HIST 346
SOVIET RUSSIA
- Catalog Entry
HIST 346. Soviet Russia (B, C)
Three hours lecture (3).
Prerequisite: Three hours of history at 100 level.
Russian history under Soviets. Domestic and diplomatic policies examined as well as Russian social conditions in 20th Century.
- Detailed Description of Content of Course
I. Russia - 1900 to 1917
A. Preconditions to the Bolshevik Revolution
1. Economy
2. Dissident movements
3. Status of Czarist system
4. Constitutional monarchy
5. World War I
6. The March Revolution
II. The Bolshevik Revolution
A. Chronology of events
B. Ideology
C. The separate peace
D. Civil War
E. Foreign relations
III. Post Revolution Economics and Survival
A. War communism
B. NEP
C. Economic debates of the 1920s
D. Soviet society during the 1920s
IV. Stalin's Revolution
A. Struggle for succession
B. Elimination of opposition
C. The first five year plan--collectivization and industrialization
D. The early purges
V. The 1930s
A. Second five year plan
B. Economic developments
C. The Great Purge
D. The 1936 Constitution
E. Foreign Policy
1. Responses to Hitler
2. The Spanish Civil War
3. World War II
VI. The Great Patriotic War
A. Major events and chronology
B. As an example of Stalinist "rewriting of history"
C. Impact of living standards
D. Relations with the allies
1. Stalin
2. Churchill
3. Roosevelt
VII. End of the Stalin Era
A. Post war recovery
B. Ideological developments
C. The Cold War
1. The atomic age
2. Eastern Europe
3. Conflict with "the west"
VIII. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and After
The content of the last part of the course will be determined primarily by which topics and students choose to do reports on. The professor will try to fill in gaps in order to cover major and recent events.
- Detailed Description of Content of Course
A lecture format predominates with time set aside for discussion. Every effort is made to provide visual images (art, architecture, videos) and conceptual explanations.
There is no set assignment format. Sometimes each student is assigned a 'personality' or specific event to research and report on; sometimes groups work together on topics and presentations.
- Goals and Objectives of the Course
Students will be able to:
1. demonstrate a knowledge of the substantive material
2. demonstrate a knowledge of an important but seemingly 'alien' part of the world and part of history
3. demonstrate research, writing, and analytical skills
4. demonstrate a tolerance for and ability to look openly at other cultures
5. demonstrate a geographic awareness of Russia and its neighbors
6. practice oral communications skills.
- Assessment Measures
Assessments of the students' success in mastering the material and skills include: two examinations (part objective and part essay), and some form of individual or group "outside" writing and/or class presentation assignment.
- Other Course Information
None.
- Review and Approval
Date Action Reviewed by
January 2005 Reviewed and Approved by Charles McClellan