HIST185

Description

Section information text: In the twentieth century, the Russian Revolution shook the world; the reverberations of the cataclysm of 1917 continue to be felt in our own time. What were the roots of the political, cultural, social and economic crisis that brought the Russian monarchy to an end and swept the party known as the Bolsheviks into power? Who were the Bolsheviks? What did they want? How did popular conceptions of direct democracy evolve into a dictatorship and why did so many revolutionaries end up as victims of the system they created? How did the new state mobilize the conscience of so many people, including the members of different national and religious communities? Looking at the long history of 1917 from a variety of perspectives -- including that of the leaders, as well as those of ordinary men and women, soldiers, peasants, intellectuals and artists -- this course will examine the breathtaking events that radically transformed the fate of the world's largest country from the end of the tsarist empire to the creation of the Soviet Union. Course assignments will include Boris Pasternak's master-novel of the revolution, DR.ZHIVAGO(to be read over the course of the entire semester) as well as very short (1-5 pp.) weekly readings drawn from primary sources in translation. Fulfills the Historical Perspective.