Russia from Peter the Great to Lenin, 1700-1917
Fall 2008
HIEU 215 is an introductory survey of Russia and its empire from the Petrine reforms to the end of tsarist rule and the Bolshevik takeover. During this period the Romanov dynasty, in order to bring Russia into the ranks of European and world powers, attempted to transform the country economically, socially, and culturally, and extended Russian rule to ever more territories and populations (the empire at its height covering one-sixth of the earth’s land). At the same time, those in power insisted on preserving many of Russia's traditional and distinctive features, including its autocratic political system. These conflicting agendas, and the way in which they led ultimately to social and political breakdown, will be a central theme of the course.
Approximately half the course is devoted to the last sixty years of the tsarist period -- from defeat in the Crimean War and implementation of the so-called Great Reforms (beginning with the abolition of serfdom) -- concluding with close analysis of the revolutionary eruptions of 1905 and 1917 that brought the monarchy to collapse and socialists to power. Special attention will be paid to the governance of and interaction among the various national and ethnic groups within the Russian empire.
Students will attend two lectures and one discussion section per week, and will be expected to read 100-150 pages per week. Grades will be based on a midterm exam, a short paper, a final exam, and participation in section. All students are welcome, as there is no prerequisite for the course.
The basic texts will be Evtuhov, Goldfrank, Hughes, and Stites, A History of Russia; and James Cracraft, ed., Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia. Primary source readings will include novels (Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons, and Leo Tolstoy, Hadji Murad); a play (Nikolai Gogol, The Inspector General); and selections from the memoirs of a woman revolutionary and of a government official of peasant origins.