Edexcel A-Level History 9HI0
The Crusades, c1095–1204Paper 1
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and ReligionPaper 1
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and SettlementPaper 1
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and ReformPaper 1
Russia, 1917–91: From Lenin to YeltsinPaper 1
In Search of the American Dream: The USA, c1917–96Paper 1
Germany and West Germany, 1918–89Paper 1
Britain Transformed, 1918–97Paper 1
Anglo-Saxon England and the Anglo-Norman Kingdom, c1053–1106Paper 2
England and the Angevin Empire in the Reign of Henry II, 1154–89Paper 2
Luther and the German Reformation, c1515–55Paper 2
The Dutch Revolt, c1563–1609Paper 2
France in Revolution, 1774–99Paper 2
Russia in Revolution, 1894–1924Paper 2
The Unification of Italy, c1830–70Paper 2
The Unification of Germany, c1840–71Paper 2
Mao’s China, 1949–76Paper 2
The German Democratic Republic, 1949–90Paper 2
India, c1914–48: The Road to IndependencePaper 2
South Africa, 1948–94: From Apartheid State to ‘Rainbow Nation’Paper 2
The Rise and Fall of Fascism in Italy, c1911–46Paper 2
Spain, 1930–78: Republicanism, Francoism and the Re-Establishment of DemocracyPaper 2
The USA, c1920–55: Boom, Bust and RecoveryPaper 2
The USA, 1955–92: Conformity and ChallengePaper 2
Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399–1509Paper 3
Rebellion and Disorder Under the Tudors, 1485–1603Paper 3
The Golden Age of Spain, 1474–1598Paper 3
The Witch Craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750Paper 3
Industrialisation and Social Change in Britain, 1759–1928: Forging a New SocietyPaper 3
Poverty, Public Health and the State in Britain, c1780–1939Paper 3
Britain: Losing and Gaining an Empire, 1763–1914Paper 3
The British Experience of Warfare, c1790–1918Paper 3
Protest, Agitation and Parliamentary Reform in Britain, c1780–1928Paper 3
Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923Paper 3
The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1859–1991: Perception and RealityPaper 3
Germany, 1871–1990: United, Divided and ReunitedPaper 3
The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991Paper 3
The Making of Modern China, 1860–1997Paper 3
Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA, 1850–2009Paper 3
Mass Media and Social Change in Britain, 1882–2004Paper 3
The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991
- 19 subtopics
- 57 things to know
- Paper 3
- Paper 3 themes option, chosen from sixteen
What The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991 covers
A Paper 3 option combining aspects in breadth on agriculture, living standards and feeding the population across 136 years with aspects in depth on the Great Reforms of Alexander II, the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and the reform attempts of Khrushchev and Gorbachev.
Where it is assessed
Paper 3
Themes in breadth with aspects in depth, one option of sixteen.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 19 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Changes in government policy, 1855-1991Recall questions on the abolition of serfdom, Stolypin's reforms, the Land Decree, the New Economic Policy, collectivisation, and the kolkhoz and sovkhoz.Open →
- Living standards and leaving the land, 1855-1991Recall questions on redemption payments, rural overpopulation, why peasants left the land, the internal passport system, and the relief given after 1953.Open →
- Reform, innovation and productivity, 1861–1991Recall questions on the backwardness of peasant farming, the effect of railways, Stolypin's success, Lysenkoism, the Virgin Lands scheme, and why output stayed low.Open →
- Feeding the population, 1861–1991Recall questions on the famine of 1891, grain procurement in the 1930s, wartime shortages, private plots, the scale of grain imports, and the Food Programme.Open →
- The Crimean War and army reformRecall questions on what defeat revealed, why it was such a shock, Milyutin's reforms, the conscription statute of 1874, and how effective the reforms proved.Open →
- Legal and local government reformRecall questions on the zemstva and who dominated them, why they mattered politically, their limits, the legal reforms of 1864, and the municipal statute of 1870.Open →
- Freedom of expression, universities and the pressRecall questions on the university statute of 1863, the press regulations of 1865 and their limits, the counter-reforms of the 1880s, and samizdat under Soviet rule.Open →
- The Russo-Japanese War as a stimulus to reformRecall questions on why Russia went to war, Port Arthur and Tsushima, why it lost, how defeat contributed to revolution, and why 1905 differed from 1917.Open →
- Bloody Sunday 1905Recall questions on Gapon's petition, why the shooting was a turning point, the Union of Unions, the October strike and Manifesto, and the peasant risings.Open →
- Repression of opposition in town and countrysideRecall questions on the soviets of 1905 and their closure, the Moscow rising, the punitive expeditions, Stolypin's field courts martial, and the change to the electoral law.Open →
- Impact of defeat and suffering, 1916–17Recall questions on the economic effects of the war, why taking command was a mistake, ministerial leapfrog, Rasputin's murder, and the Progressive Bloc.Open →
- Reasons for the October RevolutionRecall questions on why the Provisional Government continued the war and delayed reform, the Petrograd Soviet, Lenin and Trotsky, and the effect of the Kornilov Affair.Open →
- The Bolsheviks in power, 1917–18Recall questions on the first decrees, the early concessions, the closing of the Constituent Assembly, the Cheka, Brest-Litovsk, and the fate of the other parties.Open →
- Khrushchev and the impetus to reformRecall questions on how he emerged as leader, his personality and aims, his view of the party, the housing programme, the Seven Year Plan, and why he was removed.Open →
- De-StalinisationRecall questions on what the Secret Speech alleged, why it was delivered, its effects at home and abroad, Hungary, the Anti-Party Group, and how complete de-Stalinisation was.Open →
- Administrative reformsRecall questions on the sovnarkhoz reform and why it failed, the bifurcation of the party, the restructuring of the security apparatus, and the cultural Thaw and its limits.Open →
- Gorbachev and the impetus to reformRecall questions on the state of the economy in 1985, the alcohol campaign, the Afghan war, Chernobyl, falling oil prices, uskorenie, and early nationalist unrest.Open →
- Impacts of glasnost and perestroikaRecall questions on what each involved, why perestroika worsened the economy, the release of Sakharov, the Congress of People's Deputies, and why glasnost proved uncontrollable.Open →
- Divisions in the reformist camp, conservative oppositionRecall questions on the split over the 500 Days plan, Ligachev, Yeltsin's rise, Russian sovereignty, the August coup and why it failed.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
How did military reform connect to the other Great Reforms?
How complete was de-Stalinisation?
What was 'maize mania'?
Which war exposed Russia's need for reform under Alexander II?
Which war acted as a stimulus to the 1905 Revolution?
What was Bloody Sunday (January 1905)?
Who was murdered in December 1916?
Who led party resistance to Khrushchev in 1957?
What limited Khrushchev's cultural liberalisation?
Which foreign war weakened the USSR before Gorbachev's reforms?
What was glasnost?
What was collectivisation (1928–32)?
What were redemption payments?
What relief did peasants gain in 1953–54?
Why was nineteenth-century peasant agriculture backward?
What was the significance of the 1891 famine?
How did the Second World War affect food supply?
What did the 1864 reform of the legal system introduce?
What was the zemstvo statute of 1864?
How did the 1866 attempt on Alexander II's life affect education policy?
What were the limits of press freedom after 1865?
Why did Russia go to war with Japan?
What was the October Manifesto (1905)?
What were the workers' councils formed in the two capitals in 1905?
What was the Vyborg Appeal?
What happened in the February Revolution of 1917?
Who organised the October Revolution alongside Lenin?
What did Lenin contribute?
What secret police did the Bolsheviks establish in 1917?
What peace did the Bolsheviks make with Germany?
How did Khrushchev emerge as leader?
What was Khrushchev's personality and how did it shape his rule?
What administrative reform did Khrushchev introduce?
Which 1986 disaster damaged the regime's credibility?
What was perestroika?
Which rising politician became Gorbachev's main rival?
Who was Yegor Ligachev?
Why was serfdom abolished in 1861?
What was rural overpopulation?
Did Soviet agriculture meet the country's food needs by the 1980s?
What was the significance of private plots?
Who was Dmitry Milyutin?
Which Russians were largely left outside the 1864 court system?
What was the counter-reform of the 1880s?
How did the war go for Russia?
Who led the Bloody Sunday march and what did it ask for?
What was the Moscow rising of December 1905?
What two bodies shared power after February 1917?
What happened at the Second Congress of Soviets in October 1917?
What concessions did the Bolsheviks make early on?
What was Khrushchev's housing programme?
What were the effects of the speech inside the USSR?
What happened to the security apparatus under Khrushchev?
What was the state of the Soviet economy when Gorbachev took power?
Which prominent dissident did Gorbachev free from exile?
What was the significance of Russian sovereignty in 1990?
Take The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Redemption payments vs New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced in 1921
Redemption payments: instalments former serfs paid the state (spread over 49 years) to reimburse landowners for land allotted under the 1861 Emancipation. New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced in 1921: It let peasants sell surplus grain on the open market after paying a fixed tax in kind, replacing forced grain requisitioning.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
When was serfdom abolished in Russia, and by whom?
Model answer
In 1861, by Tsar Alexander II (the Emancipation Edict).
- 2
What did Stolypin's agrarian reforms (1906–11) aim to achieve?
Model answer
To create prosperous, independent peasant farmers (kulaks) by letting peasants leave the commune (mir) and consolidate their strips into private farms.
- 3
What did the Land Decree of 1917 do?
Model answer
It abolished private landownership and redistributed noble and church land to the peasants.
- 4
What was the New Economic Policy (NEP), introduced in 1921?
Model answer
It let peasants sell surplus grain on the open market after paying a fixed tax in kind, replacing forced grain requisitioning.
- 5
What was collectivisation (1928–32)?
Model answer
Stalin's forced merging of peasant farms into collective farms (kolkhoz), destroying private farming and the kulaks.
- 6
What is the difference between a kolkhoz and a sovkhoz?
Model answer
A kolkhoz is a collective farm where peasants share the output; a sovkhoz is a state farm where workers are paid wages. State farms expanded at the kolkhoz's expense after 1945.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991 revision questions
- What does The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991 cover in Edexcel A-Level History?
- 19 subtopics: changes in government policy, 1855-1991, living standards and leaving the land, 1855-1991, reform, innovation and productivity, 1861–1991, feeding the population, 1861–1991, the crimean war and army reform, legal and local government reform, freedom of expression, universities and the press, the russo-japanese war as a stimulus to reform, bloody sunday 1905, repression of opposition in town and countryside, impact of defeat and suffering, 1916–17, reasons for the october revolution, the bolsheviks in power, 1917–18, khrushchev and the impetus to reform, de-stalinisation, administrative reforms, gorbachev and the impetus to reform, impacts of glasnost and perestroika and divisions in the reformist camp, conservative opposition. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991 organised?
- By the Edexcel 9HI0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in The Making of Modern Russia, 1855–1991, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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