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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Yakovlev study abroad?

2. Where did Aleksandr Yakovlev almost die during World War II?

3. Which Russian author wrote about Sakhalin Island?

4. During what years had Lithuania been a free country?

5. Where did the czars have their prison camps?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Sakharov try to tell Gorbachev one evening during the first Congress session?

2. When did healers, mystics, and "holy fools" usually come to prominence?

3. What was the Baltic strategy to achieve independence?

4. What was "The Charity Society"?

5. What did Volkogonov's team reveal in a draft of a history they were writing that appalled the hard-liners?

6. In 1991, why were the Kremlin hard-liners terrified of the strikes?

7. What happened when the tanks were sent to Lithuania in January 1991?

8. How did one of Parkomenko's investigative reports cause a terrific scandal?

9. How did Yeltsin's appeal to the people for resistance to the coup get published in Izvestia?

10. Why would it be difficult for the hard-liners to chart a new historical orthodoxy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1989, healers were seen on television shows that were broadcast across the Soviet Union. Explain why the people turned to miracles and the supernatural and why the Party allowed and promoted this indulgence.

Essay Topic 2

In 1988, threats against the Jews resurfaced. Using examples from Lenin's Tomb, discuss why there was such an anti-Semitic feeling off and on during the history of the Soviet Union and how events in the empire influenced the renewed hatred for the Jews.

Essay Topic 3

The hard-liners began a coup in August 1991. Explain how and why the actions of the conspirators, the military, the secret police, the people, the media (television, radio, and press), and the reform politicians caused the coup to fail.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,109 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample