DSST Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union Practice Questions Answer Key

1. D: The modern Estonians were not descendants of the East Slavs. The best way to answer this kind of question is to use the process of elimination. Figure out who were descendants of the East Slavs and you will have your answer. If you studied the East Slavs you would know that they settled in the western part of Russia. The peoples identified in Choices A, B, and C all live in the western part of Russia.
2. A: The Kievan Rus’ was a medieval state that was established by Scandinavian traders in about 880. It was located in what is modern-day Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine and centered in Kiev. Although the state accepted the religion of Christianity, Christians did not establish it. The Georgians (Choice D) were not involved in the Kievan Rus’, nor were the Mongols (Choice C), so they are both incorrect.
3. C: A monarchy is ruled by a single ruler, in this case, a tsar. No one but the ruler has a say in the government; the ruler’s word is final. Certainly the Tsardom was not a democracy, where everyone has a say in governing. A polity is a combination of a democracy and oligarchy, so Choice A is not correct. Choice D is not correct, either. A republic is not ruled by a single ruler.
4. D: Peter the Great was the person who transformed Russia from a Tsardom to an Empire in 1721. Choice A, Ivan the Terrible, is not correct since he ruled only while Russia was a Tsardom. Choices B and C are not correct either, since Choice B (Feodor II) ruled long before Russia became an Empire, and Choice C (Nicholas II) was the last Russian tsar.
5. B: This is one of the important roles the sobor played in Russia. Certainly the zemsky sobor did not compromise with the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks voided the sobor, so Choice A is incorrect. They did appoint a successor to Nicholas II, but the Bolsheviks did not allow the successor to rule, so this is not the best answer. They did not oppose Ivan IV, either.
6. B: The Cossacks were descended from military communities and this militaristic history is a defining characteristic of this group of people. Choices A, C, and D are all incorrect. The Cossacks may have had their own language originally, but that was not their defining characteristic. They were not known for their love of knowledge, and their dedication was often unclear, other than to be military minded.
7. D: This choice describes the immediate consequence of the confrontation known as Bloody Sunday. After this event, working people lost their faith in the tsar and ultimately a revolution took place. Nicholas II did not resign, so Choice B is incorrect and while, after Nicholas II was murdered and the Bolsheviks took over, Russia was no longer an Empire, this wasn’t a direct result of Bloody Sunday, so Choice C is also incorrect.
8. C: The Duma, which was established by Nicholas II, was a legislative body he established as a condition of the Revolution of 1905. The rights mentioned in Choices A and B were supposedly granted to workers by Nicholas II, although they never were really observed. Choice D is incorrect. The Duma did not have the right to tax workers’ properties. That was not among its powers.
9. A: This is the only asset that Russia had when it entered World War I. It had a huge population of soldiers. Choices B, C, and D are all incorrect. Russia had few railroad tracks, so it was difficult for soldiers to get to the front. It didn’t have modern weapons or many support routes, either, unlike its enemy Germany, which had both of those and rail lines as well.
10. D: This choice describes the reason that the socialist factions took an anti-war stance. Choice A is unlikely to be correct, since the socialist factions, especially the Bolsheviks, weren’t really concerned about the dangers of military conflict. These factions were actually not against military action, so Choice B is incorrect as well. Although it might seem that the socialist factions wanted people to protest the war to the government, that was not their actual reason for taking an anti-war stance, so Choice C is also incorrect.