Syllabus The history of the Soviet Union - 39378 Last update 27-10-2015 HU Credits: 2 Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor) Responsible Department: history Academic year: 0 Semester: 1st Semester Teaching Languages: Hebrew Campus: Mt. Scopus Course/Module Coordinator: Yitzhak Brudny Coordinator Email: yitzhak.brudny@mail.huji.ac.il Coordinator Office Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 17:15-18:00 Teaching Staff: Dr. Yitzhak Brudny page 1 / 5
Course/Module description: In this course, we will introduce the main political, social, and economic processes that took place in the USSR throughout its 73-year history. The course will focus on three main questions: 1) What were the causes and consequences of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. 2) What was the nature of the Soviet regime, and to what extent it evolved during its history. 3) To what extent the collapse of the USSR was inevitable consequence of the political, social, and economic processes that took place since Stalin's death (1953). Course/Module aims: Enriching students' knowledge of Soviet history. Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: At the end of the course the students will be familiar with the main debates regarding USSR history. Attendance requirements(%): 100% Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Frontal lecture Course/Module Content: 1. Russian empire on the eve of revolution. 2. From February to October 1917 revolution. 3. Civil War and War Communism 1918-1921 4. NEP, 1921-1928. 5. The Collectivization, Industrialization, Cultural Revolution, and "the Great Retreat", 1929-1936. 6. "The Great Terror", 1937-1938. 7. From WW2 to the Cold War, 1939-1953. page 2 / 5
8. The nature of Stalinism 9. Khrushchev and the reform communism, 1953-1964. 10. Politics and society, from Brezhnev to Chernenko, 1964-1985. 11. Gorbachev and the politics of Perestroika, 1985-1991. 12. The causes of the collapse of the USSR. Required Reading: 1. Russian empire on the eve of revolution. Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment, ch. 1 Alec Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, Chapter 1. 2. From February to October 1917 revolution. )S. A. Smith, The Russian Revolution, ch. 1(. Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, ch. 2. 3. Civil War and War Communism 1918-1921 )S. A. Smith, The Russian Revolution, ch. 2-3(. Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, ch. 3. 4. NEP, 1921-1928. )S. A. Smith, The Russian Revolution, ch. 4-5(. Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, ch. 4-5. 5. The Collectivization, Industrialization, Cultural Revolution, and "the Great Retreat", 1929-1936. Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, ch. 5. )Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin(, ch. 1. Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, ch. 6. Moshe Lewin, "State, Society, and Ideology in the First Five-Year Plan," in Sheila Fitzpatrick, ed. Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1928-1931, pp. 41-77. page 3 / 5
6. "The Great Terror", 1937-1938. Oleg Khlevnyuk, Master of the House: Stalin and His Inner Circle, ch. 4-5. J. Arch Getty, Gabor T. Rittersporn, and Viktor N. Zemskov, "Victims of the Soviet Penal System in the Pre-War Years: A First Approach on the Basis of Archival Evidence," American Historical Review, vol. 98, no. 4 (October 1993): 1017-1049. 7. From WW2 to the Cold War, 1939-1953. Hiroaki Kuromiya, Stalin, ch. 6-7. Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment, ch. 16. Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, The Soviet Union, in David Raynolds, ed., The Origins of the Cold War, pp. 53-77. 8. The nature of Stalinism Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy, 2d ed., ch. 2. Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, ch. 6. Stephen F. Cohen, "Bolshevism and Stalinism," in Rethinking the Soviet Experience, ch. 2. 9. Khrushchev and the reform communism, 1953-1964. )Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, ch. 13-14(. Nove, An Economic History of the USSR, ch. 12. 10. Politics and society, from Brezhnev to Chernenko, 1964-1985. )Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, ch. 20(. Peter Houslohner, Politics before Gorbachev, in Alexander Dallin and Gail Lapidus, eds., The Soviet System: From Crisis to Collapse, pp. 37-63. Philip Hanson, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy, ch. 5. 11. Gorbachev and the politics of Perestroika, 1985-1991. )Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, ch. 24-25, 27(. Hanson, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy, ch. 8-9. page 4 / 5
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) 12. The causes of the collapse of the USSR. Z [Martin Malia], To the Stalin Mausoleum," in The Soviet System: From Crisis to Collapse, pp. 649-673. Alexander Dallin, Causes of the Collapse of the USSR, in The Soviet System: From Crisis to Collapse, pp. 673-695. Discussion Stephen F. Cohens Was the Soviet Union Reformable? Slavic Review, vol. 63, no. 3 (Fall 2004), pp. 459-552 (Stephen F. Cohen, Archie Brown, Mark Kremer, Karen Dawisha, Stephen E. Hanson, and Georgi Derluguian). Additional Reading Material: None Course/Module evaluation: End of year written/oral examination 100 % Presentation 0 % Participation in Tutorials 0 % Project work 0 % Assignments 0 % Reports 0 % Research project 0 % Quizzes 0 % Other 0 % Additional information: See the course site in the Moodle. page 5 / 5