Academic Calendar 2015/2016 - Russian-Soviet History From 1917 to 1991

HIST 3717  Russian-Soviet History From 1917 to 1991

Prerequisites:

12 credits of History with at least 3 credits at the 2000-level; or any 54 credits completed.

Antirequisites:

HIST 2705

Hours:

Three hours of lecture per week for one term.

Credits:

3

Description:

This course examines the Russian experience that emerged out of the violence and chaos of the Great War and witnessed two revolutions and an extended civil war. It examines the Soviet experience from its early revolutionary stages, through to the consolidation of a Leninist and then Stalinist regime that dramatically transformed social, economic, political and cultural structure of the Russian empire in the 1930s and made the USSR an important state until its demise in 1991. The role of the USSR both as a great power and a global anti-colonial power is a major theme explored here, particularly as Soviet power emerged following its victory in 1945 and was used throughout the history of the Cold War. The role of social, economic and political factors played during the period when Khrushchev, the Brezhnev generation and the Gorbachev generation held power will be closely examined and an effort will be made to examine how current Russian challenges have been shaped by these past experiences.