Slavic Studies

This course analyzes key themes in Russian history, from the emergence of the Kievan Rus' in the ninth century to the Revolution of 1917. The course provides a survey of economic, political, social, religious, and intellectual history of the country during this period. The primary emphasis is given to political, social, and cultural changes and transformations. The course discusses the emergence of Kievan and Novgorodian states, and the rise of the Muscovite autocratic state and its transformation into the Russian Empire beginning with Peter the Great. The course explores themes including the introduction of Christianity, the Mongolian invasion, the emergence of Muscovy under Ivan III and the institutionalization of autocracy under Ivan the Terrible, the great church schism of the seventeenth century, the westernization of Russia under Peter I, the Enlightenment and the despotism of Catherine the Great, the Russian increased intrusion into European politics in the nineteenth century, the era of the great reforms of the 1860s, and the end of Russian Empire in 1917. The major political problems of the Russian state are analyzed based on the corpus of first and secondary texts, as well as on visual materials, such as films, photos and posters.