HISTORY OF RUSSIA

The course is foreseen for students at the 2nd year of the BA Degree Programme "Languages, Civilisation and the Science of Language", curriculum "international politics" (type of educational activity: "base").
The course will offer the possibility of enriching with an historical component the study of the languages and cultures especially of the Slavic regions. The geographical focus on Eastern Europe constributes to the teaching programmes specifically conceived for BA students interested in deepening their knowledge about that area.

The expected learning results are the following:

- to familiarize with and to be able to understand the main historical events and issues of the history of Russia and the USSR in the period between the late 19th century and the 1960s, with some references to the main historical context of Eastern Europe;
- to be able to apply this knowledge to a critical understanding of the present time in terms of continuities/changes and public use of history
- to reinforce and develop the ability of critically reading the historical academic literature, with particular attention to the international scholarship about Russia/USSR and Eastern Europe in the 19th-20th century
- to refine your communication skills

A basic knowledge of modern and contemporary history.

The main aim of this course is to introduce the students to the contemporary history of Eastern Europe. More specifically, the course aims at examining critical junctures, personalities and topics which characterized the history of late-Tsarist Russia and later the USSR. The following issues will be discussed: the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century; the Russian revolution and the civil war; the NEP, Stalin and Stalinism; industrial policy and collectivization; the Comintern; the Second World War and the East European countries; Stalin´s death and the Khrushchev years.
These topics will be approached in a comparative perspective, with particular regard to Central-East and South-East Europe. We will consider the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire, the post-imperial nation-states, and the socialist countries emerged in this region after the Second world war.

Compulsory readings:
Paul Bushkovitch, Breve storia della Russia. Dalle origini a Putin, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 (chapters 12-22).
Andrea Graziosi, L’Unione sovietica, 1914-1991, Bologna, il Mulino, 2011 (chapters 2-5).

Reference handbooks:
Giovanna Cigliano, La Russia contemporanea. Un profilo storico, Roma, Carocci, 2013 (chapters 1-14).
Armando Pitassio, Storia dell’Europa Orientale, Perugia, Morlacchi Editore, 2011, pp. 113-155, 213-325.
Giulia Lami, Storia dell'Europa orientale. Da Napoleone alla fine della prima guerra mondiale, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2019 (particularly chapters 7-10, 12-16).

Furthermore, for those, who don´t attend classes:
Stefano Bottoni, Un altro Novecento. L’Europa orientale dal 1919 a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2011, chapters 3 and 4.
Stefano Petrungaro, Balcani. Una storia di violenza?, Roma, Carocci, 2012, chapters 2 and 5.

It is recommended to everyone, and particularly to students who do not attend classes, to consult the materials - ie. historical maps, visual sources, integrative texts, useful links etc. - published on the moodle platform (https://moodle.unive.it/ ).

The examination has three main goals:
1) to verifying the knowledge of the main historical facts and processes, as well as the most relevant personalities, with relation to the historical period under examination
2) to verify the analytical skills and the ability of the student to formulate critical reflections about the historiographical issues emerged during the lessons
3) to verify the knowledge of some elements of historical comparison in the framework of the East-European space during the time examined by the course.

The examination is written (duration: 1½ hours) and one further goal is to verify the written communicative skills of the student. Due to the COVID-19 emergency, the test could take place on-line, through the Moodle platform. Please, check the communications about this on the Moodle-section dedicated to this course.

The course is structured through lectures, with wide use of visual material.

Italian

written