The Making of Russia in the Worlds of Byzantium, Mongolia, and Europe

Calendar

LEC #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
Week 1: Primary Issues of the Course
1	Introduction: Geography, Sources, Background
2	The Origins of Rus'
Week 2: Rise of Kievan Rus’
3	The Rise of the Kievan State, 10th-11th centuries
4	The State Structure of Kievan Rus’, 11th-12th c.’s
Week 3: Kievan Civilization
5	Economics and Society in Kievan Rus'
Week 4: The Decline of Kievan Rus’
6	Succession Struggles	Research Paper Topic and Preliminary Bibliography Due
7	Novgorod, Galycia-Volynia, and Kievan Foreign Affairs
Week 5: The Golden Horde
8	Mongol Conquest
9	The Russian Lands within the Golden Horde
Week 6: The Rise of Muscovy
10	The Rise of the Daniilovichi	Topic Presentations
11	Unification and Centralization	Topic Presentations
Week 7: Muscovy at its Height
12	Domestic Life in Muscovy	Topic Presentations
13	Ivan the Terrible	Topic Presentations
Week 8: The Government of Ivan the Terrible
14	Government and Politics	Topic Presentations
15	Community and Law	Topic Presentations
		Research Paper Topic and Preliminary Bibliography Due
Week 9: The Time of Troubles and its Aftermath
16	The Time of Troubles	Topic Presentations
17	Reconstruction and the First Romanovs	Topic Presentations
Week 10: The Seventeenth Century
18	Law and Society	Topic Presentations
19	Social Critics	Topic Presentations
		Final Paper (7-10 pages)
Week 11: Culture and Change in the Late Seventeenth Century
20	The Church and the Schism	Topic Presentations
21	Peter the Great: Personality and Challenges	Topic Presentations
Week 12: Peter the Great in Power
22	Peter the Great: Taxes and Serfdom	Topic Presentations
23	18th Century Government and Politics	Topic Presentations
Week 13: Life in the Eighteenth Century
24	Religion and Social Order	Topic Presentations
25	Everyday Life	Topic Presentations
Week 14: Eighteenth-Century Politics and Culture
26	Peter the Great’s Heritage
27	Review
		Final Exam