Deck 53: Collapse and Reemergence in Communist Europe

Question 1

The Soviet puppet government leaders in Eastern Europe were different from Stalin in that

A) they were not true Marxists.
B) they were never really able to develop nationalistic feelings in their people.
C) most of them were more adaptable than Stalin.
D) they did not try to rule as dictators.
E) All of the options are correct.

Answer 1

they were never really able to develop nationalistic feelings in their people.

Question 2

"Goulash communism" in the Soviet Union focused the most attention on

A) gaining military superiority over the United States.
B) producing consumer goods and raising living standards.
C) producing heavy industrial products.
D) eliminating censorship.
E) maintaining control over the mixed bag of countries that were communist.

Answer 2

producing consumer goods and raising living standards.

Question 3

Lech Walesa was the leader of the Solidarity movement in

A) Romania.
B) Yugoslavia.
C) Poland.
D) Estonia.
E) Czechoslovakia.

Answer 3

Poland.

Question 4

Mikhail Gorbachev popularized the word glasnost,which means

A) restructuring.
B) freedom.
C) independence.
D) solidarity.
E) openness.

Question 5

The first satellite ruler to break loose from Stalinist domination (1948)was

A) Novotny in Czechoslovakia.
B) Tito in Yugoslavia.
C) Gomulka in Poland.
D) Ceausescu in Romania.
E) None of these broke free.

Question 6

Compare and contrast Soviet Premiers Khrushchev and Brezhnev.In what ways did Khrushchev deviate from Stalin's methods? How did Brezhnev differ from his predecessor?

Question 7

How and why was the Soviet Union allowed to create a sphere of control in Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1950?

Question 8

All of these were features of the Khrushchev era EXCEPT for

A) the denunciation of Stalin.
B) the Velvet Revolution.
C) peaceful coexistence.
D) the Berlin Wall's construction.
E) tension with Maoist China.

Question 9

During the Brezhnev years,the CPSU was most distinguished by

A) anti-Semitism.
B) opportunism and corruption within its ranks.
C) the growing influence of younger reformers like Yeltsin and Gorbachev.
D) determined attempts to "humanize" the Party bureaucracy.
E) continual crackdowns on non-Russians.

Question 10

The most significant domestic reform initiated by Gorbachev was

A) terminating the KGB.
B) establishing a true multi-party democracy.
C) abolishing censorship.
D) re-establishing religion.
E) education for women.

Question 11

Describe the structure of the Stalinist system during the leader's final years,1945-1953.How would you assess its successes and failures?

Question 12

Elaborate on the significance of Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.Which do you argue was most significant?

Question 13

Under the terms of the Yalta Agreement,Russia was to

A) pull out of occupied Poland at the end of the war.
B) carry out free elections in Eastern Europe within three months of the end of the war.
C) receive control of the Eastern European countries that were on their border.
D) oversee elections in Eastern European countries as soon as reasonably possible.
E) join the United States in the Pacific theater within three months.

Question 14

In the area of consumer goods,the Soviet Union

A) began to make some headway by the 1960s.
B) always lagged behind the other Eastern European countries.
C) was in worse shape after World War II than during the years of the depression.
D) allowed some to be produced cyclically.
E) did a better job than it did with heavy industry.

Question 15

During the Brezhnev era,it appeared that the Soviet Union was ____ the U.S.

A) catching up to
B) remaining even with
C) surpassing
D) lagging further behind
E) wildly surpassing

Question 16

Discuss Eastern Europe in 1898.

Question 17

Nikita Khrushchev wanted to do things differently than Stalin,especially in regards to

A) foreign intervention in Cuba.
B) control of the KGB.
C) their levels of education.
D) the need for purges of the Party.
E) treatment of his family.

Question 18

Nikita Khrushchev's successor was

A) Gromyko.
B) Gorbachev.
C) Dubcek.
D) Brezhnev.
E) Yeltsin.

Question 19

The only feature of Khrushchev's system that Brezhnev preserved was

A) allowing greater leeway on freedom of the press and of speech.
B) entering into aggressive, risk-taking confrontations with the United States.
C) raising consumption and living standards.
D) the permitting of debate within the CPSU on the future of Marxist socialism.
E) the easing of restrictions on religious worship.

Question 20

Given the 20?? century history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,what major challenges do these areas face as we head into the 21?? century?

Question 21

The coup in the summer of 1991 by communist die-hards was frustrated by

A) Mikhail Gorbachev.
B) Ronald Reagan.
C) Boris Yeltsin.
D) Lech Walesa.
E) the Congress of People's Deputies.

Question 22

Which of these has not been an issue with which Russia's President Vladimir Putin has had to deal?

A) The breakaway republic of Chechen and its terrorists.
B) The weakness of Russian agriculture.
C) The relationship with the United States over American actions in the Middle East.
D) The difficulty of trying to repress what he views as too much democracy and too many political opponents.
E) Government corruption.

Question 23

The ____________________ Agreement of 1945 theoretically required the Russians to allow free elections in Eastern Europe.

Question 24

After World War II,the Soviet Union gained control of Poland by

A) sending in their air force.
B) sending in the Red Army to disrupt the lives of the Polish people and political maneuvering almost impossible.
C) intimidated the anticommunists there into accepting satellite status.
D) aligning with the resistance movements that had been involved in holding off the Nazis during World War II.
E) threatening to go to war with Poland if they didn't agree to accept occupation.

Question 25

After being deposed in 1989,the leaders of the various eastern European Communist Parties generally were

A) hunted down and accused of crimes against their people.
B) imprisoned without trial or shot.
C) allowed to retain their posts.
D) sent into retirement without being accused of crimes.
E) tried for their crimes but freed in the end.

Question 26

Without Soviet support,satellite Communist governments weakened and fell in rapid succession during the fall of the year ____________________.

Question 27

The Brezhnev Doctrine

A) put the world on notice that the Soviet Union was preparing an invasion.
B) demonstrated that the Soviet Union intended to remain the leader in world Marxism.
C) forced eastern European states to choose between communism and capitalism.
D) was to allow no existing satellite states to become independent.
E) claimed all eastern European countries must continue under communism.

Question 28

The breakup of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been called the

A) Velvet Revolution.
B) Velvet Separation.
C) Czech Revolution.
D) Revolution for Democracy.
E) Revolution of 1789.

Question 29

"A surrogate war" with the United States and the "Soviet Vietnam." These terms defined the Soviet Union

A) in regard to dealings with Korea.
B) and its failure to stay out of Cuban politics.
C) and its invasion of Afghanistan.
D) when the communists replaced Khrushchev with Brezhnev.
E) and its on-going conflict with Chechnya.

Question 30

The largest of the Soviet satellite states was

A) Yugoslavia.
B) Poland.
C) Albania.
D) Greece.
E) Georgia.

Question 31

In ____________________,a neutralist government tried to survive,but Soviet pressure led to a Communist Party takeover there in 1968.

Question 32

The most accurate description of Nikita Khrushchev would be

A) a Stalinist to the core - until he made the "secret" speech.
B) an ardent communist who had a knack for pulling disparate groups together.
C) a close personal friend of both Stalin and Castro.
D) a strong believer in Russia's secret police state.
E) an opportunistic peasant whose volatility in foreign affairs infuriated the Communist party.

Question 33

Gorbachev's twin policies aimed at reforming and revitalizing the CPSU and the entire Soviet system were termed ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 34

The main cause of the Eastern European Revolution of 1989 was

A) the fall of the Soviet Union.
B) the failure of communism to bring about economic progress.
C) the OPEC oil boycott.
D) the development of Russian nationalism.
E) the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Question 35

Which was not a result of the end of communism in Russia?

A) A higher crime rate and the appearance of a mafia.
B) A very clear division between the haves and have nots, made clearer by the change to a free-market society.
C) Short term stability of the economy, with many Western countries eager to invest.
D) Rapid inflation.
E) Rising unemployment because of bankrupt companies.

Question 36

In a highly significant speech at the 20?? Communist Party Congress in 1956,____________________ revealed many of the crimes/atrocities committed under ____________________.

Question 37

The Commonwealth of Independent States

A) has become a forceful, tightly-knit body.
B) is dominated by predominantly Muslim states.
C) includes all of the former members of the Soviet Union.
D) has orchestrated a series of bilateral agreements among its members.
E) has proven to be notoriously weak and ineffectual.

Question 38

After being deposed in 1989,the leaders of various eastern European Communist parties generally were

A) hunted down and accused of crimes against their people.
B) imprisoned without trial or shot.
C) allowed to retain their posts.
D) sent into retirement without being accused of crime.
E) tried for their crimes but freed in the end.

Question 39

Which of the following Soviet leaders acted to end the Cold War in the most peaceful and significant way?

A) Stalin
B) Gorbachev
C) Khrushchev
D) Brehnev
E) Both C and D are correct.

Question 40

Tito's brand of communism in Yugoslavia has been called

A) the last pure Marxist-Leninist experiment.
B) a peculiar hybrid of socialism and capitalism.
C) prickly Marxism.
D) socialism in one country.
E) social engineering for the future.

Question 41

Khrushchev was ultimately brought down by his ____________________ policies rather than his ____________________ policies.

Question 42

The "____________________" refers to the period during which the Eastern European countries rid themselves of communism and communists.

Question 43

In Poland,the Communist System was changed in the early 1980s by the ship workers' union,____________________.

Question 44

Perestroika may very simply be defined as ____________________.

Question 45

In 1968,Brezhnev quelled the attempt of ____________________ to separate itself from Soviet domination.