A-Level Topic Guide: Russia and the USSR

Russia and the USSR

Published: 1st October 2024

Russia and the USSR in the nineteenth and twentieth century is a popular area of study at A-level across the examination boards. Whichever board you are studying with and whatever the focus of your study unit on Russian history, the resources in this unit will support you as you develop your subject knowledge, write essays and revise. 

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Introduction

  • Introduction

Peter the Great & Catherine the Great

  • Introduction
  • Peter the Great
  • David Pearse explores St. Petersburg
  • Enlightened Despotism

Reform and the end of the Romanovs 1855-1917

  • Introduction
  • Alexander II
  • Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe
  • Tsarist Russia 1855-1914.
  • Between the Revolutions: Russia 1905 to 1917
  • The Russian Constitutional Monarchy, 1907-17
  • The Fall of the Romanovs 1906-1917
  • The Romanov Tercentenary
  • Alexandra and Rasputin

1917

  • Introduction
  • The Provisional Government and the October Revolution
  • Changing views of the Russian Revolution
  • The Russian Revolution 100 years on: a view from below

Lenin's Russia

  • Introduction
  • Lenin's Objectives and the Civil War
  • Agitation in the Russian Civil War 1917-21
  • ‘Our March’: art and culture in the Russian Revolution

Stalin's Russia and de-Stalinisation

  • Introduction
  • Film: Stalin - Early Life
  • Film: Stalin - Rise to Power
  • Film: Stalin - The Early Soviet Economy & the preparation for war
  • Film: Stalin & the Great Terror
  • Film: Stalin - World War II
  • Film: Stalin - Interpretations and Legacy
  • Stalin, Propaganda, and Soviet Society during the Great Terror
  • Stalinism
  • The Impact of Stalin's Leadership 1924-1941
  • Women, War and Revolution
  • Nazism and Stalinism
  • The Impact and Significance of the Great Patriotic War
  • Film: Khrushchev - Background
  • Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
  • Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
  • Film: Khrushchev - Foreign Policy
  • Film: Khrushchev - Downfall and Legacy

The end of the Soviet Union

  • Introduction
  • The Significance of the Brezhnev Era
  • Key elements that led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union
  • Film: Gorbachev - Early life and influences
  • Film: Gorbachev - Domestic Reform
  • Film: Gorbachev - Foreign Relations
  • Film: Gorbachev - Downfall
  • Film: Gorbachev - Interpretations
  • Polychronicon: The End of the Cold War
  • Film: Yeltsin Early Life
  • Film: Yeltsin and Russia in the late 1980s
  • Film: Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union
  • Film: Yeltsin's agenda
  • Film: Yeltsin and the Oligarchs
  • Film: Yeltsin and the West
  • Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy

Reading and Revision

  • Revision Quiz
  • Mind Maps
  • Reading List
  • Timeline
  • Viewing, Listening and Fiction
  • Past Exam Papers

Film Series: Interpretations

  • Introduction
  • Film: Gorbachev - Early life and influences
  • Film: Gorbachev - Domestic Reform
  • Film: Gorbachev - Foreign Relations
  • Film: Gorbachev - Downfall
  • Film: Gorbachev - Interpretations
  • Film: Stalin - Early Life
  • Film: Stalin - Rise to Power
  • Film: Stalin - The Early Soviet Economy & the preparation for war
  • Film: Stalin & the Great Terror
  • Film: Stalin - World War II
  • Film: Stalin - Interpretations and Legacy
  • Film: Khrushchev - Background
  • Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
  • Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
  • Film: Khrushchev - Foreign Policy
  • Film: Khrushchev - Downfall and Legacy
  • Film: Yeltsin Early Life
  • Film: Yeltsin and Russia in the late 1980s
  • Film: Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union
  • Film: Yeltsin's agenda
  • Film: Yeltsin and the West
  • Film: Yeltsin and the Oligarchs
  • Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy