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The Russian Revolution

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The February Revolution

Lenin and the Bolsheviks

The Summer of 1917

The October Revolution

The Aftermath

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The Russian Revolution (1917–1918)

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1. During what international war did the Russian Revolution take place?

(A) World War II

(B) Russo-Japanese War

(D) World War I

2. What calendar did Russia use until February 1918?

(A) Julian

(B) Gregorian

(D) Hebrew

3. Which tsar did terrorists assassinate in 1881?

(A) Nicholas I

(B) Alexander I

(D) Alexander III

4. What slogan was shouted during the February Revolution?

(A) “Let them eat cake!”

(B) “Freedom and justice!”

(D) “Bread and peace!”

5. The February Revolution began as a(n)

(A) International Women’s Day march

(B) Railroad strike

(D) Bolshevik rally

6. Where was the tsar during the February Revolution?

(A) Visiting soldiers on the front

(B) In the Winter Palace

(D) In the Kremlin

7. As a result of the February Revolution, the tsar

(A) Was thrown out of office

(B) Exiled

(D) Was immediately executed

8. After the February Revolution, how many organizations claimed to be the new Russian government?

(A) One

(B) Two

(D) Four

9. The provisional government was made up of

(A) Former members of the Synod

(B) Former ministers under the tsar

(D) Former members of the Duma

10. Which country’s government aided Lenin in returning to Russia?

(A) France

(B) Germany

(D) Britain

11. Upon his return to Russia, how did Lenin view revolutionaries outside his own party?

(A) As friends and allies

(B) As potential Bolsheviks whom he needed to convert

(D) As enemies who might be used temporarily but had to be eliminated in the end

12. What slogan did Lenin use following his arrival in Russia in April 1917?

(A) “There is such a party!”

(B) “All power to the Soviets!”

(D) “Onward to the shining future!”

13. What was the set of ideas that Lenin expressed in the newspaper Pravda following his return to Russia?

(A) The April Theses

(B) The Communist Manifesto

(D) Das Kapital

14. During the summer following the February Revolution, what did Lenin initially believe was the best strategy for starting a second revolution?

(A) Use loyal troops to attack government buildings

(B) Take control of the press

(D) Execute the tsar in public

15. The Bolshevik Party drew its support primarily from

(A) Peasants

(B) Aristocrats

(D) The working class

16. The Petrograd Soviet was a(n)

(A) Union of workers and soldiers

(B) Organization of ex-monarchists

(D) Group consisting primarily of lawyers

17. Which of the following events seriously weakened the Bolsheviks?

(A) The First Congress of Soviets

(B) Kerensky’s June offensive

(D) Rasputin’s murder

18. Which of the following seriously weakened the provisional government?

(A) The July Putsch

(B) The Kornilov Affair

(D) The First Congress of Soviets

19. Who was Lavr Kornilov?

(A) A Bolshevik

(B) A rebellious Cossack

(D) Leader of the Petrograd Soviet

20. What happened as a result of the July Putsch?

(A) The provisional government was unseated

(B) The Petrograd Soviet split apart

(D) Several prominent Bolsheviks were arrested

21. Which is true of the Bolsheviks during August and September 1917?

(A) They split into two factions

(B) They had a strong boost in popular support

(D) Lenin was betrayed by Trotsky

22. In early October 1917 all of the following were true of the Bolsheviks except

(A) Many were still uneasy about going ahead with a coup

(B) They held public debates together with members of the provisional government

(D) They used the Smolny Institute as a headquarters

23. Which two Bolsheviks were most strongly against starting the revolution sooner rather than later?

(A) Kamenev and Zinoviev

(B) Trotsky and Dzerzhinsky

(D) Kerensky and Kornilov

24. Which action did the provisional government take against the Bolsheviks just prior to the October Revolution?

(A) Brought in loyal troops from the front

(B) Closed down Bolshevik newspapers

(D) Set up barricades around the Winter Palace

25. Who were the “junkers”?

(A) German army officers

(B) Workers in the Petrograd junkyard

(D) Bolshevik military units

26. What was the Aurora?

(A) A Russian battleship brought into Petrograd to defend the provisional government

(B) A German yacht on which the peace treaty was signed between Germany and Russia

(D) A Russian cruiser brought into Petrograd by sailors loyal to the Bolsheviks

27. Why did it take an entire day for the Bolsheviks to capture the Winter Palace?

(A) Neither side was eager to fire on the other, so they negotiated for hours

(B) The palace was heavily guarded, and it took a long time to overcome all resistance

(C) The palace has hundreds of rooms, and it took the Bolsheviks a long time to find where the provisional government was hiding

(D) Lenin hesitated to give the order for his troops to enter the building

28. During the February Revolution, what sparked the mutiny among the soldiers?

(A) Some of the troops were disseminating Bolshevik propaganda within the ranks

(B) The soldiers did not have enough food to eat

(D) They were paid off by German spies

29. After the October Revolution, what was Lenin’s first official act?

(A) The Decree on Land

(B) The Decree on Property

(D) The Decree on Peace

30. What happened to Kerensky after the revolution?

(A) He was imprisoned

(B) He was executed

(D) He joined the Bolsheviks

31. What representative body was meeting in Petrograd on the same day as the October Revolution?

(A) The Constituent Assembly

(B) The Duma

(D) The Congress of Soviets

32. What was the official name of Lenin’s new government?

(A) The Politburo

(B) The Soviet of the People’s Commissars

(D) The Supreme Soviet

33. Which former critic of Lenin chaired the Executive Committee?

(A) Zinoviev

(B) Trotsky

(D) Kamenev

34. What was the immediate reaction of Russian upper classes to the October Revolution?

(A) The paid little attention to it

(B) They panicked and fled the country en masse

(D) They appealed to Britain and the United States for help

35. What was the Bolsheviks’ initial policy regarding the Constituent Assembly?

(A) They cancelled the elections

(B) They let the elections take place without interference

(D) They let the elections take place but required that 90 percent of the seats go to the Bolsheviks

36. How did the Bolsheviks fare in the elections for the Constituent Assembly?

(A) They received about one half of the vote

(B) They received about three fourths of the vote

(D) They received about one quarter of the vote

37. Which best describes the response to the October Revolution in Moscow?

(A) Unlike in Petrograd, the fighting went on in Moscow for nearly a week

(B) There was almost no reaction in Moscow at all

(D) Resistance continued in Moscow for over six months

38. Who became the Russian foreign minister under Lenin?

(A) Dzerzhinsky

(B) Zinoviev

(D) Stalin

39. Immediately following the October Revolution, what was the state of the Bolsheviks’ plans for managing the country?

(A) They had mapped out a highly detailed government structure in advance

(B) They improvised the government’s structure as they went along

(D) They invited the heads of socialist movements in Europe to help plan out Russia’s future

40. Which organization was headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky?

(A) The Foreign Ministry

(B) The NKVD

(D) The GOP

41. How many times did the Constituent Assembly meet?

(A) Once

(B) Twice

(D) Four times

42. The Red Terror was a response to which event?

(A) The beginning of the Civil War

(B) A terrorist bombing in Petrograd

(D) The entrance of U.S. and British troops into Russia

43. In March 1918, the Russian capital was moved to

(A) Petrograd

(B) Moscow

(D) Minsk

44. In the Russian Civil War, who were the Bolsheviks’ opponents?

(A) Monarchists

(B) Democrats

(D) All of the above

45. Which representative body replaced the Constituent Assembly?

(A) The First Congress of Soviets

(B) The Second Congress of Soviets

(D) The Executive Committee

46. The Kornilov affair can best be summed up as

(A) An attempted coup

(B) The inspiration for Dr. Zhivago

(D) A terrorist plot

47. All of the following were groups involved in the Russian Civil War except

(A) The Reds

(B) The Whites

(D) The Greens

48. When did the Russian Civil War begin?

(A) Spring 1917

(B) Summer 1917

(D) Summer 1918

49. The Cheka was a forerunner of the

(A) Duma

(B) Petrograd Soviet

(D) KGB

50. The USSR finally collapsed in

(A) 1981

(B) 1989

(D) 1993

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