- UCAS course code
- VR11
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
BA History and French
Combine a specialist study of French culture with a range of diverse historical periods.
Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: VR11 / Institution code: M20
- Key features:
Study abroad
Study with a language
- Typical A-level offer: AAB including specific subjects
- Typical contextual A-level offer: ABC including specific subjects
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: ACC including specific subjects
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 35 points overall with 6,6,5 at HL including specific subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
Scholarships and bursaries are available to eligible Home/EU students, this is in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.
- Find out more from Student Finance
- International student? Check your country page
- Interested in a student internship?
Course unit details:
The Making of Modern Russia: 1552-1917
| Unit code | RUSS10251 |
|---|---|
| Credit rating | 20 |
| Unit level | Level 1 |
| Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
| Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This course aims to introduce students to the study of Russia from a variety of different perspectives (e.g., historical, cultural, social and political). The course is structured around a series of pivotal events that have shaped Russia’s development from the reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725) to the reign of Nicholas II (1894-1917). Each event is examined in its appropriate historical context, through documentary evidence, cultural artefacts and contemporary debates, as well as through scholarly works. The relevance and legacy of the selected events for Russia’s present and future are also considered.
Aims
to help students develop a solid understanding of Russia’s Imperial past; to provide a foundation for exploring specific aspects of Russian culture, history and society in greater detail at Levels 2 and 3;
- to develop students’ skills at analysing and understanding primary and secondary sources;
- to develop students’ skills at presenting cogent arguments, both in writing and orally.
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- make effective use of relevant resources;
- critically evaluate different approaches to and interpretations of events in Russian history;
- 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: Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584)
- Week 2: The Petrine Reforms (1696-1725)
- Week 3: The Annexation of Crimea (1783)
- Week 4: The Battle of Borodino (1812)
- Week 5: The Decembrist Uprising (1825)
- Week 7: The Slavophile-Westerniser Debates (1840s)
- Week 8: The Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855)
- Week 9: The Great Reforms (1855-1880)
- Week 10: The First Russian Revolution (1905)
- Week 11: The Stolypin Reforms (1906-1911)
- Week 12: Course Conclusion
Knowledge and understanding
By the end of this course students will have:
- a knowledge of Russia’s cultural and historical developments from Ivan the Terribleto the Bolshevik revolution;
- an ability to situate individual events in the specific context of their time;
- an understanding of the impact of history on current events in Russia today;
- an appreciation of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Russia;
- an appreciation of the range of sources that can be used for studying a particular historical event.
Intellectual skills
By the end of this course students will be able to:
• situate individual historical events and primary sources in the specific context of their time;
• understand the impact of history on current events in Russia today;
• appreciate interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Russia;
• appreciate the range of sources that can be used for studying a particular historical event.
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 intellectual, practical and transferrable skills outlined above can all be translated into in-demand employability skills
Assessment methods
| Assessment task | Formative or Summative | Weighting within unit (if summative) |
| Essay 1 (Semester 1, Week 8) | Summative | 40% |
| Essay 2 (Semester 1, start of January Exam Period) | Summative | 60% |
Resit Assessment:
Essay
Feedback methods
| Feedback method |
| Individual written feedback on the Essays |
| Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment), on the understanding that this de-anonymises marking |
Recommended reading
- Freeze, Gregory, ed., Russia: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
- Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. and Mark D. Steinberg, A History of Russia, 8th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Hosking, Geoffrey, Russia: People and Empire, 1552-1917 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997)
- Hosking, Geoffrey, Russia and the Russians (London: Allen Lane, 2001)
Study hours
| Scheduled activity hours | |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 11 |
| Seminars | 22 |
| Independent study hours | |
|---|---|
| Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
| Staff member | Role |
|---|---|
| Rachel Platonov | Unit coordinator |