NVCC COLLEGE-WIDE CONTENT SUMMARY
HIS 241-242 - HISTORY OF RUSSIA, THE SOVIET UNION, AND CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA (3 CR.) (3 CR.)

Course Description

Surveys the history of Russia from earliest times to the present.  Includes political, economic, multi-national, social, and cultural aspects of Russia, the Soviet Union, and contemporary Russia.   HIS 241 begins in the ancient period and continues through the reign of Nicholas II.  HIS 242 begins with the 1917 revolution and continues to the present. Lecture 3 hours a week.

General Course Purpose

Provides a course of special interest to students and citizens of all ages.

Course Prerequisites/Co-requisites

Preferable, but not mandatory, that students complete HIS 101-102 prior to enrollment. Ability to use English language correctly and effectively at the college-entry level is expected.  HIS 241 is not a prerequisite for HIS 242.

Course Objective

Upon successful completion of HIS 241, students will be able to:

• Understand the major events, personalities, periods, and institutions of Russian history through World War I
• Assess the impact that institutions have on individuals and culture – past, present, and future through World War I
• Explain the political, economic, multi-national, social, and cultural aspects of Russian history through World War I
• Understand and interpret complex materials; weigh evidence and decide if generalizations or conclusions based on the given data are warranted; evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into their knowledge

Upon successful completion of HIS 242, students will be able to:

• Understand the major events, personalities, periods, and institutions of Russian history from the 1917 revolution through the present
• Assess the impact that institutions have on individuals and culture – past, present, and future
• Explain the political, economic, multi-national, social, and cultural aspects of Russian history from the 1917 revolution through the present
• Understand and interpret complex materials; weigh evidence and decide if generalizations or conclusions based on the given data are warranted; evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into their knowledge base

Major Topics to be Covered – HIS 241

• Ancient Russia
• Kiev Russia
• Mongol Russia
• Appanage Russia
• Muscovite Russia
• Time of Troubles
• Early Romanovs
• Peter the Great
• Palace Revolutions
• Catherine the Great
• Alexander I
• Nicholas I
• Alexander II
• 19th century Russian literature
• Alexander III
• The Revolutionary Tradition including Karl Marx
• 15. Nicholas II, World War I, the collapse of the Romanov dynasty

Major Topics to be Covered – HIS 242

• 1917 Revolution
• V. Lenin
• J.  Stalin
• N. Khrushchev
• L. Brezhnev
• Y. Andropov
• K. Chernenko
• M. Gorbachev
• The Collapse of Communism 1991
• B. Yeltsin
• V. Putin and Russia’s Future