History of Russia Since 1917
Spring 2013
HIEU 2162 is an introductory survey of the history of Russia (broadly defined) from 1917 to the present. Our goal in the course is to explore the rise and fall of a distinct form of civilization -- a polity, society, culture and empire -- known as "Soviet Communism." Why did that "civilization" arise in Russia, and what is "Russia" now that Soviet Communism is dead? To answer these questions, lectures and readings will focus on the political, social and cultural history of the region. Major topics include: the revolutions of 1917; the Civil War; Lenin's New Economic Policy; Stalinism; the Second World War and post-war reconstruction; the origins and phases of the Cold War; de-Stalinization and the limits of reform (Khrushchev to Gorbachev); the crisis of late Communism (the Brezhnev years); the disintegration of the USSR and the rise of the Russian Federation (the Yeltsin Presidency); and the quest for stability under Putin.
The course assumes no prior training in Russian history. Requirements include active participation in weekly discussion sections, a midterm exam, a final exam and several short papers on required course readings. Readings (in English) of about 150 pages per week will include primary and secondary sources. Possible texts include: Lydia Chukovskaya, Sofia Petrovna; Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto; Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; and Ronald Suny, The Soviet Experiment.
