HIST 2084 - Russia in War and Revolution 1894-1953

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2015

Between the 1890s and the 1950s, the people of Russia experienced three revolutions, two world wars, a brutal civil war, the collectivisation of the countryside, and the trauma of Stalin's 'Great Terror'. Millions of people died or were killed, but there were also spectacular achievements, such as the industrialisation of Russia in the 1930s and the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. This course explores the epic history of the largest country on earth from the accession of Nicholas II, the last tsar, in 1894, to the death of Stalin in 1953. Though the main focus is on political developments, the course also looks in some depth at the social, economic and cultural history of the period, as well as the military history of Russia's involvement in World War I and World War II. The course concludes with an examination of the role played by the USSR in the post-war division of Europe and the outbreak of the Cold War.

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Course Details

Course Code	HIST 2084
Course	Russia in War and Revolution 1894-1953
Coordinating Unit	Historical and Classical Studies
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	At least 12 units of level 1 undergraduate study
Assessment	Critical Reading Exercise (10%) 500 words, Minor Essay (20%) 1000 words, Major Essay (40%) 2000 words, 90-minute Exam (30%)

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Gareth Pritchard

Email: gareth.pritchard@adelaide.edu.au
Phone: 8313 4529
Office: Napier 306

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

The formal contact hours for this course consist of:

2 x one-hour lectures per week.

1 x one-hour tutorial per week.

The course is divided into five chronological modules that we go through in turn. These are:

1. The last years of tsarism, 1894-1917.
2. The Revolution, the Civil War and NEP, 1917-1928.
3. The making of Stalin's Russia, 1928-41.
4. The Great Patriotic War, 1941-45.
5. The last years of Stalin, 1945-1953.

Course Learning Outcomes

1	A broad knowledge of the history of Russia and the Soviet Union between 1894 and 1953.
2	A more detailed knowledge of one theme in modern Russian/Soviet history (e.g. art and culture, politics, military affairs).
3	A broad knowledge of the main trends in the historiography of modern Russian/Soviet history in this period, as well as an awareness of the work of the key historians in the field.
4	The ability to locate and assess relevant secondary and primary sources, and in particular to find information on the student's chosen theme.
5	The ability to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the interpretations put forward by historians of modern Russia/Soviet Union.
6	The ability to assess the historical and historiographical significance of relevant primary sources, with particular regard to issues of reliability and typicality.
7	An understanding of how the positions taken by historians on the key debates of modern Russian/Soviet history has been informed by the political and historical context within which they were writing (e.g. the impact of the collapse of Communism on the historiography of 1917).
8	The ability to arrive at independent conclusions regarding the key debates in modern Russian/Soviet history based on a critical examination of the evidence.
9	Students will be expected to demonstrate the ability effectively to communicate their ideas both orally and in writing.
10	In addition to the above content-specific objectives, a more general objective of this course is to give students practical training in how to frame a convincing and persuasive argument based on the logical articulation of ideas and the effective deployment of supporting evidence.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.	1, 2, 3
The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.	4, 5, 6
An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.	8, 10
Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication.	9
A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies.	4
A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community.	10
An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities.	7

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The course textbook is Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Recommended Resources

The literature on Russian and the USSR between 1894 and 1953 is vast. In order to give you the "big picture", there are many general texts that you can use. These include:

Christian, D., Imperial and Soviet Russia (1997) « 947.08 C555i

Crozier, B., The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (2000) 947.084 C954r

Dziewanowski, M.K., Russia in the Twentieth Century (1993) « 947.084 D999r

Fitzpatrick, S., The Russian Revolution (1994) « 947.0841 F559r

Hosking, G., A History of the Soviet Union (1992) « 947.084 H826h

Hosking, G., The First Socialist Society (1992) 947.084 H826f

Hughes, G. and Welfare, S., Red Empire (1990) « 947.084 H893r

Kenez, P., A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End (1999) « 947.084 K33h

Lee, S.J., Russia and the USSR, 1855-1991: Autocracy and Dictatorship (2006) « 947.08 L4811r

McCauley, M., The Soviet Union Since 1917 (1991) « 947.084 M119s

Service, R., A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Valdimir Putin (1997) « 947.084 S491h

Suny, R.G., The Soviet Experiment (1998) « 947 S958s

Thompson, J.M., A Vision Unfulfilled: Russia and the Soviet Union in the Twentieth Century (1996) « 947.083 T473v

Treadgold, D.W., Twentieth Century Russia (1990) « 947.084 T78t

Volkogonov, D., The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (1998) « 947.084 V921s

Online Learning

Myuni forms a very important part of this course.

Available on Myuni you will find:

Recordings of all the lectures.
A detailed course handbook giving further details on learning activities and assessment.
A detailed PDF bibliography that includes links to relevant on-line sources.
A booklet of primary sources that we shall use regularly in tutorials.
On-line quizzes designed to consolidate your knowledge and understanding.

In addition, students will interact with other students via Myuni in order to share information about their chosen theme (see information below on assigned historical characters).
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course focuses above all on (1) the use of primary documents, and (2) the study of the generation born in late imperial Russia which lived through the revolution, the civil war, the rise of Stalin, World War II, and the last years of Stalin to his death in 1953.

Lectures are highly interactive. In addition to discussing the material covered in the course textbook, the lectures will also be used to gather and collate information that students have found in their own research.

The purpose of tutorials is (i) to discuss in greater depth the debates and issues that are introduced in the lectures, and (ii) to explore a very wide range of primary sources, including memoirs, newspapers, posters, films, music, paintings etc.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

This course is designed to involve a total of 156 hours of study, including formal contact hours (3 hours per week), private study, the research and writing of assessments, and preparation for the examination.

Learning Activities Summary

Tutorials:

Preparation for tutorials will usually involve reading a short text (which will be supplied in advance) or looking at some documents from the the booklet of primary sources (which is available on Myuni). Every tutorial is different but they are usually structured around specific learning activities that involve small-group discussion and class discussion. The tutorials will also be used to revise the information that we covered in lectures and to address any questions that students might have.

Lectures:

At the beginning of the course students will be given a long list of historical individuals divided into a number of categories, including: academics, actors, artists, aviators, clergy, Communists, composers, dancers, film-makers, nuclear scientiests, revolutionaries, singers,
soldiers, weapon designers and writers. Students will be asked to track the career of their chosen character as we move through the course chronologically. In preparation for lectures, students will be asked to liaise (via Myuni) with other students who have chosen characters from the same category. In the lectures we will collate this information in order to build up a group biography of the category in question. Students will also be asked to read sections from the course textbook in advance of the lectures, and the lectures will be used to revise their understanding of the material they have read.

Private study:

Most of the time available to students for private study will be taken up with (i) general reading in preparation for lectures and tutorials, (ii) researching the biography of their assigned historical character; (iii) researching and writing their assessments.

Specific Course Requirements

N/A

Small Group Discovery Experience

Small-group discovery is a core component of this course. It takes place in two main formats.

Firstly, students will be divided into tutorial groups which will meet weekly. In their tutorial groups, students will focus on historical debates and primary sources.

Secondly, students will be divided into groups for the purposes of the lectures. (N.B. the tutorial groups and the lecture groups will not be the same.) In the lectures, students will be asked to sit with other students whose assigned character is from the same category, e.g. all the writers will sit together, all the revolutionaries will sit together, all the nuclear scientists will sit together etc. In addition, students in the same category will also interact via Myuni with eachother prior to lectures in order to share information and prepare for the lectures.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

The assessment regime for this course consists of four components:

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Learning Outcome
Critical reading exercise.	Formative and summative.	Second half of first term.	2, 5, 7, 9, 10
Character profile	Formative and summative.	First half of second term.	2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Research essay	Summative.	End of second term.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Short examination.	Summative.	End of course.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Specific deadlines for the submission of coursework will be given to students at the outset of the course.

Assessment Related Requirements

N/A

Assessment Detail

For the critical reading exercise, students will be given a long list of articles. Each student will have to choose one article and write a short text which (i) summarizes the argument contained in the article, and (ii) evaluates the article's strength and weaknesses as a piece of scholarship. Students will be encouraged to choose an article that is related in some way to the category of their chosen historical individual (artists, Communists, writers etc.). The critical reading exercise will be the first assignment and will come quite early in the course.

The character profile will be compiled by students as we move through the course chronologically and published on Myuni. It will be visible to other students. The character profile will chart the biography of the student's chosen historical individual and discuss how the individual's personal history relates to the big themes that we cover in the course. The character profile will also identify connections with the characters of other students, e.g. familial connections, friendships, rivalries, shared experiences etc.

Towards the end of the course, students will submit their main assessment, which is a research essay on the group biography of their chosen category. Essay titles will be distributed to students at the commencement of the course.

In the examination, the exam paper will reproduce some of the documents from the booklet of primary sources (which is available to students from the outset of the course and used frequently in tutorials). Students will to write document analyses on some of these documents. Their document analyses will have to consider the reliability of the primary source, its typicality, and its historical and analytical significance.

Submission

All assessed work (with the exception of the examination) will be submitted on-line via Myuni. The deadline for the submission of assessments is 23:59 on the day of submission. Due dates are given in the course handbook (available on Myuni).

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

In addition to SELTs, students will have the opportunity to provide feedback during the course itself. Each category of students (actors, artists, film-makers, revolutionaries, writers etc.) will elect a "deputy". On a regular basis there will be brief "council of deputies" in which the elected representatives meet with the course convenor (either at the end of lectures or electronically). The deputies will be encouraged to use this opportunity to give feedback on how the course is progressing, and to deal with any issues that have arisen.

Once SELTs have been submitted and the results analysed, the course convenor will write a response which is circulated to all students.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
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Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator