HIST 162

Russian History, 1861 - Present

Don Raleigh

History 162 offers a broad-brush survey of Russian and Soviet political and social history since 1861, introducing students to the major themes and issues that have defined the country’s past and that are framing its post-Soviet present.  The course gives equal coverage to three chronological periods: 1861-1917; 1917-1953; and 1953-present.   

Required readings include a text, several novels, articles, and either an interpretive historical study or oral history.  Students write two 6-8-page take-home exams and a final in-class exam; take three in-class quizzes and a map quiz; and attend nine discussion sessions at which quizzes will be administered on the readings assigned for those days.