Module overview
This module explores the Russian Revolution, assessing the 1880s up until the eve of the First World War. We will look closely at the old regime, considering the political culture of the autocracy and the dynamics behind tsarist rule. It will consider the personality of the tsar, Nicholas II, and his key advisors. But the module will depart from traditional perspectives quite frequently: we will look closely too at wider society – the development of key questions around the peasantry, the working class and also non-Russian identities in the empire. The development of political radicalism will be surveyed from the late nineteenth century through to the Revolution of 1905, as well as the mobilization of the forces of counter-revolution, thinking too about the impact of Russia’s first revolution. The last weeks of the module will explore the era of politics and parliament, the wider crisis in tsarist power in this period, the mobilization of conservative opinion, and the pre-war atmosphere of anxiety. Primary sources are key to the special subject, which will use different genres of sources, including literature, film and the visual arts, to understand historical change. Key to the module are the rich historiographical debates concerning the revolution, and the module will start by looking at some of the more recent developments in the ‘imperial turn’ to help us understand old regime Russia.