AS AQA HISTORY TSARIST RUSSIA EXAM LATEST 2025 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS WITH Exam

AS AQA HISTORY TSARIST RUSSIA
1855 1917 EXAM 2026 2027 LATEST 2025
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS WITH
EXAM


Questions 1–20: The Crimean War & Alexander II (1855–
1866)

1. In which year did the Crimean War end?

 A) 1853
 B) 1854
 C) 1855
 D) 1856

2. Which of the following was a key weakness of the Russian army exposed during
the Crimean War?

 A) Lack of artillery
 B) Use of smoothbore muskets versus Allied rifled muskets
 C) Insufficient number of soldiers
 D) Lack of naval power

3. What was the primary reason Alexander II embarked on the Great Reforms?

 A) He was a committed liberal
 B) Fear of revolution and military humiliation
 C) Pressure from industrialists
 D) Influence of Karl Marx

4. The Emancipation Edict of 1861 freed how many state and private serfs
approximately?

,  A) 10 million
 B) 23 million
 C) 50 million
 D) 80 million

5. Under the Emancipation Edict, who retained ownership of the land?

 A) The peasants
 B) The mir (village commune)
 C) The nobility
 D) The state

6. What were redemption payments?

 A) Payments peasants made to buy their freedom
 B) Payments nobles made to compensate the state
 C) Annual payments peasants made to the state for land
 D) Taxes paid to the Orthodox Church

7. How long were redemption payments scheduled to last?

 A) 20 years
 B) 30 years
 C) 49 years
 D) 60 years

8. What was the mir?

 A) The noble assembly
 B) The village commune responsible for tax collection
 C) The Tsar’s personal council
 D) A revolutionary organisation

9. Which reform introduced trial by jury in Russia?

,  A) The Emancipation Edict
 B) The Military Reform
 C) The Judicial Reform of 1864
 D) The Zemstva Act

10. What were zemstva introduced in 1864?

 A) Local elected assemblies responsible for roads, schools, and healthcare
 B) Secret police organisations
 C) Military training camps
 D) Peasant courts

11. Who was Dmitri Milyutin?

 A) Minister of Finance
 B) Minister of War responsible for military reforms
 C) Chief of the Third Section
 D) The Tsar’s spiritual advisor

12. Which of the following was introduced under Milyutin’s military reforms?

 A) Conscription only for nobles
 B) A standing army of 2 million
 C) Universal military conscription for men aged 21
 D) Abolition of the navy

13. What was the Third Section?

 A) A branch of the army
 B) The Tsar’s secret police
 C) A local government body
 D) A censorship department

14. Which reform in 1865 relaxed censorship?

,  A) The Universities Statute
 B) The Press Law
 C) The Judicial Reform
 D) The Emancipation Edict

15. What was the Polish Revolt of 1863-64 significant for?

 A) It led to further liberal reforms
 B) It prompted a wave of Russification and a halt to further reforms
 C) It resulted in Polish independence
 D) It had no impact on Russian policy

16. Who assassinated Alexander II in 1881?

 A) The Decembrists
 B) The Black Partition
 C) The People’s Will (Narodnaya Volya)
 D) The Socialist Revolutionaries

17. What was the Loris-Melikov Constitution proposed in 1881?

 A) A fully democratic constitution
 B) A proposal for elected representatives to advise the Tsar
 C) The abolition of the monarchy
 D) The creation of a socialist state

18. Which of the following was NOT a Great Reform?

 A) Emancipation of the Serfs
 B) Judicial Reform
 C) Creation of the Duma
 D) Military Reform

19. What was the impact of the Great Reforms on the peasantry?