AQA AS-Level History 7042
1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204
1B Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598
1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702
1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796
1F Industrialisation and the People: Britain, c1783–1885
1G Challenge and Transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
1J The British Empire, c1857–1967
1K The Making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975
1L The Quest for Political Stability: Germany, 1871–1991
2A Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216
2B The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499
2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564
2D Religious Conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570
2E The English Revolution, 1625–1660
2F The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715
2G The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801
2H France in Revolution, 1774–1815
2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877
2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941
2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
2M Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957
2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945
2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997
2Q The American Dream: Reality and Illusion, 1945–1980
2R The Cold War, c1945–1991
2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007
2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000
2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
- 17 subtopics
- 83 things to know
- Component 2
What 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 covers
Option 2N is a depth study of Russia under Lenin and Stalin, taken as one of the Component 2 choices. It covers the revolutions of 1917, Bolshevik consolidation, Stalin's rise, and the economy, society and terror of his dictatorship.
Where it is assessed
Component 2
A depth study, of which a student sits one.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 17 subtopics
Each one has its own page. AQA AS History students sit this topic in the first year.
- Tsarism and the Strain of War by 1917Recall questions on the Tsar's attitude to the Duma, the powers he kept under the Fundamental Laws and the casualties and supply failures of the war.Open →
- The February RevolutionRecall questions on the date the revolution began, its immediate cause and the part played by strikes and demonstrations.Open →
- The Provisional Government and the April ThesesRecall questions on the decision to continue the war, Lenin's return to Petrograd and the programme he set out on arrival.Open →
- The October RevolutionRecall questions on the Bolsheviks who opposed a rising, the Military Revolutionary Committee and the seizure of the capital.Open →
- The First Decrees, the Constituent Assembly and the Leaders of 1917Recall questions on the decrees on peace, land and workers' control, the nationalisation of the banks, the Constituent Assembly elections and dissolution, and the parts Lenin and Trotsky played in 1917.Open →
- The Cheka and the Rise of One-Party RuleRecall questions on how rival parties were removed, the body used to suppress opposition and the concentration of power that followed.Open →
- Brest-Litovsk and the Causes of the Civil WarRecall questions on the territory surrendered to Germany, who made up the White forces and the part played by foreign powers and nationalists.Open →
- Trotsky and the Building of the Red ArmyRecall questions on Trotsky's wartime office, how he raised the Red Army and his use of former tsarist officers.Open →
- Why the Reds Won the Civil WarRecall questions on the Bolsheviks' hold of the centre and on the disunity, conflicting aims and unpopularity of the Whites.Open →
- Bolshevik Social Reform, War Communism and the Red TerrorRecall questions on Bolshevik reforms to marriage, women's status, religion and the calendar, grain requisitioning and famine in the Civil War, the measures of War Communism and the Cheka's Red Terror.Open →
- Tambov and KronstadtRecall questions on the causes, course and suppression of the Tambov peasant revolt and the Kronstadt rising of 1921, the sailors' political and economic demands and why it alarmed the Bolsheviks.Open →
- The New Economic PolicyRecall questions on the introduction of NEP in 1921, the tax in kind and the return of private trade, the Nepmen, the scissors crisis of 1923 and the ban on factions at the Tenth Party Congress.Open →
- Foreign Intervention, the Comintern and Soviet DiplomacyRecall questions on foreign intervention in the Civil War, the founding and purpose of the Comintern, the Russo-Polish War, the Treaty of Rapallo, British recognition of the USSR and the Zinoviev letter.Open →
- Lenin's Death, His Testament and the Contenders for PowerRecall questions on Lenin's legacy by 1924, his strokes and death, what his Testament said and what became of it, and the strengths and weaknesses of Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov and Tomsky.Open →
- Permanent Revolution and Socialism in One CountryRecall questions on the Left and Right positions on NEP, Permanent Revolution against Socialism in One Country, Stalin's shifting alliances from the Triumvirate to 1929, and his use of the General Secretaryship, the Lenin Enrolment and the ban on factions.Open →
- The Defeat of the Oppositions and the Great TurnRecall questions on Trotsky's fall, the removal of Kamenev and Zinoviev, the defeat of the right and the change of course in 1928.Open →
- The Stalin Cult and Soviet Foreign Policy in the 1920sRecall questions on the change in government and the beginnings of Stalin's cult by 1929, Soviet policy in China and the Shanghai Massacre, the Treaty of Berlin of 1926 and the Comintern's Third Period.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
How did the war effort affect Russia's railway network, and what supply problems resulted?
How did Rasputin's influence during Nicholas's absence at the front affect the monarchy's reputation?
What was the immediate cause of the February Revolution?
What role did mass demonstrations play in the February Revolution?
According to Order Number One, under what condition should soldiers obey the Provisional Government?
When and how did Lenin return to Petrograd in 1917?
What financial measure did the April Theses propose?
What was confusing about Kerensky's initial response to Kornilov's advance?
Who opposed immediate insurrection within the Bolshevik leadership, and what was the Central Committee's decision on 10 October 1917?
What was the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC), and what role did it play in October 1917?
What happened during the storming of the Winter Palace on 25–26 October 1917?
What happened to Russian banks in December 1917, and why was this significant?
Which party won the largest share of votes in the November 1917 Constituent Assembly elections, and approximately what percentage did the Bolsheviks receive?
When and why did Trotsky convert to Bolshevism?
What organisation did the Bolsheviks use to suppress political opposition?
How was political power organised under Bolshevik one-party rule?
Which party won the majority in the Constituent Assembly elections?
What territories did Russia lose to Germany under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?
How did foreign powers contribute to the causes of the Civil War?
Why did opposition to Bolshevik policies contribute to the Civil War?
What methods did Trotsky use to maintain discipline in the Red Army?
Why did the Bolsheviks execute the Tsar and his family?
How did the lack of coordination among White forces contribute to their defeat?
Why did conflicting political aims weaken the White movement?
How did Bolshevik propaganda portray the White forces?
How did the Bolsheviks obtain grain from the countryside during the Civil War?
What methods did the Cheka use during the Red Terror?
What economic demand did the Kronstadt sailors make?
At which party meeting was the ban on factions introduced?
Which two countries signed the Treaty of Rapallo?
Who was the Zinoviev letter attributed to?
What event in January 1924 created a leadership crisis within the Communist Party?
What happened to Lenin's Testament in 1924, and how did this affect Stalin?
How did Lenin describe Bukharin in his Testament, both positively and critically?
What was Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution?
What was Stalin's theory of Socialism in One Country?
What was the Triumvirate, and what was its purpose between 1923 and 1925?
What was the Great Turn?
Why was rapid military-industrial development seen as necessary in the late 1920s?
What was the class objective of collectivisation regarding kulaks?
How did the structure of government change under Stalin in the late 1920s?
What event in December 1929 marked a significant development in the cult of personality?
What secret arrangements characterised Soviet-German relations in the 1920s?
What were kolkhozy?
What forms did peasant resistance to collectivisation take?
What arguments support the view that collectivisation was successful?
What were the priorities of the First Five Year Plan (1928-1932)?
What was the Dneprostroi Dam and why was it significant?
How did women's participation in the industrial workforce change during the 1930s?
In what ways was Stalin's image promoted throughout Soviet society?
What specific requirements did Socialist Realism impose on artists?
How was Soviet cinema used during the 1930s?
What were the strengths of the Soviet economy by 1941?
Describe the mixed picture of social conditions in the USSR by 1941.
What was the defining characteristic of Stalinism as a political system?
Who was targeted in the early purges of 1932-1934?
What were the show trials of 1936-1938?
Who were the main defendants in the first Moscow show trial of 1936 and what happened to them?
Who were the main defendants in the third Moscow show trial of 1938?
What was the Yezhovshchina?
Which groups were targeted by mass terror at the central level?
What was the scale of the Red Army purges of 1937-1938?
Which diaspora nationalities were specifically targeted in national operations and why?
What were conditions like in the gulags?
Who replaced Yezhov as head of the NKVD and what change did this bring?
What are the intentionalist and revisionist interpretations of responsibility for the Terror?
What was the League of Militant Atheists?
How did Soviet-German cooperation continue after 1929?
How did the Munich Agreement of 1938 affect Stalin's view of Britain and France?
What was Operation Barbarossa and when was it launched?
How was the Soviet wartime economy transformed to meet military needs?
What role did climate and terrain play in Germany's defeat on the Eastern Front?
Define 'High Stalinism'.
What were the key features of totalitarianism under High Stalinism?
Which groups were targeted by the renewed Terror after 1945?
What factors made the USSR a superpower after 1945?
How was political opposition eliminated in Soviet satellite states?
What characterised the Cold War conflict between the USSR and the capitalist West?
How did Stalin's state attack religion and discipline young people and workers?
What was Operation Barbarossa, and how did Stalin respond to it?
What early social and religious changes did the Bolsheviks make?
Where was the ban on factions introduced, who intervened in the Civil War, and how committed were they?
Take 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Bolshevik vs Menshevik
Bolshevik: member of the disciplined revolutionary faction led by Lenin. Menshevik: member of the rival socialist faction favouring a broader party.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What type of rule did Tsar Nicholas II exercise before February 1917, and what was his attitude toward political reform?
Model answer
Nicholas II held autocratic power, ruling without constitutional constraints and resisting meaningful political reform despite the existence of the Duma.
- 2
Under the Fundamental Laws of 1906, what specific powers did the Tsar retain that limited the Duma's effectiveness?
Model answer
The Tsar retained authority to dissolve the Duma, veto legislation, and control the military and foreign policy, limiting genuine parliamentary power.
- 3
Approximately how many Russian military deaths and wounded had occurred by 1917, and which early battles exemplified these losses?
Model answer
Approximately 1.7 million military deaths and 5 million wounded, with massive losses at battles including Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.
- 4
How did the war effort affect Russia's railway network, and what supply problems resulted?
Model answer
The war strained Russia's inadequate railway network, causing supply failures that left soldiers without rifles and ammunition while cities faced food shortages.
- 5
By approximately how much did prices rise in Russia between 1914 and 1917, and what was the effect on urban workers?
Model answer
Prices rose approximately fourfold while wages failed to keep pace, severely reducing urban workers' living standards.
- 6
What demographic change occurred in Petrograd during the war, and why did this create political instability?
Model answer
Petrograd's population swelled with war workers, creating overcrowded conditions and concentrating a volatile, politically aware workforce in the capital.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 revision questions
- Is 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 examined at AS in AQA History?
- Yes. It sits in Component 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 cover in AQA AS-Level History?
- 17 subtopics: 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 and the stalin cult and soviet foreign policy in the 1920s. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953 organised?
- By the AQA 7042 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in 2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953, 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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