Famous Leaders
Who was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party?
Josef Stalin
What was the term given to camps in Siberia where Stalin and other leaders would send political prisoners and people who were regarded as "traitors?"
Gulog
Tsar Alexander II freed this group of people in 1861, but made them pay nobles for their new lands.
Serfs
Which sea was always a focal point of Russian history, as it supplied a warm water port for its ships in case of war in Europe?
Black Sea
Which war saw the deaths of 20-42 million Soviets due to the harshness of both Hitler and Stalin?
World War 2
Which follower of Karl Marx became the de facto first leader of the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik's came out on top in the Russian Revolution?
Vladimir Lenin
What is the Russian term for a "council?"
Soviet
In 1918 this "last Tsar" of Russia and his entire family were killed by the Bolsheviks.
Nicholas II
What is the name of the far northern Asian portion of Russia that is often covered in permafrost?
Siberia
In 1957 the Soviet Union sent Sputnik to space, the first ______ ever to make it there.
Satellite
Which Soviet leader led the de-Stalinization effort and narrowly avoided a nuclear war with the United States over Cuba.
Nikita Khrushchev
Prior to the rise of the Soviet Union, the Russian emperor was known by what term?
Tsar
From 1904-1905 Russia fought a losing war to this country, which led to more unrest amongst the working class.
Japan
Due to Russia's geography, it is the number one producer of which agricultural product that is often used to feed many of the countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa?
Wheat
Other than Russia, what was the largest country to come from the former Soviet Union?
Kazakhstan
Who served as President of Russia from 1991-1999 after the fall of the Soviet Union?
Boris Yeltsin
What term was given to the secret police (committee for state security) during the time of Nikita Khrushchev all the way until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991?
KGB
In 2008 Russia attacked this country in the Caucuses near the Black Sea, which concerned the United States due to the proximity with Iraq and Iran.
Georgia
What mountain range is usually considered to be the border of "European Russia" and "Asian Russia?"
Ural Mountains
Josef Stalin was born in this Soviet state.
Georgia
Which Soviet leader attempted to allow some freedoms into the party, only to be overwhelmed and end up ending the Soviet Union?
Mikhail Gorbachev
What is the term given to the grand complex of palaces, state offices, and churches in Moscow?
Kremlin
In 1986 the largest nuclear disaster in world history occurred in this Soviet city.
Chernobyl
What is the name of the large peninsula in Russia that borders the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk near Alaska?
Kamchatka
Dmitry Medvedev