AQA HIS3K - Triumph and Collapse: Russia and the USSR 1941-1991. 03/06/13

I'm doing this module too and am at about the same stage of revision as you

How are you finding it? It worries me that not a lot of people do the module, but I suppose that could be a good thing in that the grade boundaries might not be quite as high.

Hello
I am doing this exam on Monday....have a feeling the breadth question will be on nationalism :/

what are the questions that they could ask us on Gorbachev? I can't really think of what they could as us....accept that he wasn't committed to radical reform and that caused the USSR to break up. What do you think the questions will be?

I wouldn't particularly mind a breadth on nationalism, and I think that is pretty much it for Gorbachev, maybe something on the economy? I'm not sure, I don't feel very prepared at all for this exam!

yeah I could do with another week to be much more confident. I wish that I had sat it last year; they seemed like okay questions. I am just trying to write answers to all the questions that i think could come up in the hope that one of them does. How are you preparing?

Last year's questions were great, I bet we get terrible ones now. I'm just copying notes out really, I've got my essay structures down to a tee and I know the various interpretations and general themes, it's more knowing the specific figures for i.e. economic growth that worries me, there's so many.

If it is only the figures that you are worried about then you sound like you are very prepared for Monday. I am still trying to get all the interpretations to stick in my head :/

I'm doing this exam too, I'm very worried about it There's so much to learn. I find Gorbachev probably the most difficult of all the leaders. Also, could anyone briefly explain the difference between Satellite states, republics and the Baltic states? I'm getting so confused over all of them? Thank you

There are the odd topics I'm not very confident on like dissidence but a lot of them are common sense, in reality pretend you're a historian yourself, what side would you take on the topic and what evidence supports that? What would an opponent say and what evident would they use? Which side would a third party think is most convincing given the evidence?



I don't understand the differences either, I'm going to just refer to them as the 'various nationalities' I think and mention the specific country names when necessary.

that is a good way to put it. thanks!

also the baltic states are part of the republics and so members of the USSR; however they were only taken over by the USSR during the great patriotic war and so they have a stronger sense of nationalism because they can remember their own national identities.

there are 14 republics including russia itself, but the power of the USSR is situated in Moscow so it is the most dominant republic.

then there is the eastern bloc, which aren't directly control by Moscow, but they have communist governments. they are all in the Warsaw Pact, and for example Hungary 1956; when they wanted to leave the Warsaw pact and to introduce more reforms, Moscow wouldn't let them. so you can almost look at the eastern bloc governments as puppet governments controlled by Moscow

Thank you! That's very helpful So is the Eastern bloc part of the Satellite states? Sorry for all the questions!

yeah....so the eastern bloc has a few different names but they all mean the same thing

they can be called the satellite states, the buffer zone, the iron curtain (mostly in the west) or the eastern bloc

Can't wait to spout all my bullcrap in a blind panic tomorrow when I realise I haven't done enough revision. I'm woeful with figures, dates and interpretations, so i'm just going to pass of "from a western perspective...." Ahhhhh the fear. A nice political Gorbachev question would be a dream, along with a economic synoptic question. One can dream...

How did everyone find this? I did questions 1 and 3 but wish I had done question 2 instead of 3. I found the exam reasonably hard, particularly the wording of question 1

I did the same questions! not sure I answered one in the right way it was such a strange way to ask the question :/ not sure about 3 either really because it was "industrial development" rather than economy