Key term
AQA AS-Level History 7042
1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204
Topic overviewThe Church, the Seljuk Turks and Byzantium before the CrusadesManzikert and the Call of the First CrusadeThe First Crusade: Motives and CampaignThe Kings of Jerusalem and the Early Crusader StatesThe Knights Templar and the HospitallersThe Crusader States, Byzantium and the Latin WestZengi and the Fall of EdessaThe Second Crusade
1B Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598
Topic overviewThe Kingdoms of Iberia in 1469Ferdinand, Isabella and the NobilityForeign Policy, Society and the Church under Ferdinand and IsabellaThe Inquisition, the Jews and the Fall of GranadaThe Alpujarras Revolt, the Economy and Overseas ExpansionThe Casa de Contratacion, Navarre and Spain by 1516The Inheritance of Charles VImperial Ideology and Conciliar GovernmentCharles V's Wars, Absences and Religious PolicyThe Conquest of the Americas and the Price RevolutionCharles V's Abdication and Spain by 1556
1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
Topic overviewHenry VII's Claim to the ThroneHenry VII's Councils and GovernmentHenry VII's Finances, the Nobility and Foreign PolicyPretenders and Rebellions under Henry VIISociety and the Economy under Henry VIIReligion, Humanism and the Arts under Henry VIIHenry VIII: Character and AimsWolsey, Cromwell and the Break with RomeThe Dissolution, Foreign Policy and Henry VIII's WivesThe Ranks of Tudor SocietyThe Pilgrimage of Grace, Wales and the Henrician EconomyHumanism and Religious Change under Henry VIII
1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702
Topic overviewThe Political Nation, Divine Right and James ICourt, Crown Finance and Religious Division, 1603-1629Disputes between Crown and ParliamentArminianism, Puritanism and the Revenues of the Personal RuleThe Personal Rule, the Long Parliament and the Road to WarThe First Civil WarThe Second Civil War and the LevellersThe Army, Parliament and the Regicide
1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796
Topic overviewRussian Society and Government in 1682The Succession Crisis of 1682 and the StreltsyPeter's Western Interests, the Great Embassy and St PetersburgPeter I's Early Economic, Political and Military ReformsOpposition to Peter's Reforms and the Streltsy RevoltThe Azov Campaigns and the Battle of NarvaThe Poll Tax and State MonopoliesThe Holy Synod, the Senate and Church ReformThe Colleges, Provincial Government and the Table of RanksWesternisation, Opposition and Peter's Legacy by 1725The Great Northern War and Peter's Foreign PolicyThe Service State under Peter the Great
1F Industrialisation and the People: Britain, c1783–1885
Topic overviewThe British Political System in 1783Pitt the Younger and His MinistriesPitt's Financial and Trade ReformsEarly Industrialisation: Textiles, Iron and SteamEnclosure and Agricultural ChangeSocial Classes, Working Conditions and the Old Poor LawThe French Revolution and British RadicalismThe Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the Act of UnionThe Wars with France and the Home FrontLuddism and Britain by 1812Lord Liverpool, the Corn Laws and PeterlooCanning, Wellington and Catholic EmancipationTextiles, Iron, Coal and the Common LandsUrbanisation and Working-Class DiscontentRadicals, Abolitionists and the Rise of MethodismThe Great Reform Act of 1832
1G Challenge and Transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
Topic overviewParliament and the Franchise before 1867The Second Reform Act, Gladstone and DisraeliThe Workshop of the World, Free Trade and Agricultural DepressionClass and Region in Victorian BritainThe Domestic Reforms of Gladstone and DisraeliIreland, the Great Famine and the Land QuestionGladstone's Home Rule Bill and Its OpponentsConservative Dominance before 1905Socialism and the Birth of the Labour PartyNew Liberalism, the People's Budget and the Parliament ActThe Great Depression, Industrial Decline and Tariff ReformNew Unionism, the Great Unrest and Women's SuffrageLiving Standards, Poverty and the Liberal Welfare ReformsThe Home Rule Movement and the Irish Party
1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
Topic overviewAutocracy and Serfdom in 1855The Emancipation of the Serfs and Alexander II's ReformsReform, Reaction and the Death of Alexander IIPobedonostsev and RussificationLiberals, Populists and the Tsarist PoliceEconomy and Society after EmancipationNicholas II, Bloody Sunday and the Fundamental LawsThe Dumas, Stolypin and Witte's IndustrialisationWorkers, Peasants and the Grain TradeLiberals, Socialist Revolutionaries and MarxistsThe First World War and the February RevolutionLenin's Return and the October RevolutionLenin's Ideology, War Communism and KronstadtStalin's Rise and the Power Struggle
1J The British Empire, c1857–1967
Topic overviewThe Suez Canal and the Occupation of EgyptThe Indian Mutiny and the Government of India ActThe Scramble for Africa and the Chartered CompaniesMissionaries, the Civilising Mission and Party Attitudes to EmpireThe Boers, the Zulu War and Southern AfricaExpansion in Africa and the Government of IndiaLord Cromer and the Veiled Protectorate in EgyptIndirect Rule and the Entente CordialeChamberlain, Tariff Reform and Cecil RhodesThe Justifications for Empire and National EfficiencyExhibitions, Youth Movements and Popular ImperialismThe Boer War and the Union of South Africa
1K The Making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975
Topic overviewJohnson, Grant and Radical ReconstructionThe Redeemers and the Gilded Age PresidentsThe Post-Reconstruction South and Jim CrowThe Railroad Boom and Big Business in the Gilded AgeThe Closing of the Frontier and Gilded Age Foreign PolicyThe Populist Movement and the People's PartyProgressivism and Roosevelt's Square DealWilson's New Freedom and America's Economic RiseImmigration, Urban Growth and SegregationAmerican Imperialism and the War of 1898Neutrality and Entry into the First World WarAmerican Society and Industrial Power by 1920
1L The Quest for Political Stability: Germany, 1871–1991
Topic overviewThe States of the German Empire in 1871The Constitution of 1871: Bundesrat and ReichstagBismarck's Domestic PoliciesWilhelm II and WeltpolitikGerman Industrial Power before 1914The Burgertum and the Prestige of the EliteWorkers, Pressure Groups and Germany by 1914War, Revolution and the Weimar Constitution, 1914-1919Reparations, Putsches and the Crisis of 1923Stresemann, the Dawes Plan and Locarno
2A Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216
2B The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499
2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564
Topic overviewPapal Supremacy and the Church HierarchySalvation and the Seven SacramentsCorruption, Humanism and Demands for Reform before 1517The Holy Roman Empire and Its ElectorsThe Imperial Diet, the Young Luther and the 95 ThesesThe Disputations, Luther's Theology and the 1520 TreatisesLuther in Print, Excommunication and the Diet of WormsKarlstadt, the Zwickau Prophets and Luther's ReturnZwingli, the Eucharist and the Knights' RevoltThe German Peasants' WarThe Swiss Reformation, the Kappel Wars and MarburgThe Diets of Speyer, the Augsburg Confession and Melanchthon
2D Religious Conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570
Topic overviewThe English Church and Its Wealth in 1529Humanism and the Call for Church ReformHenry VIII's Great MatterThe Reformation Parliament and the Break with RomeReformist and Conservative Factions at CourtFaction, Diplomacy and the DissolutionThe Reasons for and Effects of the DissolutionThe Pilgrimage of GraceThe Ten Articles, the Six Articles and the King's BookReligion and War in Henry VIII's Last Years
2E The English Revolution, 1625–1660
Topic overviewJames I's Legacy and Charles I's KingshipCharles I, Buckingham and the Petition of RightThe Personal Rule and Its MinistersLaud's Reforms and Protestant FearsThe Scottish Prayer Book and Thorough in IrelandPuritan Emigration, the National Covenant and the First Bishops' WarThe Bishops' Wars and the Recall of ParliamentCharles I and the Parliamentary Opposition in 1640John Pym and the Long ParliamentDeadlock, the Fall of Strafford and the Irish RebellionThe Attempt on the Five MembersThe Militia Ordinance and the Drift to WarThe Nineteen Propositions and the Outbreak of War
2F The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715
Topic overviewRichelieu and the Regency of Anne of AustriaMazarin, the Parlement and the FrondesWestphalia and the Treaty of the PyreneesThe Start of Personal Rule and France in 1661Louis XIV's Conception of KingshipThe Royal Council, the Intendants and VersaillesColbert, Mercantilism and the Royal AcademiesThe Huguenots and the Edict of FontainebleauGloire, Foreign Policy Aims and Louvois's ArmyThe Decline of Spain and Louis XIV's Wars to 1684
2G The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801
Topic overviewMercantilism, Salutary Neglect and the Colonies in 1760The Thirteen Colonies and the Impact of the Seven Years WarFrom the Proclamation of 1763 to the Boston Tea PartyThe Intolerable Acts of 1774The First Continental CongressCommon Sense and the Organisation of ResistanceGeneral Gage and the Road to LexingtonThe Declaration of Independence
2H France in Revolution, 1774–1815
Topic overviewLouis XVI and French AbsolutismThe Three Estates and Seigneurial RightsTaxation and the Weaknesses of the Ancien RegimeThe Philosophes and the EnlightenmentThe Financial Crisis of the Ancien RegimeCalonne and the Assembly of NotablesThe Crisis of 1788 and the Estates-GeneralThe Cahiers and the Opening of the Estates-GeneralThe National Assembly and the Fall of the BastilleThe Civil Constitution of the Clergy and the Constitution of 1791The Political Clubs, Varennes and the Fall of the MonarchyThe Founding of the RepublicThe Execution of Louis XVI, the Vendee and the Federalist RevoltThe Levee en Masse and the Coming of the TerrorThe Fall of the Factions and the Great TerrorThermidor and the Dismantling of the TerrorVendemiaire and the Directory
2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877
Topic overviewFederalism and States' RightsThe Northern Economy by 1845Cotton, Plantations and the Southern EconomyThe Missouri Compromise and the Nullification CrisisManifest Destiny and the Compromise of 1850The Fugitive Slave Law, Abolitionism and Pro-Slavery ArgumentsThe Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding KansasThe Formation of the Republican PartyDred Scott, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and Harper's FerryThe Election of 1860, Secession and Fort Sumter
2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941
Topic overviewHow Britain and France Made Foreign PolicyThe Economic and Military Strength of the Great PowersThe Scramble for Africa and Great Power RivalryBalkan Nationalism and Austria-HungaryThe Naval Race, the Arms Race and War PlansThe Moroccan CrisesThe Entente Cordiale and the Triple EntenteThe Decline of the Ottoman EmpireThe Bosnian Crisis of 1908The Balkan WarsSarajevo and the Austrian UltimatumMobilisation and the Schlieffen PlanThe July CrisisItaly, the USA and the Widening War
2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
Topic overviewA Young Kingdom: North, South and the RisorgimentoThe Italian Monarchy and the Narrow FranchiseGiolitti and the Gentiloni PactIndustrial Growth, Socialism and Labour UnrestNationalism, Futurism and the Triple AllianceIntervention in 1915 and Italy's War AimsThe Isonzo Front and CaporettoThe Home Front and the Peace SettlementFiume and the Mutilated VictoryPost-War Crisis and Political InstabilityThe Biennio Rosso and the Fascist ResponseThe March on Rome and Mussolini's AppointmentWhy the Elites Accepted MussoliniFascist Ideology, the Ras and the Cult of the DuceThe Grand Council, the Acerbo Law and the Matteotti CrisisBuilding the Dictatorship, 1925-1926Corfu, Fiume and the Consolidation of Power
2M Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957
Topic overviewThe Liberal Landslide of 1906 and New LiberalismThe Lib-Lab Pact, Tariff Reform and the Edwardian EconomyEdwardian Class, Poverty and the People's BudgetThe Liberal Welfare ReformsThe Parliament Act, Women's Suffrage and Home RuleThe Labour Unrest of 1910 to 1914The Wartime Coalitions and the Liberal SplitThe War Economy, DORA and Post-War IndustryWomen's War Work, the Vote and ConscriptionThe War Poets, the Easter Rising and Irish IndependenceLiberal Decline, the First Labour Government and BaldwinThe Return to Gold, the Coal Crisis and the General StrikeThe Divided Regions, Women and Culture in the 1920sThe Flapper Vote and the 1929 Election
2N Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953
Topic overviewTsarism and the Strain of War by 1917The February RevolutionThe Provisional Government and the April ThesesThe October RevolutionThe First Decrees, the Constituent Assembly and the Leaders of 1917The Cheka and the Rise of One-Party RuleBrest-Litovsk and the Causes of the Civil WarTrotsky and the Building of the Red ArmyWhy the Reds Won the Civil WarBolshevik Social Reform, War Communism and the Red TerrorTambov and KronstadtThe New Economic PolicyForeign Intervention, the Comintern and Soviet DiplomacyLenin's Death, His Testament and the Contenders for PowerPermanent Revolution and Socialism in One CountryThe Defeat of the Oppositions and the Great TurnThe Stalin Cult and Soviet Foreign Policy in the 1920s
2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945
Topic overviewThe Collapse of 1918 and the Kiel MutinyThe Weimar Constitution and the Terms of VersaillesThe Military Terms of Versailles and German ReactionsThe Ruhr Occupation and the Hyperinflation of 1923The Spartacist Uprising and the FreikorpsThe Ruhr Crisis, the Courts and the Munich PutschThe Munich Putsch and Weimar's CoalitionsStresemann and the Dawes PlanWeimar Culture: Bauhaus, Art and TheatreHindenburg's Election and the Golden YearsStresemann's Foreign Policy and LocarnoThe Wall Street Crash and the German BanksBruning's Deflation and the Nazi Electoral BreakthroughNazi Propaganda, the SA and Nazi AppealThe Divided Left, Hindenburg and PapenThe Prussian Coup and Hitler's Refusal of OfficeThe Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act and the End of DemocracyGleichschaltung and the One-Party StateThe Night of the Long Knives
2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997
Topic overviewJapanese Encroachment and the GuomindangThe Encirclement Campaigns, the Long March and Mao's IdeologyYan'an, the Xi'an Incident and the Second United FrontThe Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945The Race for Territory and the Marshall MissionThe Nationalist Position in 1946The Civil War and the Nationalist CollapseChina in 1949 and the Founding of the RepublicThe Mass Campaigns and the Grip on PowerThe Soviet Alliance and the Korean WarThe Hundred Flowers and the First Five Year PlanThe Great Leap Forward and the People's CommunesRectification, the Marriage Law and Social Change
2Q The American Dream: Reality and Illusion, 1945–1980
Topic overviewAmerican Power and Politics in 1945Truman and the Fair DealContainment, NATO and the Korean WarTaft-Hartley, the 1948 Election and McCarthyismCivil Rights in the Truman YearsEisenhower and Modern RepublicanismThe Fall of McCarthy and the Fifties EconomySuburbia, the Highways and the New LookHungary, Rollback and the Berlin CrisisEisenhower, South Vietnam and SEATOBrown, Montgomery and Little RockThe Election of 1960The New Frontier and the Berlin WallCivil Rights under Kennedy and America by 1963
2R The Cold War, c1945–1991
Topic overviewYalta, Potsdam and the Wartime AllianceThe Sovietisation of Eastern EuropeThe Marshall Plan and American Aid to EuropeThe Division of Germany, the Berlin Blockade and NATOJapan, China and NSC-68Korea in 1950 and the UN ResponseMcCarthyism and the Isolation of ChinaNATO, the Warsaw Pact and the First Indochina WarKhrushchev and the Crises of 1956 in Poland and HungaryThe Hungarian Uprising, Peaceful Coexistence and the Paris SummitThe U-2 Affair, the Missile Race and the Space RaceThe Berlin Crisis and the Berlin WallThe Division of Vietnam and the NLFCuba, the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis
2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007
Topic overviewThe Conservative Prime Ministers, 1951 to 1964The Long Boom and Stop-GoWomen, Youth, Immigration and the Notting Hill RiotsForeign Policy, Suez and Decolonisation, 1951-1964Harold Wilson and the National PlanDevaluation and Labour's Economic Policy, 1965-1969In Place of Strife, Education and Northern IrelandThe Abolition of Hanging and Divorce ReformThe Media, the Permissive Society and Race in the 1960sVietnam, the EEC Veto and the Atlantic AllianceHeath, the 1970 Election and Selsdon ParkThe Industrial Relations Act and the 1972 StrikeThe Oil Crisis and the Second Miners' StrikeNorthern Ireland from Bloody Sunday to SunningdaleThe Social Contract, the IMF Crisis and the Winter of DiscontentFeminism, Equality Legislation and Immigration in the 1970sPunk and the New Politics of the 1970sBritain's Entry into the EEC and the 1975 ReferendumThe Special Relationship and Detente in the 1970s
2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000
Topic overviewStalin's Death and the System He LeftKhrushchev's Rise and the Anti-Party GroupThe Secret Speech and De-StalinisationThe Sovnarkhozy, Housing and the ThawThe Virgin Lands Scheme and Agricultural FailureThe Thaw, China and Khrushchev's Foreign PolicyThe Fall of KhrushchevBrezhnev and His Leading ColleaguesThe Kosygin Reforms and Economic StagnationDetente, Afghanistan and the Second Cold WarDissidents and Nationalist Unrest under BrezhnevAndropov, Chernenko and the Rise of GorbachevGorbachev's Aims and PerestroikaGlasnost, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold WarChernobyl, Economic Restructuring and DemocratisationThe Opposition to GorbachevThe August Coup and the End of the USSRYeltsin and Shock TherapyPutin's Rise and the Second Chechen War
2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000
- 19 subtopics
- 91 things to know
- Component 2
What 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 covers
Option 2T is a depth study of the crisis of communism, taken as one of the Component 2 choices. It covers de-Stalinisation, the years of stagnation, the Gorbachev reforms, and the collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe.
Where it is assessed
Component 2
A depth study, of which a student sits one.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 19 subtopics
Each one has its own page. AQA AS History students sit this topic in the first year.
- Stalin's Death and the System He LeftRecall questions on the date of Stalin's death, why it created a vacuum and the terror and central planning that had held the system together.Open →
- Khrushchev's Rise and the Anti-Party GroupRecall questions on Khrushchev's removal of Malenkov and defeat of the Anti-Party Group in 1957, his character, beliefs and style of rule, the party reorganisation of 1962 and the Party Programme of 1961.Open →
- The Secret Speech and De-StalinisationRecall questions on the Secret Speech of 1956 at the Twentieth Party Congress, its charges against Stalin and what it left untouched, the release of Gulag prisoners, legal reform and the creation and powers of the KGB.Open →
- The Sovnarkhozy, Housing and the ThawRecall questions on the regional sovnarkhozy of 1957 and their problems, Khrushchev's housing programme and the khrushchyovki, the growth of consumer goods and the cultural thaw that allowed One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.Open →
- The Virgin Lands Scheme and Agricultural FailureRecall questions on the launch, early success and later failure of the Virgin Lands Scheme, monoculture and soil erosion, Khrushchev's maize campaign and the grain imports forced on the USSR in 1963.Open →
- The Thaw, China and Khrushchev's Foreign PolicyRecall questions on the limits of the thaw, the Sino-Soviet split, peaceful coexistence, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Crisis and the Wall, and Khrushchev's use of Sputnik and Gagarin as propaganda.Open →
- The Fall of KhrushchevRecall questions on how Khrushchev was removed in October 1964 and the erratic policy-making, humiliation over Cuba, agricultural failures, de-Stalinisation and party reforms that turned the elite against him.Open →
- Brezhnev and His Leading ColleaguesRecall questions on Brezhnev's rise, character and aims, the roles of Kosygin, Podgorny, Suslov and Gromyko in the collective leadership, and the privileges of the nomenklatura and the corruption of the era.Open →
- The Kosygin Reforms and Economic StagnationRecall questions on the Kosygin reforms of 1965 and their failure, the missed targets of the 10th Five Year Plan, agricultural inefficiency, defence spending, consumer goods and living standards, alcoholism, public health and cynicism about ideology.Open →
- Detente, Afghanistan and the Second Cold WarRecall questions on détente, SALT I, the ABM Treaty and the fate of SALT II, the invasion of Afghanistan and its economic, military and international costs, and the Second Cold War and Reagan's SDI.Open →
- Dissidents and Nationalist Unrest under BrezhnevRecall questions on the prison, exile, psychiatric abuse and expulsion used against dissidents, Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn, the use of the Helsinki Accords to press for human rights, and nationalist unrest within the USSR.Open →
- Andropov, Chernenko and the Rise of GorbachevRecall questions on Andropov's background and limited reforms, Chernenko's brief leadership and what it symbolised, the emergence of reformers in the party and Gorbachev's rise to General Secretary.Open →
- Gorbachev's Aims and PerestroikaRecall questions on how Gorbachev differed from his predecessors, the aims he set himself, his base of support and the stagnation behind restructuring.Open →
- Glasnost, Afghanistan and the End of the Cold WarRecall questions on glasnost and demokratizatsiya, the costs, stalemate and morale that led to withdrawal from Afghanistan, and Gorbachev's summits at Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington and Malta.Open →
- Chernobyl, Economic Restructuring and DemocratisationRecall questions on what Chernobyl exposed and its effect on glasnost and trust, Gorbachev's economic restructuring and why it failed, the elections of 1989 and the Congress of People's Deputies, the end of Article 6 and the new presidency.Open →
- The Opposition to GorbachevRecall questions on why hardliners, the military and ideologues resisted reform and why radicals such as Yeltsin thought it went nowhere near far enough.Open →
- The August Coup and the End of the USSRRecall questions on the plotters of the August coup of 1991, why it failed, Yeltsin's resistance, the effect on Gorbachev, the Communist Party and the Baltic states, the Belavezha Accords and Gorbachev's resignation.Open →
- Yeltsin and Shock TherapyRecall questions on Yeltsin's character, aims and style of rule and on the rapid marketisation begun in 1992.Open →
- Putin's Rise and the Second Chechen WarRecall questions on the offices Putin held before the presidency, the war that made his name and the state of Russian politics by 2000.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
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Through which institutions were all major economic decisions made under Stalin's centralised system?
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Who was Vyacheslav Molotov and what faction did he represent in the succession struggle?
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What justification did Khrushchev use to force Malenkov's resignation?
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How did Khrushchev believe communism would triumph over capitalism?
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What aspects of Stalinism did the Secret Speech deliberately NOT criticise?
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What were the sovnarkhozy created in 1957?
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When was the Virgin Lands Scheme launched and what was its aim?
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Why did Khrushchev's maize campaign often fail?
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What examples demonstrate that the cultural thaw had limits?
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Define peaceful coexistence as a Soviet doctrine.
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When was the Berlin Wall constructed and why?
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How was Khrushchev removed from power in October 1964?
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What were the key characteristics of Brezhnev's personality and leadership style?
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What was Brezhnev's primary aim as Soviet leader?
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What position did Nikolai Podgorny hold under Brezhnev?
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What special privileges did members of the nomenklatura enjoy?
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What forms did endemic corruption take under Brezhnev?
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How did collective farm structures contribute to Soviet agricultural inefficiency?
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How did climate conditions affect Soviet agriculture?
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How did the lifestyle of the Soviet elite differ from that of ordinary citizens?
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What was the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972?
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How was internal exile used against Soviet dissidents?
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When did Yuri Andropov succeed Brezhnev and what was his background?
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What personality traits distinguished Gorbachev from previous Soviet leaders?
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How did economic stagnation contribute to the introduction of perestroika?
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Why did the inefficiency of central planning necessitate perestroika?
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How was glasnost supposed to build support for reforms?
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Why did military stalemate in Afghanistan lead to withdrawal?
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What was achieved at the Geneva Summit of 1985?
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How did the Chernobyl disaster expose the dangers of Soviet secrecy?
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What happened to central planning controls under Gorbachev's economic reforms?
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Why was the 'neither plan nor market' nature of reforms problematic?
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How did nationalist unrest manifest in the Baltic states under glasnost?
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What happened to industrial output during the 1990-1991 crisis?
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What role did Yeltsin's leadership play in the coup's failure?
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What personality traits characterised Yeltsin?
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How did unemployment affect Russia during the Yeltsin era?
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What powers did the 1993 Constitution give to the Russian president?
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What personality traits characterised Vladimir Putin?
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What characterised Russia's political state by 2000?
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What was the state of public health in Russia by 2000?
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Who led Poland from 1956 to 1970, and what reform approach did he initially promise after returning to power?
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What radical actions did Imre Nagy announce as Hungarian Prime Minister during the 1956 uprising?
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Who briefly replaced Rákosi in July 1956, and how did his actions contribute to the Hungarian uprising?
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What function did the central committee serve in satellite state communist party structures?
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How did central planning operate in satellite state economies?
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What were the main economic strengths of satellite states?
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What aspects of society did enforced Sovietisation require satellite states to adopt from the Soviet model?
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What characterised living standards in satellite states regarding consumer goods and daily life?
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What state organisations existed in satellite states to serve party control?
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Name the secret police forces in East Germany, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
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What was the outcome of the 1953 East German uprising?
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What was the outcome of the Berlin Wall's construction for East Germany?
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Who replaced Gomułka as leader of Poland in December 1970, and what triggered this change?
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What happened to press freedom under Husák's normalisation policy?
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How did Kádár's Hungary approach private economic activity?
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What factors constrained economic reforms in the satellite states during this period?
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How did satellite states support access to essential goods?
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What problem affected the productivity of satellite state economies?
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Name two Western radio services that broadcast into satellite states.
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What role did family contacts across borders play in spreading Western influence?
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What was Charter 77, and when was it founded?
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Where did worker protests occur in Poland in June 1976, and what triggered them?
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What did the 21 Demands include regarding trade union rights?
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How large did Solidarity's membership grow by early 1981?
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Who declared martial law in Poland in December 1981, and what movement was this action intended to suppress?
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What was the legal status of Solidarity as an organisation under martial law?
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What limited electoral reform did Hungary introduce in 1985?
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What were the key characteristics of Ceaușescu's increasingly personalised dictatorship in Romania?
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What was Ceaușescu's systematisation programme designed to achieve?
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What were the consequences of Bulgaria's assimilation campaign against ethnic Turks?
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On what date was the Berlin Wall opened?
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How did Solidarity re-emerge in 1988 after being suppressed in 1981?
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Who became the first non-communist prime minister in the Eastern Bloc, and when?
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Who led Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution?
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Who took control in Bulgaria after Zhivkov's removal?
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Where did the Romanian revolution begin, and what sparked it?
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What role did the Securitate play in Romania's violent revolution?
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What was the 'demonstration effect' in the context of 1989?
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What economic transition occurred in the former satellite states after 1989?
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What fundamental political challenge confronted the new national states of Eastern and Central Europe after 1989?
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What caused the Velvet Divorce between the Czech Republic and Slovakia?
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How did privatisation of state-owned enterprises contribute to the restoration of capitalism in Eastern and Central Europe?
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What was shock therapy in the context of post-communist economic transition?
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Why did Eastern and Central European states seek membership of NATO and the European Union?
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What political progress had most Eastern and Central European states achieved by 2000?
Process
How did the secret police and censorship maintain control in the satellite states?
Process
Where did nationalist unrest emerge under glasnost?
Process
What kind of leader was Yeltsin, and what were his aims?
Process
What was Solidarity, and how did the Polish government respond to it?
Take 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Glasnost vs Perestroika
Glasnost: policy promoting greater openness and public discussion. Perestroika: policy restructuring political and economic institutions.
Lustration vs Decommunisation
Lustration: screening former officials for involvement with the previous regime. Decommunisation: broader removal of former ruling-party structures and symbols.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
When did Stalin die, creating a leadership crisis in the USSR?
Model answer
March 1953
- 2
Why did Stalin's death create a power vacuum in the Soviet Union?
Model answer
No clear succession mechanism existed within the Soviet system
- 3
What system of repression maintained the atmosphere of terror under Stalin?
Model answer
Purges, show trials, and the Gulag system
- 4
Through which institutions were all major economic decisions made under Stalin's centralised system?
Model answer
Gosplan and the command economy system, with all decisions made in Moscow
- 5
Who initially emerged as the leading figure after Stalin's death?
Model answer
Georgy Malenkov
- 6
What two positions did Malenkov hold immediately after Stalin's death?
Model answer
Chairman of the Council of Ministers and senior Party Secretary
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 revision questions
- Is 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 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 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 cover in AQA AS-Level History?
- 19 subtopics: 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 and putin's rise and the second chechen war. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 organised?
- By the AQA 7042 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000, 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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