What inefficiencies resulted from the central planning system used in the Five Year Plans?

Central planning created bottlenecks, misallocation of resources, lack of coordination between industries, wasteful duplication, and an inability to respond flexibly to local conditions or changing circumstances.

Explain why some historians argue the Five Year Plans were not genuinely successful despite impressive headline figures.

Critics point to unreliable statistics masking true performance, poor quality output, neglect of consumer goods causing hardship, massive human costs including Gulag deaths, and systemic inefficiencies inherent in centralised command economics.

What was the Short Course History of the Communist Party (1938) and what purpose did it serve?

It was an official history that rewrote Soviet history to magnify Stalin's role and diminish or erase the contributions of purged rivals.

What was Socialist Realism?

Socialist Realism was the official artistic doctrine requiring all art, literature, music and film to depict Soviet life in an optimistic, idealised manner that promoted socialist values.

AQA A-Level History 7042

1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204

Topic overview The Church, the Seljuk Turks and Byzantium before the Crusades Manzikert and the Call of the First Crusade The First Crusade: Motives and Campaign The Kings of Jerusalem and the Early Crusader States The Knights Templar and the Hospitallers The Crusader States, Byzantium and the Latin West Zengi and the Fall of Edessa The Second Crusade Nur ad-Din and the Muslim Counter-Crusade Outremer and the Four Crusader States Castles and the Weakening of Outremer Baldwin IV and the Divisions within Outremer Saladin and the Fall of Jerusalem Audita Tremendi and the Third Crusade Rivalries and Divisions on the Third Crusade The Treaty of Jaffa and the Outcome of the Third Crusade Innocent III and the Launch of the Fourth Crusade The Crusaders at Constantinople, 1203-04 The Sack of Constantinople and the Latin Empire

1B Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598

Topic overview The Kingdoms of Iberia in 1469 Ferdinand, Isabella and the Nobility Foreign Policy, Society and the Church under Ferdinand and Isabella The Inquisition, the Jews and the Fall of Granada The Alpujarras Revolt, the Economy and Overseas Expansion The Casa de Contratacion, Navarre and Spain by 1516 The Inheritance of Charles V Imperial Ideology and Conciliar Government Charles V's Wars, Absences and Religious Policy The Conquest of the Americas and the Price Revolution Charles V's Abdication and Spain by 1556 Philip II: Character and Style of Government Court Factions, the Morisco Revolt and the Perez Affair Don Carlos, the Jesuits and the Inquisition Philip II, the Papacy and Royal Finances The Escorial and the Spanish Golden Age Spain's Strengths and Weaknesses by 1598 Philip II's Inheritance in 1556 The Burdens of Empire and the Spanish Tercios Lepanto and the Annexation of Portugal The Dutch Revolt and the Spanish Armada Spanish America and the Cost of Empire

1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603

Topic overview Henry VII's Claim to the Throne Henry VII's Councils and Government Henry VII's Finances, the Nobility and Foreign Policy Pretenders and Rebellions under Henry VII Society and the Economy under Henry VII Religion, Humanism and the Arts under Henry VII Henry VIII: Character and Aims Wolsey, Cromwell and the Break with Rome The Dissolution, Foreign Policy and Henry VIII's Wives The Ranks of Tudor Society The Pilgrimage of Grace, Wales and the Henrician Economy Humanism and Religious Change under Henry VIII Edward VI and Somerset's Protectorate The 1549 Prayer Book and the Act of Uniformity The 1549 Rebellions and the Fall of Somerset Mary I and the Return to Rome The End of Mary's Reign and Elizabeth's Accession Early Elizabethan Finance and the Statute of Artificers The Mid-Tudor Crisis Debate The Elizabethan Court and William Cecil The Succession and Mary, Queen of Scots The War with Spain, Rebellion and Poverty Elizabethan Trade and the New Trading Companies The Religious Settlement and the Puritan Challenge The Elizabethan Renaissance and the Cult of Gloriana Elizabeth's Final Years and England by 1603

1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702

1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796

Topic overview Russian Society and Government in 1682 The Succession Crisis of 1682 and the Streltsy Peter's Western Interests, the Great Embassy and St Petersburg Peter I's Early Economic, Political and Military Reforms Opposition to Peter's Reforms and the Streltsy Revolt The Azov Campaigns and the Battle of Narva The Poll Tax and State Monopolies The Holy Synod, the Senate and Church Reform The Colleges, Provincial Government and the Table of Ranks Westernisation, Opposition and Peter's Legacy by 1725 The Great Northern War and Peter's Foreign Policy The Service State under Peter the Great The Supreme Privy Council, the Guards and Empress Elizabeth Elizabeth, the Service State and Foreign Policy, 1725-1762 Peter III and Catherine II's Seizure of Power The Legislative Commission and Catherine's Government Reforms The Charter to the Nobility and Catherine's Education Reforms Serfdom and Toleration under Catherine II Plots and the Pugachev Revolt Catherine II's Wars and the Partitions of Poland

1F Industrialisation and the People: Britain, c1783–1885

Topic overview The British Political System in 1783 Pitt the Younger and His Ministries Pitt's Financial and Trade Reforms Early Industrialisation: Textiles, Iron and Steam Enclosure and Agricultural Change Social Classes, Working Conditions and the Old Poor Law The French Revolution and British Radicalism The Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the Act of Union The Wars with France and the Home Front Luddism and Britain by 1812 Lord Liverpool, the Corn Laws and Peterloo Canning, Wellington and Catholic Emancipation Textiles, Iron, Coal and the Common Lands Urbanisation and Working-Class Discontent Radicals, Abolitionists and the Rise of Methodism The Great Reform Act of 1832 Grey, Melbourne and Whig Reform The Factory Act, the New Poor Law and Whig Reforms, 1833-1835 Education Grants, Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League Factory Reform, Public Health and Working-Class Life Peel's Reforms, Railway Mania and Corn Law Repeal The Peelites and the Birth of the Liberal Party Gladstonian Liberalism and Disraeli's Reforms The Second and Third Reform Acts Chartism and Its Decline Irish Nationalism, Home Rule and the Victorian Economy Victorian Values, New Model Unions and Education Britain's Position by 1885 Irish Land Reform and the Liberal Unionists

1G Challenge and Transformation: Britain, c1851–1964

Topic overview Parliament and the Franchise before 1867 The Second Reform Act, Gladstone and Disraeli The Workshop of the World, Free Trade and Agricultural Depression Class and Region in Victorian Britain The Domestic Reforms of Gladstone and Disraeli Ireland, the Great Famine and the Land Question Gladstone's Home Rule Bill and Its Opponents Conservative Dominance before 1905 Socialism and the Birth of the Labour Party New Liberalism, the People's Budget and the Parliament Act The Great Depression, Industrial Decline and Tariff Reform New Unionism, the Great Unrest and Women's Suffrage Living Standards, Poverty and the Liberal Welfare Reforms The Home Rule Movement and the Irish Party The Decline of the Liberal Party The National Governments and the Fascist Challenge The Staple Industries and the General Strike Women's Work and Interwar Living Standards Ireland and Northern Ireland, 1916-1964 Churchill, 1945 and Labour's Programme Labour Divisions and the Conservative Establishment Wartime Mobilisation and the Post-War Boom Rationing, Affluence and Commonwealth Immigration Beveridge, the Welfare State and Education

1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964

Topic overview Autocracy and Serfdom in 1855 The Emancipation of the Serfs and Alexander II's Reforms Reform, Reaction and the Death of Alexander II Pobedonostsev and Russification Liberals, Populists and the Tsarist Police Economy and Society after Emancipation Nicholas II, Bloody Sunday and the Fundamental Laws The Dumas, Stolypin and Witte's Industrialisation Workers, Peasants and the Grain Trade Liberals, Socialist Revolutionaries and Marxists The First World War and the February Revolution Lenin's Return and the October Revolution Lenin's Ideology, War Communism and Kronstadt The New Economic Policy and the Ban on Factions Stalin's Rise and the Power Struggle Terror, the 1936 Constitution and Collectivisation The Five Year Plans Internal Passports, the Gulag and Soviet Society The Party Oppositions and the Moscow Show Trials The Great Purges and the USSR by 1941 Barbarossa and the Soviet War Effort High Stalinism and the Succession to Stalin The Secret Speech and the Anti-Party Group Soviet Economic Policy from Stalin to Khrushchev The Thaw, the Fall of Khrushchev and the USSR by 1964

1J The British Empire, c1857–1967

Topic overview The Suez Canal and the Occupation of Egypt The Indian Mutiny and the Government of India Act The Scramble for Africa and the Chartered Companies Missionaries, the Civilising Mission and Party Attitudes to Empire The Boers, the Zulu War and Southern Africa Expansion in Africa and the Government of India Lord Cromer and the Veiled Protectorate in Egypt Indirect Rule and the Entente Cordiale Chamberlain, Tariff Reform and Cecil Rhodes The Justifications for Empire and National Efficiency Exhibitions, Youth Movements and Popular Imperialism The Boer War and the Union of South Africa The Mandates and the Empire after the Great War The Dominions, Imperial Defence and Imperial Culture Gandhi and Colonial Nationalism between the Wars The Independence of Britain's Colonies after 1945 Africanisation, the Suez Crisis and the Cold War The Commonwealth and Britain's Post-War Weakness Nationalist Leaders and the Case for Empire Post-Colonial Ties, Migration and the Legacy of Empire Independence Talks, Mau Mau and the Wind of Change Post-War Nationalist Movements and British Responses Rhodesia and UDI

1K The Making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975

Topic overview Johnson, Grant and Radical Reconstruction The Redeemers and the Gilded Age Presidents The Post-Reconstruction South and Jim Crow The Railroad Boom and Big Business in the Gilded Age The Closing of the Frontier and Gilded Age Foreign Policy The Populist Movement and the People's Party Progressivism and Roosevelt's Square Deal Wilson's New Freedom and America's Economic Rise Immigration, Urban Growth and Segregation American Imperialism and the War of 1898 Neutrality and Entry into the First World War American Society and Industrial Power by 1920 Republican Government in the 1920s The First and Second New Deals The Boom of the 1920s and the Wall Street Crash The Jazz Age, Women and Prohibition The Depression and the Second World War at Home The American Regions and Southern Discrimination The Klan's Decline and American Isolationism Truman's Fair Deal and Eisenhower The New Frontier, the Great Society and Nixon The Post-War Boom, the GI Bill and the Consumer Society McCarthyism, Youth Culture and the Anti-War Movement The Civil Rights Movement The Cold War and Vietnam The United States by 1975

1L The Quest for Political Stability: Germany, 1871–1991

Topic overview The States of the German Empire in 1871 The Constitution of 1871: Bundesrat and Reichstag Bismarck's Domestic Policies Wilhelm II and Weltpolitik German Industrial Power before 1914 The Burgertum and the Prestige of the Elite Workers, Pressure Groups and Germany by 1914 War, Revolution and the Weimar Constitution, 1914-1919 Reparations, Putsches and the Crisis of 1923 Stresemann, the Dawes Plan and Locarno The Slump and the Fall of the Grand Coalition The Enabling Act, the Night of the Long Knives and the Terror State The Four Year Plan and the Volksgemeinschaft Germany at War and the Holocaust Occupation and the Division of Germany, 1945-1949 Adenauer and the Basic Law Bad Godesberg and the Grand Coalition Protest, the Economic Miracle and West German Society Reunification and Its Consequences

2A Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216

Topic overview The Anarchy and the Legacy Henry II Inherited Henry II's Challenges and Early Reforms The Church and the Angevin Empire Henry II, Becket and Ireland The Great Rebellion and the Management of the Barons Philip II and the Last Years of Henry II Richard I and the Crusade Government, Society and the Jews under Richard I Richard's War with Philip II and His Death The Accession and Character of King John John's Finances, Hubert Walter and the Interdict The Loss of Normandy John in Scotland, Ireland and Wales Bouvines, Magna Carta and the Death of John

2B The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499

Topic overview Henry VI, Cade's Rebellion and the Loss of Normandy Richard of York and His Claim to the Throne The Protectorates, St Albans and the Uneasy Peace The War of the Barons and Towton Edward IV and the Woodville Marriage Warwick, Margaret of Anjou and the Readeption Barnet, Tewkesbury and the Impact of the Wars Edward IV's Second Reign and Royal Finance The Rise of the Woodvilles and Court Faction Trade, Society and Regional Power under Edward IV The Succession Crisis of 1483 Richard III and the Princes in the Tower The Battle of Bosworth Lovell, Lambert Simnel and Stoke Field Margaret of Burgundy and the Yorkist Pretenders The Economic Cost of the Wars and Recovery by 1499

2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564

Topic overview Papal Supremacy and the Church Hierarchy Salvation and the Seven Sacraments Corruption, Humanism and Demands for Reform before 1517 The Holy Roman Empire and Its Electors The Imperial Diet, the Young Luther and the 95 Theses The Disputations, Luther's Theology and the 1520 Treatises Luther in Print, Excommunication and the Diet of Worms Karlstadt, the Zwickau Prophets and Luther's Return Zwingli, the Eucharist and the Knights' Revolt The German Peasants' War The Swiss Reformation, the Kappel Wars and Marburg The Diets of Speyer, the Augsburg Confession and Melanchthon The Radical Reformation and the Anabaptists The Schmalkaldic League The Formation of John Calvin Calvin in Geneva and the Ecclesiastical Ordinances The Consensus Tigurinus and Reformed Religion Luther's Death and the Schmalkaldic War The Peace of Augsburg The Reforming Popes, the Inquisition and the Jesuits The Council of Trent and the Catholic Reformation

2D Religious Conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570

Topic overview The English Church and Its Wealth in 1529 Humanism and the Call for Church Reform Henry VIII's Great Matter The Reformation Parliament and the Break with Rome Reformist and Conservative Factions at Court Faction, Diplomacy and the Dissolution The Reasons for and Effects of the Dissolution The Pilgrimage of Grace The Ten Articles, the Six Articles and the King's Book Religion and War in Henry VIII's Last Years Somerset's Protectorate and Northumberland's Rise Cranmer, the Prayer Books and the Chantries Act Mary I's Accession and Her Religious Aims Catholic Restoration, Persecution and Opposition under Mary Elizabeth I's Settlement and the Peace with France The Act of Uniformity, Enforcement and the Vestiarian Controversy Mary Queen of Scots and the Rising of the Northern Earls

2E The English Revolution, 1625–1660

Topic overview James I's Legacy and Charles I's Kingship Charles I, Buckingham and the Petition of Right The Personal Rule and Its Ministers Laud's Reforms and Protestant Fears The Scottish Prayer Book and Thorough in Ireland Puritan Emigration, the National Covenant and the First Bishops' War The Bishops' Wars and the Recall of Parliament Charles I and the Parliamentary Opposition in 1640 John Pym and the Long Parliament Deadlock, the Fall of Strafford and the Irish Rebellion The Attempt on the Five Members The Militia Ordinance and the Drift to War The Nineteen Propositions and the Outbreak of War Royalist Strengths at the Outbreak of War Royalist Weaknesses and War Finance Parliament's Commanders and the Wealth of London The Solemn League, Marston Moor and the New Model Army Naseby, Popular Radicalism and the Press Presbyterians, Independents and the Captive King The Politicisation of the Army and the Levellers The Sects, the Heads of the Proposals and the King's Escape The Engagement and the Second Civil War Pride's Purge and the Regicide The Third Civil War: Dunbar and Worcester Radical Sects, the Rump and Barebone's Parliament Cromwell, the Instrument of Government and the Crown The Collapse of the Protectorate and the Restoration

2F The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715

2G The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801

Topic overview Mercantilism, Salutary Neglect and the Colonies in 1760 The Thirteen Colonies and the Impact of the Seven Years War From the Proclamation of 1763 to the Boston Tea Party The Intolerable Acts of 1774 The First Continental Congress Common Sense and the Organisation of Resistance General Gage and the Road to Lexington The Declaration of Independence British Strengths and Weaknesses in 1776 American Strengths and Weaknesses in the War The Limits of British Power and the French Alliance French Intervention, the Chesapeake and Spain's Entry Spain, Congress and British Failures in the War Washington and the Continental Army The Surrender at Yorktown The Articles of Confederation and Post-War Problems The Presidencies of Washington and Adams The Alien and Sedition Acts and Hamilton's Programme The Birth of the Party System Federalists, Republicans and the Election of 1800

2H France in Revolution, 1774–1815

Topic overview Louis XVI and French Absolutism The Three Estates and Seigneurial Rights Taxation and the Weaknesses of the Ancien Regime The Philosophes and the Enlightenment The Financial Crisis of the Ancien Regime Calonne and the Assembly of Notables The Crisis of 1788 and the Estates-General The Cahiers and the Opening of the Estates-General The National Assembly and the Fall of the Bastille The Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the Constitution of 1791 The Political Clubs, Varennes and the Fall of the Monarchy The Founding of the Republic The Execution of Louis XVI, the Vendee and the Federalist Revolt The Levee en Masse and the Coming of the Terror The Fall of the Factions and the Great Terror Thermidor and the Dismantling of the Terror Vendemiaire and the Directory The Rise of Bonaparte The Coup of Brumaire The Constitution of the Year VIII The Imperial Nobility and the Legion of Honour Education and the Position of Women under Napoleon Censorship and Propaganda under Napoleon The Concordat and Napoleon's Relations with the Papacy The Civil Code and the Napoleonic Codes Prefects and Centralised Administration The Police, the Prisons and the Bank of France Napoleonic Taxation, the Currency and the Continental System The Cost of War and the Napoleonic Economy The Grande Armee and the Grand Empire Jena, Friedland and the Treaties of Tilsit The Peninsular War, Russia and the Fall of Napoleon

2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877

Topic overview Federalism and States' Rights The Northern Economy by 1845 Cotton, Plantations and the Southern Economy The Missouri Compromise and the Nullification Crisis Manifest Destiny and the Compromise of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Law, Abolitionism and Pro-Slavery Arguments The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas The Formation of the Republican Party Dred Scott, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and Harper's Ferry The Election of 1860, Secession and Fort Sumter Confederate Strengths and the Union's Numbers Lee, States' Rights and King Cotton Union Strengths, Lincoln, Grant and Sherman The Course of the Civil War, 1861-1865 Why the Confederacy Lost and the Destruction of the South The War's Legacy and the Death of Lincoln The Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln's Plan Radical Republicans and Presidential Reconstruction Grant's Presidency and the Fifteenth Amendment The Reconstruction Acts, Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941

Topic overview How Britain and France Made Foreign Policy The Economic and Military Strength of the Great Powers The Scramble for Africa and Great Power Rivalry Balkan Nationalism and Austria-Hungary The Naval Race, the Arms Race and War Plans The Moroccan Crises The Entente Cordiale and the Triple Entente The Decline of the Ottoman Empire The Bosnian Crisis of 1908 The Balkan Wars Sarajevo and the Austrian Ultimatum Mobilisation and the Schlieffen Plan The July Crisis Italy, the USA and the Widening War Revolution in Russia and the Collapse of Germany The Collapse of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires Clemenceau, Wilson and the Aims of the Peacemakers Lloyd George and the Treaty of Versailles Saint-Germain, Trianon, Neuilly, Sevres and Lausanne American Isolation and the League of Nations Soviet Russia, Rapallo and the Corfu Incident The Ruhr Occupation and Europe by 1923 Locarno and the Dawes Plan The Depression, the Revisionist Powers and the Failure of the League Hitler's Foreign Policy Aims and the Rhineland Non-Intervention in Spain and Aggression in Asia Appeasement and the Czech Crisis Poland, the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the Outbreak of War Barbarossa, Pearl Harbor and Global War

2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945

Topic overview A Young Kingdom: North, South and the Risorgimento The Italian Monarchy and the Narrow Franchise Giolitti and the Gentiloni Pact Industrial Growth, Socialism and Labour Unrest Nationalism, Futurism and the Triple Alliance Intervention in 1915 and Italy's War Aims The Isonzo Front and Caporetto The Home Front and the Peace Settlement Fiume and the Mutilated Victory Post-War Crisis and Political Instability The Biennio Rosso and the Fascist Response The March on Rome and Mussolini's Appointment Why the Elites Accepted Mussolini Fascist Ideology, the Ras and the Cult of the Duce The Grand Council, the Acerbo Law and the Matteotti Crisis Building the Dictatorship, 1925-1926 Corfu, Fiume and the Consolidation of Power Press, Radio and Film under Fascism The Balilla, the Dopolavoro and the 1938 Race Laws The Corporate State and the Charter of Labour The Church, Women and Society under Fascism Mare Nostrum and Mussolini's Imperial Ambitions Abyssinia, Spain and the Road to the Pact of Steel Italy's Entry into the War and Early Defeats Defeat in Russia and the Italian Home Front The Grandi Resolution and the Fall of Mussolini

2M Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957

Topic overview The Liberal Landslide of 1906 and New Liberalism The Lib-Lab Pact, Tariff Reform and the Edwardian Economy Edwardian Class, Poverty and the People's Budget The Liberal Welfare Reforms The Parliament Act, Women's Suffrage and Home Rule The Labour Unrest of 1910 to 1914 The Wartime Coalitions and the Liberal Split The War Economy, DORA and Post-War Industry Women's War Work, the Vote and Conscription The War Poets, the Easter Rising and Irish Independence Liberal Decline, the First Labour Government and Baldwin The Return to Gold, the Coal Crisis and the General Strike The Divided Regions, Women and Culture in the 1920s The Flapper Vote and the 1929 Election The Second Labour Government and the Slump The Formation of the National Government The Crisis of 1931, the Gold Standard and Protection The Means Test and the Depths of the Slump The Peace Ballot, the Abdication and the Left Mosley and the British Union of Fascists The Fall of Chamberlain and Churchill's Wartime Leadership The Wartime Economy and Bevin's Direction of Labour Conscription, Women's War Work and Evacuation Internment, Rationing and Propaganda The Blitz The Beveridge Report and the Butler Education Act The 1945 Election and Attlee's Labour Programme Britain's Post-War Debt and the Export Drive Labour's Nationalisation Programme National Insurance, National Assistance and Family Allowances The National Health Service Housing, the New Towns and the Festival of Britain Austerity, Korea and the Bevanite Split The Industrial Charter and the New Conservatism Conservative Leadership from Churchill to Macmillan Consensus, Affluence and Social Change in the 1950s

2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953

Topic overview Tsarism and the Strain of War by 1917 The February Revolution The Provisional Government and the April Theses The October Revolution The First Decrees, the Constituent Assembly and the Leaders of 1917 The Cheka and the Rise of One-Party Rule Brest-Litovsk and the Causes of the Civil War Trotsky and the Building of the Red Army Why the Reds Won the Civil War Bolshevik Social Reform, War Communism and the Red Terror Tambov and Kronstadt The New Economic Policy Foreign Intervention, the Comintern and Soviet Diplomacy Lenin's Death, His Testament and the Contenders for Power Permanent Revolution and Socialism in One Country The Defeat of the Oppositions and the Great Turn The Stalin Cult and Soviet Foreign Policy in the 1920s Collectivisation and the Collective Farms The Five Year Plans The Costs of Planning, the Stalin Cult and Socialist Realism Cinema, Schooling and the Soviet Economy by 1941 Stalinism and the Machinery of Terror The Show Trials, the 1936 Constitution and the Yezhovshchina Mass Terror and the Purge of the Red Army The Gulag and the End of the Purges Religion, Women and the Family under Stalin Soviet Foreign Policy and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1929-1941 Barbarossa and the Great Patriotic War High Stalinism and the Post-War Terror The USSR as a Superpower and the Soviet Bloc

2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945

Topic overview The Collapse of 1918 and the Kiel Mutiny The Weimar Constitution and the Terms of Versailles The Military Terms of Versailles and German Reactions The Ruhr Occupation and the Hyperinflation of 1923 The Spartacist Uprising and the Freikorps The Ruhr Crisis, the Courts and the Munich Putsch The Munich Putsch and Weimar's Coalitions Stresemann and the Dawes Plan Weimar Culture: Bauhaus, Art and Theatre Hindenburg's Election and the Golden Years Stresemann's Foreign Policy and Locarno The Wall Street Crash and the German Banks Bruning's Deflation and the Nazi Electoral Breakthrough Nazi Propaganda, the SA and Nazi Appeal The Divided Left, Hindenburg and Papen The Prussian Coup and Hitler's Refusal of Office The Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act and the End of Democracy Gleichschaltung and the One-Party State The Night of the Long Knives The SS, the Gestapo and the Terror State Opposition and Non-Conformity in Nazi Germany Goebbels and Nazi Propaganda Schacht and the New Plan The Hitler Youth and the Nazification of Schools Nazi Policy towards Women and Leisure The Churches and the Volksgemeinschaft Racial Ideology, Euthanasia and the Persecution of Minorities The Boycott, the Civil Service Law and Nuremberg The Conquest of Poland and the Einsatzgruppen Wartime Rationing, Propaganda and Morale Total War, Speer and Wartime Resistance

2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997

Topic overview Japanese Encroachment and the Guomindang The Encirclement Campaigns, the Long March and Mao's Ideology Yan'an, the Xi'an Incident and the Second United Front The Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945 The Race for Territory and the Marshall Mission The Nationalist Position in 1946 The Civil War and the Nationalist Collapse China in 1949 and the Founding of the Republic The Mass Campaigns and the Grip on Power The Soviet Alliance and the Korean War The Hundred Flowers and the First Five Year Plan The Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes Rectification, the Marriage Law and Social Change Mao's Retreat and the Divided Leadership The Little Red Book and the Socialist Education Movement Women, Education, Culture and Religion in the Early 1960s The Sino-Soviet Split The Origins of the Cultural Revolution The Red Guards, Lin Biao and the PLA The Four Olds, the Lost Generation and Rapprochement with the USA The Death of Mao and the Succession The Fall of the Gang of Four The Two Whatevers and Deng's New Leadership Decollectivisation, the SEZs and Deng's Economic Reforms The Democracy Wall and Tiananmen Square Deng's Southern Tour and China by 1997 China's Foreign Relations under Deng The Return of Hong Kong

2Q The American Dream: Reality and Illusion, 1945–1980

Topic overview American Power and Politics in 1945 Truman and the Fair Deal Containment, NATO and the Korean War Taft-Hartley, the 1948 Election and McCarthyism Civil Rights in the Truman Years Eisenhower and Modern Republicanism The Fall of McCarthy and the Fifties Economy Suburbia, the Highways and the New Look Hungary, Rollback and the Berlin Crisis Eisenhower, South Vietnam and SEATO Brown, Montgomery and Little Rock The Election of 1960 The New Frontier and the Berlin Wall Civil Rights under Kennedy and America by 1963 Johnson, the Great Society and the 1964 Election Johnson's Legislative Strategy and Rolling Thunder Civil Rights, Black Power and Protest under Johnson The Election of 1968 and the Democratic Split Nixon's Domestic Conservatism Kissinger, Detente and the Paris Peace Accords Watergate and Nixon's Resignation Ford's Pardon and Carter's Election Carter, Afghanistan and the End of Detente America by 1980 and the Election of Reagan

2R The Cold War, c1945–1991

Topic overview Yalta, Potsdam and the Wartime Alliance The Sovietisation of Eastern Europe The Marshall Plan and American Aid to Europe The Division of Germany, the Berlin Blockade and NATO Japan, China and NSC-68 Korea in 1950 and the UN Response McCarthyism and the Isolation of China NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the First Indochina War Khrushchev and the Crises of 1956 in Poland and Hungary The Hungarian Uprising, Peaceful Coexistence and the Paris Summit The U-2 Affair, the Missile Race and the Space Race The Berlin Crisis and the Berlin Wall The Division of Vietnam and the NLF Cuba, the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis The Gulf of Tonkin and American Escalation Viet Cong Tactics, Tet and Vietnamisation Arms Control, the Prague Spring and the Sino-Soviet Split The Paris Accords and the Fall of Saigon The Cost of Vietnam and the Road to SALT I SALT II, Ostpolitik and the Helsinki Accords Afghanistan, Reagan and the Second Cold War The Pope, Solidarity and Martial Law in Poland Angola, Ethiopia and Chile Grenada and the Contras Gorbachev's Inheritance and New Thinking The Geneva and Reykjavik Summits Bush, Gorbachev and the Brezhnev Doctrine The Revolutions of 1989 and the Collapse of the USSR The End of the Cold War in the Third World

2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007

Topic overview The Conservative Prime Ministers, 1951 to 1964 The Long Boom and Stop-Go Women, Youth, Immigration and the Notting Hill Riots Foreign Policy, Suez and Decolonisation, 1951-1964 Harold Wilson and the National Plan Devaluation and Labour's Economic Policy, 1965-1969 In Place of Strife, Education and Northern Ireland The Abolition of Hanging and Divorce Reform The Media, the Permissive Society and Race in the 1960s Vietnam, the EEC Veto and the Atlantic Alliance Heath, the 1970 Election and Selsdon Park The Industrial Relations Act and the 1972 Strike The Oil Crisis and the Second Miners' Strike Northern Ireland from Bloody Sunday to Sunningdale The Social Contract, the IMF Crisis and the Winter of Discontent Feminism, Equality Legislation and Immigration in the 1970s Punk and the New Politics of the 1970s Britain's Entry into the EEC and the 1975 Referendum The Special Relationship and Detente in the 1970s Thatcher's Rise and Her Political Creed Labour's Divisions and the SDP Northern Ireland, Monetarism and Privatisation Right to Buy and the Miners' Strike Protest, the Riots of 1981 and the Falklands War The Falklands Factor and the Reagan Alliance Thatcher, Gorbachev and Europe The Poll Tax and the Fall of Thatcher Major, Black Wednesday, Sleaze and the Peace Process Major's Leadership Challenge and the Making of New Labour The Landslide of 1997 and Society in the 1990s Stephen Lawrence and the Single European Market Maastricht, Bosnia and the End of the Cold War Blair's Leadership and Downing Street Government Constitutional Reform and the Good Friday Agreement New Labour's Social and Economic Policy The Conservative Opposition, 1997 to 2005 Society and Multiculturalism under New Labour Blair's Foreign Policy, Iraq and Britain by 2007

2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000

Topic overview Stalin's Death and the System He Left Khrushchev's Rise and the Anti-Party Group The Secret Speech and De-Stalinisation The Sovnarkhozy, Housing and the Thaw The Virgin Lands Scheme and Agricultural Failure The Thaw, China and Khrushchev's Foreign Policy The Fall of Khrushchev Brezhnev and His Leading Colleagues The Kosygin Reforms and Economic Stagnation Detente, Afghanistan and the Second Cold War Dissidents and Nationalist Unrest under Brezhnev Andropov, Chernenko and the Rise of Gorbachev Gorbachev's Aims and Perestroika Glasnost, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold War Chernobyl, Economic Restructuring and Democratisation The Opposition to Gorbachev The August Coup and the End of the USSR Yeltsin and Shock Therapy Putin's Rise and the Second Chechen War The Leaders of the Satellite States Party Control and the Nomenklatura Sovietisation and Daily Life in the Satellites Travel, Conformity and Careers behind the Curtain The Uprisings of 1953 and 1956 The Berlin Wall and the Prague Spring Gierek's Poland and Normalisation in Czechoslovakia The Strengths and Limits of the Satellite Economies Western Influence and the Helsinki Accords The Gdańsk Strikes and the Birth of Solidarity Martial Law in Poland Dissent in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the GDR in the 1980s Ceausescu's Romania and the Securitate Zhivkov's Bulgaria The Revolutions of 1989 in East Germany, Poland and Hungary The Velvet Revolution, Bulgaria and Romania in 1989 Romania's Revolution and the Collapse of Communism Post-Communist Politics and the Velvet Divorce Shock Therapy, Gradualism and Privatisation

2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953

The Costs of Planning, the Stalin Cult and Socialist Realism

2 things to know
Component 2

Overview

Recall questions on the inefficiencies of central planning and the case against the official figures, the promotion of Stalin and the Short Course of 1938, and Socialist Realism, the Union of Soviet Writers and Gorky.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

In what ways was Stalin's image promoted throughout Soviet society?

Key term

What specific requirements did Socialist Realism impose on artists?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What inefficiencies resulted from the central planning system used in the Five Year Plans?
Model answer
Central planning created bottlenecks, misallocation of resources, lack of coordination between industries, wasteful duplication, and an inability to respond flexibly to local conditions or changing circumstances.
2
Explain why some historians argue the Five Year Plans were not genuinely successful despite impressive headline figures.
Model answer
Critics point to unreliable statistics masking true performance, poor quality output, neglect of consumer goods causing hardship, massive human costs including Gulag deaths, and systemic inefficiencies inherent in centralised command economics.
3
In what ways was Stalin's image promoted throughout Soviet society?
Model answer
Stalin's image appeared ubiquitously in posters, statues, paintings, and public spaces, while cities, factories, and geographical features were renamed in his honour.
4
What was the Short Course History of the Communist Party (1938) and what purpose did it serve?
Model answer
It was an official history that rewrote Soviet history to magnify Stalin's role and diminish or erase the contributions of purged rivals.
5
What was Socialist Realism?
Model answer
Socialist Realism was the official artistic doctrine requiring all art, literature, music and film to depict Soviet life in an optimistic, idealised manner that promoted socialist values.
6
What specific requirements did Socialist Realism impose on artists?
Model answer
Art had to be accessible to the masses, depict heroic workers and peasants, and serve the ideological goals of the Communist Party.

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Sir Grey.

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AMary restored the heresy laws.

BMary restored the Latin Mass.

CTraditional Catholic practices returned.

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Henry II died on 6 July 1189 at Chinon.

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