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Semester 1

Revolutionary Russia, 1861-1921 (HIST10337)

Subject

History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course will focus on a key period in Russian history: charting the tsarist regime's attempts to grapple with political reform, industrial revolution and social upheaval, the Russian revolution and the consolidation of Bolshevik power. This period is essential to understanding Russia's 'separate path' in Europe and its unique contributions to the modern world.

Course Description

The course charts the history of the Russian Empire and its successor states from 1861 to 1921. The chronological spread across the revolutionary divide will mean that the course will give students a solid understanding of the background to both Imperial and Soviet history. The subject reflects the research interests and expertise of the course organiser, who has written a book on the role of the security police in the coming of the Russian revolution, and is currently writing a biography of one of the leading Bolsheviks, Felix Dzerzhinsky, which covers almost exactly the same period as this course (he lived from 1877 to 1926). SEMINAR PROGRAMME: 1. Introduction: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality 2. The Great Reforms 3. Eternal Russia: Rural life 4. New Russia: Urban life 5. Revolutionary Movements: Populism, Marxism, Terrorism 6. The 1905 Revolution: Origins and Course 7. The Constitutional Experiment 8. The Silver Age: Society and Culture 9. War and the Collapse of Tsarism 10. The Bolshevik seizure of power 1917-1921 11. Course summary and exam preparation

Assessment Information

Written Exam 50%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the September Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course