Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History · specification 4HI1 · Paper 2 | Section A: Historical Investigation · Free · no account needed
Russia 3 — Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Revolution (4HI1 specification)
Dual power, a war nobody would end, and a failed coup in August that handed the Bolsheviks weapons and credibility eight weeks before October.
Learn it on Incandio
The 2 Incandio pages that teach this — each explained in full, then proved in marked questions, taught back to an AI pupil and defended in a debate. Completely free.
- Dual power and the mistakes of the Provisional Government — Why did a government that considered itself temporary make the one decision it could not survive?
- The April Theses, the July Days, Kornilov and October — Kerensky armed the Bolsheviks in August to stop a general. What follows from that?
The teaching route this belongs to: Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Revolution — Russia and the Soviet Union — the lessons in order, with every gate.
Specification coverage
Paper 2, Section A — A2 Russia and the Soviet Union, 1905–24, key topic 3
Assessment objectives: AO1, AO3, AO4. Suggested learning time: 90 minutes.
Required knowledge
- Weaknesses and mistakes of the Provisional Government
- The impact of the Petrograd Soviet
- The activities of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, including the April Theses and July Days
- Nature and impact of the Kornilov Revolt
- Key events of the Bolshevik takeover
- Reasons for success of Bolsheviks, especially the roles of Lenin and Trotsky
Required skills
- Explain and analyse using second-order concepts: causation, consequence, change, continuity, similarity, difference and significance
- Cross-refer two sources and judge how far one supports the other (AO3)
- Evaluate an interpretation extract against your own knowledge (AO3 and AO4)
- Reach a supported judgement rather than describing events
How it is examined
- (a) 6 marks — “Describe TWO features of…” (AO1)
- (b) 8 marks — “How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about…?” (AO3)
- (c) 16 marks — an interpretation extract, “How far do you agree with this interpretation?” (AO3 10, AO4 6)
Common mistakes
- Setting “Lenin's genius” against “Provisional Government failure” as rival explanations. One is the exploitation of the other, and saying so is the Level 4 move.
- Forgetting that the Bolsheviks were a small party in February. The membership numbers between February and October are precise supporting knowledge.
- Describing October as a popular uprising. It was a planned seizure of specific buildings by a few thousand men, and the strongest answers explain why so few were needed.
This page maps the specification. The pages above teach it, and the History lessons hold the whole course — completely free.