Russian Revolution Trivia

In the space of a single year, Russia went from a centuries-old imperial monarchy to a fledgling Communist state, setting off a civil war and a political experiment that would shape global politics for the rest of the twentieth century. This quiz covers the fall of the tsars and the rise of the Soviet Union.

Eleven questions on 1917 and its explosive aftermath.

The Fall of the Romanovs

By early 1917, decades of inequality, military defeats in World War I, and food shortages had pushed Russia to the breaking point. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in February, ending over three hundred years of Romanov rule and handing power to a shaky provisional government led for a time by Alexander Kerensky.

The Bolsheviks Seize Power

That provisional government didn't last. In October 1917, Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized control in a swift coup, promising peace, land, and bread to a war-weary population. Russia soon exited World War I entirely through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but peace at home proved elusive, and a brutal civil war between Bolshevik forces and their opponents dragged on for years.

Building the Soviet State

• The Romanov family was executed by Bolshevik forces in 1918.
• War Communism, a harsh policy of forced grain requisitioning, fueled famine and unrest during the civil war.
• The Soviet Union was formally established in 1922, uniting Russia and neighboring republics.
• After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvered rivals like Leon Trotsky to become the USSR's dominant leader.