Spring 2002
Michael C. Hickey Office: 130 OSH, x4161 Hours: M-W, 2:00-3:00; T-Th, 2:00-3:30 hickey@planetx.bloomu.edu or hickey@bloomu.edu
Please
note that there are mirrored sites for this on-line syllabus is located at http://facstaff.bloomu.edu/hickey/homepage%20index.htm
and http://planetx.bloomu.edu/~hickey/homepage%20index.htm. You might want to bookmark both pages, as one or the
other may be “down” when you need it!
Navigate this page: Course Description Assignments and Evaluation Paper One Paper Two Paper Three Required Texts Weekly Syllabus Hickey's Russian and Soviet Resource Page MAPS
Course Description: We will survey 1,000 years of Russian history, from the end of the 9th to the early 20th century. Much of our time and attention will go to periods that constitute traditional turning points in Russian history, such as the formation of Muscovy, the Petrine Reforms, the reign of Catherine II, the Great Reforms of the 1860s. We also will follow a number of themes as they develop across these ten centuries. We will, for instance, trace the consolidation of autocratic rule, the contradictions of autocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the growing opposition to autocracy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. We will discuss the consolidation of serfdom, tensions within rural society, and the problems faced by the peasantry in the decades after emancipation. We will chart the formation of the Russian working class, problems that hampered formation of an indigenous middle class, and the creation of urban-based consumer culture. And we will turn with some frequency to the problem of empire building and to the status of women, ethnic minorities, and religious groups in Russian society.
This is a reading seminar. We will read and discuss documents that deal with major themes in Russian history. But to understand these documents, and to have a clearer sense of Russian historiography, we will also read and discuss a wide array of secondary sources. I will provide you with discussion questions for almost all of our readings (posted on my web site). These will serve as a starting point for our seminar discussions.
Assignments and Evaluation
Your grade will be based upon participation in class discussion (20 percent) and three assigned papers (20 percent, 30 percent, and 30 percent). Participation=200 points possible; Paper 1=200 points possible; Paper 2=300 points possible; Paper 3=300 points possible
Class Participation will account for 20 percent of your grade. Complete all assigned readings on time, take notes that answer the discussion questions (on my web site), and be prepared to discuss them in class. Ask and answer questions, but also be a good listener. While I am concerned with the quality rather than the quantity of your contributions, I do expect you to join in the discussion as often as possible. Your grade will be based upon attendance (your grade will fall in direct proportion to your absences) and the quality of your contributions, including your contribution to a group presentation.
Group presentation: I may at points divide the class into groups of four or five students and assign each group to be discussion leaders for particular class sessions. Each group will then work together on "its" class session and prepare questions or other in-class assignments for that session’s readings. In these cases, group members should communicate their plans, questions, etc., with each other (and, if desired, with me) via e-mail in advance of their class sessions.
Papers: You will write three papers. Paper 1 (20 percent of your grade) will be an essay on an aspect of Russian history in the period 860-1689; Paper 2 (30 percent) will deal with the period 1689-1860; and the period 1860-1914 will be covered in Paper 3 (30 percent). You may pick from the topics listed below or chose your own topics (with my approval). Your essays must consider all relevant assigned readings, but I also expect you to do some additional research in either secondary or primary sources. Your papers must have a clear thesis (an answer to the question or a solution to the problem). They must utilize evidence that supports or proves the thesis. Each essay must be at least seven pages long, typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and no cover page. Use endnotes to document your use of sources. My grades will be based upon the paper's clarity, logic, and use of evidence.
Your final grade is based upon a 1,000 point scale. A=1,000-920; A-=919-900; B+=899-880; B=879-820; B-=819-800; C+=799-780; C=779-720; C-=719=700; D+=699-680; D=679-600; E=599-0
PAPER ONE. Due 15 February. You may pick from the topics listed below or chose your own topics (with my approval). Your essay must consider all relevant assigned readings, but I also encourage you to do additional research in either secondary or primary sources. Your paper must have a clear thesis (an answer to the question or a solution to the problem). It must utilize evidence that supports or proves the thesis. It must be at least seven pages long (not counting endnotes), typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and no cover page. Use endnotes to document your use of sources. My grades will be based upon the paper's clarity, logic, and use of evidence.
Choose one topic from the following list:
A) One great debate in Russian history is the nature of the relationship between pre-Petrine (pre-1689) Rus'/Muscovy and Europe. Was "Russia" before Peter the Great a European culture, an Asiatic culture, or "something else"? Using the sources we have read in common as well as other sources, take and defend a position in this debate.
B) Many historians argue that the history of Russia is the history of development towards a strong centralized autocratic state and that one can see this as a continual process from Kievan Rus' leading to the reign of Peter the Great. Other historians argue that this perspective is far too over-simplistic, and that there are several important discontinuities. Considering all of the sources we have read in common as well as other sources, take and defend a position in this debate.
C) One of the great problems of Russian history is explaining why serfdom was consolidated in Russia at the very point in time at which this institution was fading in Western Europe. Based upon all of the sources we have read in common as well as other sources, how do you explain the "late" enserfment of the Russian peasantry?
D) One of the most common assumptions in Russian history is that Russia followed a path of economic and social development similar to that of Europe until the two-century long imposition of the "Mongol Yoke" (beginning in the mid 13th century), which shattered the economy and society to such a degree that Russia as a result lagged centuries behind Europe. Based upon all of the sources we have read in common, as well as other sources, how would you access the impact of the Mongol Yoke?
PAPER TWO. Due 5 April. You may pick from the topics listed below or chose your own topics (with my approval). Your essay must consider all relevant assigned readings, but I also encourage you to do additional research in either secondary or primary sources. Your paper must have a clear thesis (an answer to the question or a solution to the problem). It must utilize evidence that supports or proves the thesis. It must be at least seven pages long (not counting endnotes), typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and no cover page. Use endnotes to document your use of sources. My grades will be based upon the paper's clarity, logic, and use of evidence.
Choose one topic from the following list:
A) There is debate among historians over the degree to which Peter's reforms actually transformed Russian society. Using all of the sources we have read in common, take a position on the question of whether the Petrine reforms resulted in the transformation of Russian society in the 18th century.
B) Many historians argue that Russian society in the 18th century developed a massive rift divide between the "world" of the nobility and that of the peasant majority. Considering all of the sources we have read in common, do you agree? Explain.
C) Many historians argue that attempts at reform in Russia during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century were paradoxical and could not succeed, since the tsarist regime tried to establish a system based upon "rule of law" without giving up its own claim to stand above the law. Instead, "attenuated" efforts at reform created a gulf between the state and the educated population. Based upon all of the sources we have read in common, do you agree? Explain.
D) Some historians have suggested that the expansion of the Russian Empire in the 18th and early 19th century required the state and the educated public to formulate clearer social definitions of who was and was not "Russian" by placing stricter limitations upon "others" (such as Jews), codifying laws so as to define various forms of "deviant" behavior, and even reformulating attitudes about gender and women's roles. Do the sources that we have read in common support this thesis? Explain.
PAPER THREE. Due at Final Exam Session. You may pick from the topics listed below or chose your own topics (with my approval). Your essay must consider all relevant assigned readings, but I also encourage you to do additional research in either secondary or primary sources. Your paper must have a clear thesis (an answer to the question or a solution to the problem). It must utilize evidence that supports or proves the thesis. It must be at least seven pages long (not counting endnotes), typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and no cover page. Use endnotes to document your use of sources. My grades will be based upon the paper's clarity, logic, and use of evidence.
Choose one topic from the following list:
A) One of the remarkable features of the history of Russian intellectual life is that by the mid-nineteenth century the Autocracy faced exceptionally broad opposition from Russia's educated "elites." Using our readings for the period 1825 to 1860s, and in particular the depiction of young educated Russians in Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, discuss the objections that educated Russians held towards the Autocracy circa the mid-1800s.
B) Historians argue over whether the Great Reforms were a success or a failure. Based upon all of the sources we have read in common for the period 1860-1905, take a side in this debate. Be sure to explain the aims of the reforms, the measures taken, and what about the subsequent five decades of Russian history leads you to your conclusion.
C) Intellectuals in late Imperial Russia debated the nature of the Russian "working class." Some contemporaries argued that Russia's factories were filled with peasants who showed little sign of evolving into a "proletariat" in the Western European sense (in their ways of life and of thinking, they were still peasants). Others argued that not only did Russia have a working class, but that this working class was increasingly politically mature and radical. Based upon the Kanatchikov memoir and other sources we have read in common, take and defend a position on this long-standing debate.
D) Historians argue over whether Late Imperial Russian society was becoming more stable or more fragmented in the decades before World War One. Some historians hold that the development of a market economy and the autocracy's resistance to reform were fragmenting society--setting the educated public against the state and the "lower classes" against both the propertied classes and the state. Other historians argue that the Great Reforms, the industrialization process, the spread of education and other public institutions, and then constitutional reforms following the 1905 Revolution actually made Russian society more cohesive and stable. Traditionally, historians' views on this debate have shaped their understanding of the 1917 Revolution. Based upon the sources we have read in common--and in particular on the depiction of Russian life that you find in Chekov's plays--take and defend a position in the debate on social stability.
Required Texts:
Anton Chekov, Five Plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vania, Three Sisters, and the Cherry Orchard (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
James Cracraft, ed., Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia (Lexington MA: Heath, 1994).
Daniel H. Kaiser and Gary Marker, Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860-1860s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
Semen Kanatchikov, A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia: The Autobiography of Semen Ivanovich Katanatchikov, translated and edited by R. Zelnik (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986).
Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Web-linked study questions and readings
In addition, you may find it useful to consult a good general Russian history textbook for background to our core readings. Two of the best are David Mackenzie and Michael Curran, A History of Russia (various editions under slightly modified titles), and Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia (various editions). There are several on-line overviews and chronologies or Russian history that you may find useful. See, for instance, the History pages at http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/index.html, or browse the many history-related links at Hickey's Russian and Soviet Resource Page. Remember that not all historical surveys are of equal quality or value!
Weekly Schedule
Note--Click on the links for the reading assignments to get the study questions. Also, I'll be posting suggested additional web-based readings at various points during the semester.
Week 1 (15, 17 January): Introduction, "Russia" before Rus'.
Cracraft, pp. 4-21; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 3-20.
Week 2 (22-24 January): Kievan Rus'
Ifyou want to read some of the Kievan-era law codes in their entirety, see http://web.grinnell.edu/individuals/kaiser/Trans.html.
Week 3 (29, 31 January): Post-Kievan Rus' and the "Mongol Yoke"
Cracraft, pp. 21-31; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 79-145
If you want to browse links to documents on the post-Kievan and Mongol era, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1old.html.
Week 4 (5-7 February): Foundations of the Muscovite State (I)
Cracraft, pp. 37-78; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 147-171
If you want to read longer excerpts of several documents in our week 4 and week 5 readings (and other important Muscovite sources), see http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dml0www/Russhist.HTML
Week 5 (12-14 February): Foundations of the Muscovite State (II)
Kaiser and Marker, pp. 172-222
Week 6 (19, 21 February): The Petrine "Revolution"
Cracraft, pp. 81-126; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 223-229, 334-336
Week 7 (26, 28 February): Impact of Petrine Reforms/From Peter to Catherine
Cracraft, pp. 127-165; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 230-237, 246-250, 268-289, 312-318, 339-350, 362-369
Week 8 (5-7 March): Catherine's Russia (I)
NOTE--No classes on 12, 14 March (Spring Break)
Week 9 (19, 21 March): Catherine's Russia (II)
Week 10 (26, 28 March): Alexander I and Nicholaen Russia
Begin reading Turgenev, Fathers and Sons.
Week 11 (2, 4 April): The Great Reforms
Discussion of Turgenev, Fathers and Sons.
Cracraft, pp. 313-359; Kaiser and Marker, pp. 428-445
Week 12 (9, 11 April): Counter Reforms and Russia as Empire
Week 13 (16, 18 April): Rural Society, 1861-1905
Cracraft, pp. 344-58, 491-493, 520-527
Begin Reading Kantchikov, A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia.
Week 14 (23, 25 April): Workers and Urban Society, 1880s-1905
Cracraft, pp. 442-454, 494-503
Discuss Kanatichikov, A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia.
Week 15 (30 April, 2 May): The 1905 Revolution and Its Aftermath
Look at some of the photos at http://cmp1.ucr.edu/exhibitions/russia/russia.html and at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/.
Discuss Anton Chekhov, Five Plays.
Maps
If you want to look at some good quality maps to help find locations, try
the map of Russia in 1723 at http://www.bell.lib.umn.edu/historical/hmap2.html (click on the map to enlarge any specific region)
the 1820 map of the Russian Empire at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/russian_empire_1820.jpg (a very large file)
the 1882 maps of the Russian Empire at http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~feefhs/maps/ruse/mapiruse.html, which are broken down into various regional maps.
There are "period" maps of Moscow in the 1500s and 1600s and of St. Petersburg in the 1700s at http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/russia/russia.html that you might find interesting.
See also the links to various maps sites in the MAPS section of my Russian and Soviet History Resource Page at http://facstaff.bloomu.edu/hickey/Russian%20and%20Soviet%20History%20Resource%20Page.htm#Maps
and the links to Maps on Marshal Poe's Russian History on the Web site at http://www.russianhistory.org/ResourcePages/Secondary/Secondary.Maps.html.
