HIS 233 - Soviet History and the Cold War: Interpreting Revolution

The Soviet Union, the longest lasting and most dramatic enactment of state socialism, drew scholarly attention from its sharpest free-market critics to its deepest communist admirers. This course introduces students to the practice of history writing and historical methodology through the bitter battles fought by Soviet and Western historians after WWII. For much of the twentieth century, historians interpreted the Russian Revolution, and the Soviet state it gave birth to, against the backdrop of the Cold War and its political and ideological currents. Was the 1917 Revolution a minority coup, and the Soviet Union a totalitarian empire which oversaw the murder and starvation of millions? Or, was the Revolution a triumphant overthrow of a crumbling Old Regime and the Soviet Union a great Socialist experiment? This course examines differing interpretations of major events in Soviet history to evaluate the empirical sources scholars use in their historical narratives. We will make sense of these debates, including terms like “totalitarian,” “communist,” “state capitalist,” “socialist,” and “imperialist.” Through our analysis of contested aspects of Soviet history, students will learn how to interpret primary sources and have the chance to develop their own research projects.

Satisfies History major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Russian Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies Historical Thought requirement.