Lesson 2T.1.1

2T.1.1 Crisis in the Soviet Union, 1953–2000 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 30

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2T.1.1, Crisis in the Soviet Union, 1953–2000: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA History (7042), Unit 30: 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Who emerged as the leading figure in the Soviet leadership struggle after Stalin's death in March 1953?

    • Lavrentiy Beria
    • Georgy Malenkov
    • Nikita Khrushchev
    • Vyacheslav Molotov

  2. Which speech of February 1956 to the Twentieth Party Congress criticised Stalin's crimes?

    • Khrushchev's Secret Speech
    • Gorbachev's Glasnost Speech
    • Lenin's Testament
    • Brezhnev's Doctrine Speech

  3. Which policy of Khrushchev in the mid-1950s aimed to increase grain production by cultivating new land in Kazakhstan and Siberia?

    • The Five Year Plan of 1928
    • The Great Leap Forward
    • The Virgin Lands scheme
    • The New Economic Policy

  4. Which Soviet leader was removed from power in October 1964 by colleagues in the party leadership?

    • Alexei Kosygin
    • Yuri Andropov
    • Leonid Brezhnev
    • Nikita Khrushchev

  5. Which Soviet policy of the 1970s and early 1980s was characterised by political conservatism and economic stagnation?

    • The Gorbachev revolution
    • The New Economic Policy
    • The Years of Stagnation under Brezhnev
    • The Kronstadt rising

  6. What term describes the network of party officials who controlled appointments and privileges in the Brezhnev era?

    • The Komsomol
    • The Gosplan
    • The Cheka
    • The nomenklatura

  7. Which Soviet dissident, exiled in 1980, was a leading figure in the human rights movement?

    • Alexander Dubcek
    • Lech Walesa
    • Vaclav Havel
    • Andrei Sakharov

  8. Which Soviet decision of December 1979 led to a costly war that damaged the USSR's international standing?

    • The invasion of Czechoslovakia
    • The withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact
    • The Helsinki Accords
    • The invasion of Afghanistan

  9. Which Soviet nuclear accident of April 1986 prompted Gorbachev to press for greater openness?

    • Fukushima
    • Three Mile Island
    • Chernobyl
    • Kyshtym

  10. Which term describes Gorbachev's policy of economic restructuring?

    • Perestroika
    • Demokratizatsiya
    • Glasnost
    • Collectivisation

  11. Which term describes Gorbachev's policy of openness in public debate and the media?

    • Glasnost
    • Russification
    • Nomenklatura
    • Perestroika

  12. Which 1989 event saw the Soviet army leave a country it had occupied since 1979?

    • The withdrawal from Afghanistan
    • The withdrawal from Cuba
    • The withdrawal from Vietnam
    • The withdrawal from East Germany

  13. Which Russian politician was elected president of the Russian Federation in June 1991 and later faced the August coup?

    • Vladimir Putin
    • Mikhail Gorbachev
    • Yegor Ligachev
    • Boris Yeltsin

  14. Which attempted coup in August 1991 by hardline Communists failed and hastened the collapse of the USSR?

    • The Kapp Putsch
    • The Kornilov coup
    • The August coup
    • The Munich Putsch

  15. On which date was the Soviet Union formally dissolved?

    • 8 May 1945
    • 31 December 1991
    • 1 October 1949
    • 9 November 1989

  16. Which Soviet leader was succeeded by Vladimir Putin as president in 2000?

    • Mikhail Gorbachev
    • Konstantin Chernenko
    • Yuri Andropov
    • Boris Yeltsin

  17. Which Soviet leader between 1982 and 1984 was briefly in power after Brezhnev and attempted limited reforms?

    • Konstantin Chernenko
    • Nikolai Bulganin
    • Alexei Kosygin
    • Yuri Andropov

  18. Which factor best explains the Soviet economic problems that Gorbachev inherited in 1985?

    • Slowing growth, inefficient planning and oil dependence
    • The success of the Five Year Plans in every sector
    • A rapid expansion of exports to the West with no foreign debt
    • A surplus of consumer goods and full employment

  19. Which factor best explains the rise of nationalist unrest in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s?

    • Russian nationalism was suppressed entirely by Gorbachev's reforms
    • Central control was strengthened by the abolition of all local soviets
    • Glasnost aired grievances as the economy weakened central control
    • Nationalist groups were banned from all public meetings after 1985

  20. Which statement best summarises the crisis of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 2000?

    • Reform, economic failure and nationalism ended Soviet communism
    • The collapse of the USSR was caused entirely by a foreign military invasion
    • The Soviet Union remained stable and unchanged under Communist rule until 2000
    • Reform succeeded in creating a market economy with full democracy by 1960

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