Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. Why do the Romanovs host a party?

2. Who of Nicholas II’s family was killed?

3. Who oversees Princess Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice’s education?

4. Who do the tsar and tsaritsa agree to canonize in an attempt to birth a son?

5. What disease does Alexei have?

6. What event occurs when peaceful protestors seek justice and protection and are attacked by Russian soldiers?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How are Nicholas and his wife described at the St. Petersburg party?

2. How does the author compare the lifestyles of the Russian nobles to the peasants in Russia?

3. Why does Nicholas II’s father reject him?

4. What was the result of Princess Alix’s conversion to Russian Orthodoxy?

5. How do the tsar and tsaritsa have a difficult beginning to their reign?

6. What is the impact of improved literacy in Russia?

Paired Resource

Wealth Inequalities

• This 7-minute video describes wealth inequalities and the approach to wealth inequalities worldwide.
• What is the Gini index, and how is it used? What does the Gini index fail to convey in its calculations? What government choices impact economic inequalities? What was the problem with communism in the Soviet Union and China? What is the role of taxes in wealth inequalities? How do these facts relate to the book’s themes of The Gulf Between Rich and Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Russia, The Damage Caused by Poor Leadership, and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice?