AQA A Level History Depth Study: The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953-2000 (A-level only) June 2023 question paper 7042/2T

With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to an historian studying the USSR’s involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

‘Western influence was the most significant challenge to Soviet control of the satellite states in the years 1968 to 1980.’

Assess the validity of this view.

‘Opposition to the Communist regime in Hungary, in the years 1980 to 1989, was mainly the result of economic difficulties.’

Assess the validity of this view.

To what extent was Gorbachev’s attempt at political reform the main reason for his downfall in 1991?