DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE UNIVERSITY

Kachahry Road, Lahore

COURSE HANDBOOK

1 Course Title History of Russia

2 Course Code His-2207
3 Credit Hours 03
4 Semester 3rd
5 Lecturer Dr Ayyaz Gull
6 Supporting Team Members X
7 Contact Hours (Theory) 3 hours per week
8 Contact Hours (Lab) Not Applicable
9 Office Hours Mondays, Tuesday, (8:00-9:30 AM)
Will be available on phone, MS Teams,
WhatsApp, and Zoom.
10 Course Objectives
The purpose of this module is to introduce students the History of Russia. It examines the
political, geo-political, socio-cultural, economic and intellectual aspects of the state and
society of Russia. The module would also enable students to develop their own
understanding about History of Russia based on factual and analytical knowledge.
Furthermore, this module would invite and enable students to develop insights based on
logic and cognition. It would also inculcate a sense of regional history in the students.

11 Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to: 
a. Learn, understand, and cognize theoretical and historical (evolutionary)
dimensions of Russia.
b. Co-relate various theoretical approaches to the study of modern Russia
c. Perceive the intellectual contributions and their logical solutions.
d. Have a sound understanding of the revolutionary Russia and Russia role in the
First World War and second World War
e. Co-relate all the stated issues and find its relevance in the field of History.
Enrich their knowledge of world affairs.
12 Course Contents

Geography and people, Kievan Russia and the Mongols, Muscovite Russia (1240-
1613), Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584), Romanovs (1613-1855), Tsarist Russia (1721-
1917),Russia and the Revolution in Europe, Revolutionary Russia and the First World
War, Bolshevik Revolution (1917), Leon Trostky (1918-1936), Communism (1921-
1953), Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924), The Soviet Union, The Rise of Joseph Stalin, Russia
and the Second World War , Russia and the Cold War, The Fall of Communism, Return
to Authoritarianism—Putin’s years.

13 Outline of Weekly Lectures

Week 1.
Geography and people
 Culture
 Society
 Religion

Kievan Russia and the Mongols

Muscovite Russia (1240-1613),

Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584)

Romanovs (1613-1855),

Reading List: Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO, 2009, 2nd ed.
Kort, Michael, A Brief History of Russia. New York, NY: Facts On File/Infobase
Publishing, 2008.
Perrie, Maureen, Russia, From Early Rus to 1689, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.

Week 2.

Tsarist Russia (1721-1917)

 Peter the Great (1721-1725)
 Expansion of Empire & Reforms
 Cathrine the Great (1762-1796)

Russia and the Revolution in Europe

 French Revolution
 The Revolution of 1830
 The Revolution of 1848
 Crimean War (1853-1856)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy Writings and their Impact:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  Crime and Punishment (1866)
 The Brothers Karamazov (1880)
Leo Tolstoy
  War and Peace (1869)
 The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894)

Reading List:

Paul Bushkovitch , Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671-1725 (New Studies in
European History)

Week 3.
Revolutionary Russia and the First World War
 Collapse of Russian Society
 Unrest, Reforms, and Revolution of 1905
Reading List: Christopher Reed, From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and Their
Revolution, 1917-1921, (p. 1-64)
Lenin, The Revolution of 1905
Week 4.

 Russia at War
 Tsar Nicholas II

Reading List: Christopher Reed, From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and Their
Revolution, 1917-1921, (p. 1-64)
Lenin, The Revolution of 1905

Bolshevik Revolution (1917)

 Causes, Main Events, Impact
 The Bolsheviks Seize Power
 The Peace of Brest-Litovsk
 Constructing A New Order
Reading List:
Lieven, Dominic, ed. Russia, Imperial Russia, 1689-1917, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.

Christopher Reed, From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and Their Revolution,
1917-1921, (p. 1-64)

Week 6
Leon Trostky (1918-1936)
 Idea of Revolution
 Intellectual Contribution
 Our Revolution (1906)
 The Permanent Revolution (1930)
 The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is It Going? (1937)
Reading List:

Leon Trostky, History of the Russian Revolution

John Marriman, A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present,
(p.1085-1120)

Week 7
Communism (1921-1953),
Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924)
  Intellectual Contributions
 Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917)
 Essential Works of Lenin (1966)
 Domestic Policy
 Foreign Policy
 Political and Economic Reforms

Reading List: Robert Service, Lenin: A Biogrphy

Week 8
The Soviet Union
Democratic Centralism
The New Economic Policy

Mid-Term Exams
Week 9-
The Rise of Joseph Stalin
 Five-Year Plans
 Soviet Culture
 Workers Resistance under Stalin

Reading List:
Robert Service, Stalin: A Biography,

Week 10-
Russia and the Second World War

Reading List: Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO, 2009, 2nd ed.

Week 11-
 The Gorbachev Era
 The Collapse of Berlin Wall

Reading List:
Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2009,
2nd ed.

Week 12-
 The Velvet Revolution

Reading List: Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO, 2009, 2nd ed.

Week-13
  The Collapse of Soviet Union
Reading List: Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California:
ABC-CLIO, 2009, 2nd ed.

Week-14
 Challenges in the Post-Communist World

Reading List:
Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2009,
2nd ed.

Week 15-
Return to Authoritarianism—Putin’s years.
Reading List:
Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2009,
2nd ed.

Week 16-
Return to Authoritarianism—Putin’s years.
Reading List:
Ziegler, Charles E., The History of Russia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2009,
2nd ed.

12 Assessment

The assessment of this module shall have following evaluation components:

Response Papers 20%

Mid Term Test 20%
Final Examination 60%

The minimum pass marks for each course shall be 50%. Students obtaining less than 50% marks
in any course shall be deemed to have failed in that course.
13 Assessment Schedule

Final Semester Exams (17th Week) (Course Review Essay due

on 26th Jan 2021)
Write 8000-word review of the course.
(Give references, focus on methodological, theoretical,
thematic and comparative aspects of the course).

14. Attendance Policy

 Attendance must be at least 80 percent to be eligible to appear in the final semester
exams.
 In live lectures, attendance will be marked by the teacher.
 For students with limited or no internet connectivity, attendance will be assignment
based. On weekly basis, such students will submit a 3000-word review of the readings to
be discussed in that week.