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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : History

Undergraduate Course: Revolutionary Russia, 1861-1921 (HIST10337)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course will focus on a key period in Russian history: charting the tsarist regime's attempts to grapple with political reform, industrial revolution and social upheaval, the Russian revolution and the consolidation of Bolshevik power. This period is essential to understanding Russia's 'separate path' in Europe and its unique contributions to the modern world.
Course description The course charts the history of the Russian Empire and its successor states from 1861 to 1921. The chronological spread across the revolutionary divide will mean that the course will give students a solid understanding of the background to both Imperial and Soviet history. The subject reflects the research interests and expertise of the course organiser, who has written a book on the role of the security police in the coming of the Russian revolution, and is currently writing a biography of one of the leading Bolsheviks, Felix Dzerzhinsky, which covers almost exactly the same period as this course (he lived from 1877 to 1926).

SEMINAR PROGRAMME:
1. Introduction: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality
2. The Great Reforms
3. Eternal Russia: Rural life
4. New Russia: Urban life
5. Revolutionary Movements: Populism, Marxism, Terrorism
6. The 1905 Revolution: Origins and Course
7. The Constitutional Experiment
8. The Silver Age: Society and Culture
9. War and the Collapse of Tsarism
10. The Bolshevik seizure of power 1917-1921
11. Course summary and exam preparation
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admissions Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780).
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must have 3 History courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolments for this course are managed by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department. All enquiries to enrol must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  44
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 22, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 172 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 50 %, Coursework 50 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) There are two components to the final grade:
a) One 3,000 word essay: 50%
b) Final Exam: 50%
Feedback Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
  2. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
  3. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
  4. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
  5. demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
Reading List
Evtukhov, Catherine & Richard Stites, A History of Russia Since 1800 (2006).
Figes, O. A People's Tragedy. The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 (1996).
Freeze, G. L. Russia: A History (1997).
Hosking, G. Russia: People and Empire (1998).
Hosking, G. Russia and the Russians: From Earliest Times to 2001 (2002).
Pipes, Richard The Russian Revolution (1991).
Read, Christopher From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and their Revolution (NY, 1996).
Thatcher, Ian (ed.) Late Imperial Russia: Problems and Prospects (2005).
Westwood, J.N. Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History, 1812-1986 (1987) [later editions also available]
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsRev Russia
Contacts
Course organiserDr Iain Lauchlan
Tel: (0131 6)50 3769
Email: Iain.Lauchlan@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Annabel Stobie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: Annabel.Stobie@ed.ac.uk
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