Russia: History of a Troubled State

• Week 1:  Origins: from Kievan Rus to Peter the Great
  We’ll trace Russia’s origins to Kyiv’s adoption of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium, Kyiv’s destruction by the Mongols, the development of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy into the empire of Russia and Peter the Great’s reforms to modernize Russia.
• Week 2: Catherine the Great and her successors
  Catherine’s reign is known for Russia’s acquisition of much of Poland and the area around the Black Sea, including Crimea, giving Russia access to the Mediterranean. Russia gained even more of Poland at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 but brutally repressed Polish culture.
• Week 3: Russia and the Balkans: Pandora’s box (1821–1886)
  In the 1800s, the Balkans became a battleground of competing adversaries—Austria, Russia, Turkey and the fiercely nationalistic independent Balkan states. Russia lost the Crimean War but spearheaded the independence of Bulgaria. At home, Russia finally emancipated the serfs.
• Week 4: Expanding into Asia and the demise of tsarist Russia
  Expanding eastwards, Russia acquired Siberia, Alaska, territory in northeastern China and the plains of Central Asia. However, Russia’s defeats by Japan (1905) and Germany (1918), and revolutions in 1905 and 1917, led to the demise of the tsarist regime and civil war.
• Week 5: Troubled times—war and peace in Russia (1919–1945)
  Defeating Nazi Germany in 1945, Russia regained territories lost after the First World War and now had full control over eastern Europe. New borders for Poland and Germany, and massive ethnic expulsions, aligned eastern European national borders more with their ethnic populations. 
• Week 6: The Soviet Union—its formation, dissolution and aftermath (1922–2020s)
  Formed in 1922, the USSR was a highly centralized, repressive state run for decades by its brutal dictator, Joseph Stalin. Irredeemably dysfunctional, in 1991 its members voted to dissolve it. Russia’s revanchist head of state, Vladimir Putin, thinks this was a colossal mistake.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Recognize the major territorial acquisitions that made Russia into an empire
• Identify the key rulers of Russia and specify their significant accomplishments
• Determine the major causes of the failure of the tsarist and Soviet regimes
• Describe the major issues in post-Soviet Russia that may threaten peace

• Lectures
• Participation in discussions 
• Supplementary resources accessed through Canvas
• Reflective essay (applicable only to certificate students)

No textbook is required. We will provide all course materials online.