Leaders

Question 1

Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924)

Answer 1

Bolshevik Revolution
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Creation of the USSR

Question 2

Joseph Stalin (1924–1953)

Answer 2

Five-Year Plans and rapid industrialization
Great Terror and purges
Collectivization of agriculture
Role in World War II (Great Patriotic War)

Question 3

Nikita Khrushchev (1953–1964)

Answer 3

De-Stalinization
“Sinatra Policy” (allowing greater autonomy in Eastern Bloc)
Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 4

Leonid Brezhnev (1964–1982)

Answer 4

Era of Stability (also called “Stagnation”)
Increased arms race and military spending
Brezhnev Doctrine (limiting sovereignty of Eastern Bloc states)
Detente foreign policy

Question 5

Yuri Andropov (1982–1984)

Answer 5

Attempted anti-corruption campaigns
KGB background and strict discipline

Question 6

Konstantin Chernenko (1984–1985)

Answer 6

Brief and largely inactive leadership
Continuation of Brezhnev-era stagnation policies

Question 7

Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–1991)

Answer 7

Perestroika (economic restructuring)
Glasnost (political openness)
Fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of Eastern Bloc
Dissolution of the USSR

Question 8

Boris Yeltsin (1991–1999)

Answer 8

1993 Political crisis and Constitution
“Defective democracy” and superpresidentialism
Privatization and rise of oligarchs
Economic instability and shock therapy

Question 9

Vladimir Putin (2000–2008, 2012–present)

Answer 9

Centralization of power and closed autocracy
Electoral authoritarianism and managed democracy
Economic recovery in early years
Expansionist foreign policy (e.g., annexation of Crimea)

Question 10

Dmitry Medvedev (2008–2012)

Answer 10

Modernization rhetoric
“Reset” in US-Russia relations
Continuation of Putin’s policies with limited reform efforts