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Dr Paul Keenan SAR 2.13

This course is available to General Course ‘Spring Semester’ students.

The course provides an introduction to the history of Russia in all its major aspects from the reign of Catherine II to the accession of Nicholas I. The following topics are studied: popular revolt during the eighteenth century; the domestic and foreign policies of Catherine II; the impact of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution on Russia; Russia and the Napoleonic Wars; the failure of constitutional and social reform in the first quarter of the nineteenth century; the policies towards non-Russians within the empire; the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. The course is taught chronologically but several main themes are addressed throughout the period. These themes include: tsarist rule as an instrument of both reform and reaction; the relationship between the ruler and the major social groups; the significance of serfdom for Russia's economic, institutional and legal development; the 'missing' middle class; the nature and impact of Western ideas on Russia; the role of the Orthodox Church within the Russian state; the growth of a disaffected elite in Russia; the relationship between Russia and other European powers; the development of Russia as a 'great power'; the policies towards the non-Russians in the multi-ethnic empire; the growth of a Russian national consciousness.

Students will engage with lecture content through asynchronous recorded lectures and synchronous live Q&A sessions each week.

Students will be asked to work together to prepare in small groups in advance of each week’s class, focussing on primary sources, then discuss their findings and their relation to the week’s readings in the synchronous classes.

The recorded presentations will provide another resource for students in advance of the class and will help students to develop the requisite set of skills (which are similar but not the same as a regular presentation); it will also help to mitigate the challenges of presentations for students with, for example, social anxiety considerations.

There will be a reading week in the Lent term. 

Students will be required to write two essays, one of which will be done under examination conditions

A full reading list will be provided at the start of the course. Useful introductory works include: J Hartley, A Social History of the Russian Empire 1650-1825; S Dixon, The Modernization of Russia: 1682-1825; M Raeff, Understanding Imperial Russia: State and Society in the Old Regime; J Billington, The Icon and the Axe; An Interpretive History of Russian Culture; A Kahan, The Plow, the Hammer and the Knout: An Economic History of 18th Century Russia; P Dukes, The Making of Russian Absolutism, 1613-1801; E Kimerling-Wirtschafter, Russia's Age of Serfdom; D Saunders, Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform, 1801-1881.

Presentation (20%) and class participation (15%) in the LT.
Take-home assessment (65%) in the ST.