BA Art History and Russian / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
100 Years of Revolution: from Lenin's Soviet Union to Putin's Russia

Course unit fact file
Unit code RUSS10242
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This course unit explores the creation, evolution and subsequent disintegration of the Soviet Union, as well as the emergence of a new Russia from the wreckage of the world’s first socialist state. Emphasis is placed on key political, social and cultural developments, seen within the context of Soviet, post-Soviet and, more broadly, European history.

Aims

  • To help students develop a solid understanding of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
  • to provide students with the necessary analytical skills to achieve this understanding;
  • to develop students’ skills at analysing and understanding primary sources;
  • to develop students’ skills at presenting cogent arguments, both in writing and orally.

 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • critically evaluate different approaches to and interpretations of events in Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
  • make effective use of relevant resources;
  • present their written work in a coherent, well-structured and well-articulated form;
  • present and defend their views orally;
  • manage their time effectively.

Syllabus

  • Week 1: The Russian Empire on the Eve of Revolution
  • Week 2: The Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War
  • Week 3: The New Economic Policy and the rise of Stalin
  • Week 4: Stalin’s ‘second Revolution’
  • Week 5: The ‘Great Patriotic War’ and its aftermath
  • Week 6: The Khrushchev ‘Thaw’ and the dilemmas of de-Stalinisation
  • Week 7: ‘Re-Stalinisation’ and the Reassertion of Control
  • Week 8: The ‘Era of stagnation’ and its legacy
  • Week 9: Gorbachev and perestroika
  • Week 10: The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of post-Soviet Russia
  • Week 11: The Putin era

Teaching and learning methods

One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour seminar per week.

The Blackboard site will contain an extensive range of materials including the course syllabus; lecture handouts and slides; seminar assignments; supplementary readings and audio-visual materials; and coursework assignments and guidance on how to complete them.

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • understand the historical development of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia;
  • have a clear knowledge of the different periods of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history;
  • understand the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union;
  • understand the form of political and societal systems which emergedin post- Soviet Russia.

Intellectual skills

By the end of this course students will be able to:

•    explore a variety of texts on Soviet and post-Soviet history;
•    differentiate between varying interpretations of historical events;
•    understand the Marxist ideas that underpinned Soviet social and political attitudes and approaches;
•    understand the concept of ideology and how it differs from one society to the next.

Practical skills

By the end of this course students will be able to:

•    analyse and understand primary and secondary sources of various types;
•    make effective use of primary and secondary sources to develop cogent arguments, both in writing and orally;
•    present their written work in a coherent, well-structured and well-articulated form;
•    work successfully in groups with others.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

•    the ability to gather, synthesise and organise material from a variety of sources and to critically evaluate their significance;
•    the ability to construct and defend arguments, both in writing and orally;
•    the ability to work in a team, recognising different opinions and approaches and using them to best advantage;
•    the ability to work to deadlines.

Employability skills

Other
The development of the skills outlined above can all be translated into in-demand employability skills.

Assessment methods

Assessment taskFormative or SummativeWeighting within unit (if summative) 
Primary Source Analysis (Semester 2, Week 7)Summative40%
Essay (Semester 2, Week 12)  Summative60%

Resit Assessment:

Essay

Feedback methods

Feedback method  
Individual written feedback on the Primary Source Analysis  

Individual written feedback on the Essay

  
Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hour or by making an appointment), on the understanding that this de-anonymises marking  

 

Recommended reading

  1. Peter Kenez, A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to its Legacy, 3rd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016)
  2. Robert Service, The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty First Century (London: Penguin, 2015)
  3. Ronald Grigor Suny, ed. The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume 3: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)
  4. Seventeen Moments in Soviet History: An on-line archive of primary sources (2015) http://soviethistory.msu.edu 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 22
Seminars 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 167

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Rachel Platonov Unit coordinator

Additional notes

 

 

Return to course details