Stalin's Death

Question 1

What did the historian Robert Service note about Stalin by 1953?

Answer 1

that he was an ailing despot whom became increasingly unpredictable and menacing

Question 2

Since what in 1952 was the plan for a purge of the old guard in pursuit, with Molotov in particular vulnerability?

Answer 2

Party Congress

Question 3

IN what year was the Party Congress which had begun to plan the purge of the old guard, such as Molotov?

Answer 3

1952

Question 4

What was ironic about Stalin’s death?

Answer 4

he had suffered a major stroke but all the best doctors were in prison awaiting execution following the Doctors Plot

Question 5

How was Stalin’s death immediately taken by the public?

Answer 5

with a sense of national mourning and grieving eulogies from the political elite

Question 6

Why was stalin’s legacy problematic?

Answer 6

as the production of consumer goods had been underfunded and agriculture was failing to keep pace with industrial development

Question 7

Why was change difficult upon Stalins death?

Answer 7

as the cult had decreed that all Stalin had done was perfect

Question 8

Abroad, what did Stalin’s legacy include?

Answer 8

• tensions in the Cold War
• Dangerous nuclear race
• oressyre for reform by satellite states in the Soviet Bloc
• Communist Yugoslavia had broken from Stalin in 1948

Question 9

Which communist country in 1948 had broken from Stalin ?

Answer 9

Yugoslavia

Question 10

Who was Stalin’s successor?

Answer 10

Krushchev

Question 11

How did the USSR emerge from the war in 1945?

Answer 11

as a military-industrial superpower