Academic Catalog

HIST 20: HISTORY OF RUSSIA & THE SOVIET UNION

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 4
Hours: 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area IV: Social & Behavioral Sciences
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Analyze the rise of Russia from a tribal society to a world power.
  • Identify and assess the most significant themes in Russian history, focusing on culture, politics, and religion.
  • Evaluate the role of the individual in the history of Russia.

Description

Russian political and social development from the 10th century to present. Emphasis on post-revolutionary Russia and problems of authoritarian modernization, independence, political and economic integration and industrialization.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Analyze the general development of Russian political and social culture from the Appanage period forward.
  2. Comprehend the formation of the autocratic bureaucracy and the creation of empire under the reign of the Romanovs.
  3. Evaluate the cultural and artistic contributions of Russia to the world.
  4. Assess the impact of Russian economic policies on Russia and the rest of the world before and after the revolution.
  5. Appreciate geographical expansion of the Russian state to 1917 and its subsequent multicultural diversification.
  6. Define communist modernization and its implication for the Soviet Union, the United States, and the world.
  7. Analyze the development of the communistic political system and its influence over subsequent communist nations.
  8. Evaluate the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and its implications for the United States and the world.
  9. Effectively communicate in writing and orally the challenges and lasting legacies of Russia and the Soviet Union.
  10. Describe the application of the scientific method in conducting research in areas relative to history.

Course Content

  1. Formation of the Russian state
    1. Unification
    2. The Rus and the Riuriks
    3. Kiev
    4. Vladimir and Iaroslav
  2. Appanage Russia
    1. Novgorod, Tver, and Moscow
    2. The Mongols
    3. Ivan III, Vasili III, and Ivan IV
    4. Boris Godunov and the Time of Troubles
  3. The rise of the Russian Empire
    1. Pre-Petrine
    2. Peter the Great
    3. Between Peter I and Catherine II
    4. Reforms and revolt in the 19th century
    5. Slavophiles and Pan-Slavism
  4. Revolution of 1905
    1. Russo-Japanese War
    2. The October Manifesto
    3. Lenin's Bolshevism versus the Mensheviks
  5. First World War
    1. Involvement
    2. February Revolution and the collapse of the monarchy
  6. October Revolution
    1. Civil War
    2. Foreign intervention
  7. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin
    1. Domestic programs
      1. The Red Army
      2. War communism
      3. NEP
    2. Foreign policy
  8. Stalin triumphant
    1. Five Year Plan
    2. Collectivization of agriculture
  9. The 1930s
    1. Purge trials
    2. Rise of fascism
  10. The Second World War
    1. Alliances and betrayals
    2. The Western Front
    3. The War in the East
    4. Victory
  11. Communist expansion
    1. Europe
    2. Asia
    3. Reactions: Containment, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War
  12. Stalin's successors
    1. The first years
    2. The Thaw and Khrushchev
    3. The Freeze and Brezhnev
  13. The end of the Cold War
    1. Precursors: Andropov and Chernenko
    2. Mikhail Gorbachev
    3. The Fall of the Wall and the end of the Soviet Union
  14. Yeltsin and Putin
    1. Economic changes
    2. A shift to the right
    3. Relations with the West and the world

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught as an online distance learning section, students and faculty need ongoing and continuous internet and email access.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Written examinations, including a final exam
Research paper(s)
Oral presentations and/or class participation
Text reviews and/or analysis

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Oral presentations
Electronic discussions/chat

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Riasanovsky, Nicholas, and Mark Steinberg. A History of Russia. 2018.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Reading:
    1. 40-50 pages of weekly reading from the assigned text
    2. Supplemental readings from journal articles, monographs, or other historically relevant sources
  2. Writing:
    1. Written papers and exams which allow students to demonstrate proficiency in the course SLOs

Discipline(s)

History