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The Russian Empire, 1689-1917

Module description

This module explores a period when Russia transformed from an isolated ‘barbaric’ country into one of Europe’s most powerful states. You will start by looking at the modernising reforms of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great in the 18th century. These transformed the politics, economy, society, and culture of the country, whilst enabling Russia to extend her empire further into Europe and Asia. You will then analyse the pressures that forced further reform under Alexander I and Alexander II in the 19th century, the problems of modernising an autocratic, multinational empire, and how failures contributed to the growth of the revolutionary movement. Finally, you will examine the first decades of the 20th century and Russia’s experiences of revolution in 1905, experiments with constitutional monarchy prior to 1914, the impact of the First World War, and the emergence of revolution in 1917. You will not require any prior knowledge of the period.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will need effective communication and analytical skills, oral and written, to complete many of your modules and in a job after you graduate.  This module aims to help you develop your skills in researching, interpreting, and analysing both primary and secondary material, and in reporting on your work.  It provides you with an opportunity to explore an area of history in more depth, and helps you to develop the depth of understanding you will require to study more specialised areas of history. It will also give you an opportunity to work in a team on a group presentation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Be aware of the various developments in the history of the Russian Empire from 1689 to 1917
• 2. Make a close evaluation of the key political, social, economic and cultural developments of the period
• 3. Evaluate the main themes in the subject and to collate information upon, and evaluate in greater detail, those aspects of the module discussed in seminar and especially those topics selected by students for their coursework

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner.
• 5. Analyse closely original sources and assess their reliability as historical evidence.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Study independently and as part of a group, including presentation of material for group discussion and presentation of complex arguments orally.
• 7. Select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is expected that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Russia and Empire
• The Legacy of Peter the Great
• Narratives of Serfdom
• Autocracy and Enlightenment: Catherine the Great
• Belief: Orthodoxy and its Rivals
• Russia’s First Revolutionaries: The Decembrists
• Two Heads, Same Heart? The Intelligentsia
• Transforming Rural Russia
• Modernising Russia: Urbanisation, Consumerism and Civil Society
• The Power of Ideas: Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism
• A Russian ‘Parliament’? The Duma, 1906-17

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

The re-assessment consists of a 3000-word written assignment, as in the original assessment, but replaces participation in the group presentation with an individual presentation equivalent to an individual’s contribution, to be recorded and submitted with all supporting materials as for the original assessment; failing this, students should submit a written script that could be delivered in such a presentation (750 words) along with all supporting materials as for the original assessment.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Dixon, S., The Modernisation of Russia 1676-1825 (Cambridge, 1999).
• Dixon, S., Catherine the Great (London, 2009).
• Dowler, W., Russia in 1913 (DeKalb, 2010).
  Gatrell, P., Russia’s First World War: A Social and Economic History (Harlow, 2005).
• Hartley, J., Alexander I (Harlow, 1994).
  Hartley, J., A Social History of the Russian Empire, 1650-1825 (Harlow, 1999).
• Hosking, G., Russia: People and Empire, 1552-1917 (London, 1997).
  Hughes, L., Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (New Haven, 1998).
  Lieven, D., Empire: The Russian Empire and its Rivals (London, 2000).
  Lieven, D. (ed.), Cambridge History of Russia. Volume II: Imperial Russia, 1689-1917 (Cambridge, 2006).
• Saunders, D., Russia in the Age of Reaction and Reform, 1801-1881 (Harlow, 1992).
  Thatcher, I. (ed.), Late Imperial Russia: Problems and Prospects (Manchester, 2005).
• Wirtschafter, E., Social Identity in Imperial Russia (DeKalb, 1997).
  Wirtschafter, E., Russia’s Age of Serfdom, 1649-1861 (Oxford, 2008).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2137
• http://academic.shu.edu/russianhistory/index.php/Table_of_Contents [various documents]
• http://www.alexanderpalace.org/ [Imperial memorabilia, including memoirs]
• http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/ [photographs]