USSR — Stalin's last years and Khrushchev
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Flip to reveal answersWhen did the Great Patriotic War end and Stalin's final decade begin?
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All 12 Flashcards — USSR — Stalin's last years and Khrushchev
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Question
When did the Great Patriotic War end and Stalin's final decade begin?
Answer
1945 — the USSR emerged victorious but devastated; Stalin ruled until his death in March 1953.
Question
What was the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946)?
Answer
Stalin's post-war reconstruction plan; prioritised heavy industry over consumer goods, rebuilt factories fast but kept living standards low.
Question
What happened to Soviet POWs who returned home after 1945?
Answer
Many were treated as traitors under Stalin's order that surrender was betrayal; sent to filtration camps, and thousands ended up in the Gulag.
Question
What was the Leningrad Affair (1949-50)?
Answer
A purge of Leningrad Communist Party leaders, several executed; showed Stalin's paranoia and terror continued after the war.
Question
What was the Doctors' Plot (1953)?
Answer
Stalin's accusation that Jewish doctors were plotting to kill Soviet leaders; part of rising antisemitism and paranoia just before his death.
Question
What was the Secret Speech (1956)?
Answer
Khrushchev's speech to the 20th Party Congress denouncing Stalin's cult of personality and crimes, kept from the public but leaked internationally.
Question
What is de-Stalinization?
Answer
Khrushchev's process of reducing Stalin's image and legacy: renaming cities, releasing Gulag prisoners, reforming the party after 1956.
Question
What was the Virgin Lands Campaign (1954)?
Answer
Khrushchev's scheme to plough huge new areas of Kazakhstan/Siberia for grain; strong early yields, but soil erosion caused later failures.
Question
What satellite and human spaceflight did the USSR achieve first?
Answer
Sputnik 1 (1957), first satellite; Yuri Gagarin (1961), first human in orbit — both under Khrushchev, boosting Soviet prestige.
Question
How and when was Khrushchev removed from power?
Answer
October 1964 — ousted in a bloodless Politburo coup, replaced by Leonid Brezhnev; officially retired for 'health reasons'.
Question
Give two reasons the Politburo turned against Khrushchev by 1964.
Answer
Erratic policymaking (failed Virgin Lands harvests, farm reorganisations) plus humiliation abroad (Cuban Missile Crisis climbdown, 1962) and colleagues resenting his unpredictable style.
Question
Compare Stalin's and Khrushchev's approach to terror.
Answer
Stalin used mass terror/Gulag to control the party (Leningrad Affair, Doctors' Plot); Khrushchev denounced this terror and released many prisoners, though he still purged rivals politically, not violently.
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Topic 13.11 hub
The USSR and post-Soviet Russia (1945–2020)
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