and thus, largely found success
◍ What was the Russian influence in Manchuria in the period?.
Answer: Manchuria was under Japanese influence from 1905-31, from
1931-45 Japan occupied the territory including Port Arthur. In 1945 Soviet
troops liberated Manchuria and handed it back to the Chinese, whilst still
keeping jurisdiction of Port Arthur.
◍ Who ordered the execution of Lenin's brother.
Answer: Alexander III
◍ How many men did the Russian army number at the start of the period?.
Answer: 1,400,000
◍ Lenin: Peasant.
Answer: The Tambov Rebellion (1920-21) was one of the largest peasant
rebellions - angered by Lenin's forced requisitions, up to 100,000 peasants
continually and violently revolted against the Red Army during the Russian
Civil War. Successful in prompting the creation of the NEP (1921) - a
temporary form of capitalism - in an attempt to win back the support of the
peasantry; however, many casualties due to Lenin's willingness to use force
◍ Provisional Government: Peasant.
, Answer: Following the February Revolution, the Provisional Government
failed to deliver on its promises to give the peasantry land ownership, and
thus, many peasants seized land from landowners and redistributed it among
themselves. These actions were encouraged by the SR's and often carried
out in the name of the "Land and Liberty" movement, which advocated for
the abolition of private land ownership. Some immediate success, however,
resistance from land owners. Main success is fuelling the political
dissillusionment that would lead to the Oct Rev
◍ Nicholas II: Peasant.
Answer: Centred especially in the Black Earth, the Volga, and the Ukraine,
'The Great Fear of 1905' saw huge numbers of peasants set fire to manor
houses, refuse to pay taxes, and seize estate lands. The fear created,
especially for landowners and the upper-class, due to these revolts meant
that they had particular success in forcing reformation, leading to Stolypin's
Land Reforms that began to change the nature of property ownership from
1906 onwards. Started a long term process of better standards of living
◍ Alexander III: Peasant.
Answer: No real widespread peasant opposition.
◍ Nicholas II: Worker.
Answer: Following enormous inflation due to WW1, worker pressure
accumulated in the Putilov strike of 1917. Initially beginning with 20,000
workers from the Putilov Mill in Petrograd, the strike quickly snowballed as
more and more industries and citizens began to strike against the Russian
government, demanding the Tsar to address this economic crisis. This strike
was hugely successful, serving as a catalyst for the February Revolution and
the abdication of Nicholas II. Provisional gov eased working conditions,
thus success.
◍ Define Sovkhozy.
Answer: Type of collective farm which was fully state owned
◍ What exact date was Soviet Order No.1 passed.
Answer: 1st of March 1917
, ◍ Stalin: Peasant.
Answer: Use of the military to implement economic policy - Following the
collectivisation of farming in 1927, Stalin used the military forcefully in
grain requisitioning. Any peasant opposition to collectivisation was
forcefully put down, and the climate of fear meant that widespread rebellion
was rare
◍ Lenin: Worker.
Answer: Feb 1921, Sailors mutineed at Kronstadt demanding greater
working freedoms. Trotsky ordered 50,000 troops to recapture islands,
causing 10,000 Red Army casualties and the rebels who were captured were
executed or exiled to the arctic - Used forcefully to consolidate power after
Bolsheviks took control; shut down flash strikes and had no problem killing
Russian workers.
◍ On what exact date was bread rationing introduced.
Answer: 19th of February 1917
◍ By July 1945, which countries in Europe were under Russian control?.
Answer: Baltic states, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria
and Romania
◍ Stalin: Worker.
Answer: In 1932, 20,000 Mill workers across Russia participated in a wave
of strikes. Seeing the event as a rebuke to his leadership, Stalin dispatched
Kaganovich to quash the rebellion, resulting in enormous casualties. While
found some success in forcing Moscow to address the deep poverty of
workers, it was ultimately a failure, representative of Stalin's extreme use of
force to destroy any worker rebellion
◍ What did Russian expansion into the Far East consist of.
Answer: Attempts to spread Russian influence over the area
◍ Stalin: Political.
Answer: Very little successful political opposition under Stalin. Granting the
NKVD a monopoly over all law enforcement activities in 1934, Stalin
RUSSIA AND ITS RULERS 1855–1964. ALL
ASSESSMENT & MARK SCHEME
ACTUAL EXAM PAPER 2026 QUESTIONS
WITH ANSWERS GRADED A+
◍ What was Russias economy like in the mid-nineteenth century and why.
Answer: Bad, due to an underdeveloped banking system which was unable
to supply investment capital required for the introduction of modern
technology
◍ By what percentage did grain exports increase under Vyshnegradksy.
Answer: 18%
◍ What happened at the election to the Constituent Assembly in November
1917?.
Answer: Social Revolutionaries won the vote, and Bolsheviks came second
therefore the Bolsheviks called off the vote
◍ Finance ministers under Alexander III.
Answer: Bunge Vyshnegradsky Witte
◍ Alexander II: Peasant.
Answer: Following the 1861 Emancipation Edict, peasants rebelled against
the harsh terms laid out in the edict. Exemplified by the Bezdna unrest
(1861), in which approximately 5000 peasants refused to pay payments and
suspended their labour, these revolts began to see peasants engage with
more effective forms of revolt. However, due to both the lack of scale of the
peasants and the relative stability of autocracy, this meant that these revolts
were doomed to failure as the Tsar could easily use the Russian Imperial
, Army to keep the peasants in check; rigid monarchy
◍ Alexander III: Political.
Answer: The Okhrana would go on to discover the plotters of Alexander II's
assassination, leading to the hanging of 5 conspirators in 1887 - change as it
began to show a new way of dealing with political opponents, rather than
simply exiling. However, based on third section and limited in scale. No real
traction in political opposition due to greater use of secret police.
◍ Provisional Government: Worker.
Answer: While, in 1917, the masses were often divided into areas of more or
less radicalism, workers began striking against their factory owners. Some
2.7 million workers struck (e.g. oil, mining, transport, industry, catering etc)
from March to October, demanding better welfare and political changes -
fuelled October Revolution and thus, largely found success
◍ What was the Russian influence in Manchuria in the period?.
Answer: Manchuria was under Japanese influence from 1905-31, from
1931-45 Japan occupied the territory including Port Arthur. In 1945 Soviet
troops liberated Manchuria and handed it back to the Chinese, whilst still
keeping jurisdiction of Port Arthur.
◍ Who ordered the execution of Lenin's brother.
Answer: Alexander III
◍ How many men did the Russian army number at the start of the period?.
Answer: 1,400,000
◍ Lenin: Peasant.
Answer: The Tambov Rebellion (1920-21) was one of the largest peasant
rebellions - angered by Lenin's forced requisitions, up to 100,000 peasants
continually and violently revolted against the Red Army during the Russian
Civil War. Successful in prompting the creation of the NEP (1921) - a
temporary form of capitalism - in an attempt to win back the support of the
peasantry; however, many casualties due to Lenin's willingness to use force
◍ Provisional Government: Peasant.
, Answer: Following the February Revolution, the Provisional Government
failed to deliver on its promises to give the peasantry land ownership, and
thus, many peasants seized land from landowners and redistributed it among
themselves. These actions were encouraged by the SR's and often carried
out in the name of the "Land and Liberty" movement, which advocated for
the abolition of private land ownership. Some immediate success, however,
resistance from land owners. Main success is fuelling the political
dissillusionment that would lead to the Oct Rev
◍ Nicholas II: Peasant.
Answer: Centred especially in the Black Earth, the Volga, and the Ukraine,
'The Great Fear of 1905' saw huge numbers of peasants set fire to manor
houses, refuse to pay taxes, and seize estate lands. The fear created,
especially for landowners and the upper-class, due to these revolts meant
that they had particular success in forcing reformation, leading to Stolypin's
Land Reforms that began to change the nature of property ownership from
1906 onwards. Started a long term process of better standards of living
◍ Alexander III: Peasant.
Answer: No real widespread peasant opposition.
◍ Nicholas II: Worker.
Answer: Following enormous inflation due to WW1, worker pressure
accumulated in the Putilov strike of 1917. Initially beginning with 20,000
workers from the Putilov Mill in Petrograd, the strike quickly snowballed as
more and more industries and citizens began to strike against the Russian
government, demanding the Tsar to address this economic crisis. This strike
was hugely successful, serving as a catalyst for the February Revolution and
the abdication of Nicholas II. Provisional gov eased working conditions,
thus success.
◍ Define Sovkhozy.
Answer: Type of collective farm which was fully state owned
◍ What exact date was Soviet Order No.1 passed.
Answer: 1st of March 1917
, ◍ Stalin: Peasant.
Answer: Use of the military to implement economic policy - Following the
collectivisation of farming in 1927, Stalin used the military forcefully in
grain requisitioning. Any peasant opposition to collectivisation was
forcefully put down, and the climate of fear meant that widespread rebellion
was rare
◍ Lenin: Worker.
Answer: Feb 1921, Sailors mutineed at Kronstadt demanding greater
working freedoms. Trotsky ordered 50,000 troops to recapture islands,
causing 10,000 Red Army casualties and the rebels who were captured were
executed or exiled to the arctic - Used forcefully to consolidate power after
Bolsheviks took control; shut down flash strikes and had no problem killing
Russian workers.
◍ On what exact date was bread rationing introduced.
Answer: 19th of February 1917
◍ By July 1945, which countries in Europe were under Russian control?.
Answer: Baltic states, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria
and Romania
◍ Stalin: Worker.
Answer: In 1932, 20,000 Mill workers across Russia participated in a wave
of strikes. Seeing the event as a rebuke to his leadership, Stalin dispatched
Kaganovich to quash the rebellion, resulting in enormous casualties. While
found some success in forcing Moscow to address the deep poverty of
workers, it was ultimately a failure, representative of Stalin's extreme use of
force to destroy any worker rebellion
◍ What did Russian expansion into the Far East consist of.
Answer: Attempts to spread Russian influence over the area
◍ Stalin: Political.
Answer: Very little successful political opposition under Stalin. Granting the
NKVD a monopoly over all law enforcement activities in 1934, Stalin
