Unit 15: Paper 2 — Authoritarian States (20th Century)

Topic 15.4: Case studies (authoritarian leaders) Questions

Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB History Topic 15.4. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.

1Choose1 mark
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On what date was the People's Republic of China proclaimed?
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2Choose1 mark
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The Great Terror, a wave of mass arrests, executions and show trials carried out by the NKVD, took place mainly in which years?
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3Choose1 mark
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Choose the correct term for the nationalist anger that Italy had won the First World War but gained little territory at the peace talks.
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4Choose1 mark
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Stalin's collectivisation of agriculture caused a devastating famine in 1932–33 that hit which region of the USSR hardest?
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5Choose1 mark
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How did Adolf Hitler first become Chancellor of Germany?
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Choose the event that directly led to King Victor Emmanuel III appointing Mussolini as Prime Minister in 1922.
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Which campaign was Mao's rushed drive to industrialise using communes and backyard furnaces?
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Which of the following describes the Moscow show trials of the 1930s?
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9Choose1 mark
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In the Russian Civil War (1918-21), who were the 'Whites'?
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What was the main change introduced by the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921?
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11Choose1 mark
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Which 1957 campaign did Mao use to purge critics and silence dissent?
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Which party post, held by Stalin from 1922, gave him control over party appointments and formed the basis of his rise to power?
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13Choose1 mark
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Which slogan did Lenin use to win mass support before the October Revolution of 1917?
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14Choose1 mark
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What was the name of the block-level watch groups Castro used to monitor the population for dissent?
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15Choose1 mark
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Which event most directly locked Cuba firmly inside the Soviet camp during the Cold War?
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16Evaluate15 marks
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Evaluate the successes and failures of the economic policies of two authoritarian states, each chosen from a different region.
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17Compare and contrast15 marks
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Compare and contrast the methods used to rise to power by Hitler and one other authoritarian leader you have studied.
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18Choose1 mark
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What was the Cheka?
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19Evaluate15 marks
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Evaluate the role of one named individual, other than the leader, in an authoritarian state.
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20To what extent15 marks
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To what extent was popular support, rather than repression, responsible for Juan Perón's ability to build and maintain authoritarian rule in Argentina?
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