Rus 375 Quiz 1

The term "gerontocracy" was coined in 19th-century France as a critique of a parliament made up of members who were almost all older than the majority of the adult population.

True

Within the Soviet Union, each republic had its own constitution.

True

Which war was labeled "the Soviet Vietnam"?

USSR vs. Afghanistan

Match the following Soviet leaders with their respective cultural and historical eras. 1)Vladimir Lenin 2)Josif Stalin 3)Nikita Khrushchev 4) Leonid Brezhnev 5)Mikhail Gorbachev 6) Boris Yeltsin

1)Early revolutionary culture; era of cultural pluralism 2)streamlining of cultural movements 3) The era of so called thaw 4) cultural and economic stagnation 5) The era of perestroika and glasnot 6)First president of russia

When did the bolsheviks seize power from the Tsars?

1917

Millions of peasants were uprooted and deported to Siberian towns due to the policy of collectivization that started under...

Iosif Stalin

Which one of the following cultural events did NOT happen during the era of the Thaw?

Arrests of writers (e.g. Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel) for publishing their books abroad

Komsomol was a communist Youth organization for young children in elementary and middle school grades.

False

Towards the end of Soviet regime, "second economy" or "black markets" far exceeded the official Soviet economy in size.

False

US attended summer Olympics of 1980 that were held in Moscow.

False

Most political economists agree that the majority of the Soviet population generally benefited from the Soviet system. Given all the negatives one can point out about the Soviet system, why would an average Soviet citizen actually have a lot to lose with the collapse of the Soviet Union?

For all of the reasons listed here

What was the first Soviet republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union in 1990?

Lithuania

Which leader famously introduced the term "new thinking"?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Which Soviet leader began his "rule" with a famous "Secret Speech," in which he disclosed the crimes of his predecessor's era?

Nikita Khrushchev

Which Soviet leader was overthrown by his opponents in the first and only successful coup in Soviet history?

Nikita Khrushchev

Which of these countries never was a Soviet republic? (for a comprehensive list of Soviet republics, see My Perestroika study guide, p.8)

Poland

Which U.S. president adopted a policy of detente (or relaxation) toward the Soviet Union?

Richard Nixon

Gosplan was...

Soviet State Planning Committee

In 1958, Soviet authorities forced Boris Pasternak to reject the Nobel Prize that he won for his novel Dr. Zhivago (the novel was banned in the USSR and had to be published in Italy).

True

In 2008, Vladimir Putin was constitutionally barred from running for a third term. Dmitry Medvedev became Russia's president, while Vladimir Putin took on the role of a prime minister.

True

Mikhail Gorbachev was the first and only elected president of the Soviet Union.

True

The first human to enter outer space was a Soviet citizen.

True

The policy of glasnost introduced in the mid-1980s was intended to...

increase political transparency of Soviet institutions and allow greater freedom of information

Which of the following revolutions gives power to the Bolsheviks?

the October Revolution

Soviet Union had a policy of full employment, even if this meant some people were doing jobs that did not need doing, while others were over-qualified for the jobs they did do.

true