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Russian History A-Z

Can you guess these people, places, and things from Russian history starting with each letter of the alphabet?
Quiz by
Aaron197
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Last updated: February 13, 2026
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First submittedOctober 8, 2019
Times taken23,050
Average score76.9%
Rating4.35
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Hint
Answer
A
Territory that Russia sold to the United States in 1867 for just $7.2 million
Alaska
B
Communist faction that came to power in 1917
Bolsheviks
C
Federal subject of Russia that tried to break away in the 1990s
Chechnya
D
Author who said "If there is no God, everything is permitted"
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
E
Churchill described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an _____"
Enigma
F
The first of the two 1917 revolutions
February Revolution
G
Siberian prison system during the reign of Joseph Stalin
Gulag
H
One of the items on the Soviet flag
Hammer
I
The first Tsar of Russia
Ivan the Terrible
J
Russia nearly lost its entire Pacific fleet in a disastrous war with
this country in 1904–05
Japan
K
Soviet leader who de-Stalinized the country in the 1950s
Nikita Khrushchev
L
Space dog who became the first animal to orbit Earth in 1957
Laika
M
Foreign minister who signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939
Vyacheslav Molotov
N
The last tsar of Russia, executed in 1918
Nicholas II
O
Term for a businessman who acquired rapid wealth shortly after the collapse
of the Soviet Union
Oligarch
P
"Table" first published by Mendeleev in 1860
Periodic Table
Q
Alliance of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain against France in 1815
Quadruple Alliance
R
Royal house that ruled Russia from 1613–1917
Romanov
S
Former name of Volgograd
Stalingrad
T
Writer who died in 1910 having never won a Nobel Prize, considered to be
one of the greatest omissions in its history
Leo Tolstoy
U
In an event called the Holodomor, Soviet leaders inflicted a terrible famine
on this country, killing millions
Ukraine
V
Group of northern people who ruled over the Kievan Rus'
Vikings
W
Army that fought against the Communists from 1917–1921
White Army
X
Princess consort of Tver who is counted as a saint in the Russian Orthodox
Church, her name is Greek for "hospitality"
Xenia of Tarusa
Y
The first democratically-elected leader in Russian history
Boris Yeltsin
Z
Most-decorated Soviet general of WWII
Georgy Zhukov
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41 Comments
vomitingdiamonds
+2
Level 87
Oct 10, 2019
A quibble: weren't the Rus Norse to begin with, rather than being ruled over by them? Weren't the Rus Norse migrants? Although I don't know for sure, just a vague memory.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Oct 26, 2019
According to Wikipedia, the Rus were a loose confederation of Slavic and Finnic people ruled over by the Varangians (Norse).
tervuren
+1
Level 59
Aug 6, 2021
Well, whether they were originally Norse is doubtful, they were and are eastern Slavs. And the city of Novgorod "invited the vikings to rule over them" as they say in Russian textbooks.
Arp2600
+1
Level 89
Oct 11, 2019
Well now I will know what is a federal subject. I had no clue what the C question was about... As for X, no wonder why I tried Xena, but it was close ^^.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 79
Oct 11, 2019
Mostly easy. Missed W and Q. Should have guessed W. The gulag system was used before Stalin's time as leader. Stalin was sent in to it multiple times himself as a younger man. Nikolai ought to be accepted for Nicholas.
MayaB
+1
Level 73
Oct 12, 2019
I almost missed Khrushchev because in the Cyrillic alphabet his name starts with an X which corresponds to the Latin letter H. I am happy it came to my mind in the last about 20 seconds.
mf3
+1
Level 90
Oct 13, 2019
Ukraine was not technically a country at the time.
rocamorar
+10
Level 80
Oct 23, 2019
There is not a technical definition of country. :)
QuadaleDingleton
+8
Level 61
Dec 14, 2019
who cares people which died horribly were mostly Ukrainians, and now the country is called Ukraine
jonh
+5
Level 58
Sep 8, 2021
there's also not great evidence to show the famine was "inflicted," most of it comes from nazi propaganda.
Djilas
+5
Level 86
Feb 13, 2026
So why was there famine in the agricultural center and not in Moscow?
Onemario64
+3
Level 74
Feb 14, 2026
Because that's where people relied on grain the most, millions also died in Russia and northern Kazakhstan in agricultural areas in a mostly contiguous area
AlexandrovNi
+2
Level 24
Jun 27, 2024
Ukrainian SSR was one of the republics of the Soviet Union. It was also an official UN member state in the General Assembly from 1945. Why won't it be "technically" a country?
treadmill
+1
Level 97
Oct 26, 2019
It should be Xenia of Tarusa, not Xenia the Tarusa.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Oct 26, 2019
Fixed
eveersma
+1
Level 47
Dec 13, 2019
The hardest part was the translation of the Dutch names Chroesjtsjov, Dostojevski and Bolsjewiek.
RCAF
+1
Level 47
Dec 13, 2019
Not a bad quiz. You should accept "Xsenia" for Xenia however.
olafus
+1
Level 69
Dec 13, 2019
Please accept Varyag for Varangians/Vikings.
kiwiquizzer
+2
Level 68
Dec 13, 2019
I thought I did pretty good, but my score was below average. Does that mean only the really brainy ones took this quiz?
JackintheBox
+1
Level 82
Dec 14, 2019
I should think so (I got 23 by the way)
JackintheBox
+2
Level 82
Dec 14, 2019
For G, it should be 'during the reign of Joseph Stalin'. ('of' is missing)
EytanMelech
+1
Level 66
Mar 23, 2020
+1
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Mar 24, 2020
Ok, fixed
JackintheBox
+1
Level 82
Dec 14, 2019
For 'M', I tried to think of a Russian-sounding word starting with 'M', and tried 'Molotov' - surprised it was correct!
Algarve
+3
Level 70
Dec 19, 2019
Technically, que last tsar of Russia was Peter the Great back in early 1700’s. He has changed his (and sucessors) title to Emperor
CaptainUnderpant
+1
Level 81
Aug 17, 2023
Interesting, I didn't know that Russia only became an empire in 1721 after the Great Northern War until your comment prompted some research. Though it seems too precise for the clue given that subsequent emperors are often referred to as tsars.
KingBardlin
+1
Level 72
Sep 7, 2022
V: pls add "varyags".
LizardGirl0
+5
Level 42
May 21, 2023
Find a way to incorporate Ukraine into the quiz without making sweeping claims about an open question and subject of scholarly debate. For example, historians J. Arch Getty, Wheatcroft, Davies, and Tauger convincingly argue against the notion that the famine was inflicted against Ukraine by the Soviet leadership.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor_genocide_question

Quizmaster
+6
Level ∞
Feb 13, 2026
There is no serious debate about whether the famine was man-made or not.

The only question is whether the Soviets were deliberately trying to kill Ukrainians or whether it was an accidental result of their policy.

Kingsfisher
+2
Level 69
Feb 13, 2026
Anyway, this question was inserted as an agenda. Despite all the discrepancies, its subtext is quite clear.

If desired, it would be possible to choose any other less controversial event, but this was the one that was chosen. Or you want to say the opposite?

Let's say a quiz about the history of Britain is compiled, and for the answer "India" the prompt "under the control of Britain, a terrible famine occurred in this country" will be selected. Would you consider this a biased question?

Or for "Yugoslavia", it would be chosen not "this country collapsed in 1991" but "this country was dramatically attacked in 1999", I think, you can't say that it's neutral or not controversial.But according to your answer, we can say "the attack was undeniable, the only debate can be about whether the NATO attack was an act of aggression or not." Although, you can understand which way he's leaning. the question itself.

Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Feb 13, 2026
I mean I get it. I think it's bad if quizzes focus too much on the negative aspects of a country's history.

But at the same time there are plenty of questions about the Nazis on German quizzes. And there are plenty of questions about slavery on U.S. quizzes.

And yet, in these quizzes, no one chimes in to complain about an agenda.

The crimes of the Soviets were massive. Horrific. And it's a very important part of the story of Russia, even if its far from the whole story.

I say this as a person who is actually against a lot of the demonization of Russia that we see in the Western press.

Kingsfisher
+2
Level 69
Feb 15, 2026
No, no one denies the crimes committed by the Soviet government. In many ways, I am also horrified by most of the crimes that took place under the early Soviet regime. Most people in Russia do not deny them, and it would be strange to deny them.

However, I have always had a very hostile attitude towards the so-called Holodomor, as it is usually used as a picture of the targeted extermination of the Ukrainian people, which seems to me to be slander. The truth is that the Soviet government was cruel to everyone in terms of mass starvation. Usually, when someone declares the Holodomor, they like to remind about the famine in the Volga region and Kazakhstan as well, also very wheat-rich regions in Russian polemics, this is already such a hackneyed trope, as is the Holodomor itself.

Kingsfisher
+1
Level 69
Feb 15, 2026
As far as I remember, the Soviet government paid off Western debts in grain, so everything was primarily exported. At first, the peasants were imposed almost serfdom conditions, they were forbidden to leave the collective farms, and they had to hand over all the grain they collected to the authorities. But such a policy has been introduced everywhere, but oriented on wheat-producing regions.

In fact, I come to the same conclusion as you, that the famine in Ukraine was undeniable, but its purposefulness as an act of genocide is unproven.

Kingsfisher
+1
Level 69
Feb 15, 2026
The problem is in the context. In modern Ukraine, this event was widely promoted as evidence of a deliberate policy of genocide against Ukraine. Some time ago, there was a large-scale campaign to cover this event from exactly this angle. Before everything that we see now, there was an information war for a very long time.Russian side has also used a huge amount of similar lies.

The Russian side also fabricated a lot of lies ("the Bolsheviks invented Ukraine"), but I'm sure no one will believe its claims here.

Now such "historiographical wars" have done their intended work, having outgrown... well, in an ordinary war.

Now, to be understood correctly, I will have to write a very long post, but I don't think it's worth it.

haganshows
+5
Level 47
May 17, 2024
The Holodomer is not a genocide or was purposeful. This has been disproven since it came up in the 80s. Why not include literally any other prompt for Ukraine? Trying to push a narrative?
Quizmaster
+5
Level ∞
Feb 13, 2026
The word "genocide" does not appear in this quiz.
Xtrordinary
+2
Level 74
Oct 17, 2024
Somehow guessed Xenia
MikolajSzkutnik
+1
Level 76
Feb 13, 2026
In my country we often call the periodic table the Mendeleev table, so I spent like 40 seconds trying to recall its English name lol
Kingsfisher
+1
Level 69
Feb 15, 2026
Glad, in Russia we're happy to call this Periodic Table of D. I. Mendeleev
Helder
+1
Level 88
Feb 18, 2026
The definition of Oligarch is so incomplete it was unrecogniseable to a me. After all, an oligarch is someone who quickly acquired wealth with the help of people in power, otherwise it's just a businessman.
Julkis
+1
Level 28
Feb 22, 2026
You cannot call GULAG Siberian prison! It was widespread across all the Soviet Union.

For example, during some of his time in GULAG system Solzhenitsyn was building houses in Moscow. He also was imprisoned in Kazakhstan.

I would not call it prison system either, because it was mostly about labour camps.

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