Fall Term 2010
Prof. Jonathan W. Daly
Office hours: W 12-1
HISTORY 237
UH 1024; 6-3141
Classroom: BH B6
Russian History
E-mail: daly@uic.edu
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Purposes of the course
*To become familiar with the story of Russia from earliest times to the present.
*To learn the basics of the historian’s craft by researching and writing a primary-source-based
paper on a topic of your choice in Russian history. This is a way to begin to learn how not to
take for necessarily true what others say or write about what has gone (or is going) on in the
world.
Course requirements
One map quiz (10 points), two fifty-minute examinations (20 points each; the first one in class,
the second one during exam week), a possible extra credit assignment (5 points), and a final tenpage research paper (50 points). Each exam will consist of two parts: five identification miniessays and one longer interpretative essay (see the study guides below). There will be no
comprehensive final exam. Total possible for the semester: 105 points. Ninety will be an “A”;
eighty, a “B”; seventy, a “C”; sixty, a “D.”
See this syllabus and other course materials at http://tigger.uic.edu/~daly/homepage/
Preparation for lecture
You should print out the lecture outlines for each lecture (Blackboard/Course
Documents/Course Outlines). This will help you to follow along in my lectures and take notes
more efficiently.
Exams
Please use a pen to write your in-class exams.
The final research paper
The instructor will supply students will ample support for their research papers, including topic
suggestions, lengthy bibliographies of primary (texts from the past) and secondary sources
(historical scholarship) available at UIC, and practical advice about how to proceed.
You may use encyclopedias (like Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica) as a way
to begin your research and to find leads toward sources, but you must not use them
or cite them as either primary or secondary sources.
Make-ups and missed assignments
Students may request exam and quiz make-ups or extensions for written assignments, but only
with documentary proof of emergency (doctor's note, airline ticket, etc.) in each case.
Online submission written work
All written assignments will be submitted via Safe Assignment on Blackboard.
Plagiarism
If you take words from ANY SOURCE WHATSOEVER (books, magazines, the Internet,
etc.), then YOU MUST ACKNOWLEDGE this source by using some form of citation.
Even when you use your own words but have taken an idea, an argument, or facts from
any source, you must use footnotes to refer to the specific page numbers of the source
where you found them. There is nothing wrong with admitting you got ideas and facts
from others; it shows you can research. If you fail to use proper citation of other people’s
words or ideas, however, your essay will be disqualified and you will receive ZERO
POINTS for it.
Possible extra credit assignment
Students may attend any Russian or Ukrainian cultural event (e.g. church service) for five extra
points. Staple a program, ticket, or other document to a brief description of the event and its
meaning for understanding the topics discussed in the course.
Students with Special Requirements
Students with disabilities who require accommodations for access and participation in this
course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at
312-413-2103 (voice) or 312-413-0123 (TTY).
BOOKS TO PURCHASE: John M. Thompson, Russia and the Soviet Union, 6th ed. (2009) and
Jonathan Daly and Leonid Trofimov, Russia in War and Revolution (2009), both available UIC
Bookstore.
Week 1: Introduction to Russian history. The East Slavs, Kievan Russia, and the Golden Horde.
READING: Thompson, pp. 1-45.
Week 2: From Early Muscovy to the Time of Troubles. READING: Thompson, pp. 47-77.
Week 3: The Time of Troubles and Muscovite Russia. Peter the Great: Russian Warrior.
READING: Thompson, pp. 77-115.
Week 4: The Petrine Revolution. Peters’ Successors and the Age of Catherine the Great.
READING: Thompson, pp. 115-44. Map Quiz in section on Friday.
Week 5: The Reign of Alexander I: Reform, War, Revolt. Nicholas I, “The Gendarme of
Europe.” READING: Thompson, pp. 144-68.
Week 6: Pre-emancipation Russian Society. The Great Reforms. READING: Thompson, pp.
169-75.
Week 7: Terrorism and repression. Politics and Economics, 1881-1905. READING: Thompson,
pp. 175-92.
Week 8: Society and Culture, 1881-1920. READING: Thompson, pp. 205-7.
MIDTERM EXAM IN CLASS on Wednesday.
Week 9: Constitutional Crisis, 1905-1906. Constitutional Russia, 1906-1914. READING: Daly
and Trofimov, pp. xiv-xli; Thompson, pp. 193-205.
Week 10: Russia in the World War. Revolution in Russia. READING: Thompson, pp. 208-13;
Daly and Trofimov, pp. 1-169.
Week 11: Red Apocalypse. The Bolsheviks’ “Retreat.” READING: Thompson, pp. 215-41;
Daly and Trofimov, pp. 170-343.
Week 12: Stalin’s “October.” “Stalinism as a Civilization.” READING: Thompson, pp. 243-58.
NO DISCUSSION ON FRIDAY; INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Week 13: The “Great Patriotic War.” Late Stalinism and the Cold War. READING: Thompson,
pp. 258-79. NO DISCUSSION ON FRIDAY; INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Week 14: The era of Khrushchev. Brezhnev: Stability and Stagnation. READING: Thompson,
pp. 279-306.
Week 15: The Fall of Communism. Post-Soviet Russia. READING: Thompson, chap. 307-90.
FINAL EXAM ON LAST FRIDAY OF CLASS. FINAL RESEARCH PAPER IS DUE BY
MIDNIGHT ON THE WEDNESDAY OF FINAL EXAM WEEK VIA SAFEASSIGNMENT.
MAP QUIZ STUDY GUIDE
"For as Geography without History seemeth a carcass
without motion, so History without Geography wandreth
as a vagrant without a certain habitation."
—John Smith, General History of Virginia
The Map Quiz is worth ten points or ten percent of your grade. You will be required to identify
twenty items on the map (here’s the map that will be used for the quiz, minus several place
names <http://tigger.uic.edu/~daly/homepage/teaching/currcours/hist237/mapRussia.jpg>).
Print a few copies out and study them carefully. In the map quiz, that map will be given to all of
you but with twenty items whited out; then you'll write in the names (projected on a screen)
directly on the map.
Be prepared to locate (a) RIVERS: Volga, Don, Dnieper, Ural, Ob, Enisei, and Lena; (b)
CITIES: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Helsinki, Nizhnyi-Novgorod, Arkhangel'sk,
Tsarskoe Selo, Astrakhan, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Tashkent, Smolensk,
Minsk, Brest-Litovsk, Riga, Vilno, Revel, Sevastopol, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Murmansk,
Odessa, and Kiev; (c) BODIES OF WATER: the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov,
the Baltic Sea,the Barents Sea, the Aral Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, and the Gulf
of Finland; (d) MOUNTAIN RANGES: the Ural and Caucasus Mountains; (e) REGION: the
Crimea.
The twenty items on the map quiz will consist of roughly three rivers, twelve cities, four seas,
and one mountain range or region.
FIRST EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Ten of these words or phrases will be chosen for the first examination as identifications; of
these you will discuss five (for a total of ten points). You are advised to prepare a brief essay on
each of the terms as you read through the textbook, which is your main source of information on
them. These mini-essays should have three parts: (A) context or background; (B) fact and detail
about the term itself; (C) why it was important; what its legacy was. You will find it helpful, in
studying for the exam, to group the terms by theme. Parts “A” and “C” are more important
than “B” for winning you a higher grade.
Rus’, conversion to Christianity, the veche, Mongols, Ivan IV, oprichnina, Time of Troubles,
False Dmitrii, zemskii sobor, Cossacks, German Suburb, Church Schism, Old Belief, Peter I,
streltsy, Great Embassy, Northern War, St. Petersburg, Holy Synod, Table of Ranks, Mikhail
Lomonosov, Catherine II, Legislative Commission, Charter to the Nobility, Potemkin,
Pugachev, Partitions of Poland, Alexander Radishchev, Napoleonic Wars, Holy Alliance,
Decembrist Uprising, Nicholas I, Third Section, Pushkin, Official Nationality, Peter Chaadaev,
Slavophiles, Westerners, Intelligentsia, Crimean war, Alexander II, Emancipation, judicial
reform, Zemstvos, Populism, People’s Will, Panslavism, russification, Security Law of 1881,
Pale of Settlement, “Okhrana,” Social Democrats, Nicholas II
Three of the following essay questions will appear on the first examination. You will answer
one (worth ten points). Your answer must be intelligible to someone who is as interested in
whether you have understood the general features of Russian historical development as in what
you know about a given subject.
How did the “Mongol Yoke” influence Russian development?
What was the nature of Muscovite Russia? Discuss politics, culture, society, and the economy.
Analyze the Petrine revolution. How did it change Russia?
Describe the intelligentsia and its impact on Russian history. Be sure to discuss specific
individuals, movements, and groups.
Write about the Great Reforms and their importance. Be specific.
Was late Imperial Russia culturally vibrant? Specify and discuss major achievements and
developments in the arts and in science, as well as important trends in religious life.
SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Socialist-Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks, Lenin, Mensheviks, Russo-Japanese War, Bloody
Sunday, October Manifesto, Octobrists, Kadets, St. Petersburg Soviet, Moscow Uprising, State
Duma, Stolypin, Rasputin, February (March) Revolution, Provisional Government, Petrograd
Soviet, Order No. 1, Kerensky, Kornilov, Bolshevik coup, Cheka, Constituent Assembly, BrestLitovsk, Red Terror, War Communism, Tambov rebellion, Comintern, Kronshtadt rebellion,
NEP, famine (1921-1922), Stalin, Collectivization, kulak, Five Year Plan, show trials, GULag,
Komsomol, Great Terror, Stalin cult, Socialist Realism, Battle of Stalingrad, Yalta Accords,
Berlin Blockade, Doctors’ Plot, Khrushchev, Virgin Lands campaign, Secret Speech, Hungarian
Uprising, Sputnik, Berlin Wall, Cuban missile crisis, Solzhenitsyn, Brezhnev, samizdat, Prague
Spring, detente, Sakharov, nomenklatura, “stagnation,” Solidarity, KAL 007, Gorbachev,
Chernobyl, glasnost, perestroika, Congress of Peoples’ Deputies, Yeltsin, reunification of
Germany
Was Russia a freer, more open society under Nicholas II than under his grandfather? Was the
government more or less effective?
Why did the Imperial Russian monarchy collapse? Why did a totalitarian dictatorship replace it?
What caused “the Great Terror,” and in what manner did it unfold? Was it an aberration
(dependent perhaps on Stalin’s personality) or a logical consequence of Communist ideology
and/or policies?
Discuss Khrushchev’s reforms and his administration in general. Why was he removed from
power?
Why was the Brezhnev era referred to as “the period of stagnation”? Be sure to discuss culture,
economics, and society.
How did the Soviet political system function? How and why did the Soviet Union collapse?
Include in your discussion Gorbachev and his reforms.
Sample mini-essay
The Decembrist Uprising: "(A) A rebellion that broke out on Senate Square in St. Petersburg in
December 1825 following the death of Alexander I. The leaders of the uprising were aristocratic
military officers who demanded major political and social reforms. The rebellion was crushed
by loyal troops and the leaders were severely punished. (B) The Decembrists had fought in the
Napoleonic Wars and had seen the liberties and economic progress enjoyed by western
Europeans. The contrast with the Russia to which they returned caused them to organize the
rebellion. The rebels were inspired by liberal and radical ideas then current in Europe and
America. (C) As a result of the uprising, Nicholas I became suspicious of the aristocracy and
created a specialized security police institution, the Third Section, but also listened to the
Decembrists' criticisms and sought to address them with some important reforms. The
Decembrists inspired subsequent generations of political dissidents."
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE LONG EXAM ESSAYS*
* (Karen Lurie et al., Cracking the GRE [New York: Random House, 2006])
Writing analytical essays requires a series of steps.
Step 1: Read the topic and summarize it. Then summarize the opposing position, think of points
to challenge the points in the actual topic, and then write it out to match the wording of the topic,
Step 2: Decide the general position you are going to take—remember that you need to take a
stand on the issue.
Step 3: Brainstorm. Come up with a bunch of supporting ideas or examples. It helps to write
these down on your scratch paper. Your supporting statements should help convince the reader that
your thesis is correct.
Step 4: Look over your supporting ideas and throw out the weakest ones. There should be three
to five left over.
Step 5: Write the essay, using one of the following templates.
Template 1. State both sides of the argument briefly before announcing what side you are on.
Paragraph: Support your argument
Paragraph: Further support
Paragraph: Further support
Paragraph: Conclusion
Template 2. State your position
Paragraph: Acknowledge the arguments in favor of the other side
Paragraph: Rebut each of those arguments
Paragraph: Conclusion
Template 3. State the position you will contradict, ie., “Many people believe that . . .”
Paragraph: Contradict that first position, i.e., “However, I believe that . . .”
Paragraph: Support your position
Paragraph: Further support
Paragraph: Conclusion
These templates should also give you some ideas about how to structure your research
paper.
NOTES ON RESEARCHING AND WRITING THE FINAL PAPER
Remember: the past is not the same as the present! People thought differently in the past,
had different values, literally saw the world differently. For example, when I was in elementary
school (and even in middle school) the adults I knew never thought kids my age could express a
valid opinion. Imagine what it was like in the nineteenth century when the motto was “children
are to be seen but not heard.” (Some things haven’t changed of course; parents loved their
children then too!)
This “otherness” of much of past experience is true for people in other cultures today. I have
met many well-educated Russian women who think nothing of saying, in the midst of a serious
conversation: “I can’t understand such things; I’m only a woman.”
Imagine, then, how differently–how strangely from our point of view–Russians in even the
nineteenth century must have viewed the world. For most of them, an absolutist monarch was
the only acceptable form of leader; political participation by citizens made no sense; certain
ethnic or religious groups deserved to be excluded from university, the civil service, and the
officer corps; and farmers shouldn’t own their land but should hold it in common with other
members of their commune (mir). There are countless such examples.
Your task as budding historians, is to delve into the Russian past and to seek to make it come
alive. To do this, try “to get inside” the mind of the main characters of the event or phenomenon
you are studying. Assume that in at least some ways they understood the world and their role(s)
in it differently from you.
Explicit warning
Since you have only one textbook to read for this course and since the final research paper
is worth fifty points (more than both exams combined), I expect you to devote several
hours each week to the research and writing of this project.
Purpose of the research paper
To become a minor expert on a very narrowly defined topic in Russian history. You can become
an expert only if you (a) can place your topic into its historical context; (b) read primary sources
shedding light upon it; (c) think carefully and critically about what actors of the time and later
scholars have written about it. Your paper must be focused very narrowly: not peasants in the
19th century, but peasant ideas about the Emancipation at their meeting in X village on X day in
1860.
Choosing your topic
You should pick a topic you are really interested in. It will be easier to find primary sources in
English for more recent topics (especially since World War II). Browse through the list at the
end of this syllabus. If you find a topic you like, read more about it in the textbook. If you are
still unsure, glance through the textbook’s table of contents and then skim portions of the book
that focus on issues that appeal to you. If you remain undecided, talk to me or the TA either
after class or in our office hours.
Timetable for the research paper
Week 4: Submit (via Safe-Assignment and an email message) a paragraph describing the topic
for your research paper; divide the project into three parts (e.g. the events of the Cuban Missile
Crisis; how the foreign press covered it; how the USSR press covered it).
Week 5: Submit (via Safe-Assignment and an email message) a bibliography for the research
paper.
Week 16 (final exam week): Final research paper is due by midnight on
Wednesday via Safe-Assignment.
Meeting the deadlines
The main goal is definitely to produce the best possible final paper. Anyone who skips the
minor deadlines but turns in a great final paper can still receive an "A."
Optional drafts
I’ll be happy to read drafts of sections of any paper or a completed paper anytime before week
15 and promise to provide helpful suggestions and criticism.
Planning your research
Once you have selected your topic, you’ll need to do some background work and then dive into
the primary sources. (A) Another name for background reading is research into secondary
sources, that is, what historians have written on the subject. The textbook, for example, is a
secondary source. Next you need to find some more specialized works, such as historical
monographs that focus either directly on your topic or on broader issues surrounding it. You’ll
need to find at least one monograph, preferably published by a university press, to include in
your initial bibliography. (B) The next step is to make sure there are sufficient primary sources
to base your research paper on. Primary sources are the lifeblood, the heart and soul of
history writing. You will find two large bibliographies of primary and secondary sources on
my homepage and on Blackboard, in addition to the extensive bibliography of secondary works
in the textbook.
What are primary sources?
These can be any text, image, sound-recording, oral testimony, or physical object from the past
that can help you to understand your topic “from the inside” or “from the time.” For your
project you’ll mostly rely on textual (written) sources (other sources may be appropriate but see
me first to discuss them). Textual sources may be of a wide variety, including diaries, memoirs,
autobiographies, and letters; newspapers, magazines, journals, and yearbooks; government
records; commercial documents; and documentation from diverse private organizations.
Almost always the materials will be from the period you are studying (the only major exception
are memoirs written by eyewitnesses who wrote later). It's also true that documents from the
past can sometimes be gathered into books later (primary source readers); those can count as
primary sources too. All that matters is that they be “voices from the past.”
What is the difference between a “topic” and a “thesis”?
1. Topics are broad issues (e.g. social institutions in 19th century Russia, the Great Reforms, the
revolutions of 1917, the Stalinist terror)
2. Nearly always you must narrow your topic (e.g. not the Great Reforms, but the abolition of
serfdom; not the abolition of serfdom, but the government’s role in the abolition; not the
government as a whole, but the tsar; not the tsar in general, but his refusal to heed gentry
demands for a better deal).
3. Guiding questions help you navigate through your issue (e.g. why emancipate? who pushed
for it? who benefitted from it? who lost by it? what other effects did it have? etc. etc.).
4. Then, after you have done some research, you start to formulate a thesis statement, which
posits an answer to such a question (e.g. in regard to the abolition of serfdom, one could argue:
The tsar decided it was best for the country. Or: The tsar was forced into it by a discontented
intelligentsia. Or: Most educated elites agreed it was necessary for progress in Russia).
Basically any one of those thesis statements can be defended. Each conveys part of the truth.
Anyway, a thesis is not supposed to be something everyone will agree on, but rather a position
you are taking, which you think it defensible based on the evidence you have read. In other
words, you can't formulate your thesis until you’re read a lot of evidence.
The first thing you should do, therefore, is to find a topic, narrow it (e.g. not the Russian
intelligentsia of the 19th century, but the Nihilists of the 1860s or even narrower still--female
Nihilist behavior and beliefs), and then find a good question to guide your research (e.g. Why
did some educated women in Russia in the 1870s become terrorists? Or how did Lenin manage
to convince most Russian peasants to follow his party in late 1917?)
Here are some links to fuller discussions of these matters:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/thesis.html
http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/thesis.htm
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
http://www.camlang.com/sp004.htm
Preparing your preliminary bibliography
This should list, in separate categories, two or three secondary sources (including the specific
page numbers from the text book) and several primary sources. It is not necessary to have read
these sources; you need simply to demonstrate that you can find sources on which to base your
paper. The bibliography must follow the format listed below. As you continue your research,
your bibliography will grow. In the end, it should probably include 4-5 secondary sources
(including a journal article or two) and a significant number of primary sources, at least 10-20.
English-Language Russian Newspapers and Journals
Anyone focusing on the Soviet Union after World War II can draw upon the treasure trove of
periodicals published in English by the Soviet government as part of its propaganda blitz to win
the world to communism. There are a few such sources available from before 1945, though they
have to be ordered from Urbana or through Interlibrary Loan. Unfortunately, there is no
comparable set of sources from before the communist era.
Translation services (American private and government agencies selected articles from Soviet
publications and translated them for the use of policy makers and scholars).
Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 1949-1991. UIC has 1949-1991. Call # D839 C872, 2d
floor south of Daley Library.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Title: Daily report. Soviet Union. From 1971-1991;
UIC 1978-. Index. UIC: 3d fl Microforms. PrEx 7.10: FBIS-SOV.
Periodicals
Soviet Russia pictorial. June 7, 1919-Oct. 1924. UIC has June 7-Dec. 27, 1919. Call #
DK266.A2 S7.
Soviet Russia Today. 1932-1985. [called New World Review, 1951-1985.] UIC has 1932-1985.
Call # DK266.A2 N46, 2d floor south of Daley Library.
Soviet life. Monthly. 1956- [from 1991: Russian Life]. UIC has 1960-2000. Call # DK1 .U672,
2d floor south of Daley Library.
New Times. 1945-1992. Weekly. OCLC: 4866398. UIC has 1966-1992. Call # D839.N483,
2d floor south of Daley Library.
Soviet Union. 1950 -1992. Monthly. OCLC: 1642588. UIC has 1969-1992. Call # DK266.A2
S574, 2d floor south of Daley Library; Urbana has 1950-1969.
Soviet Union in Construction. 1930-1940 and 1948-1950. Urbana call number 330.5 UNIO.
Soviet Literature. 1931-1990. Monthly. OCLC: 5879455. 1946-1990: UIC – Warehouse, see
staff, PG3213 .S68.
Moscow News. 1944 -, Semiweekly. OCLC: 12542592. 1956- UIUC (order from
Interlibrary Loan desk). Call Number: FILM 057.1 MOSN.
Order earlier issues from Interlibrary Loan desk in Main Library using OCLC number.
Western Periodicals
It is possible to access range of Western and world periodicals, a few of which are noted here:
LexisNexis
http://library.uic.edu/ Databases A-Z
Proquest and the Gale Historical Newspaper Collection:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/reference/resources/arts.shtml#Hist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_newspaper_archives#United_States (this site
provides links to historical newspapers from around the world going back nearly 200 years).
http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search (If you craft your search well, you can
find tons of newspaper articles).
Commentary: 1945-2009. Search articles by date. Five free articles; then prompts for
subscription to magazine. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/searcharchive.cfm
New York Times: Historical Archives (1851-2005). UIC Library, Alphabetical List of Electronic
Resources/Databases.
Time magazine: 1923-2009. Search articles by date. http://www.time.com/time/archive
Important online search engines
There are many places to look for scholarly articles and books on your topics. One of the best is
JSTOR
1). Click on UICCAT
2). Chose Electronic Journals
3). Search alphabetically till you find JSTOR.
4). You will then be asked for your NetID and password.
5). You can search by keyword, author, or title.
Also important is Electronic Journals and Newspapers:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/reference/resources/journals/
-Times of London
-New York Times
-Chicago Tribune
-The Economist
-Washington Post
-More...
See also the alphabetized master list of notable online resources, from Bartlett's Quotations to
the historical Wall Street Journal:
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/reference/resources/electronicresources.shtml
Technical details for writing the research paper
The research paper must be typed (double-spaced). Proper spelling and grammatical usage are
required. Make sure you use page numbers (with Arabic numerals).
Use past tense in almost all cases (exceptions: reporting on action/story/etc. within a film,
novel, or song; mentioning assertions by authors of scholarly monographs who are still alive;
recounting things that are still true).
If you need to cite my lecture, please use a footnote (or endnote) to reference it in this way:
Daly Lecture, date.
Provide a bibliography at the end of your paper, which will include all the works cited.
For more stylistic and technical details, see Jules R. Benjamin, Student Guide to History:
http//www.bedfordstmartins.com/history/benjamin/
For free help with writing: UIC Writing Center: http://www.uic.edu/depts/engl/writing/
Formatting of footnotes
Journal article: A. Leontyev, “The Fighting in Vietnam,” New Times (July 10, 1968), 15.
Book: Timothy W. Ryback, Rock around the bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe
and the Soviet Union (New York : Oxford University Press, 1990), 56-60.
Chapter in a book: Sue Bridger, “The Heirs of Pasha: the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Woman
Tractor Driver,” in Gender in Russian History and Culture, ed Linda Edmondson (New York:
Palgrave, 2001), 194-95.
Excerpt from the Current Digest: “Chernobyl’s Concerns: Six Months Later,” Pravda
Ukrainy (October 1, 1986), in Current Digest of the Soviet Press [hereafter: CDSP], vol. 38, no.
43, p. 16.
For all references after the first one, use a short form, e.g. Field, “Peasants and Propagandists,”
420; Ryback, Rock, 56; Bridger, “Heirs of Pasha,” 200; “Chernobyl’s Concerns.”
Formatting of bibliographies
Journal article: Leontyev, A. “The Fighting in Vietnam.” New Times. July 10, 1968.
Book: Ryback, Timothy W. Rock around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe
and the Soviet Union. New York : Oxford University Press, 1990.
Chapter in a book: Bridger, Sue. “The Heirs of Pasha: the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Woman
Tractor Driver.” In Gender in Russian History and Culture. Edited by Linda Edmondson. New
York: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. 194-211.
Excerpt from the Current Digest: “Chernobyl’s Concerns: Six Months Later.” Pravda
Ukrainy (October 1, 1986). In Current Digest of the Soviet Press. Vol. 38. No. 43.
YOU MUST USE THESE FOOTNOTE AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STYLES IN YOUR
FINAL PAPERS.
List of topics for final papers in History 237
Please be aware: the older the topic, the
harder it will be. Events are easier to
study than themes over time.
Kievan Rus’
Ivan the Dread
The Time of Troubles (ca. 1600)
The Romanov dynasty
The Church Schism
The Petrine revolution
Catherine’s Russia
Serfdom in Russia
The Enlightenment in Russia
The Napoleonic Wars
The Decembrist Revolt
The Emancipation of serfdom
The Great Reforms (1860s)
The intelligentsia
Populism/”Going to the People” (1870s)
Russian political terrorism (1878-1881)
The famine of 1891
Industrialization before 1917
The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878)
Russian diplomacy before 1917
Socialist movements (1898-1917)
The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
The “crisis of autocracy” (1905-1907)
The constitutional era (1906-1917)
The State Duma (1906-1917)
The labor movement before 1917
Higher education before 1917
The non-Russian nationalities
Russification (1890s-1917)
The Russian Orthodox Church before 1917
Art and culture before 1917
World War I
Nicholas II and the Imperial court
The struggle to replace Lenin
Collectivization
Stalinist Industrialization (1929-1941)
The Great Terror (1934-1938)
The “Great Patriotic War”
Ordinary life under Stalin
Politics in the USSR
Ordinary life after Stalin
Stalin’s death
The Cold War
“The Thaw” (under Khrushchev)
Women in the USSR
Art and culture after Stalin
Civil liberties and rights in the USSR
The environment in the USSR
Education in the USSR
Science in the USSR
Sports in the USSR
Popular culture in the USSR
Khrushchev’s reforms
The “black market”
Glasnost’
Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Soviet cinema
Multiculturalism in the USSR
“Dissidents” in the USSR
Religion and the church in the USSR
The Soviet economy
The “arms race”
Détente
Perestroika
The collapse of communism
The assigned reader, Russia in War and
Revolution, will make it possible to
undertake many topics in the period
1914-1922.
World War I and social unrest
Rasputin
The fall of the monarchy (February 1917)
The Provisional Government
Social revolution in 1917
The Bolshevik coup d’état
The Bolshevik dictatorship
The Russian Civil War
The New Economic Policy
Early Bolshevik policies
These specific events will also be easier
than other topics (thanks to available
English-language newspapers from the
USSR):
Stalin's Death, 1953
Berlin uprising, 1953
Warsaw Pact formed, 1955
Khrushchev visits Yugoslavia, 1955
Secret Speech, 1956
The Thaw (Khrushchev Period)
Hungarian resistance, 1956
Sputnik, 1957
Khrushchev visits USA, 19559
U2 incident, 1960
Building Berlin Wall, 1961
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Test Ban Treaty, 1963
Ouster of Khrushchev, 1964
Trial of Sinyavky and Daniel, 1966
Prague Spring, 1968
Brezhnev Doctrine, 1968
War with China, 1969
Nixon/Brezhnev meeting, 1972
Solzhenitsyn expelled, 1974
Watergate, 1974
Soiuz project, 1975
Helsinki Conference, 1975
New Soviet constitution, 1977
Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979
Sakharov exiled, 1980
1980 Olympics boycott
Solidarity trade-union, 1980
Martial law in Poland, 1981
Anticorruption drive, 1982
Korean airliner shot down, 1983
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 1986
Ethnic riots in Kazakhstan, 1986
Reagan visits Moscow, 1988
Fall of Berlin Wall, 1989
Collapse of Communism, 1991
Specific space mission
Specific sporting event
Feel free to think up any topics you like and
then run them by me.