FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Khrushchev
Quiz about Khrushchev

Khrushchev Trivia Quiz


This is a fun little quiz about my favourite Soviet leader, Khrushchev.

A multiple-choice quiz by Mrs_Seizmagraff. Estimated time: 5 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. World Trivia
  6. »
  7. Government
  8. »
  9. Soviet and Russian Government

Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
183,990
Updated
May 03 24
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
10 / 15
Plays
670
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. What was Khrushchev's first name? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. Where was Khrushchev from? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. In what year did Khrushchev join the Communist Party? Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. During the power struggles in the Party following Lenin's death in 1924, Khrushchev allied himself with Kagonovich and Stalin against which other politburo members? Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. By 1939, Khrushchev was a full politburo member. In the late 1930s, while in Moscow, what did Khrushchev oversee that helped speed his rapid political rise? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. By 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Khrushchev had survived the bloody Stalinist purges and had risen to this position: Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. When Stalin died in 1953, Khrushchev was seen as his natural successor.


Question 8 of 15
8. At the 20th Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev delivered a historic bombshell. What was it? Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. Despite many of Khrushchev's democratic bells and whistles, he remained a protégé of a brutal dictator and retained many dictatorial characteristics. In 1956, he sent troops to brutally suppress a revolt where? Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. 1957 was a great year for Khrushchev. Crops were good, industrial output had reached new highs, and more average citizens had a higher quality of life than ever before. 1957 also saw the start of a new "race" with the West, what race was this? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. Relations with the West can best be described as "highs" and "lows". 1959 was a "high" year for Khrushchev and Soviet foreign policy, climaxing with what historic event? Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. 1960, unfortunately, was a "low" year for Soviet foreign relations. What two events were the big disasters for the USSR? Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. Khrushchev was a man of polar opposites; his policy with the West (in theory) seemed to be in direct conflict with many of his actions, such as sending missiles to Cuba and building a wall through Berlin. What was the term coined to describe his foreign policy? Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. Other than Gorbachev, Khrushchev is the only General Secretary not to serve until his death.


Question 15 of 15
15. Khrushchev's full memoirs were published in the USSR and the US following his death in 1971.



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What was Khrushchev's first name?

Answer: Nikita

"Nikita" is also a great Elton John song. (Imagine Elton singing "Yuri, I need you so...?") The other three options are first names of other Soviet leaders (Andropov, Chernenko, and Brezhnev...can you match them up???)
2. Where was Khrushchev from?

Answer: Kursk Oblast

Stalin was from Georgia, and Cher is from Armenia. (Stalin was a Soviet leader, Cher is not). Khrushchev was born on April 17, 1894, in the village of Kalinovka in the Kursk Oblast, near the border with Ukraine.
3. In what year did Khrushchev join the Communist Party?

Answer: 1918

Khrushchev joined the year after the Revolution, 1918. At that time, Russia was in the midst of a bloody civil war and the disasterous economic policy of Lenin known as "War Communism". Khrushchev's rise was quite rapid, becoming political commissar during the war in the early 1920s.
4. During the power struggles in the Party following Lenin's death in 1924, Khrushchev allied himself with Kagonovich and Stalin against which other politburo members?

Answer: Trotsky, Kirov and Bukharin

Khrushchev was appointed to a political post in the Ukraine following his training in the mid 1920s, under the leadership of Kagonovich. Khrushchev's career took off with Stalin's blessing (it was not a good idea to oppose him in the 1930s!) and by 1935 Khrushchev was second in command of the Moscow Communist Party.
5. By 1939, Khrushchev was a full politburo member. In the late 1930s, while in Moscow, what did Khrushchev oversee that helped speed his rapid political rise?

Answer: The construction of the Moscow subway system

The subway system was a spectacular success at a time when not much of anything else was in the Soviet Union - the collective farming was a disaster, the results of the first and second five year plans were fudged, and foreign relations with the West were at an all-time low, forcing Stalin into the arms of his bitter enemy Hitler with the signing of the 1939 non-agression pact.
6. By 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Khrushchev had survived the bloody Stalinist purges and had risen to this position:

Answer: Head of the Ukrainian Communist Party

Khrushchev was on the front lines for much of the war, including the famous battle of Stalingrad that changed the course of affairs for Germany.
7. When Stalin died in 1953, Khrushchev was seen as his natural successor.

Answer: False

There was a ranking of the Politburo members done in 1953, and Khrushchev was listed fifth most important. There began a frantic power struggle similar to that of 1924 when Lenin died. Malenkov and Beria were seen as Stalin's heirs, Malenkov was defeated by a Khrushchev coalition and Beria was executed.
8. At the 20th Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev delivered a historic bombshell. What was it?

Answer: His "secret speech" denouncing Stalin

The infamous "secret speech" wasn't secret at all, and launched a new plan to "thaw" relations with the West and to encourage greater political freedoms in the USSR. Thousands of people imprisoned in the Gulags were freed.
9. Despite many of Khrushchev's democratic bells and whistles, he remained a protégé of a brutal dictator and retained many dictatorial characteristics. In 1956, he sent troops to brutally suppress a revolt where?

Answer: Hungary

The Iron Curtain certainly wasn't going anywhere under Khrushchev. NATO formed in 1949, and in response the Communist Bloc formed the new look, ring-a-ding-ding Warsaw Pact in 1955. The suppression of the Hungarian uprising was one of the first acts of the Warsaw Pact.
10. 1957 was a great year for Khrushchev. Crops were good, industrial output had reached new highs, and more average citizens had a higher quality of life than ever before. 1957 also saw the start of a new "race" with the West, what race was this?

Answer: The space race

1957 saw the launch of Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth; and thus began the space race. Isn't it amazing that only 12 short years later the United States would successfully land a man on the moon?
11. Relations with the West can best be described as "highs" and "lows". 1959 was a "high" year for Khrushchev and Soviet foreign policy, climaxing with what historic event?

Answer: Khrushchev's tour of the United States

Other than Gorbachev during Perestroika, Khrushchev was the only Soviet leader to visit the US while in power. SALT I came under Brezhnev, the Helsinki Accords were signed in the 1970s, and so many summits have been held in Geneva it would be impossible to count them all.
12. 1960, unfortunately, was a "low" year for Soviet foreign relations. What two events were the big disasters for the USSR?

Answer: The U-2 spy plane & the Sino-Soviet split

In 1960 the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane and revealed that the US had been lying about espionage in the USSR. (Not that the USSR has been telling the truth either...) As well, Khrushchev's policies finally drove Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-Tung over the edge and relations between China and the USSR soured. Mao hated Khrushchev's willingness to work with the West, and saw himself as Stalin's natural Asiatic Socialist heir.
13. Khrushchev was a man of polar opposites; his policy with the West (in theory) seemed to be in direct conflict with many of his actions, such as sending missiles to Cuba and building a wall through Berlin. What was the term coined to describe his foreign policy?

Answer: Peaceful coexistence

"Socialism in one country" was the slogan Stalin used in the late 1920s/early 1930s, and the concept of détente is most closely associated with Brezhnev. Khrushchev advocated "peacefully coexisting"; all the while buliding barricades, sending nuclear arms across the world, and invading foreign countries.
14. Other than Gorbachev, Khrushchev is the only General Secretary not to serve until his death.

Answer: True

Faced with PR disasters and a crumbling internal structure, a Brezhnev-led Politburo removed Khrushchev from office in 1964. Defeated, lonely, and bitter; he died in 1971 after dictating his memoirs. Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko all died in office. (The last three within two and a half years of each other!)
15. Khrushchev's full memoirs were published in the USSR and the US following his death in 1971.

Answer: False

False - much of what he had written/dictated was in fact classified by the KGB, and it wasn't until Perestroika and Glasnost that we saw much of what Khrushchev had written (in fact, a whole separate volume was published).
Source: Author Mrs_Seizmagraff

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor thejazzkickazz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
12/2/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us