HIST 347 - Stalin and Stalinism (B, C)

Credits: (3)

Instructional Method: Three hours lecture.
Prerequisites: Three hours of HIST at 100 level.
Critically examines the era in Soviet history known as Stalinism. It explores the biography and the personality of Joseph Stalin. Topics include: Stalin’s political machinations to grab power, the establishment of the Gulag prison camp system, the show trials and great terror of the 1930’s, Stalin and World War II, and the beginnings of the Cold War. Students learn the core concepts of the Stalinist ideology and how it varied from earlier and later Soviet theories and practices. They contemplate levels of collaboration with and resistance to the system. Students also examine the legacy of Stalinism at home and abroad.