Understanding Russia: A Cultural History

Introduction
	Professor Biography
	Course Scope
Lecture Guides
	Lecture 1—A Russian Past, the Putin  Future
		Background on Russia
		New Ideas
		Russia’s Beginnings
		Mongol Invasions
		The Rise of Moscow
		Russian Independence
	Lecture 2—Ivan the Terrible’s 500-Year Reign
		Background
		Fear and Awe
		Military Reform
		Absolute Authority
		Ivan IV’s Later Reign
		Ivan IV’s Return
		Other Wars
		Ivan IV’s Legacy
	Lecture 3—The Russian Orthodox Church
		Christianity’s Arrival
		Ivan IV
		Boris Godunov
		Resistance to Change
		Later Rulers
		Demands for Change
	Lecture 4—Peter the Great and a European Empire
		Background
		Peter’s Early Activities
		Peter Rules Alone
		Military Activities
		European Tinges
		Back to War
	Lecture 5—Russia’s  Northern Window on Europe
		Building St. Petersburg
		Housing and Art
		The Kunstkamera Museum
		Education
		After Peter
		The Elizabethan Age
	Lecture 6—Nobility, the Tsar, and the Peasant
		Background
		Marriage
		Ivan IV’s Measures
		The Time of Troubles
		The Romanov Dynasty
		Peter the Great
		Later Changes
		Political Upheaval
	Lecture 7—The Authentic Russia: Popular Culture
		A Culture Shift
		The French Influence
		Russian Stories
		Specific Themes
		Resilient Practices
	Lecture 8—Catherine the Great and the Enlightenment
		Early Life
		Peter III’s Rise and Fall
		Catherine and the Enlightenment
		Catherine and Law
		Geopolitical Aspirations
		Resistance
		Catherine’s Legacy
	Lecture 9—Alexander Pushkin’s Russia
		Background
		Pushkin’s Early Work
		Eugene Onegin
		The Bronze Horseman and the End of Pushkin
	Lecture 10—Alexander II, Nihilists, and Assassins
		Early Reign
		Alexander versus Serfdom
		After the Manifesto
		Uprisings
		Other Reforms
		Assassination Attempts and Revolution
		Land and Freedom
		The People’s Will
	Lecture 11—The Age of Realism in Russian Art
		Russian Revivals
		Realism
		A Change in Power
		Afanasev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy
		Visual Arts
		Music
	Lecture 12—Russian Fin de Siècle and the Silver Age
		Patrons
		Literature
		Theater
		Ballet
		Russian Artists
		Russian Writers
	Lecture 13—Empire across Two Continents
		Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible
		Mongol Territory
		Peter the Great
		Catherine the Great
		Alexander I
		Nationality and Control
		Russification
		Conclusion
	Lecture 14—The Rise and Fall of the Romanovs
		Background
		Early Advances
		After Alexei
		Reforms and Repression
		Nicholas II’s Reign
		Rasputin
		End of the Dynasty
		After Abdication
	Lecture 15—Russian Radicals, War, and Revolution
		The Breaking Point
		Russian Losses
		1917
		After Abdication
		The Bolsheviks
	Lecture 16—The October 1917 Revolution
		Lenin
		Bolshevik Organization
		Bolshevik Takeover
		Bolshevik Force
		Breaking from the Past
		Ruinous Peace
	Lecture 17—Lenin and the Soviet Cultural Invasion
		Civil War
		The Cheka
		Terror and Counterrevolution
		Propaganda
		Public Adoration
		The Cult of Lenin
	Lecture 18—The Roaring Twenties, Soviet Style
		Literacy and Education
		Soviet Women
		Religion
		The USSR
		Artistic Changes
		Film
	Lecture 19—The Tyrant Is a Movie Buff: Stalinism
		Industrial Efforts
		Famine
		Secret Police
		Celebrating Stalin
		Stalin versus Religion
		The Moscow Metro
		Socialist Realism
		Enemies Within
	Lecture 20—The Soviets’ Great Patriotic War
		Hitler’s Motivations
		Early in the War
		German and Soviet Advances
		Film
		Poetry and Radio
		War and Religion
		After the War
	Lecture 21—With Khrushchev, the Cultural Thaw
		After the War
		Anti-Semitism
		After Stalin
		Critical Reflection
		Soviet Politics
		Conclusion
	Lecture 22—Soviet Byt: Shared Kitchen, Stove, and Bath
		Urbanization
		Mass Housing
		Voices from the West
		The Space Race and Religion
		Soviet Education
		Queues and Blat
		Soviet Women
	Lecture 23—Intelligentsia, Dissidents, and Samizdat  
		Nicholas I
		The Bolsheviks
		Art under Khrushchev
		Privacy and Crackdowns
		The Visual Arts
		Andrei Sakharov
	Lecture 24—Soviet Chaos and Russian Revenge
		Background on Gorbachev and Brezhnev
		Aging Leaders
		Gorbachev’s Reform Attempts
		Foreign Policy and Yeltsin
		End of the USSR
		After the USSR
		Vladimir Putin
Supplementary Material
	Bibliography
	Image Credits