Deck 52: 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

B

Question 2

What was the focus of "goulash communism" in the Soviet Union as envisioned by Nikita Khrushchev?

A) Gaining military superiority over the United States.
B) Producing consumer goods and raising living standards.
C) Emphasis on producing heavy industrial products.
D) Allowing some free speech and eliminating censorship.
E) Maintaining control over the mixed bag of countries that were communist.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

In the area of consumer goods, what was the situation for Soviet citizens in the era following World War II?

A) Production slowed to such a small scale that Zimbabwe had a larger Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
B) The Soviet consumers benefited from free trade with Eastern European countries.
C) The Soviets were in worse shape after World War II than during the years of the depression.
D) The Soviet citizens were allowed to use the black market to improve their lives.
E) The availability of consumer goods had improved but lagged in heavy industry.

Question 5

What was the country where Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement in protest of the failed communist economic practices?

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

Question 6

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 7

Under the terms of the Yalta Agreement, what did the Russians agree to do?

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 8

Who was Nikita Khrushchev's successor in the Soviet Union?

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

Question 9

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 10

Which of the communist Eastern European satellite states was the first to break loose from Stalinist domination (1948)?

A) The Czech Republic under Vaclav Havel.
B) Yugoslavia under Marshal Tito.
C) Poland under Gomulka.
D) Romania under Ceausescu.
E) Austria under Lech Walesa.

Question 11

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 12

After being deposed in 1989, what usually happened to the old discredited leaders of various eastern European Communist parties?

A) They were hunted down and accused of crimes against their people.
B) They were seized, imprisoned, and then executed without a trial.
C) All too often they were allowed to retain their government posts.
D) They were sent into retirement without being accused of crime.
E) They fled their countries and sought political asylum overseas.

Question 13

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 14

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 15

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 16

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 17

What was the major hallmark of Leonid Brezhnev's foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s?

A) He pushed for and openly advocated international anti-Semitism.
B) Soviet determination to retain worldwide communists gains.
C) He wanted to loosen the controls on the Soviet satellites.
D) He was determined to "humanize" the Party bureaucracy.
E) He led the reformation of the command economy to end stagnation.

Question 18

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 19

The Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev popularized the word glasnost.What does that Russian term mean in English?

A) Restructuring.
B) Freedom.
C) Independence.
D) Solidarity.
E) Openness.

Question 20

The largest of the Soviet satellite states was

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

Question 21

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

Question 22

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 23

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

Question 24

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 25

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

Question 26

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

Question 27

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 28

"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 29

What was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War between the East and West that was erected in 1961 but was torn down in 1989?

A) The Tito War Memorial.
B) The Kremlin in Moscow.
C) The Washington Monument.
D) The Berlin Wall.
E) The autobahn.

Question 30

Perestroika is a Russian term that may very simply be defined in English as ____________________.

Question 31

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

Question 32

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 33

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 34

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

Question 35

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev were the Russian leaders who were the successors to ____________________.

Question 38

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 39

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

Question 40

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 41

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 42

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

Question 43

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

Question 44

Discuss Eastern Europe in 1898.