Semester 1
1,000 word Research Paper 15% {Learning Outcomes 1, 2]
2,000 word Essay 35% [Leaning Outcomes 1-3]

Semester 2
3,000 word Essay 50% [Leaning Outcomes 1-4]

This module has two core aims. First, it will give students a detailed knowledge and understanding of Soviet history in its broad sweep, from the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Second, it will empower students to ask and to answer the following question: what did it mean to be an individual in a modern collectivist society? Accordingly, we will spend semester one investigating successive periods in Soviet history, moving chronologically through the era. In semester two we will bring our newly acquired contextual knowledge to bear on a series of primary sources bequeathed to us from individuals who made their lives in the Soviet state, from female collective farmers and low-level bureaucrats to Gulag inmates and political dissidents. We will try to get to know these individuals and to understand their place in Soviet society.

1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of Soviet history
Knowledge and Understanding

2. Critically appraise and utilise the historiography of the Soviet Union
Analysis

3. Construct a compelling argument in response to one’s essay question
Enquiry
Problem Solving
Communication

4. Make effective use of relevant primary source material when constructing one’s argument Communication

The module incorporates three styles of learning strategies. The lectures offer introductions to the topics, themes, events and historical debate surrounding the topic. The seminars provide the opportunity for discussion and debate of specified areas covered using pre-supplied readings. Independent learning incorporates working through the prescribed readings, pre-lecture preparation and preparation for the assessed research essay.

Recommended Library books and journals in the University library, and use of online resources.
Data projection suitable slides and short video presentations (with audio) in both lecture and seminar rooms.
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available to support this module.

Lovell, S. (2010): The Shadow of War: Russia and the USSR, 1941 to the present
Service, R. (2009): The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century (4th edition)
Suny, R. G. (2010): The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States (2nd edition)
Weeks, T. R. (2011): Across the Revolutionary Divide: Russia and the USSR, 1861-1945
Westwood, J.N. (2002): Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History, 1812-2001 (5th edition)