Free DSST History of the Soviet Union Practice Test (2026)

Question 1

The Brezhnev Doctrine, announced after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, held that

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the USSR could intervene in any socialist country where socialism was threatened

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each communist state was free to choose its own path without Soviet interference

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the USSR would never station troops outside its own borders

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the USSR would support free elections across Eastern Europe

Question 2

Nicholas II's October Manifesto of 1905 was issued in response to a revolution and general strike. What did it promise?

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Civil liberties and an elected legislative assembly, the Duma

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The immediate abdication of the tsar

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The transfer of all land to the peasant communes

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Russia's withdrawal from the war with Japan

Question 3

The Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943) is considered a turning point on the Eastern Front because

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an encircled German army surrendered, and the Red Army began to advance

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it was the first time Germany used tanks against the USSR

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it ended the German siege of Leningrad within a few days

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Soviet troops captured Berlin immediately afterward

Question 4

Under the Emancipation Edict of 1861, Russia's freed serfs

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got land but owed redemption payments, usually through the commune (mir)

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received full private ownership of their land at no cost

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were required to move to the cities to work in new factories

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gained the right to elect deputies to a national parliament

Question 5

Which Soviet republics pointed to the secret protocols of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact to argue that their annexation had been illegal?

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Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

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Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

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Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

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Russia, Ukraine and Belarus

Question 6

Which policy did the Bolsheviks use during the Civil War (1918–1921) to feed the cities and the Red Army?

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War Communism, including forced grain requisitioning from peasants

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The New Economic Policy, with a fixed tax in kind

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The first Five-Year Plan, with rapid industrial growth

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The Virgin Lands campaign in Kazakhstan

Question 7

Between 1936 and 1938, Old Bolsheviks such as Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin were convicted of treason after confessing in public trials. These trials are known as

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the Moscow show trials

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the Kronstadt trials

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the Doctors' Plot

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the Decembrist trials

Question 8

How was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 resolved?

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Soviet missiles were withdrawn in return for an American no-invasion pledge.

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American forces invaded Cuba and removed the missiles by force.

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The USSR kept its missiles in Cuba under United Nations supervision.

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Cuba joined NATO in exchange for American aid.

Question 9

Gorbachev's policy of glasnost meant

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openness, with more freedom to discuss problems and the past

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the restructuring of the economy through limited market reforms

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a speedup of industrial production under central planning

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the strengthening of censorship to protect the party

Question 10

Khrushchev's Virgin Lands campaign, begun in 1954, aimed to

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raise grain output by farming vast unplowed lands in Kazakhstan and Siberia

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move all industry east of the Ural Mountains

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replace collective farms with private family farms

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settle Soviet citizens in newly annexed Baltic territories

Question 11

Who carried out the attempted coup against Gorbachev in August 1991, and why?

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Communist hard-liners, to block a new union treaty

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Pro-democracy reformers, to speed up market reforms

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Baltic nationalists, to force independence for their states

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Young army officers, to end the war in Afghanistan

Question 12

In 1946, Andrei Zhdanov led a campaign that condemned the poet Anna Akhmatova and the writer Mikhail Zoshchenko. The campaign aimed to

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tighten party control of culture and attack Western influence

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encourage greater artistic freedom after the hard years of war

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promote religious art and music to boost national morale

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expand cultural exchanges with the United States and Britain

Question 13

At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Stalin agreed to

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join the war on Japan about three months after Germany's defeat

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withdraw all Soviet forces from Eastern Europe within a year

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share atomic bomb research with the United States and Britain

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give up the Soviet seat on the planned UN Security Council

Question 14

What was the main aim of Pyotr Stolypin's agrarian reforms after 1906?

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To build a class of independent farmers loyal to the regime

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To strengthen the village commune's control over peasant land

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To collectivize agriculture under state-run farms

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To return land to the nobles who had lost it in 1861

Question 15

Under Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), adopted in 1921, which of the following was allowed?

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Peasants could sell surplus grain on the open market after paying a tax in kind

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Foreign companies could buy and own Soviet heavy industry

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All industry, including banks and railways, was returned to private owners

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Collective farms were made compulsory for all peasants

Question 16

In his April Theses of 1917, Lenin called for

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no support for the Provisional Government and 'all power to the soviets'

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full cooperation with the Provisional Government until the war was won

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the restoration of the monarchy under a constitutional tsar

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a coalition government with the Constitutional Democrats (Kadets)

Question 17

How did the Western Allies respond when the USSR blockaded West Berlin in 1948?

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They supplied the city by air for almost a year

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They sent tanks to force open the land routes

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They agreed to hand West Berlin over to the USSR

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They ended their occupation of West Germany

Question 18

In December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belovezha Accords, which

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declared the USSR dissolved and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States

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restored Gorbachev's full powers as president of the Soviet Union

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merged the three republics into a single new Slavic federation

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applied for the three republics to join the European Community

Question 19

In 1972, Brezhnev and Nixon signed agreements that froze the number of strategic missile launchers and limited antiballistic missile defenses. These agreements came out of

Accepted Answer

the SALT I talks

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the INF Treaty talks

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the START I talks

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the Limited Test Ban Treaty talks

Question 20

After the February Revolution of 1917, the term 'dual power' referred to

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the shared authority of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet

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the joint rule of Nicholas II and his brother Michael

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the alliance between the Bolsheviks and the Whites

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the division of Russia between Germany and Austria-Hungary

Question 21

During forced collectivization, Stalin's regime targeted the kulaks, who were

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better-off peasants labeled as class enemies

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urban factory managers accused of sabotage

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army officers suspected of plotting a coup

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Orthodox priests who opposed atheism

Question 22

In his 'Secret Speech' to the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev

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denounced Stalin's cult of personality and his crimes

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announced the deployment of nuclear missiles to Cuba

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called for the reunification of East and West Germany

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praised Stalin as the greatest leader in Soviet history

Question 23

What did the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of August 1939 provide?

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It split Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.

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It committed the USSR to declare war on Britain and France.

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It promised that Germany would return Alsace-Lorraine to France.

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It gave Germany control of the oil fields of the Caucasus.

Question 24

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed by Gorbachev and Reagan in 1987 was notable because it

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eliminated an entire class of nuclear missiles

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banned all nuclear testing

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dissolved NATO and the Warsaw Pact

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froze the number of submarine-launched missiles

Question 25

Which was a direct result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979?

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The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

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The USSR quickly withdrew after a few weeks of fighting.

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The Warsaw Pact was dissolved the following year.

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Détente grew stronger as both superpowers ratified SALT II.

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