Glendale Community College
History 106:
HISTORY AND POLITICS OF RUSSIA
Instructor, Dr. Levon Marashlian
Hours: MWF, 8:15-9:30 TTh, 9:45-10:15
E-mail: levonm@glendale.edu
I. Course Description
This course is a study of the major political and economic developments that shaped the history of the Russian and Soviet peoples from the 9th Century to the 1990's. Special emphasis is on 19th century Russian political movements, the revolutions in the 20th century, Soviet nationalities policy, glasnost and perestroika, the C.I.S. and the ex-Soviet republics, and current relations between Russia and the United States.
II. Prerequisites
Recommended preparation: Eligibility for English 120 or ESL 151.
III. Course Objectives Include:
1. Understanding the geographic, economic, religious, ethnic, political and military factors that shaped major developments in the Russian Empire.
2. Understanding the ideological, political, and military dimensions of the Russian revolutions and revolutionary movements.
3. Understanding the formation and development of the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1985 and the continuities between Russian and Soviet foreign policies.
4. Understanding glasnost, perestroika, and ethnic and political forces that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and emergence of new republics and the C.I.S.
5. Understanding current U.S. policy toward Russia and Moscow’s policies toward Washington and the ex-Soviet republics.
IV. Course Materials
* Textbook: A History of Soviet Russia and Its ftermath, by M. K. Dziewanowski. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.
* Print media coverage of current developments in Russia and the other ex-Soviet republics, documentary films, and television news coverage will be used to supplement the textbook.
V. Attendance
Students are expected to attend all class meetings. If a student wishes to withdraw from the class, it is the student’s responsibility to notify the Office of Admissions and Records before the deadline. Failure to do so may lead to a failing grade.
VI. Examinations and Grades
There will be two one-hour exams and a two-and-a-half hour final exam. All exams are worth a maximum of 100 points. No grades can be dropped. The final grade will be an average of the three exam grades, according to the following percentage scale:
90 to 100 = A 80 to 89 = B 60 to 79 = C 50 to 59 = D 0 to 49 = F
VII. Examination Make-Up Policy
Make-up exams are allowed only if the instructor is convinced there was a good reason to miss the regularly scheduled exam.
VIII. Academic Dishonesty Policy
All students are expected to do their own work. All forms of cheating and plagiarism are absolutely forbidden. This is the official policy of Glendale Community College and the instructor of this course. Students found to be using unauthorized materials on exams, copying from other students’ exams, copying other written material without proper credit to the original author, or cheating in any other way, will have the particular assignment marked F and may receive a failing grade for the course.
IX. Assignments and Requirements
Students will be encouraged to follow news coverage of current event issues related to Russia and the former Soviet republics and they will be a required to use a balanced combination of four sources of information when writing their exams:
* Reading assignments in the textbook.
* Classroom lectures and discussions.
* Documentary films and other video material presented during lectures
* News coverage in the press and on television.
X. Course Outline
1. Introduction to the land & peoples of the former Soviet Union & to themes in Russian history.
2. Survey of Russian history from the emergence of the Russian people in the 9th century to the Decembrist Revolt of 1825.
3. 19th Century political movements & the 1905 Revolution.
4. World War I & the fall of the Romanov Empire.
5. The Russian Revolution of March, 1917; the Bolshevik Revolution of November, 1917.
6. The Russian Civil War, 1918-1921.
7. Lenin & the formation of the U.S.S.R., 1920-1924.
8. Trotsky, Stalin, industrialization/collectivization, Gulag, purges, & foreign policy, 1924-1930's.
9. World War II & The Great Patriotic War, 1939-1945.
10. Emergence of Soviet strategic power, the Cold War, & Soviet society, 1946-1953.
11. The rise & fall of Khrushchev, 1950's-1964.
12. Brezhnev, detente & dissidents, Andropov & Chernenko, contemporary Soviet society & the status of the non-Russian minority peoples of the Soviet Empire, & superpower relations in global perspective, 1960-1990.
13. Gorbachev and glasnost/perestroika, the coup in 1991, and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
14. Nagorno-Karabakh, Chechnya, and other national conflicts in Russia and the newly independent ex-Soviet republics.
15. The Yeltsin administration and developments in Russia and the other ex-Soviet republics in the 1990s.
16. U.S. policies toward Russia and other ex-Soviet republics in the 21st Century.