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AQA GCSE History Russia Questions
with Detailed Verified Answers
Question: What name is given to the political system that existed in Russia
before the February revolution?
Answer: Autocracy
Question:What was the status of peasants in Russia before 1861?
Answer: Serfs
Question:Who was Tsar of Russia between 1894 and 1917?
Answer: Nicholas II
Question:Which political opposition group received growing support from the
peasants for their proposals of large scale land reform and redistribution?
Answer: Social Revolutionaries
Question:Which social classes supported the Kadets in their campaign for
political change and liberal freedoms without radical social change or
revolution?
Answer: Middle and Upper
Question:Which revolutionary socialist party split over tactical differences in
1903?
Answer: Social Democrats
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Question:Name both parties that emerged from this split, one believing that
change would take a long time but should be achieved democratically and via
workers' trade unions, and the other willing to seize power at the first
opportunity as a vanguard movement before transforming Russia by forceful
action?
Answer: Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
Question:Who was the leader of the latter 'majority' faction?
Answer: Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov Lenin
Question:Whose revolutionary ideas formed the inspiration for both parties,
promising the future triumph of communism following armed revolution led
by the proletariat (working class)?
Answer: Karl Marx
Question:Which country defeated Russia in a war fought over territorial
claims in China in 1904, humiliatingly defeating the Russian navy at the Battle
of Tsushima?
Answer: Japan
Question:What name is given to the occasion in 1905 where a peaceful
demonstration led by the priest Father Gapon in St. Petersburg was fired on
by soldiers loyal to the Tsar, sparking a series of uprisings across Russia that
lasted for months?
Answer: Bloody Sunday
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Question:What was the only part of the armed forces to mutiny in 1905, the
loyalty of the rest effectively keeping the Tsar in power?
Answer: Navy (Black Sea Fleet)
Question:What was the name of workers' councils set up to take over and run
factories in the name of the workers?
Answer: Soviets
Question:As a result of the 1905 Revolution, what new political body was
created in October 1905 as a concession by the Tsar to give Russia its first real
taste of democracy and representative government?
Answer: The Duma
Question:At the same time, what did the Tsar agree to sign, assuring liberal
moderates that their rights to free speech, a free press and the right to form
political parties would now be respected, effectively dividing the revolutionary
movement?
Answer: October Manifesto
Question:With the revolution now divided and leaderless and the war over,
which ultra loyal soldiers did the Tsar use to crush the soviets in St. Petersburg
and Moscow in December and remaining peasant resistance in the
countryside over the next few months?
Answer: Cossaks
AQA GCSE History Russia Questions
with Detailed Verified Answers
Question: What name is given to the political system that existed in Russia
before the February revolution?
Answer: Autocracy
Question:What was the status of peasants in Russia before 1861?
Answer: Serfs
Question:Who was Tsar of Russia between 1894 and 1917?
Answer: Nicholas II
Question:Which political opposition group received growing support from the
peasants for their proposals of large scale land reform and redistribution?
Answer: Social Revolutionaries
Question:Which social classes supported the Kadets in their campaign for
political change and liberal freedoms without radical social change or
revolution?
Answer: Middle and Upper
Question:Which revolutionary socialist party split over tactical differences in
1903?
Answer: Social Democrats
, Page | 2
Question:Name both parties that emerged from this split, one believing that
change would take a long time but should be achieved democratically and via
workers' trade unions, and the other willing to seize power at the first
opportunity as a vanguard movement before transforming Russia by forceful
action?
Answer: Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
Question:Who was the leader of the latter 'majority' faction?
Answer: Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov Lenin
Question:Whose revolutionary ideas formed the inspiration for both parties,
promising the future triumph of communism following armed revolution led
by the proletariat (working class)?
Answer: Karl Marx
Question:Which country defeated Russia in a war fought over territorial
claims in China in 1904, humiliatingly defeating the Russian navy at the Battle
of Tsushima?
Answer: Japan
Question:What name is given to the occasion in 1905 where a peaceful
demonstration led by the priest Father Gapon in St. Petersburg was fired on
by soldiers loyal to the Tsar, sparking a series of uprisings across Russia that
lasted for months?
Answer: Bloody Sunday
, Page | 3
Question:What was the only part of the armed forces to mutiny in 1905, the
loyalty of the rest effectively keeping the Tsar in power?
Answer: Navy (Black Sea Fleet)
Question:What was the name of workers' councils set up to take over and run
factories in the name of the workers?
Answer: Soviets
Question:As a result of the 1905 Revolution, what new political body was
created in October 1905 as a concession by the Tsar to give Russia its first real
taste of democracy and representative government?
Answer: The Duma
Question:At the same time, what did the Tsar agree to sign, assuring liberal
moderates that their rights to free speech, a free press and the right to form
political parties would now be respected, effectively dividing the revolutionary
movement?
Answer: October Manifesto
Question:With the revolution now divided and leaderless and the war over,
which ultra loyal soldiers did the Tsar use to crush the soviets in St. Petersburg
and Moscow in December and remaining peasant resistance in the
countryside over the next few months?
Answer: Cossaks
