Professor Gavin R. G.

Hambly
HIST 4344.021: The Making of Russia
Summer (12-week) 2005
Monday, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Description of Course:

This lecture-course will explore the evolution of Russian society and institutions,
from the baptism of St. Vladimir in 988 to the death of Catherine II in 1796, including
cultural and artistic developments during those eight centuries.
In a survey-course not every topic, however significant, can be given equal
weight. Here, emphasis will be placed upon: the Mongol invasions and the impact of
“the Tatar Yoke”; “the gathering- in of the Russian lands” by Ivan III; the growth of
autocracy under Ivan IV; “The Time of Troubles” (Smutnoe Vremya), and the
seventeenth-century conflicts with Poland-Lithuania, the Khanate of the Crimea, the
Ottoman Empire, and the Cossacks; revolutionary change under Peter the Great; and the
expansion of the Russian Empire under the aegis of Catherine the Great, in particular, her
relations with the Ottoman Empire and Poland, and the patronage which she extended to
a brilliant generation of statesmen, soldiers, and writers.

This course fulfills the European history course-requirement OR the

requirement for a course prior to 1800, mandated for all Historical Studies majors.
THIS COURSE IS NOT OPEN TO FRESHMEN.

Required Reading:

Janet Martin, Medieval Russia, 980-1584.

Charles J. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde. The Mongol Impact on Medieval
Russian History.
*Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba (tr. Peter Constable).
Maureen Perrie, Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia.
Paul Dukes, The Making of Russian Absolutism, 1613-1801 (to p. 188).
Isabella de Madariaga, Catherine II. A Short History.

Recommended for further reading or for reference:

Robin Milner-Gulland and Nikolai Dejevesky, Cultural Atlas of Russia and the Soviet
Union (see university library, reference department).
Allen F. Chew, An Atlas of Russian History (see university library reference department).
James H. Billington, The Icon and the Axe, pp. 1-268.
William H. McNeill, Europe’s Steppe Frontier, 1500-1800.
Andrew Wilson, The Ukrainians (to p. 100).
S.S. Montefiore, Potemkin, Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner.
Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova.
Alexander Pushkin, The Captain’s Daughter; Dubrovsky; and The Negro of Peter the
Great.
*Please note that Gogol’s Taras Bulba is a work of fiction which brilliantly evokes the
world of the Cossacks of the Ukrainian steppes during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. The action possibly dates to the 1620s or 1630s. In this revised edition, Gogol,
typical of nineteenth-century nationalist fervour, equates Cossacks with Russians,
underscoring their hatred for Poles, Turks and Tatars; and the Orthodox Christian
loathing of Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews. Readers should anticipate distasteful
anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Writing Requirements :

There will be a mid-term examination, a paper and an end-of-term examination,

all of which weigh equally towards the final grade. Note that the mid-term examination
covers material down to 1584 (the death of Ivan the Terrible). The end-of-term
examinatio n covers the period from 1584 to 1796.

Calendar of Assignments:

Monday, May 16, 2005. First class day.

Monday, May 23, 2005. Second class day.

Monday, May 30, 2005. Memorial Day. No Class.

Monday, June 6, 2005. Third class day.

Monday, June 13, 2005. Fourth class day.

Monday, June 20, 2005. Mid-term examination. There will be a lecture in the
second half of the morning. Fifth class day.

Monday, June 27, 2005. Sixth class day.

Monday, July 4, 2005. Independence Day. No Class.

Monday, July 11, 2005. Seventh class day.

Monday, July 18, 2005. Eighth class day.

Monday, July 25, 2005. Ninth and last class day.

Monday, August 1, 2005 Final examination.

Course Guidelines:

1. The format of this course is a series of lectures. Their purpose is to provide a broad
framework of ideas and information relating to the subject- matter of the course. The
lectures are NOT a substitute for the REQUIRED READING. The lectures are not
intended to explicate the books.

2. Students are expected to read all books listed as REQUIRED READING. Books
should be read in the order in which they are listed. There are no fixed weekly
reading assignments. The paper will be based primarily on the REQUIRED
READING.

3. Attendance is obligatory, except in cases of illness or other emergencies. Telephone-

messages can be left at 972-883-2780. Be sure to state clearly your first and last
name and the name of the class in which you are enrolled. If a return call is desired,
please state your telephone number slowly and repeat it two times.

4. Papers will be evaluated both on the quality of their content and argument (striking a
proper balance between factual information and interpretation) and the style of the
presentation (organization of material, grammar, syntax, and spelling). Be sure to
proofread your final version (preferably twice over!).

5. Electronic sources of information cannot be substituted for the required reading. All
material used for the paper should be published print sources.

6. Papers must be typed. References should be in the form of footnotes or endnotes

(name of author; title; place of publication; publisher; date of publication; and
pagination). If you use additional material, be sure to append to your paper a
bibliography of the books which you have consulted.

7. Students are responsible for knowing the calendar dates on which the paper is due and
dates and times on which the examinations are scheduled.

8. Unless a student has provided the instructor with a satisfactory explanation in

advance, late papers will automatically be down-graded one letter-grade per class
meeting. Thus, a "B" paper handed in the class period after the date on which it was
due will automatically receive a grade of "C"; after two class periods, a “D”; and after
three class periods, an “F.”

9. There will be no extra-credit assignments for this course.

10. Final grades cannot be given over the telephone.

11. Please consult the current university catalogue with regard to the following: a) grades
of incomplete; b) matters of academic dishonesty, including cheating, plagiarism,
collusion, and falsifying academic records; (c) disabilities. Students with learning
disabilities may wish to consult with the instructor at the beginning of the semester
regarding taking examinations in the office of Disability Services (ext. 6104).
August 2003 Gavin R.G. Hambly

The Making of Russia

A Conspectus of Subject- matter

1. Ancient peoples of the steppes and forests. The beginnings of recorded history. The
Varangians in Novgorod and Kiev. Byzantine Christianity.

2. The Great Princes of Kiev and their neighbours. The growth of Novgorod’s trading
empire.

3. Chinghiz Khan’s Eurasian conquests. Batu Khan and the Mongol (Tatar) invasion of
Russia. The establishment of the golden Horde (Zolotaya Orda).

4. Russia under the Tatar Yoke. The rise of Muscovy. Dmitri Donskoi (1359-1389).

5. The rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithua nia. The Golden Horde disintegrates.

6. “The gathering- in of the Russian lands” under Ivan III ‘the Great’ (1462-1505). The
golden Horde fragments. The decline of Novgorod.

7. Ivan IV ‘the Terrible’ (1533-1584) and his significance for Russian history. The first
phase of the reign. The conquest of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556). Internal
reforms. “The Third Rome.” The Livonian War.

8. The oprichnina. The Stroganovs and the Khanate of Sibir. Yermak and the conquest of
Siberia.

MID-TERM EXAMINATION

9. Tsars Fedor (1584-1598) and Boris Godunov (1598-1605). Boyars, service-nobles and
serfs. The dynastic question.

10. The time of Troubles (Smutnoe Vremya).

11. The early Romanovs. Mikhail (1613-1645), Alexis (1645-1676) and Fedor II (1676-
1682). The Nikonian schism and the Old Believers (Raskolniki). The Cossacks and the
Ukraine.

12. Peter the Great (1682-1725). The reformer Tsar. The Great Northern War (1700-1721).
St. Petersburg.
 13. The problems of succession. Catherine I (1725-1727) and Anna (1730-1740). Elizabeth
(741-1762): Russia assumes Great Power status.

14. Catherine II ‘the Great’ (1762-1796). The Enlightenment comes to Russia. Internal
reform. Territorial aggrandizement: Poland, the Ottoman empire, Central Asia. Pugachev
and the problem of serfdom. Reaction, Radishchev (“Worse than Pugachev!”) and the
roots of intellectual alienation. The 18th century achievement.

END-OF-TERM EXAMINATION

In Russia, the process whereby the historian ceased to be a man of letters and became a
professional academic was much slower than in Western Europe, so that there long
flourished in Russia a tradition of intergeneric historical writing by major literary figures.
Students will therefore be expected to read some relevant works of fiction by, for
example, Pushkin or Gogol.