AP European History Flashcards: The Russian Revolution And Its Effects

What this deck covers

This deck focuses on The Russian Revolution And Its Effects, giving you a quick way to review the definitions, rules, and examples that matter most for AP European History.

How to use these flashcards

Work through these flashcards in short sessions. Try to answer each prompt before flipping the card, then revisit any cards you miss until the explanation feels automatic.

Flashcard 1: What was the February Revolution of 1917 primarily responsible for ending in Russia?

Answer: The Romanov autocracy (abdication of Nicholas II). Mass protests forced Nicholas II to abdicate, ending centuries of tsarist rule.

Flashcard 2: What were the soviets in revolutionary Russia?

Answer: Workers' and soldiers' councils. Revolutionary councils formed spontaneously to represent workers and military units.

Flashcard 3: What was "War Communism" during the Russian Civil War?

Answer: State control and requisitioning to supply the Red Army and cities. Extreme centralization to win civil war at any cost.

Flashcard 4: What was collectivization in the Soviet Union under Stalin?

Answer: Forced consolidation of farms into state-controlled collectives. Eliminated private farming through violence against peasant resistance.

Flashcard 5: What was the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced by Lenin in 1921?

Answer: Limited market reforms with private trade under state oversight. Temporary retreat from pure socialism to revive the devastated economy.

Flashcard 6: What event in October 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power?

Answer: The October Revolution (Bolshevik seizure of key points in Petrograd). Armed coup established communist dictatorship.

Flashcard 7: What was the Constituent Assembly, and what did the Bolsheviks do to it?

Answer: An elected parliament; the Bolsheviks dissolved it in January 1918. Lenin rejected democratic outcome to preserve power.

Flashcard 8: Which option best describes why Western powers intervened in the Russian Civil War?

Answer: To oppose Bolshevism and re-open an Eastern Front against Germany. Dual goals: contain communism and pressure Germany.

Flashcard 9: What was the 1921 uprising by sailors that signaled discontent with Bolshevik rule and helped prompt the NEP?

Answer: The Kronstadt Rebellion. Former Bolshevik supporters demanded "Soviets without Communists."

Flashcard 10: What phrase describes the 1917 situation where the Provisional Government and soviets competed for authority?

Answer: Dual power. Two rival power centers existed simultaneously in revolutionary Russia.

Flashcard 11: What is meant by "dual power" in 1917 Russia?

Answer: Rival authority of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. Two competing power centers created political instability.

Flashcard 12: What treaty ended Russia's participation in World War I by ceding territory to the Central Powers?

Answer: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918). Lenin sacrificed vast territories to exit WWI and focus on internal power.

Flashcard 13: What was the Comintern (Third International), founded in 1919, intended to promote?

Answer: International communist revolution under Soviet leadership. Moscow-directed organization to spread communism worldwide.

Flashcard 14: Identify the immediate consequence of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk for Russia.

Answer: Major territorial losses to Germany and its allies. Russia ceded Poland, Ukraine, Baltic states to Central Powers.

Flashcard 15: Which political party led the October Revolution of 1917 and seized power in Petrograd?

Answer: The Bolsheviks. Lenin's party that overthrew the Provisional Government in armed coup.

Flashcard 16: What was the Cheka in early Soviet Russia?

Answer: The Bolshevik secret police for political repression. Forerunner of KGB, eliminated political opposition.

Flashcard 17: What was the main reason the Provisional Government lost support in 1917?

Answer: Its decision to continue fighting in World War I. War exhaustion fueled revolutionary sentiment.

Flashcard 18: What were Lenin's April Theses primarily calling for in 1917?

Answer: Peace, land, and "all power to the soviets" under Bolshevik leadership. Lenin's radical program rejected compromise with liberals.

Flashcard 19: Which leader consolidated power after Lenin and launched rapid industrialization and collectivization?

Answer: Joseph Stalin. Outmaneuvered rivals after Lenin's death to become Soviet dictator.

Flashcard 20: What was the Russian Civil War (1918–1921) fought between, in simplest terms?

Answer: Reds (Bolsheviks) vs. Whites (anti-Bolshevik forces). Communists fought diverse opposition groups for control of Russia.

Flashcard 21: What policy name refers to Bolshevik repression and executions of perceived enemies during the Civil War?

Answer: The Red Terror. Systematic violence to eliminate class enemies and secure Bolshevik power.

Flashcard 22: What was the Red Terror in the context of the Russian Revolution?

Answer: Bolshevik campaign of mass arrests and executions of "class enemies". State-sponsored violence to eliminate opposition.

Flashcard 23: What was the USSR, and in what year was it formally created?

Answer: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, created in 1922. Federal communist state replacing Russian Empire.

Flashcard 24: What was War Communism during the Civil War?

Answer: State control, requisitioning, and centralized wartime economy. Emergency economic system nationalizing industry and seizing grain.

Flashcard 25: Identify the primary global effect of the Russian Revolution on European politics.

Answer: Growth of communist movements and intensified anti-communism. Created ideological Cold War divide in Europe.

Flashcard 26: Which group won the Russian Civil War, and what was its name?

Answer: The Reds (Bolsheviks) defeated the Whites. Bolshevik victory established one-party communist state.

Flashcard 27: Which ideology did the Bolsheviks claim to implement after 1917?

Answer: Marxism-Leninism (revolutionary socialism led by a vanguard party). Lenin adapted Marx's ideas for backward Russia.

Flashcard 28: What was the Provisional Government in 1917 Russia?

Answer: A liberal, non-Bolshevik interim government after the February Revolution. Temporary democratic body between tsarism and Bolshevism.

Flashcard 29: What representative assembly did Nicholas II create after the 1905 Revolution to placate reform demands?

Answer: The Duma. Russia's first elected parliament, though with limited powers.

Flashcard 30: What were Lenin's April Theses designed to demand in 1917?

Answer: Peace, land, and power to the soviets. Lenin's radical program rejecting cooperation with the Provisional Government.

Flashcard 31: What new state was officially created in 1922 from Russia and other Soviet republics?

Answer: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Federal union of communist republics dominated by Russia.

Flashcard 32: What treaty ended Russia's participation in World War I in 1918?

Answer: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Lenin traded territory for peace to consolidate power.

Flashcard 33: What was the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced in 1921?

Answer: Limited market capitalism under state control to revive the economy. Lenin's pragmatic retreat from pure socialism.

Flashcard 34: What event in 1905 triggered the first Russian Revolution after troops fired on peaceful marchers?

Answer: Bloody Sunday (January 1905). Peaceful protesters marching to petition the tsar were shot by Imperial troops.

Flashcard 35: What organization founded in 1919 aimed to spread world revolution?

Answer: The Comintern (Third International). Moscow-directed body coordinating global communist parties.

Flashcard 36: What were the soviets in 1917 Russia?

Answer: Workers' and soldiers' councils claiming revolutionary political authority. Grassroots democratic bodies that challenged official power.

Flashcard 37: What immediate crisis most undermined the tsarist regime and intensified unrest from 1914 to 1917?

Answer: World War I strains (defeats, shortages, casualties). Military disasters and home front suffering eroded tsarist legitimacy.

Flashcard 38: What event in February 1917 forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate?

Answer: The February Revolution (mass strikes and mutinies in Petrograd). Popular uprising toppled 300-year Romanov dynasty.

Flashcard 39: What was the Provisional Government that emerged in 1917?

Answer: A liberal-led interim government after the tsar's abdication. Temporary government of liberals and moderates that replaced the tsar.

Flashcard 40: What organization served as the early Soviet secret police, central to political repression?

Answer: The Cheka. Lenin's political police that eliminated opposition through terror.