COURSE PROPOSAL FORM: THE DISPUTE QUESTIONS OF RUSSIAN POLITICAL HISTORY: MYTHS AND REALITIES to be taught: Fall 2005 Topical outline (syllabus) of the course 1. Introduction to the course. The important facts & figures you have to know about Russia. Studying the map of Russia. Goal settings & educational objectives of our course. Russia and some myths of Russian History. The problem of East & West in Russian history. The most Famous Russian historians: N. Karamzin, S. Soloviev, V. Kluchevskii. 2. Where did Russia come from? How did Russia become Christian Orthodox? East Slavs in the 7 Ц 8 cc. The origin of the Rus state (862). The лNorman theory╗. Kiev princes & Kiev principality in 9 Ц 12 cc. (Oleg, Igor, Olga, Svyatoslav, Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir Monomakh). The adoption of Christianity (988). The decline of Kiev & the origin of Vladimir Ц Suzdal, Galicia Ц Volhynia & Novgorod principalities; disparities between their political and social structures. 3. What impact on Russia had the Tartars Yoke? What is Alexander Nevskii famous for? The origin of the Jengiz Khan Empire & the Tartar Yoke. Who were Tartars and Mongols. The struggle of the central & southern Russia with the invaders. Novgorod against Swedes & Livonian knights. Alexander NevskyТs battles 1240 & 1242. Alexander Nevskii Ц the patron saint of St.-Petersburg. The expansion of Tver & Moscow. The Battle of Kulikovo (1380). Film (episodes): лAndrei Rubliov╗ 4. How come did Moscow become the capital of Russia? Successful expansionist policies of Ivan III (1462 - 1505) & Vasily III (1505 - 1533). The subjugation to Moscow of Yaroslavl, Rostov, Tver, Chernigov, Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan, Smolensk lands. The end of the Golden Horde & the Tatar Yoke (1480). Increasing personal power Ц IvanТs Law Code (1497), the change in the system of land tenure (land as a military fief) & introduction of the system of civil & military appointments. The emergence of the Russian Orthodox Church as an autocephalous organization. лMoscow Ц the Third Rome╗ theory. Discussion: L. Gumiliov theory of лpassionate people╗. 5. Who was Ivan лthe Scarring╗ (Terrible) (1547-1584)? The regency of Crand Princess Helen (1533 Ц 1538). The лboyar rule╗ (1538 Ц 1547). First лTsar of all Russia╗ (1547). The capture of Kazan & Astrakhan. Occupation of western Siberia (YermakТs cossacks). The domestic reforms: Land Assembly (Zemsky Sobor) (1549), The new law code 1550. The introduction of the St. George Day. The Livonian War. The Oprichnina (1565 Ц 1572): itТs reasons and sequences for Russia. Film (episodes): лIvan The Terrible╗. Discussion: Ivan the Terrible Ц psychological portrait. 6. What is the Time Of Troubles (1606 Ц 1613) and its result? Theodore I (1584 Ц 1598): a power vacuum. Boris Godunov (1598 Ц 1605). Suppressing boyars & binding peasants closer to their soil. Job, the first Russian patriarch (1589). The famines of 1601 Ц 1603. The end of the first Muscovite (Ryurikid) dynasty & the Time of Troubles (1606 - 1613). False Dmitry I. Vasily ShuyskyТs rule in Moscow. The rebel army under Ivan Bolotnikov (1606). False Dmitry II as the spearhead of Catholic penetration into Russia. Russia, loosing its independence to Poland. Kuzma Minin & Dmirty Pozharsky. The new Russian tsar Ц Michael Romanov (1613). 7. The 17 c. Ц why Russian лcrossway╗ ? The continued successful development of Moscovite Russia. Michael (1613 Ц 1645). Alexis (1645 Ц 1676). Theodore III (1676 Ц 1682). Ivan V (1682 Ц 1696). Eastern Ukraine Ц becomes a part of Russia (1654). The activity & the end of the democratic Land Assembly (Zemsky Sobor) institutions. The Boyar Duma and its political role. The law code 1649 & serfdom. The salt & copper revolts. The Cossack rebellion of Stenka Razin (1667 Ц 1671). The penetration to Siberia by Russian settlers. The church reform and Schism: Patriarch Nikon against the Old Believers. 8. Peter I: good, bad or Great? Peter the I Ц childhood and background. The Northern War (1700 Ц 1721). The creation of Russian army and fleet. The foundation of St.-Petersburg. The Battle of Poltava (1709). Victories on sea. Becoming an Emperor. The Jack of all trades. PeterТs economical & administration reforms. The Table of Ranks. Setting up Boards, Senate & Holy Sinod. The new calendar & alphabet. As a father: AlexisТs story. Film (episodes): лThe youth of Peter╗. Discussion: Peter the Great Ц a role of one man in history. 9. The Age of Empresses or the age of favorites? The law of succession to the throne (1722) & the palace revolutions throughout the 18th c.. Catherine I. Peter II. Ann. Ivan VI. Elizabeth. Peter III. Catherine II. The age of favorites. Wars & Russian expansion towards the Black Sea (1787 Ц 1791). Russian colonization of Asia & expeditions to Alaska. The E. Pugachov rebel (1773-1775). The epoch of the Enlightened Monarchy. G. Potemkin as a favorite statesman of Catherine the II. The story of A. Radishev. Classroom activities: Catherine II & her contemporaries (role play game). 10. Outdoor activity: visiting The Winter Palace. Russian History in The Hermitage. 11. Who were Paul I and Alexander I? The principle of male primogeniture in succession to the throne from Paul I. Russian victories on sea under F. Ushakov & in Alps under A. Suvorov. Paul is becoming unpopular among the nobility. Coup dТetat from 1801. Economical & industrial development of Russia in the beg. Of the 19th c.. The changes in social structure on the edge of the XIX c.: gentry, clergy, merchants, town-dwellers, peasantry. M. Speransky projects of reforms. The war with Napoleon (1805 Ц 1807) & (1812 Ц 1815). Internal administration of general Arakcheyev. Film (episodes): лPoor, Poor Paul╗ Discussion: Paul I Ц The Russian Hamlet. 12. Why is the Decembrists uprising so important (1825)? What was the rule of Nicolas I about? Decembrists: who were they? The apogee of the autocracy? Codification of Russian laws 1832. лOrthodoxy, autocracy & patriotism╗ principle. The Third section of His MajestyТs Personal Chancellery. Nicolas I Ц лGendarme in Europe╗. The Crimean War (1853 Ц 1856). Censorship & a strict systematic campaign of thought control. Russian intelligentsia. P. Chaadayev as a philosopher of Russian history. Film (episodes): лThe star of a captivating happiness╗ 13. When was Russian serfdom abolished and who was лthe Tsar Ц Liberator╗? The л19thc. thaw╗: 1861 Ц emancipation of the serfs. Democratizing Russian society. The legal reforms of 1864 Ц the new jury. The new system of local government. The military reforms of 1874. The failed rural invasion of 1870Тs. The PeopleТs Will & the assassination of Alexander II. Westernizes & Slavophiles. Russia on the new лcrossway╗. Film (episodes): лOblomov╗ (after A. Goncharov) Discussion: Russian intelligentsia as a historical & cultural phenomenon. 14. Russia лon the Spilt Blood╗: an outlook on the 20c. Alexander III: the reactionary rule & support of gentry. The introduction of the land captains (1889). Local government & educational anti-reforms. The national question. RussiaТs cultural, economical, industrial & educational level in 1900Тs, the urbanization process. RussiaТs industrial revolution. Russian music, literature, theatre, art & science. The Russian revolutionary groups? anarchists & the philosophy of nihilism. Film (episodes): лThe possessed╗ (after F. Dostoyevsky) 15. What had caused first 2 Russian revolutions? The first Marxist party in Russia (1898). The Russo - Japanese war (1904 - 1905). The УBloody SundayФ & the First Russian revolution (1905). The formation of an elective body: the State Duma as a лparliament in embryo╗. The agrarian reform of Peter Stolypin. World War I. Gregory Rasputin and Romanovs. The February Democratic revolution 1917. The abdication of the Tsar and the establishment of the Provisional Government. Film (episodes): лNicolas Romanov╗ 16. Test paper: Russian history before 1917. Review class 17. Why Lenin? Outdoor activity: visiting Smolny Ц the center of 1917 Russian Revolution The struggle for power between The Provisional Government & The Soviets. The political figures inside two dual power governmental bodies. The arrival of Lenin to Petrograd. A. Kerensky. L. KornilovТs failure in August 1917. October 25th 1917 Ц the new regime and new upcoming epoch. Film (episodes): лVladimir Lenin╗ Discussion: October Revolution how it was: hour by hour. 18. Why did the Whites lost the Civil war? The Constituent Assembly (31 January 1918). Moscow becomes the capital of RSFSR. L. Trotskii and The Red Army: building up the force. The peace treaty of Brest - Litovsk (3 March 1918). The struggle with the Left Socialists, the establishment of the one - party control in the Soviets. The murder of the Tsar (17 July 1918). The massive reprisals in Petrograd, The Red & White Terror. The Civil War of 1918 Ц 1921 and the famine of 1922. The Military Communism as an economical model. The New Economic Policy (NEP) (1921 - 1928): the tactical retreat. Film (episodes): лThe DogТs Heart╗ (after M. Bulgakov). Discussion: What were the perspectives of Russia before J. Stalin? 19. What was NEP? What were the costs of the collectivization & industrialization? The first phrase of militant Stalinism: the liquidation of лthe kulaks╗ as a class. An undeclared war between the peasantry & Stalin. The First Five Year Plan completed before time & the second great Soviet famine (1932). The industrialization. The White Sea canal. The dictatorТs cult. The early trials (1928). Reading Zoshenko, Ilf & Petrov Ц satirizing the Soviet society. Film (episodes): лJoseph Stalin╗ 20. How, when and why did Stalin become a full dictator? The creation of the USSR (1923). V. Mayakovsky. лThe new culture for the new man╗, the лthe big style╗. LeninТs death (1924). StalinТs vs. Trotsky; Stalin vs. Zinovyev & Kamenev. The arch Ц bureaucrat. The murder of Sergey Kirov (1934). The three great Moscow trials of 1936 Ц 1938. A savage campaign of terror against the armed forces (1937 Ц 1939). Film (episodes): лBurned by the Sun╗ (N. Mihalkov) 21. What was the WWII for USSR and Leningrad (June 22 1941 Ц May 9) 1945? Outdoor activity: visiting St.-Petersburg war memorial on the Victory Square The Soviet Ц German Pact of 23 August 1939. The Soviet Ц Finnish Winter War (1939). June 1941: The Blitzkrieg. The Defense of Kiev, Odessa, Leningrad. George Zhukov as the head of the West front (October 1941). The Battle of Moscow. Hard winter & spring 1941 Ц 1942. Teheran 1943, the alliance with the USA & Britain. The battle of Stalingrad. The battle of Kursk. The guerilla war. The roads of Europe. The battle of Berlin. The War with Japan. Yalta & Potsdam conferences. The nuclear threats. Science & culture, state & church during the wartime. 22. What do we mean by лThe Khrushov Thaw╗? The soviet society after the war. The Iron Curtain & the Cold War. Yugoslavia breaking free from Moscow (1948). The creation of NATO (1949). The Korean War (1950 Ц 1953). The Kremlin doctors trial. The death of the dictator (6 March 1953). Khrushov, Malenkov, Beria Ц the struggle for power. The Warsaw Pact (1955). The 20th Party Congress: the Secret Speech & лrehabilitations╗. Khrushov, helped by Zhukov wins against Stalinist hard-liners. KhrushovТs internal & international policy, foreign relations. The Caribbean crisis (1962). Film (episodes): лStalinТs Funerals╗; Discussion: your impressions. Discussion: first man in space (1961). 23. What are лthe years of Stagnation╗? The heyday of лnomenclature╗, a special caste of privileged officials. The rapid motion of arms. The trials on writers & further repressions. The Helsinki Agreement (1975) & dissidents movement, Andrey Sakharov. Brezhnev Doctrine: Czechoslovakia, August 1968; Afghanistan (1979 - 1989). Y. Andropov & K. Chernenko. Discussion, film episodes: A. Tarkovskii Ц the philosopher of time; listening to V. Visotskii. 24. How can one translate лPerestroika╗? What was it about? The лGlasnost╗ and the лPerestroyka╗. The Chernobyl Failure (1986). The crisis in society & old values. B. Yeltsin becomes the president of RSFSR (1991). August Putsch 1991. The decrease in the standard of living. The collapse of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe. Breaching the Berlin wall (1989). The end of the USSR. The end of the Cold War. The creation of CIS (1992). Privatization in Russia & the period of economical crisis. The new constitution of Russia (1993). President vs parliament (1993). B. Yeltsin in effort to overcome the crisis. Film (episodes): лMikhail Gorbachov╗, лThe Russian Revolution (1991)╗ 25. Test paper on Russian history after 1916. Review class 27. (Review) Outdoor activity: Visit to the Russian Painting Museum Discussion: Russian history reflected in Russian painting or Outdoor activity: visiting St.-Petersburg Artillery Museum 26. Where is Russia heading to? Outdoor activity: The Museum of the Political History of Russia Discussion: Russia and Reforms 28. FINAL EXAM Prof. Sergey Akopov, Ph. D. Political Science