A-level
HISTORY
AQA A-level History Component 1H Tsarist and Communist
Russia, 1855–1964 (7042/1H) Updated Test 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/1H.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
7042/1H
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
Russia faced many domestic difficulties in 1855. The new Tsar, Alexander II, received
various ministerial reports concerning, for example, the poor condition of state-owned
peasants and the dangers of the enormously high level of peasant taxation. Even
Valuev, a right-wing provincial governor, voiced his concern for the future of the empire.
Calls for action came from all sides: bureaucrats, intellectuals of various persuasions, 5
city-dwellers and the peasantry all pressed for radical changes. Westernisers and
Slavophiles were advocating, among other things, the end of serfdom, freedom of opinion
and of the press, freedom of instruction in schools and universities and open judicial
proceedings. None of these attacked the regime as fiercely as the left-wing socialist,
Alexander Herzen, though. His publications, produced in London, beyond the reach of 10
the imperial censors, were to play a significant part in promoting change. Russians read
them and contributed to them, and Alexander II found himself called upon to remodel
the state.
Adapted from D Saunders, Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform, 1992
Extract B
Alexander II was well prepared for Tsardom. He knew that serfdom must be reformed,
although when his brother, Konstantin, demanded immediate reform in 1855, Alexander
proposed ‘quiet for now’. Alexander was the most sensitive of the Romanovs. He toured
the country, relaxing court rules and easing censorship, signalling a new openness – the
smiling tsar, so different from his scowling father. He knew change was essential and 5
carefully planned his moves. He was also backed by his forward-thinking Aunt Elena.
She introduced Alexander to the young liberal, Nikolai Milyutin, whom she had asked to
devise a plan to free the serfs on her own large estates. Emancipation was only the first
of Alexander’s many reforms and he had such unshakeable firmness in these great
undertakings that he could ignore the murmurings of opponents of innovation. In this 10
sense, the soft, humane Alexander II displayed greater decisiveness and a truer idea of
his own power than his father who had been noted for his iron will.
Adapted from SS Montefiore, The Romanovs, 2016
, 3
Extract C
The overriding impetus behind the steps towards reform was the disaster of the
Crimean War. That foreign fiasco led to domestic reconstruction because it exposed the
real backwardness and weakness of the traditional Russian State. The Crimean War
was not only costly in lives, resources and prestige, but it also destroyed the belief that
had stood in the way of reform. It was no longer the case that the existing social order 5
meant stability and power. The shock of defeat caused the elite to recognise the need to
end Russian serfdom and move towards a modern economy capable of meeting the
challenge of Western power. Serf emancipation would be the most significant reform, but
many other reforms would follow, based on a growing acceptance that not only serfs, but
society more generally, had to be emancipated from the chains of state control. The 10
reformist zeal, derived from the Crimean crisis, was driven by a belief that only such
emancipation could liberate the vital forces of progress.
Adapted from G Freeze, Russia: A History, 1997
0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the
arguments in these three extracts are in relation to the reasons why Alexander II
carried out a programme of domestic reforms.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
Turn over ►
HISTORY
AQA A-level History Component 1H Tsarist and Communist
Russia, 1855–1964 (7042/1H) Updated Test 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/1H.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
7042/1H
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Extract A
Russia faced many domestic difficulties in 1855. The new Tsar, Alexander II, received
various ministerial reports concerning, for example, the poor condition of state-owned
peasants and the dangers of the enormously high level of peasant taxation. Even
Valuev, a right-wing provincial governor, voiced his concern for the future of the empire.
Calls for action came from all sides: bureaucrats, intellectuals of various persuasions, 5
city-dwellers and the peasantry all pressed for radical changes. Westernisers and
Slavophiles were advocating, among other things, the end of serfdom, freedom of opinion
and of the press, freedom of instruction in schools and universities and open judicial
proceedings. None of these attacked the regime as fiercely as the left-wing socialist,
Alexander Herzen, though. His publications, produced in London, beyond the reach of 10
the imperial censors, were to play a significant part in promoting change. Russians read
them and contributed to them, and Alexander II found himself called upon to remodel
the state.
Adapted from D Saunders, Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform, 1992
Extract B
Alexander II was well prepared for Tsardom. He knew that serfdom must be reformed,
although when his brother, Konstantin, demanded immediate reform in 1855, Alexander
proposed ‘quiet for now’. Alexander was the most sensitive of the Romanovs. He toured
the country, relaxing court rules and easing censorship, signalling a new openness – the
smiling tsar, so different from his scowling father. He knew change was essential and 5
carefully planned his moves. He was also backed by his forward-thinking Aunt Elena.
She introduced Alexander to the young liberal, Nikolai Milyutin, whom she had asked to
devise a plan to free the serfs on her own large estates. Emancipation was only the first
of Alexander’s many reforms and he had such unshakeable firmness in these great
undertakings that he could ignore the murmurings of opponents of innovation. In this 10
sense, the soft, humane Alexander II displayed greater decisiveness and a truer idea of
his own power than his father who had been noted for his iron will.
Adapted from SS Montefiore, The Romanovs, 2016
, 3
Extract C
The overriding impetus behind the steps towards reform was the disaster of the
Crimean War. That foreign fiasco led to domestic reconstruction because it exposed the
real backwardness and weakness of the traditional Russian State. The Crimean War
was not only costly in lives, resources and prestige, but it also destroyed the belief that
had stood in the way of reform. It was no longer the case that the existing social order 5
meant stability and power. The shock of defeat caused the elite to recognise the need to
end Russian serfdom and move towards a modern economy capable of meeting the
challenge of Western power. Serf emancipation would be the most significant reform, but
many other reforms would follow, based on a growing acceptance that not only serfs, but
society more generally, had to be emancipated from the chains of state control. The 10
reformist zeal, derived from the Crimean crisis, was driven by a belief that only such
emancipation could liberate the vital forces of progress.
Adapted from G Freeze, Russia: A History, 1997
0 1 Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the
arguments in these three extracts are in relation to the reasons why Alexander II
carried out a programme of domestic reforms.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
Turn over ►
