Lesson 2T.2.1

2T.2.1 Crisis in the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 Quiz: AQA History, Unit 30

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 2T.2.1, Crisis in the Soviet Empire, 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. Which rising in East Germany in June 1953 was crushed by Soviet tanks?

    • The Prague Spring of 1968
    • The Solidarity strikes of 1980
    • The Hungarian Revolution of 1956
    • The East German uprising of 1953

  2. Who was the Polish communist leader who came to power after the Poznan unrest of 1956 and pursued limited reform?

    • Walter Ulbricht
    • Janos Kadar
    • Imre Nagy
    • Wladyslaw Gomulka

  3. Which Hungarian leader was executed after the 1956 revolution, having tried to take Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact?

    • Erno Gero
    • Imre Nagy
    • Janos Kadar
    • Matyas Rakosi

  4. Who replaced Imre Nagy as Hungary's leader after the Soviet intervention of 1956 and governed for decades?

    • Gustav Husak
    • Janos Kadar
    • Erich Honecker
    • Matyas Rakosi

  5. Which leader in Czechoslovakia was replaced in January 1968 by Alexander Dubcek, starting the Prague Spring?

    • Antonin Novotny
    • Walter Ulbricht
    • Boleslaw Bierut
    • Gustav Husak

  6. Which movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968 sought 'socialism with a human face'?

    • The Velvet Revolution
    • The Solidarity movement
    • Charter 77
    • The Prague Spring

  7. Which Soviet doctrine justified intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968 to defend socialism?

    • The Truman Doctrine
    • The Brezhnev Doctrine
    • The Nixon Doctrine
    • The Zhdanov Doctrine

  8. Which human rights document of 1977 was signed by Czechoslovak dissidents including Vaclav Havel?

    • The Sakharov Manifesto
    • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    • The Helsinki Final Act
    • Charter 77

  9. Which movement, founded in Poland in 1980 at the Gdansk shipyards, was led by Lech Walesa?

    • The Prague Spring
    • The Hungarian Democratic Forum
    • Charter 77
    • Solidarity

  10. Which General declared martial law in Poland in December 1981 to suppress Solidarity?

    • General Erich Honecker
    • General Gustav Husak
    • General Janos Kadar
    • General Wojciech Jaruzelski

  11. Which East German leader was in power from 1971 and was forced to resign in October 1989?

    • Hans Modrow
    • Egon Krenz
    • Walter Ulbricht
    • Erich Honecker

  12. Which event of 9 November 1989 signalled the collapse of East German control over its borders?

    • The invasion of Czechoslovakia
    • The first Solidarity elections
    • The opening of the Berlin Wall
    • The Malta summit

  13. Which country's communist government was overthrown in 1989 in the 'Velvet Revolution'?

    • Bulgaria
    • Albania
    • Romania
    • Czechoslovakia

  14. Which Romanian dictator was overthrown and executed in December 1989?

    • Nicolae Ceausescu
    • Todor Zhivkov
    • Enver Hoxha
    • Josip Broz Tito

  15. Which 1990 event was a major step in the end of Soviet control over Eastern Europe?

    • The Berlin Blockade
    • The Soviet launch of Sputnik
    • The creation of the Warsaw Pact
    • The reunification of Germany

  16. Which factor was most important in allowing the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe to succeed?

    • A successful military invasion by NATO forces
    • Gorbachev's refusal to use Soviet troops to prop up communist regimes
    • The restoration of the Hungarian monarchy in 1988
    • A Soviet decision to extend the Brezhnev Doctrine to all satellite states

  17. Which Eastern bloc leader was in power in Hungary during the reforms of the 1980s and oversaw the opening of the border with Austria?

    • Karoly Grosz
    • Miklos Nemeth
    • Imre Nagy
    • Janos Kadar

  18. Which factor best explains the failure of Soviet satellite states to reform successfully before 1985?

    • Full freedom of the press and free elections from 1956
    • Support from the West through the Marshall Plan in the 1950s
    • The Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1960
    • Soviet control, stagnation and repression limited change

  19. Which economic arrangement linked the Soviet satellite states and enabled Soviet control of their trade?

    • The Marshall Plan
    • COMECON
    • NATO
    • The Schengen Agreement

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

    • Uprisings, reform attempts and Gorbachev's non-intervention
    • The Eastern European revolutions were directed entirely by the Soviet military
    • Eastern Europe was fully democratic under Soviet supervision from 1953
    • The satellite states remained fully stable and loyal to Moscow until 2000

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