Era of Russian Revolutions

Melissa K. Stockdale, Department of History

Most scholars regard the First World War and the Russian Revolution as the two seminal events of the 20th century. In the past two years, the experience of the world war has been explored in numerous publications and public commemorations, generating fascinating new insights into the war’s legacies. Similarly, 2017, which marks the centennial of the Russian Revolution, is stimulating lively new studies and debates. This Presidential Dream Course on the Russian Revolution will help students understand how this world historic event inspired such tremendous hopes and evoked so much fear and violence.

Our course looks at the Russian revolutionary tradition and the revolution of 1905, and also considers the so-called “Stalinist” revolution that began in 1929, and the eventual start of the Cold War. But its primary focus is the years 1914-1927, demonstrating the critical influence of the First World War on the revolution, and highlighting the social and cultural impacts of the revolution, both in Russia itself and more globally. Guest speakers will examine how the collapse of the Russian army promoted the unravelling of the imperial state; the languages, symbols, and rituals of revolutionary culture; gender and the liberation of women; and construction of memory of the revolution. Related events include public lectures exploring the revolution’s impact on avant-garde art, and screenings of influential Russian films of the 1920s.

Students will explore the causes and impacts of the revolution through primary and secondary source readings, documentary and feature films, lectures, and interactions with our guest speakers. Students will also delve into the lived experience of the revolution by being assigned a revolutionary identity—ranging from aristocratic army officers to underground radicals to militant peasants—whose biography they will develop and write about over the course of the semester.

The Department of History presents a public lecture series in conjunction with the Presidential Dream Course. Presentations are free and open to the public. For information or accommodation to events on the basis of disability, contact Melissa Stockdale, mstockdale@ou.edu.