Imperial Russia

This course introduces students to the major themes, problems, and events of Russia’s imperial past focusing on the 300-year rule of the Romanov dynasty and extending to the dawn of the revolutionary era. Our major themes will include: the development of Russia’s absolutist state; the processes of secularization, westernization, and industrialization; the interplay between reform, rebellion, and revolution in enacting political change; the growth of Russia’s multi-ethnic, multi-confessional empire; and the role of the radical intelligentisa in Russian thought. We also will give special attention to the vexed question of Russian identity and examine how notions of Russia’s cultural heritage, mission, and position between Europe and Asia, shifted throughout the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.