Бакалавриат
2025/2026
История России
Статус:
Курс обязательный (Международная программа «Международные отношения и глобальные исследования»)
Кто читает:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Где читается:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Когда читается:
1-й курс, 1-4 модуль
Онлайн-часы:
44
Охват аудитории:
для своего кампуса
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
4
Контактные часы:
76
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The course “History of Russia” is designed for students enrolled in undergraduate programme at HSE University.
Understanding Russia today requires understanding the long arc of its past—its patterns of continuity, its recurring tensions, and its moments of dramatic transformation.
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of Russia’s political, social, cultural, and economic development from the origins of Rus’ to the contemporary Russian Federation. Students will examine how power was built and contested; how society adapted to war, reform, revolution, and modernization; how empire and multinational identity were constructed; and how Russia’s interactions with neighboring civilizations shaped both domestic evolution and global influence.
The course also highlights the role of ideology, religion, and state institutions in structuring political life, as well as the ways ordinary people navigated authority, community, and daily survival across different epochs. Particular attention is given to the formation of Russian statehood, imperial governance, Soviet transformations, and the challenges of post-Soviet development.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach—drawing on history, political science, cultural studies, and international relations—the course equips students with the tools to interpret Russia’s past and understand its place in the modern world.
Its primary aim is to foster a shared civic identity by developing historical consciousness and the ability to interpret diachronic and synchronic processes, events, and phenomena in Russia and the world in their dynamics and interconnections. The course is grounded in the principles of historicism and relies on the achievements of contemporary historical scholarship and related humanities.
The structure of the course combines linear-chronological and problem-oriented approaches, reflecting the major stages of Russian history:
● Early Rus (9th – early 12th century)
● Russian lands from the mid-12th to late 15th century
● The Muscovite State (16th–17th centuries)
● The Russian Empire
● The Soviet and postsoviet period
Learning Objectives
- 1. Develop analytical interpretation of historical processes Enable students to analyze major historical processes, events, and phenomena in Russia and the wider world—identifying patterns of continuity and change, tracing causal relationships, and situating developments within broader political, social, cultural, and economic contexts.
- 2. Introduce students to key social, economic, cultural, ethnic, and confessional dynamics Familiarize students with the central social, economic, cultural, ethnic, and religious developments across different historical periods, enabling them to interpret how these processes shaped societal change, collective identities, and interactions within and beyond Russia.
- 3. Develop foundational skills in historical research and source analysis Cultivate the ability to work critically with primary sources and scholarly literature, including: ● evaluating the reliability, perspective, and context of historical evidence; ● recognizing and comparing competing interpretations; ● conducting problem-oriented and contextual analysis. These skills directly support performance in written assignments, seminar participation, and project work. 4. Strengthen understanding of Russia in global historical context Encourage students to examine Russia’s historical interactions with neighboring societies, empires, and global actors, and to evaluate how internal dynamics influenced cultural, economic, and political developments within broader international frameworks. 5. Develop academic communication and argumentation skills Equip students to present historical arguments clearly and persuasively in oral and written form by demonstrating: ● coherent structuring of ideas, ● evidence-based reasoning, ● clear and precise use of academic language, ● adherence to scholarly standards and ethical principles.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Historical Thinking and Interpretation
- Source Analysis and Historiographical Skills
- Research and Investigation Skills
- Academic Communication
- Russia in Global and Comparative Perspective
- Analysis of Social, Economic, Cultural, and Confessional Processes
Course Contents
- Seminar 1. Methods, tools, and sources of an historian.
- Seminar №2. Eastern Europe during the migration Era. The origins of Slavs. The formation of early Russian statehood.
- Seminar №3. The Rule of Vladimir, the Christianization of the Russian Land, Its Causes and Consequences
- Seminar №4*. The reign of Yaroslav the Wise. The Russkaya Pravda. Social structure of ancient Rus.
- Seminar №5. The disintegration of the Rus and the formation of independent principalities. Political systems of Russian principalities: similarities and differences. The Rus and the nomads of Great Steppe.
- Seminar №6. The ‘Tatar-Mongol Yoke’: Russian Lands and the Mongol Empire.
- Seminar №7. Russia and the West in the 11-13th centuries.
- Seminar №8. The rise of Muscovy and the centralisation of Russian lands (1359-1462)
- Seminar №9. The rise of Muscovy and the centralisation of Russian lands (1462-1533)
- Seminar №10. The rule of Ivan IV. The creation of the modern absolutist state or the tyrannic devastation of Russia?
- Seminar №11. The Time of Troubles and the Romanov Dynasty
- Seminar №12. Russia in the 17th Century: Autocracy and Serfdom
- Seminar №13. Church in Medieval and Early Modern Russia
- Seminar №15. Peter I and his reforms
- Seminar №16. Catherine II and Her ‘Enlightened Absolutism’
- Seminar №17. Social and economic development of the Russian Empire in the 18th century.
- Seminar №18. Russia and European Geopolitics before and after Napoleonic wars
- Seminar №19. Russia during the reign of Alexander I and Nicholas I: state projects and the birth of public opinion
- Seminar № 20. Alexander II and the Great reforms.
- Seminar № 21. Russian economy after 1861 and the problem of modernisation.
- Seminar №22. 1905 Revolution: War, Autocracy, and Parliamentarianism
- Seminar №23. 1917 Revolution and Civil War
- Seminar №24. Soviet Economy in 1920-1930.
- Seminar № 25. USSR and European geopolitics during the Interbellum and WWII
- Seminar № 26. Khrushchev: Destalinization, Economics, Cold War
- Seminar №27. Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: Stagnation?
- Seminar № 28. ‘The Perestroika’ and the Fall of USSR
Assessment Elements
- Seminars Activity
- Group research plan and the list of sources and OPCVL analysis
- Essay
- Written Reflection
- Group research text and presentation
- Oral examination
Interim Assessment
- 2025/2026 2nd module0.25 * Essay + 0.25 * Group research plan and the list of sources and OPCVL analysis + 0.25 * Seminars Activity + 0.25 * Written Reflection
- 2025/2026 4th module0.25 * Group research plan and the list of sources and OPCVL analysis + 0.25 * Group research text and presentation + 0.1 * Oral examination + 0.25 * Seminars Activity + 0.15 * Written Reflection
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- A history of Russian law : from ancient times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649, Feldbrugge, F., 2018
- Feldbrugge, F. J. M., & E.M. Meijers Instituut. (2003). The Law’s Beginnings. Brill.
- Stalinism as a way of life : a narrative in documents, Siegelbaum, L. H., 2000
- What is history?, Carr, E. H., 2001
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Russia and the Golden Horde : the Mongol impact on medieval Russian history, Halperin, C. J., 1987