Edexcel IGCSE History: Russia and the Soviet Union, 1905–24 — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board. The sources and extracts below are entirely invented for this exercise — none is a real historical document, and none should be treated or cited as one.

Related: A2 revision notes | A2 study guide

These questions practise the three Historical Investigation skills of Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History 4HI1 Paper 2, Section A — features (6), cross-referencing (8) and interpretation (16) — across the five key topics of Investigation A2.

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Enquiry 1 — the fall of tsarism, 1905–17

1(a) Describe two features of Stolypin’s policies, 1906–11. [6]

Source A (invented). From the diary of a Petrograd factory worker, February 1917.

“Three days of queues and no bread. Today the soldiers would not shoot. Some put their caps on their rifles and walked over to us. After that nobody was afraid.”

Source B (invented). From a telegram sent by a senior Duma politician to the Tsar, February 1917.

“The capital is in chaos. The government is paralysed. Troops are firing on one another. Any delay is fatal — a new government trusted by the country must be formed at once.”

1(b) How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the situation in Petrograd in February 1917? [8]

Extract C (invented interpretation).

“The First World War, not revolutionary ideas, destroyed the Romanov monarchy.”

1(c) How far do you agree with the interpretation in Extract C about the fall of tsarism? Use Extract C, Sources A and B and your own knowledge. [16]

Enquiry 2 — the Bolsheviks in power, 1917–24

2(a) Describe two features of War Communism. [6]

Source D (invented). From a Bolshevik newspaper, November 1917.

“The workers and soldiers of Petrograd have overthrown the government of landlords and capitalists. Under the leadership of our party, the Soviets now hold power, and peace and land will follow.”

Source E (invented). From the memoirs of a Menshevik who was in Petrograd in October 1917, published abroad in 1925.

“Most of the city went to work as usual. A few thousand Red Guards and sailors took the bridges and the telegraph while the ministers waited for troops who never came.”

2(b) How far does Source D support the evidence of Source E about the Bolshevik seizure of power? [8]

Extract F (invented interpretation).

“The Bolsheviks won the Civil War because of Trotsky’s leadership of the Red Army.”

2(c) How far do you agree with the interpretation in Extract F? Use Extract F, Sources D and E and your own knowledge. [16]

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Answers and mark guidance

1(a) [6]

Any two developed features: repression — field courts martial and many executions (“Stolypin’s necktie”); land reform — peasants allowed to leave the commune and consolidate holdings, helped by the Peasant Land Bank and resettlement to Siberia; changes to the electoral law (1907) to produce a more conservative Duma.

1(b) [8]

Support: both describe a breakdown of order and the loss of military control — A’s soldiers who “would not shoot”, B’s “troops… firing on one another”; both imply the government had lost authority (“nobody was afraid”; “paralysed”). Difference: A stresses hunger and the crowd’s growing confidence; B stresses chaos and the need for a new government. Provenance: A is an eyewitness participant; B is written to persuade the Tsar to act, so may exaggerate the danger. Judgement: strong support on the collapse of authority.

1(c) [16]

Supporting: military defeats and casualties; food and fuel shortages from transport breakdown; inflation; Nicholas’s decision to take command and the Rasputin scandal; Source A’s bread queues; the mutiny of war-weary soldiers. Challenging: long-term problems — autocracy, peasant land hunger, urban working conditions, 1905 and the failure of the Dumas; the spread of socialist ideas; Nicholas’s own character. Judgement: war turned long-standing discontent into collapse; revolutionary parties played little direct part in February, which supports the extract.

2(a) [6]

Two features: nationalisation of industry; forced requisitioning of grain; ban on private trade and rationing; strict labour discipline; use of the Cheka to enforce it.

2(b) [8]

Support: both agree the Bolsheviks took power and the government fell. Challenge: D presents a mass rising by “the workers and soldiers”; E describes a small operation by a few thousand Red Guards and sailors while most of the city carried on as normal. Provenance: D is Bolshevik propaganda written days later to legitimise the takeover; E is a hostile Menshevik account written in exile. Own knowledge: the Winter Palace fell with little fighting; the Military Revolutionary Committee planned the seizure. Judgement: limited support.

2(c) [16]

Supporting: Trotsky built the Red Army from about 1918, used ex-tsarist officers watched by commissars, imposed discipline and toured the fronts in his armoured train. Other factors: control of the central industrial area and railways; Lenin’s political leadership; War Communism and the Cheka; propaganda; White disunity, scattered fronts and brutality; limited foreign help to the Whites; peasant fear of the return of landlords. Judgement: Trotsky was important, but the Whites’ weaknesses and Red geography were decisive.

Where marks are usually lost

• Describing one feature twice in (a).
• In (b), comparing sources without reaching a judgement on “how far”.
• In (c), ignoring the sources provided.

Source: question patterns modelled on the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History (4HI1) specification, Issue 5, February 2026, Paper 2, Section A.

Frequently asked questions

How is the Paper 2 historical investigation question structured? Part (a) asks you to describe two features (6 marks), part (b) asks how far one source supports another (8 marks) and part (c) is a 16-mark judgement that uses the sources and your own knowledge.

Which topics do these enquiries cover? The fall of tsarism, 1905–17, and the Bolsheviks in power, 1917–24, including Stolypin, War Communism and the NEP.

What loses marks in part (c)? Ignoring the sources provided: the judgement must use them together with your own knowledge.

Are these real Edexcel past-paper questions? No. They are original questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History 4HI1; use them alongside the official past papers and mark schemes.