This set practises four skills from the Russia depth-study pathway: chronology, source setting, supported explanation and handling disagreement. Questions run from easier to harder. All source extracts are invented practice texts written by our team.
Try each question on paper before opening the answer. Writing a full sentence is part of the skill.
Questions 1 to 3: chronology
1. Put in order: Lenin dies (January 1924), New Economic Policy introduced (1921), First Five-Year Plan begins (1928).
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New Economic Policy (1921), Lenin’s death (January 1924), First Five-Year Plan (1928).
2. Label each as a point or a span: (a) signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, (b) the civil war, (c) Lenin’s death, (d) collectivisation of farming.
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(a) point, a signing on a single date. (b) span, 1918 to 1921 in the standard outline. (c) point, a single date. (d) span, a process carried out over a period of years, so give a start and an end from your textbook.
3. One source dates the Bolshevik seizure of power to 25 October 1917 and another to 7 November 1917. Explain why this is not a contradiction.
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Russia used the Julian calendar in 1917, thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar. 25 October in the Julian calendar is 7 November in the Gregorian. Both sources date the same day, using different calendars.
Questions 4 to 6: reading a source
Invented practice source C: “From a poster issued by a government department during the civil war: ‘Give to the army and the army will protect you.’”
4. Give the provenance of source C in one sentence, using who, when and why.
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A government department produced it during the civil war to encourage the public to supply the army, so it is a persuasive public message and not a private record.
5. What can you safely say source C shows about the government’s aims?
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It shows that the government wanted the public to supply the army and wished to present this as protection. It does not show how people responded.
6. Classify each as established fact, source viewpoint or interpretation. (a) “The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in March 1918.” (b) A newspaper of the time: “The people will never forget this betrayal.” (invented) (c) A modern historian: “The treaty shaped later politics more than any battle.” (invented)
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(a) established fact, a dated event. (b) source viewpoint, a writer’s emotional judgement at the time. (c) historical interpretation, a later reasoned argument that you weigh.
Questions 7 to 9: supported explanation
7. Question: “Why did the Tsar lose power in 1917?” Which of these is relevant evidence? (a) Russia was fighting in the First World War in 1917. (b) The New Economic Policy began in 1921. (c) Food and fuel shortages affected the capital in winter 1916 to 1917 (see the diary in the source lesson).
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(a) and (c) are relevant: both fall in the period and can be linked to the question. (b) falls after the period, so it cannot explain 1917.
8. Write a link sentence joining “Russia was at war in 1917” to the claim “the Tsar’s government lost support”.
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For example: “This mattered because the war strained food supplies and exhausted soldiers, so people who blamed the government for the hardship became less willing to support it.” Any sentence that explains the connection is acceptable.
9. Find the weakness: “The Provisional Government failed. It stayed in the war. It was weak. Lenin was clever.”
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It makes claims without evidence or links, and “Lenin was clever” is an opinion that does not answer why the government failed. A better paragraph picks one reason, supports it with a dated fact and explains the connection, as in the explanation lesson.
Questions 10 to 12: disagreement
Invented practice source D: “From a factory manager’s report, 1921: ‘Workers are content and output is rising.’” Invented practice source E: “From a worker’s letter, 1921: ‘Wages are late and half of us were sent home last week.’”
10. What exactly differs between D and E?
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D says workers are content and output is rising. E says wages are late and many were sent home. They disagree on conditions and morale in the factory.
11. Give two reasons why they may differ that do not require either writer to be lying.
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They may describe different weeks, different workshops or different groups of workers. The manager may be reporting output figures and the worker personal hardship. Their purposes also differ: one writes to a superior, the other to a relative.
12. Write a calibrated conclusion, then say what additional evidence would help.
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For example: “The sources disagree about conditions in the factory. Their different authors and audiences may explain part of this, so the evidence does not settle the question. Pay records, production figures and other workers’ accounts would help.” A good answer names the dispute, the likely reasons and the limit.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 to 3 (order, points and spans, calendars): go back to Build a chronology for the selected course period.
- Questions 4 to 6 (provenance, inference, labels): revisit Interpret a source in its documented setting.
- Questions 7 to 9 (claim, evidence, link): revisit Support an explanation with relevant evidence.
- Questions 10 to 12 (conflicting sources): revisit Identify uncertainty where sources disagree.
Keep a short error log: write the question number, the type of slip and the lesson that fixes it. After a week, try the set again.
Students who want their written answers read closely can ask about online one-to-one History tuition.