AQA A Level History Depth Study: Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917-1953 June 2019 question paper 7042/2N

With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying life in the USSR in the immediate post-war years.

How significant were the actions of the army in the revolution of February/March 1917?

‘Ideology was of little importance to Stalin in his determination to win the power struggle in the years 1924 to 1929.’

Assess the validity of this view.

‘Stalin’s foreign policy, in the years 1929 to 1939, was driven solely by the need to protect Soviet borders.’

Assess the validity of this view.