The historical memoir, real or fictionalized, sets the protagonist in
a particular social and political setting, confronts him/her with
certain issues of the time, and presents the events and figures of the
period through the authors or central figures eyes. Your assignment
is to discuss one of these texts and show how the central figure
perceives and understands the historical setting, and what the story
may reveal about particular subjects raised in the historical
readings, documents, and lectures such as political and social
attitudes, cultural norms, westernization, economic conditions.
Papers should be 5-8 pages long and submitted by 5 PM, Monday, October
16, to the reception desk of the Harriman Institute, 12th floor,
International Affairs Building.
Essay Assignment- History W4343
The list of suggested memoirs includes:
Texts Required for Purchase:
James Cracraft, Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia
Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia
Thomas Riha, Readings in Russian Civilization, Volume II
Ronald Suny & Arthur Adams, The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Victory;
Causes and Processes
(Available at Labyrinth on 112th Street, or try Bibliofind.com and The Strand for used copies)
1. Muscovy and the Reforms of Peter the Great (September 5)
Riasanovsky, 3-10, 175-227
Riha, 233-37 (Perry)
Supplemental, Cracraft, 46-58
2. The Petrine Heritage (September 12)
Riasanovsky, 228-53.
Cracraft, 81-99, 110-125, 245-48
Supplemental, Wortman, Scenarios of Power, (Reserve) 42-80,
Cracraft, 127-46,
3. Catherine the Great (September 19)
Riasanovsky, 254-99
Cracraft, 166-79, 197-212, 234-43, 249-51
Riha, 256-79 (Solov'ev, Radishchev)
Supplemental, Cracraft, 179-97
4. Reform and Rebellion (September 26)
Riasanovsky, 300-22
Cracraft, 255-68
Riha, 280-302 (Karamzin, Decembrists)
5. The Apogee of Autocracy (October 3)
Riasanovsky, 323-47
Cracraft. 268-82, 292-312
Riha, 303-31 (Chaadaev, Belinsky, Herzen), Cracraft, 329-40 (Herzen)
Supplemental: Geroid T. Robinson, Rural Russia under the Old Regime,
34-63 (Reserve), Wortman, 247-332, 379-405.
6. The Emancipation and the Peasant Problem (October 10)
Riasanovsky, 368-74.
Cracraft, 313-16, 340-55
Gerschenkron, A., "Russia: Agrarian policies and industrialization,
1861-1917,:" Cambridge Economic History, VI. pt.2, 706-63, also in his
Continuity in History and Other Essays. (Reserve)
Supplemental, Wortman, Vol. 2, Chapter 2
7. The Political Movement and the Narodnichestvo (October 17)
Riasanovsky, 374-84
Cracraft, 316-29, 381-88
Riha, (Dobroliubov, Breshkovskaia, Uspenskii, Footman) 332-77
Supplemental, Phillip Pomper, The Russian Revolutionary Intelligentsia
(Reserve), 57-142
8.-The Crisis of the Autocracy and the Counterreforms (October 24)
Riasanovsky, 391-98
Cracraft, 360-69
Riha, (Aksakov, Pobedonostev), 378-83, 390-401
Supplemental: Cracraft, 370-81, Wortman, Vol. 2, Chapters, 6-7
Midterm Examination-October 26
9-The Russian Empire: Foreign Policy and the Nationalities (October, 31)
Riasanovsky, 384-90, 398-401
Cracraft, 398-438
Riha, (Danilevsky, Pipes), 383-89, 430-44
Supplemental: Hans Rogger, Russia in the Age of Modernization and
Revolution: 1881-1917,162-207 (Reserve)
10. Industrialization and Social Change (November 9-14)
Riasanovsky, 422-30
Riha, 409-29 (Workers, Witte)
Cracraft, 441-53, 469-89, .
Gerschenkron, Cambridge Economic History, VI. pt.2, 763-83, or Continuity in
History and Other Essays.
Supplemental, Cracraft, 454-68, 528-48
11.-Marxism, the Liberation Movement, and the Onset of the Revolution of 1905 (November 16-21)
Riasanovsky, 398-411
Cracraft, 595-602
Riha, 402-08 (Miliukov)
Tucker, A Lenin Anthology 12-31, 67-91, 99-101, 112-14, 120-34 (What is to be
Done? Two Tactics of Social Democracy)
Supplemental: Tucker, xxv-xliii, Cracraft, 552-78, Pomper, 143-90 (The
Revolutionary Era)
12.-The Ebb of Revolution and the Aftermath (November 28)
Riasanovsky, 411-21
Riha, 445-78, (Nicholas II, Government Declaration, Stolypin, Durnovo)
Cracraft, 619-33
Suny-Adams, 7-49
Gerschenkron, Cambridge Economic History, VI. pt.2, 783-800
Supplemental, Wortman, Volume 2, Chapters, 12, 13.
13.-1917 (December 5)
Riasanovsky, 453-61
Tucker, 295-300, 305-06, (April Theses, Enemies of the People)
Suny-Adams, 50-69, 166-95, 241-268, 376-431
Supplemental: Remaining sections in Suny-Adams.
September 5 Background
September 7 Muscovite State and Society in the 17th Century
September 12
[Alexei and cultural crisis, continued.]
Peter the Great
September 14
[Tax Reform, continued]
Peter the Great, Part Two:
The New State, the New Elite
Reports on the Ecclesiastical Regulations and the Table of Ranks
September 19
The Noble Monarchy
September 21
[The Peasants and Pugachev, continued]
Catherine the Great
Report on Radishchev's Journey from Petersburg to Moscow
Important Names, Dates, Russian Terms
For the alleviation of puzzlement and as informal aid to exam review...
CHRONOLOGY (Linked on a separate page - it's a long list!)
|
House of Rurik - Princes of Moscow |
|
|
1263-1303 |
Daniel (son of Alexander I of Vladimir; prince of Moscow, 1263 or later) |
|
1303-1325 |
Yurii (son) |
|
1325-1340 |
Ivan I, Kalita ("moneybags") (brother) |
|
1340-1353 |
Simeon the Proud (son) |
|
1353-1359 |
Ivan II, the Gentle (brother) |
|
Grand Princes of Moscow-Vladimir |
|
|
1359-1389 |
Dimitri Donskoi (son) |
|
1389-1425 |
Basil I (son) |
|
1425-1462 |
Basil II, the Blind (son) |
|
1462-1505 |
Ivan III, the Great (son) |
|
1471-1490 |
Ivan the Younger (son; co-regent) |
|
1505-1533 |
Basil III (brother; co-regent 1502) |
|
Tsars of Russia |
|
|
1533-1584 |
Ivan IV, the Terrible (son; crowned tsar 1547) |
|
1584-1598 |
Theodore I (son) |
|
House of Godunov |
|
|
1598-1605 |
Boris Godunov |
|
1605 |
Theodore II (son) |
|
1605-1606 |
Dimitri (pretended son of Ivan IV) |
|
House of Shuiskii |
|
|
1606-1610 |
Basil IV Shuiskii (deposed, died 1612; interregnum 1610-13) |
|
House of Romanov |
|
|
1613-1645 |
Michael Romanov |
|
1645-1676 |
Alexis (son) |
|
1676-1682 |
Theodore III (son) |
|
1682-1696 |
Ivan V (brother) |
|
1682-1725 |
Peter I, the Great (brother, emperor 1721) |
|
1725-1727 |
Catherine I (widow) |
|
1727-1730 |
Peter II (grandson of Peter I) |
|
1730-1740 |
Anne (daughter of Ivan V) |
|
1740-1741 |
Ivan VI (maternal grandson of Catherine, sister of Anne; deposed, died 1764) |
|
1741-1762 |
Elizabeth (daughter of Catherine I and Peter I) |
|
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
|
|
1762 |
Peter III (son of Anne, sister of Elizabeth, and Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp; deposed, died 1762) |
|
1762-1796 |
Catherine II, the Great (widow) |
|
1796-1801 |
Paul I (son) |
|
1801-1825 |
Alexander I (son) |
|
1825-1855 |
Nicholas I (brother) |
|
1855-1881 |
Alexander II (son) |
|
1881-1894 |
Alexander III (son) |
|
1894-1917 |
Nicholas II (son; deposed, died 1918; provisional government, then Soviet rule) |
from The Wordsworth Handbook of Kings & Queens,
1989.
See also Appendix I, p. 629, in
Riasanovsky for the same info in family-tree format.
Boris Morozov - tutor of Tsar Alexei and important boiar. His corrupt
practices made him extremely unpopular and were the cause of violent riots in
Moscow in 1648.
Patriarch Philaret - a.k.a. Fedor Nikitich Romanov, father of Michael
Romanov, first Romanov tsar. Compelled to take monastic vows by Boris Godunov,
he was released by the first False Dmitri and made metropolitan of Rostov in
1606. Arrested and sent to Poland in 1611. Returned to Moscow when his son
Michael was elected tsar and was enthroned at patriarch in 1619. From that time
on he ruled Russia jointly with Tsar Michael.
Patriarch Nikon - His reforms created a schism in the Orthodox Church
and alienated a section of the clergy and of laymen (the Old Believers). The
reforms included the standardization of the ritual and the introduction of a
new prayer book (1654). Nikon aroused powerful opposition and was condemned by
a church council in 1666-7, deposed and confined to a monastery. His reforms
remained in place, however.
Semyon Polotskii - One of tsar Alexei
Mikhailovich's tutors, and a monk, preacher, playwright and
poet. Known mainly for the metrical innovations of his verse, which
was taken from Polish models. He had studied in Poland and brought to
Russia the influence of Polish and Classical arts and literature.
Boris Golitsyn - Tutor of Peter the Great, also helped him come to
power and was in charge of the administration in lower Volga region. Alcoholic,
and rather despotic.
Basil (or Vasily) Golitsyn - Statesman in charge of
foreign affairs under the regent Sofiia (also her lover, and real
ruler during her regency). Assited in the reorganization of military
service and abolition of mestnichestvo.
Alexei Petrovich Romanov - Son of Peter the
Great, removed from the succession in favor of Peter's second
wife, Catherine, because Alexei "refused to serve the
state." Later, Peter was behind Alexei's murder.
Demidov - Urals manufacturer under Peter the
Great. Fabulously wealthy, and famous for his cruel treatment of
workers.
Ivan Mazepa - Ukrainian Hetman from 1687. Conspired with
the Polish and Swedish kings to overthrow Peter, and supported Charles
XII's invasion of Ukraine. Defeated at the battle of Poltava in
1709.
Feofan Prokopovich - Ukrainian theologian and
archibishop. Summoned to Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great in 1716
to assist in both ecclesiastical and secular reforms. See the
Ecclesiastical Regulations in Cracraft.
Alexander Menshikov - Close friend to Peter the
Great. Rose from obscure origins to become extremely wealthy statesman
and field marshal, and later ruled Russia during the reign of
Catherine I and the minority of Peter II. Eventually banished to
Siberia due to court intrigue.
Charles XII - Ruled Sweden 1697 to 1718, led the
Swedish Army during the Great Northern War with Russia, beginning with
a major Russian defeat at Narva in 1700, and ending with the Russian
victory at Poltava in 1709.
Sofiia Alekseevna - Regent of Russia from 1682 to
1689, during the minority of Peter and Ivan V. Daughter of Alexei
Mikhailovich and well educated by Semën Polotsk. Her lover, Vasily
Golitsyn, mostly ruled for her during her regency.
Anna Ioannovna (sometimes spelled Ivanovna) - Daughter of
Ivan V (Peter the Great's sickly co-tsar, and thus niece to
Peter). She married the duke of Courland in 1710, and he died soon
thereafter. She was elected empress by the Supreme Privy Council on
the condition that she accept a number of provisions ("points,"
punkty ) curtailing her powers. She accepted, but upon her arrival
in Moscow, where she found support from the guards regiments and the
lesser nobility (who were suspicious of the powerful old families
represented on the Supreme Privy Council), she violated the agreement
and took total power herself. She then proceeded to devote herself to
luxury while letter her German advisors run the state.
Dolgorukii family - Very old, very wealthy, very powerful
noble family. Prince Vasilily was on the Supreme Privy Council that
attempted to impose conditions on Anna Ioannovna, and a Princess
Dolgorukaia was engaged to marry Peter II, but he died of smallpox in
1729, forcing the "crisis" of 1730.
Vasily Tatishchev - Historian, administrator and
geographer. Advisor to Peter the great and supporter of Anna Ioannovna
during the 1730 crisis.
Ernst Johann Biron (Buhren) - German favorite of Anna
Ioannovna. Her lover from 1727, made a grand chamberlain and
count. Extremely unpopular owing to his vindictive and corrupt
character. Regent for three weeks after Anna's death, he was deposed
and banished to Siberia. Allowed to return under Peter III.
Count Bartolommeo Rastrelli - Court architect under Empress
Elizabeth. Built several Baroque palaces for the Romanovs (the Winter
Palace in St. Petersburg, Peterhof, and the Catherine Palace in
Tsarskoe Selo) as well as the Smolny convent.
Alexander Sumorokov - Playwright, journalist, literary
critic, and man of letters. In 1756 he was director of the first
permanent theater in Russia. His style mimics French neoclassical
literature.
Denis Fonvizin - First Russian playwright, noted for his
comedies, many of which satirized the Gallomania of Russian elite
society.
Mikhail Lomonosov - Poet and scientist, sometimes called
the father of modern Russian literature. As an assistant professor at
the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, he did research in the
principles of matter and partially anticipated the atomic theory of the
structure of matter. He established the first chemical laboratory in
Russia and wrote the first Russian grammar. He also wrote a history of
Russia and altered the character of Russian prosody by adopting tonic
versification in his poetry. He has long been venerated in Russia as a
symbol of Russian creative genuis.
(Y)Emelian Pugachëv - Cossack leader of a revolt
during Catherine II's reign. Declaring himself Emperor Peter III in
1773, he issued a manifesto promising to free the serfs. Pugachev won
widespread support in the Volga area and in the Urals, but the revolt
was eventually crushed and he was executed. Hundreds of estates were
looted and burned during the revolt, and the landlords with their
families often suffered violents at the hands of the peasant. The
specter of this revolt hung for a long time over the minds of the
provincial gentry, making the prospect of a peasant emancipation
almost impossible.
Count Nikita Panin - Statesman and diplomatic advisor to
Catherine the Great. Appointed to supervise the Grand Duke Paul's
education in 1760 and supported Catherine's coup in 1762. Later led a
circle of intellectuals in support of Catherine's Nakaz, or
"Instruction."
Nikolas Novikov - Writer and publisher, seminal figure in
the early printing industry in Russia. He edited and published four
periodicals, including "The Drone," which satirized the idleness of
the gentry and engaged in a runnin debate with Catherine's own journal
on issues of the day, until Catherine became displeased with his views
and began to shut down his journals, one after the other. He took over
the Moscow University Press in 1778, but it was closed by Catherine in
1791 and he was later imprisoned. He was released upon the accession
of Paul I.
Alexander Radishchev - His Journey from St. Petersburg
to Moscow exposes the injustices of serfdom and earned him the
death sentence. This was commuted to 10 years' exile in Siberia, where
he continued his literary activity. Following the death of Catherine
the Great, Radishchev was permitted to return and in 1801 served on
the commission for the codification of laws. He committed suicide in
1802, despairing that he was unable to effect any real change in the
lot of the serf.
THE STRUCTURE OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY IN THE 17TH
CENTURY
(If you're viewing this in frames and have trouble with the table, try
right-clicking, then open the frame in a new window, and maximize that window.
If all else fails, see the simplified hierarchy below.)
|
Civil Hierarchy |
Church Hierarchy |
Civil Urban Hierarchy |
|
The Tsar and his Family *** Upper Service Class
*** Middle Service Class
*** Lower Service Class
*** Peasants
*** Bondmen
|
- Patriarch - Metropolitans - Archbishops - Bishops - Monastery heads - archimandrites (in important monasteries, or overseeing several) - Monastery fathers superior - Archdeacons - Monastery cellarers - Monastery treasurers - Cathedral elders - Elders - Monks - Priests - Deacons - Servants |
- Gosti (merchants of the first guild) - Gostinaya sotnya (merchants of the second guild) - Sukonnaya sotnya (merchants of the third guild) - Townsmen (posadskie liudi) - Dependents (zakladchiki) |
(adapted from Richard Hellie. Muscovite Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967)
Or, in incredibly simplified terms:
- Tsar and family
- Boyars (old princely families) and other high nobility (the Patriarch and
metropolitans fit in somewhere around here in status)
- Lesser nobility, landed gentry (many very poor, constituting middle service
class) (also, Monastery officials and monks)
- Soldiers, merchants, most clergymen, landed peasants
- Serfs, or peasants bound to land and lord (by 1649, very fine line between
serfs and slaves)
(This hierarchy remains essentially the same throughout the Imperial period,
except that the term 'boyar' or 'boiar' is no longer in use after Peter the
Great abolishes the Boyar Council and institutes the Table of Ranks.)
Some terms you will encounter frequently in lecture and readings:
chernozëm - lit. "black soil" - the region with the most
productive soil for agriculture (mostly Ukraine)
zemskii sobor - "Assembly of the Land" - an occasional
gathering of boyars, clergy, gentry, and sometimes burghers and peasants,
called by Muscovite tsars to consider matters of special importance. Abandoned
by Peter the Great.
vlast' - "power" - has very strong, often forbidding,
connotations in Russian
prikazy - "chancelleries" - departments of the Muscovite
government, headed by a boyar or okolnich. There were many.
boiars - members of the medieval Russian aristocracy in the
16th and 17th centuries, as distinguished from the service nobles,
"pomeshchiki." Boiars received their titles from the
tsars, headed important offices, and participated in the Boiar duma,
an advisory council.
pomestiia - estates held on service tenure. In the early 18th
century and later, the term is used more generally to describe estates
owned by nobles (largely replacing the term votchina, meaning
inherited, privately owned land).
strel'tsy - "musketeers" - a military corps
established by Ivan the Terrible and holding special
privileges. Abolished by Peter the Great after an uprising.
duma - council, or later parliament. There is a "State
Duma" in the Russian government today, composed of an upper and
lower house.
Rossiia - term adopted after the 17th-century annexations of
Ukraine ("Little Rus'") and Belorussia ("White
Russia") to "Great Russia". The adjective is
"rossiskii," generally connoting empire, or "all the
Russias," including many ethnicities beyond that connected with
the Muscovite state, as opposed to "russkii" meaning ethnic
Russianness or having to do only with Russia proper
Rus' - term for the state / nation originally centered around
Kiev, and then around Moscow.
raskol' - "schism" - generally refers to the Great
Schism following Patriarch Nikon's reforms in 1666.
raskol'niki - "schismatics" - or Old Believers, followers of
the pre-Nikon Church.
mestnichestvo - "system of places" - by which
appointment of court officials, ambassadors, and army officials
depended upon inherited rank and status. Records of genealogical
tables were burned in 1682, thus abolishing mestnichestvo.
dvoryanstvo - "gentry" - a dvoryanin is a gentleman
(in terms of class, if not character), dvoryanye, is plural
gubernii - "provinces" - an administrative unit
introduced by Peter the Great and abolished by the Soviet government
in 1923
kormlenie - "feeding" - a system of local
administration prevalent from the 14th through the 16th century, under
which local administrators, who were appointed from Moscow, received
payments in kind from the local population.
Patronymic - see below.
Tatar / tartar - Turkic-speaking descendants of the
Golden Horde Mongols. Tatars settled along the central section of the
Volga, in the Crimean peninsula and other areas in the 15th
century. The term "tatar" was often used to refer more
widely to all the nomadic tribes of the Asian deserts and
steppes. From the fifth to the ninth century, the Tatars were
predominantly farmers, but from the 18th century onward,
became renowned as traders.
Primogeniture - the principle of succession by the
eldest male heir. Was the tacit tradition in Russian and other
monarchies, but Peter the Great overturned it with his own succession
law (the first written law of succession in Russia), allowing the tsar
to designate his own successor (see Cracraft)
Preobrazhenskoe - a village near Moscow where Peter
the Great spent time with his play regiments as a child. Later one of
the senior guards infantry regiments in the Imperial Army was named
the Preobrazhensky. The word "preobrazhensk" in Russian
means "transfiguration."
Semënov, Semyonnovsky Regiment - Another village of
Peter's childhood, from which is derived the name of an elite
Guards regiment.
The Bronze Horseman - Famous statue in Petersburg by
French sculptor Falconet, commissioned by Catherine the Great. See
Pushkin's famous poem of the same name.
Voronezh - Town 300 miles south of Moscow where
Peter established a shipbuilding industry during the Azov campaign in
1695.
Azov - River port at the mouth of the Don river,
guarding access to the Black Sea. The port was subject to Turkey from
1471, and won briefly by Peter, only to be lost again. It became
Russian finally under Catherine the Great in 1774.
Poltava - Ukrainian town on the Vorskiya river, near
which the Battle of Poltava took place on July 8, 1709, ending the
Great Northern War with Sweden.
Narva - Town situated on the Gulf of Finland in
present-day Estonia. Possession was contested between Sweden and
Russia - it was the site of a great defeat for Russia in 1700,
which spurred Peter onto many military reforms. It was captured by
Peter in 1714.
Tula - Town in central European Russia, and site of
an arms factory built by Peter in 1712 and always a center of the
Russian metallurgical industry. Small arms were being produced in Tula
before Peter declared war on Sweden.
Holy Synod - The administrative organ of the Russian
Orthodox Church, founded by Peter on the Lutheran model in 1720. The
establishment of the Synod placed church affairs firmly under
the state, and meant that they were often administered by lay
officials.
The Twelve Colleges - Administrative structure
established by Peter, meant to replace the characteristically chaotic
and corrupt prikazy system with one based on order and reason. The
colleges were also corrupt, but they did somewhat rationalize the
arrangment of administrative departments within the central
government.
Senate - Administrative body composed of officials
chosen by virtue of service rather than birth (at least in theory), as
opposed to the old boiar duma.
Procurator General - highest (and very powerful)
administrative office, established by Peter the Great.
Shliaketstvo (based on the Polish Szłachta) -
Petrine term for gentry, or aristocracy, later replaced by the
Russian "dvorianstvo."
Treaty of Nystad / Nyshtadt - Treaty between Russia
and Sweden of September 10, 1721 concluding the Great Northern
War. Sweden ceded to Russia several Baltic territories, while Russia
retained Vyborg but returned the rest of Finland to Sweden. Peter the
Great formally assumed the title of emperor (imperator)
after the ratification of the treaty. Russia replaces Sweden as the
great power in the Baltic.
Blagorodnyi(noble) versus podlyi (base)
- class distinction with ethical connotations.
Terem - Term for the part of a noble Muscovite
household where women were sequestered. Peter forced Muscovite noble
women to appear in public and to wear (much more revealing) western
dress, and generally gave them a much more prominent and positive role
in society.
Assemble (French term, used in Russian) - Social
gatherings Peter imposed on the nobility by state decree, in which
rank order was not observed and women participated fully. Nobles were
to dress and behave with western manners.
Ex nihilo - Latin for "out of nothing,"
often applied by pro-Petrine historians to describe the sweeping
quality of Peter's reforms, which created a modern, European
Russia "out of nothing," as opposed to historians who
believe Peter's reforms either (a) were merely a progression in
the series of changes already taking place throughout the
17th century, or (b) represent a break from and denial of a
previous Russia whose unique qualities were (tragically) subsumed by
the westernization and modernization processes Peter began.
repartitional commune - distribution of land depending on
tax-paying ability. I.e., those households (each containing an
extended family) who can / must pay more taxes, are given more
land. The commune redistributes land accordingly each year.
dvor - lit. "court," "yard," and of course "courtyard."
Also refers to a household, as in the peasant household, an extremely
important unit in the commune system.
starosta - "elder," an elected office, putting the holder
in charge of the commune (with the help of a small group of other
villagers, similarly elected) for a term of a few years. A very
desirable office, as it put the holder in the way of a lot of bribes.
nakaz - "instruction," the Nakaz was Catherine's
"Instruction to the Nobility," a document stating her principles of
law and government, according to which a committee was to formulate
and codify Russian laws. The committee came to naught, but the Nakaz
was published widely at home and abroad (in several languages), and
made a big impression on contemporaries. Catherine's views were
largely borrowed - sometimes word for word - from Western
Enlightenment thinkers like Montesquieu, Baccariat, etc.
zakonnost' - the principle of "legality," from the Russian
root "zakon," meaning legislative measure or fundemental law. Russian
law had not been codified since the law code of 1649 (and wouldn't be
until the reign of Nicholas I), and courts functioned more according
to custom, corruption, or whim than according to state law. The
principle of zakonnost' put forward by Catherine in her Nakaz and
supported by intellectuals like those of the Panin circle was the
notion that the "Enlightened monarchy" they envisioned for Russia (as
opposed to the "absolute monarchy" of Peter the Great) would rest on
an organized, rational code of laws, not so much restraining the
monarchy but imposing order and reason on the bureacracy,
which in turn was presupposed to be toward the "general good" of the
people.
A Very Short Course on the Russian Language:
Undergraduates:
1.-A mid-term in-class examination (October 26) (20 % of grade)
2.- Two essays of 5-8 pages, each on a historical memoir, analyzing the ways the texts combine a personal narrative, with historical events, trends, and figures. Further instructions will be provided later in the semester. Students should discuss the paper with the instructor or assistant before beginning work. (40 % of Grade)
The first essay is due October 16. Suggested works:
Catherine II- Memoirs
Sergei Aksakov- A Family Chronicle (pb)
Nadezhda Durova-The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic
Wars (pb)
Alexander Herzen, My Past and Thoughts, Volume 1
The second essay is due November 27. Suggested Works:
Peter Kropotkin- Memoirs of a Revolutionist (pb)
Vera Figner-Memoirs (pb)
Barbara Engel and Clifford Rosenthal- Five Sisters; Women Against the Tsar
(memoirs of women revolutionaries) (pb)
Leon Trotsky-My Life (pb) (Chapters 1-28)
Victoria E.Bonnell. (ed.) -The Russian Worker: Life and labor Under the Tsarist
Regime (worker memoirs)
S. Kanatchikov- A Radical Worker in Tsarist Russia (pb)
M. Gorky-Childhood (First Section of Autobiography) (pb)
N. Berdiaev- Dream and Reality (Chapters 1-9)
3.- A final examination (30% of Grade)
4.-Students are expected to participate in discussions, raise
questions, objections, etc. during lectures. (10%)
Graduate Students:
1.-Two essays of 5-8 pages analyzing and comparing interpretations presented in two or three works of history on the issues raised in the course. A supplemental list of works will be distributed in the next week or two. Papers will be due October 23 and December 11.
2.-A Final Examination. (With the agreement of the instructor, graduate students may write a second longer paper involving a survey of the historical literature on a particular issue.)
Professor Richard
Wortman
rsw3@columbia.edu
1231 IAB
854-8488 (office)
Office Hours: Tues, Thurs, 4:30-5:30
TA: Kate
Pickering
kmp30@columbia.edu
749-5338 (home number)
Office Hours: Tues, Thurs, 1:30-2:30
or by appointment, in the GSAS Lounge, 301 Philosophy
(on the left when entering from campus, yes undergrads are allowed in!)
NB: will be out of town Tuesday, September 26